Walkers
In addition to railway construction, the Walkers side of Downer Rail has a long heritage of shipbuilding. In 1884 the firm began work on 5 hopper barges for the Queensland Department of Harbours and Rivers. During construction the decision was taken to convert them to also serve as Auxiliary Gunboats, which made them the largest warships built in Australia before federation. During World War II, Walkers constructed 2 River class frigates, a Modified River (Bay) class frigate and 7 Bathurst class corvettes in addition to other smaller vessels. Post war naval projects included the 8 Balikpapan class landing craft heavy and 10 of the 20 Attack class patrol boats. The other 10 Attack class patrol boats were built by Evans Deakin Industries (EDI) which was taken over by Downer holdings in 2001 to form the parent company; Downer EDI. Evans Deakin's Brisbane yard closed in 1971, and Walker's Maryborough yard closed in 1974.
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