Shipping containers Wattle Camp
Fifteen minutes north-east of Kingaroy, on the edge where the red plateau stops being flat and starts falling away. Wattle Camp is a mix of established cropping and grazing country and newer small acreage, and the container work here splits fairly neatly between the two.
- Postcode
- 4615
- Local government
- South Burnett Regional Council
- The run
- About 15 km north-east of Kingaroy, north of Booie and east of Memerambi
- Usual vehicle
- Tilt-tray on almost every job; sidelifter where a 40ft is going onto formed hardstand
What Wattle Camp puts in them
Around Wattle Camp the work is mostly grain, seed and fertiliser storage on the cropping blocks, hay and fencing gear on the grazing country, tractor and quad storage on the smaller holdings, workshop and tool storage for people building out a new block, and lock-up storage while a house or shed is going up. The sequence never changes: grade first, then size, then how a truck reaches the spot. Ten minutes on the phone covers all three.
| Unit | Used from | New from |
|---|---|---|
| 10ft Containers | $4,350 | $6,400 |
| 20ft Containers | $2,200 | $3,300 |
| 40ft Containers | $2,600 | $5,500 |
Guide figures only, ex GST. What you pay turns on the grade and on what is available that week. Cartage to Wattle Camp is quoted with the container, so the number you are given is the number you pay.
On top or over the edge — the question we will ask first
It sounds like an odd opening question and it is the most useful one for this locality. The blocks sitting on the flat red country behave one way and the blocks on the fall behave another, and the two are often only a few hundred metres apart.
On the flat, the constraint is weather. The red basalt goes slick on the surface while staying firm underneath, so a vehicle slides rather than sinks. That is a timing problem and timing problems are free to solve — wait two dry days.
On the fall, the constraint is geometry. A truck needs somewhere reasonably level to line up and unload, and the container has to finish sitting flat regardless of what the ground is doing. On sloping ground that usually means choosing the best level spot rather than the spot with the outlook, and building four bearing points up to true rather than hunting for ground that already is.
The container that goes up before the shed does
A good share of the work through Wattle Camp is people who have bought a block, are building or planning to build, and need somewhere secure and dry to put tools, materials and machinery in the meantime. It is one of the better uses a container gets.
Two things make that work properly. Buy the grade for what is going inside — a cargo-worthy unit is checked wind and watertight before it is loaded and will keep tools and materials dry; an as-is unit is cheaper, is not sold watertight, and is the wrong choice for anything you would be upset to find damp. Second, put it where a truck can reach it again later, because a container placed for this year is very often moved once the real shed exists.
That second point costs nothing on the day and is genuinely expensive to fix afterwards. Leave yourself a run-in and clear air above it, and the same tilt-tray that put it there can shift it.
New pads, new driveways and fresh fill
This is the practical hazard specific to a locality with a lot of recent building on it. Newly formed ground looks finished long before it behaves as though it is, and the weakest part of a new pad is usually the outer edge where the fill is deepest.
A loaded truck concentrates a great deal of weight onto a small number of contact points. Ground that carries a ute and a trailer without complaint can still give way under a vehicle carrying a container, and once a wheel is in, recovering it is slow, expensive and hard on the driveway.
None of that means we will not come. It means telling us the driveway and pad are new, so the right vehicle turns up and, if it needs to, sits on the formed road and reaches in rather than driving onto the pad at all.
What the truck needs at Wattle Camp
Wattle Camp is close enough to Kingaroy that scheduling is rarely the problem — a tilt-tray can be there and back inside a morning, so we can usually pick the day to suit the ground rather than the run. What decides a delivery here is which side of the country you are on. On top, where the plateau is still flat, the soil is deep red basalt and the approach is generally straightforward in dry weather and greasy rather than boggy in wet, so a couple of clear days after real rain fixes almost everything. Off the edge, where the ground falls away, it changes character entirely: steeper approaches, stonier and shallower ground, more timber close to the track and far less room to line a vehicle up. Neither is difficult, but they are different jobs and they want different information from you. The other thing worth knowing about this locality is how much of it is recently developed. New driveways, new house pads and fresh fill are common here, and freshly formed ground carries a loaded truck far less reliably than it looks like it will, particularly at the edges of a new pad where the fill is deepest and least settled. If your driveway or pad went in this year, say so when you enquire — it changes the vehicle and sometimes the week.
Underneath the local detail every drop needs the same three things — ground that carries the weight, a straight run to line up on, and clear air above the spot. Photographs answer all three faster than measurements do. Full checklist in getting a container onto your block.
Wattle Camp — common questions
My driveway and house pad only went in this year. Is that a problem?
It is worth mentioning, yes. Fresh fill and newly formed ground look far more settled than they are, especially around the outer edge of a pad where the fill is deepest. It rarely stops a delivery — it usually just means a different vehicle, or placing from the formed road rather than driving onto the pad. Tell us when you enquire and we will plan for it.
Can I put a container on the block before the shed is built and move it later?
Very common here, and it works well provided you leave the access open. A container placed with a straight run-in and clear air above it can be picked up and shifted by the same sort of truck that delivered it. One placed hard against a new shed with a fence built around it needs a crane, which is the avoidable part.
Which grade should I get if it is storing tools and building materials?
Cargo-worthy. Those units are checked wind and watertight before they are loaded, which is what you want with anything that would be ruined by getting damp. As-is units are cheaper and we describe their faults honestly, but they are not sold watertight and they are the wrong grade for tools and materials.
How much notice do you need for a Wattle Camp delivery?
Less than most places, because it is a short run from Kingaroy and a tilt-tray can be there and back in a morning. That flexibility is worth using — it means we can wait out wet ground instead of forcing a delivery, which is the single most common cause of a bad delivery day.
My block is on the steeper country. Will that stop a 40ft?
Sometimes, and it is better to know before you order. A 40ft normally comes in on a sidelifter, which needs roughly 30m of working room and level ground firm enough for its legs. On steeper blocks that room often does not exist. Two 20ft units will frequently go where one 40ft will not, and they can be placed in different spots, which on sloping country is sometimes the better answer anyway.
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Container to Wattle Camp? One call does it
Size, grade, cartage and timing sorted in a single conversation.
(07) 4141 7699Mon–Fri 7:30am–5pm, Sat 8am–12pm. If we are out on a run, leave a message or send the form and you will get a call back.