engineering

Queens Wharf Tower

Queens Wharf Tower is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Queens Wharf Tower rather than just read about it. In short: The Queens Wharf Tower, or Penis Tower was a tower at Queens Wharf in Newcastle, Australia. Name Officially called Queens Wharf Tower, after Queen Elizabeth II, it was commonly known as the Penis Tower, due to its phallic shape.

Key takeaways

Queens Wharf Tower belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Queens Wharf Tower to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Queens Wharf Tower from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Queens Wharf Tower, or Penis Tower was a tower at Queens Wharf in Newcastle, Australia.

Name Officially called Queens Wharf Tower, after Queen Elizabeth II, it was commonly known as the Penis Tower, due to its phallic shape. It was also called "the big penis" in reference to Australia's big things. The tower was designed by Kevin Snell. The tower was 140 tonnes and 40.3m high with 180 steps. The tower had an observation desk with a 360 degrees panoramic view of the city.

History The tower was opened on 7 May 1988, by Queen Elizabeth II. It was part of a $13million development celebrating Australia's bicentenary and was intended to help transition the city from an industrial city to one of tourism and recreation. In 1999 the tower was closed for six months to undergo a $367,000 renovation which included repainting and fixing rust issues.

Demolition An expression of interest was put out by the council to see if anyone was interested in purchasing to tower so that it could be moved elsewhere, but the expression received little response. When asked about the demolition of the tower, architect Kevin Snell said he was "very, very surprised [the council] dished out the money to maintain it all this time." Towards the end of its life, the tower had become a target of vandalism. The official reasoning to demolish the tower was because of the cost of maintenance and a lack of disability access (which had been discussed as far back as 2002) but the council's interim chief executive Jeremy Bath also said "There aren’t many cites around the world that have placed a 30m high phallic symbol in their most prominent public place [...] There really is no other way to describe the Queens Wharf Tower other than as an embarrassment to the city." Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes called the tower a "blight on the city's landscape" The cost of demolition was around $300,000. Reactions by residents were mixed. People praised the views from the tower, and suggested adding street art to the tower instead of demolishing it. One resident who moved to Newcastle shortly after the tower was built said "I think I will cry to be honest, I took a shot last night as a final memory. It has been part of my landscape for more than a decade." Many people felt frustrated at the council's lack of consultation with the public on the decision. The tower was taken down over multiple nights in August 2018, first detaching the dome and observation deck. The remains of the tower were taken away to be recycled.

Legacy The tower was mentioned in the 2001 song Newcastle by Daniel Arvidson. In 2018, a bottle opener in the shape of the tower was made by Out of The Square. 3000 were sold and $22,193 was raised for the Hunter Prostate Cancer Alliance. A book featuring art work of the tower by multiple artists called Dick Pics was published in 2018. The tower was one of the landmarks drawn in Trevor Dicksinson's 2020 book Newcastle Dickonson said "I was one of the few people who really liked it, I thought it should stay." A bottom section of the tower still exists at the wharf, with a ramp that leads to nowhere.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Queens Wharf Tower

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Queens Wharf Tower claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Queens Wharf Tower before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Queens Wharf Tower ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Queens Wharf Tower

In research: Queens Wharf Tower appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Queens Wharf Tower in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Queens Wharf Tower is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1988 establishments in Australia, 2018 disestablishments in Australia, Buildings and structures completed in 1988, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Queens Wharf Tower outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Queens Wharf Tower in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Queens Wharf Tower means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Queens Wharf Tower out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Queens Wharf Tower in simple terms?

The Queens Wharf Tower, or Penis Tower was a tower at Queens Wharf in Newcastle, Australia. Name Officially called Queens Wharf Tower, after Queen Elizabeth II, it was commonly known as the Penis Tower, due to its phallic shape.

Why does Queens Wharf Tower matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Queens Wharf Tower?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Queens Wharf Tower.