Magnificent Makers

State Library of Queensland’s fascinating exhibition, Magnificent Makers showcases Queensland’s unique and extraordinary history of innovation from the late 1800s to the present day.

The exhibition profiles the lives and works of a group of remarkable yet relatively unknown Queenslanders who thought outside the box to craft pioneering creations, from the weird and the wacky to the functional and philanthropic.

These innovators, using the technology available to them at the time,  made significant developments in the areas of education, sport, leisure, clothing, photography, medicine and scientific research.

One of the most intriguing items on display is an intricate Braille globe for vision-impaired children, invented in Queensland in the 1950s by Richard Frank Tunley. Tunley dedicated his life to improving outcomes for visi on-impaired children and adults, producing Braille globes and maps, as well as being instrumental in implementing compulsory education for deaf and blind children.

Then there's the man who brought electric light to Queensland, Edward Barton, who heralded a new chapter in the state’s history and made Queensland a national leader in electricity supply.

Other innovators included beloved snake showman Ram Chandra, whose daring feats and tireless investigations were central to developing the first taipan antivenene, which has saved more than 73 lives—including Ram’s own; ambitious entrepreneur A.J. Hunting, who pioneered both Speedway and one-day cricket; and Sarah Jenyns, business pioneer and inventor of 'comfortable corsets' , which replaced the whalebone corset.

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