More Than a Meal
The Dining Hall has long been an important behind-the-scenes story of the Ipswich Railway Workshops.
This display explores the stories of the women who were the Dining Hall staff, the men that made up the Committee that ran the Dining Hall and the Workers’ stories of the daily lunch rush.
Dining Staff and Committee Men, 1950. 
Workers having lunch at the Workshops Dining Hall, Queensland Times, 23 April 1952.
The historic photos, Committee minute books and rules and regulations, along with the huge pots and traditional crockery on display give a glimpse of the frenetic pace of the Dining Hall.
Queues five or six people deep at the counter and a sit down lunch for hundreds were the order of the day for the Dining Hall at its height. For many it was and remains a central part of everyday life at The Workshops.
The 100th Anniversary of the opening of the Dining Hall occurs in 2012 and this display recognises the roles of the staff of the Dining Hall, representing 100 years of continuous female employment on a male-dominated site.
