As the amount of cars, trucks and other conveyances increased on Brisbane’s roads so did the propensity for pedestrians to be hit as they tried to cross busy thoroughfares. It was the responsibility of traffic police to keep the intersections flowing and give everyone a fair chance to move or cross roads. Once the police took control of busy intersections the accidents dwindled.
The first traffic signals in Brisbane were placed at the intersection of Ann, Upper Albert and Roma Streets and where ‘lit’ on January 21, 1936. Image No. PM2937 Courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum
By the middle of the 1930s there were moves to place traffic lights as some of the more congested city intersections. At precisely 3pm on Tuesday, January 21, 1936, Mr. E. M. Hanlon, Minister for Health and Home Affairs, switched on the electro-matic vehicle activated, traffic control system at the junction of Ann, Upper Albert, and Roma Streets. The Courier-Mail reported the following day that “the traffic at that time was fairly heavy, yet surprisingly few made mistakes. Traffic police were on duty to point out to the unheeding or the confused the error of their ways, and in a short time it was obvious that the signals were easy to follow, and the traffic flowed evenly in all directions”.
A close-up view of new electro-matic vehicle actuated traffic signals at the corner of Queen and George Streets.
Men set up speakers to amplify the switching on ceremony which took place on May 24, 1937.
Image No. PM2938 Courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum
Sixteen months later a second set of traffic lights was installed at the very busy junction of Queen and George Streets. The lights were switched on by Mr E. Hanlon at 3pm on Monday, May 24, 1937. It was reported that the police officer on point duty at this intersection walked off his post for the last time just as the Minister for Home Affairs switched on the current for the ‘electro-matic’ traffic control system. It was quite the novelty and people lined both footpaths during the ceremony, and amplifiers carried the words of the Minister’s speech to crowds at the already “lit” intersections of Ann, Albert and Roma Streets. Mr Cecil Carroll, Commissioner of Police was quoted as saying that “the installed traffic control system was the most modern of its kind, and was in use in all parts of the world”.
Commissioner Cecil Carroll, middle of the image, and other dignitaries, check that the traffic signals at the intersection of Queen and George streets are working correctly, the day after they were switched on, May 25, 1937. Image No. PM2940 Courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum
With the installation of automatic control it was said that Queen Street was the most orderly street in the Commonwealth. The new traffic lights were set to operate each day between 7.30 am and midnight.
View from above of new traffic lights at the corner of Adelaide (with tram) and Edward Streets “Brisbane’s new Automatic Traffic Control System worked smoothly during peak hour on Saturday, as revealed by this bird’s-eye-view.” Brisbane Courier-Mail 31.5.1937
Image No. PM2936 Courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum
This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing. The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au