The University of Queensland was established by an act of the Queensland parliament on 10 December 1909. The University's first home was Queensland's original Government House at Gardens Point. Teaching commenced in 1911 with four professors, ten other teaching staff and an enrolment of 83 students, 23 of them women. The St Lucia site for the University of Queensland was purchased in 1927 with funds provided by Dr James O'Neill Mayne and his sister, Miss Mary Emelia Mayne. The title to the land was presented to the Chancellor in 1930, and in 1935 the Queensland Premier, the Hon W. Forgan Smith, announced that the State Government had decided to build a new university on the land at St Lucia. A joint committee of government and university representatives was appointed to investigate the site, draw up plans and report to the government Its members were Dr Melbourne (University representative and chairman), Dr Bradfield (government representative and deputy chairman), J.D. Story (Public Service Commissioner), A.B. Leven (Chief Architect, Department of Public Works) and T.L.Jones (Chairman of the Brisbane and South Coast Hospitals Board). Six plans were presented, by Professor Hawken, Mr Leven, Dr Bradfield and Professor Robinson. All the plans used a topography of the site in a similar manner to A.B. Wilson's original plans of 1926 In 1936 the government appointed the architectural firm of Hennessy Hennessy & Co. Construction of the new campus began in 1937 but war intervened and the site was turned over to the military. The move to St Lucia began in earnest in 1946 and was fully completed by 1972.

Frederick Walter Robinson (known as "Doc Robbie") was born in Sydney on 21 October 1888. He was educated at Sydney High, University of Sydney and the University of Jena. He was Associate Professor of Modern Languages at Royal Military College Duntroon (1913-1932), and Captain and Intelligence Officer in the AIF (1915-1919). F.W. Robinson lectured in English and German at The University of Queensland (1923-1945), and later became Associate Professor of English (1946-1958). He was in the General Staff Office as a Major (Intelligence) in 1941-42. He presented the Commonwealth Literary Fund Australian Literature Seminars and Lectures at The University of Queensland in 1944 and 1958, and at Sydney University in 1946. F.W. Robinson also set up the Fryer Memorial Library of Australian Literature at The University of Queensland. For many years he was associated with the Oxley Library, the Queensland Art Gallery and other cultural institutions. He played a large part in the planning of the University of Queensland at St Lucia. F.W. Robinson died on 26 August 1971.

Roger William Hercules Hawken was born on 12 May 1878 in New South Wales. He studied engineering at the University of Sydney, subsequently working throughout Australia and in the Federated Malay States (now Malaysia) before returning to Australia. He was the first lecturer in Civil Engineering at the University of Queensland, later becoming Professor of Engineering after the foundation Professor, AJ Gibson, resigned in 1919. He remained in the position until 1947. He was also a member of a committee established in 1921 to determine a site for the University of Queensland. Hawken was a founder of the Institution of Engineers Australia in 1919, serving as its President in 1923 and as Councillor until his death. Following his suggestion in 1928, Queensland became the first state to legislate compulsory registration of consulting engineers. In 1931, he was awarded the Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal, the highest honour bestowed by the Institution of Engineers Australia (now known as Engineers Australia). He died on 18 October 1947.

Civil engineer, born in Brisbane, educated at Ipswich Grammar School and University of Sydney, graduating B.E. with the University Gold Medal in 1889. He joined the New South Wales Department of Public Works in 1891. In August 1910 he unsuccessfully applied for the foundation chair of engineering in the new University of Queensland. Bradfield was associated with a great range of engineering work, the highlight being the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932. He retired from the public service in 1933 and in 1934 was appointed consulting engineer for the design, fabrication and construction of the Story Bridge in Brisbane. He later served as technical adviser to the constructors of the Hornibrook Highway near Brisbane and helped to plan and design the University of Queensland's new site at St Lucia; the university admitted him to an ad eund. doctorate of engineering in 1935. -- excerpted from Australian Dictionary of Biography

Alexander Brown Wilson was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1857. In 1864 his family emigrated to Brisbane. He established his own architectural practice in Brisbane in 1884, and was joined by his architect-engineer son, Ronald Martin Wilson in 1920. After Alexander Wilson's retirement in 1928, Ronald Wilson continued the practice.

Ronald Martin Wilson joined his father in architectural practice in 1920 to form Alex. B. and R. Martin Wilson. After Alexander Wilson's retirement in 1928, Ronald Wilson continued the practice until 1955. He in turn was joined by his son, Blair M. Wilson, who had graduated from the University of Queensland. The Wilson firm is continued by Alexander Wilson's great-grandson, Hamilton Blair Wilson.

John Francis (Jack) Hennessy (1853–1924) went into partnership in an architectural practice in 1912 with his son, also named John Francis (Jack) Hennessy (1887-1955). The firm became known as Hennessy & Hennessy. In 1924, the older Jack retired and the younger Jack took over as the head of the firm, which continued under the same name, though it was sometimes referred to as Hennessy, Hennessy & Co. From 1925 to 1926, the firm expanded to include more partners and was briefly known as Hennessy & Hennessy, Keesing and Co and J.P. Donoghue. After 1926, the firm reverted to its original name, Hennessy & Hennessy, or Hennessy, Hennessy & Co. One of the major projects of the firm was the Great Court at the University of Queensland and the Holy Name Cathedral in Brisbane, the latter of which was never fully completed. Jack F. Hennessy died in 1955 and the firm continued to operate under the leadership of Leo Drinan. After Leo Drinan's death in 1967 the Brisbane branch was taken over by Martin Conrad and the Sydney office closed shortly thereafter. It continued to operate until 1967