The names ‘McCranium’ and ‘Straighty McStrong’ will adorn the Gold Coast Airport construction site for the next 18 months after two local primary school students won the chance to name the cranes at the airport’s southern terminal expansion.

The winning names were selected from a pool of more than 300 entries submitted by Year 3 students across the Gold Coast and Tweed regions as part of the Name the Crane competition run by Gold Coast Airport and construction firm Lendlease, which is building the southern terminal expansion.

Each winner will also receive $1,200 worth of children’s books for their school library, with the airport’s official book retailer, The Gold Coast Store by Newslink, chipping in an additional 20 per cent on the promised $1,000 winning prize.

Honey Weate-Riwhi of Tweed Heads Public School and Chayse Kleinhans of St James Catholic Primary School at Banora Point were the two winners of the Name the Crane competition.

Much to the delight of the construction workers, on her entry form Honey wrote: “I gave the crane the name ‘McCranium’ because it takes brains to work a crane”.

Chayse, who named his crane ‘Straighty McStrong’, said he did so… “because cranes are straight and strong”.

Gold Coast Airport Chief Operating Officer Marion Charlton was delighted to join Lendlease, the winning students and their guests at the official crane naming ceremony.

“We were bowled over by the creative selection of names suggested by the students who submitted entries for our Name the Crane competition,” she said.

“We had a tough time deciding on the winning entries and thank all of the students and schools who participated. We hope they enjoyed contributing to this project, which will transform the gateway to our region.

“With passenger numbers expected to double over the next 20 years, we expect many of these students and their families will be flying in and out of the Gold Coast Airport, using the new facilities in the future.”

Lendlease Building Queensland General Manager Brad Protheroe said while there were some excellent names suggested, ‘McCranium’ and ‘Straighty McStrong’ were stand-outs.

“I’d like to thank all the students that suggested names for the crane,” he said.

“It’s great to see such a large interest from students in the construction process and we hope the competition inspired a new generation of young engineers.

“The project is going well, and we look forward to the new year when we will be topping out the main airport terminal building.”

Some of the runner-up names included Mobo (which means tomorrow in the traditional Yugambeh language), Candy Crane, Wonder Bolt and Boing (sic).

Lagardere Travel Retail spokesperson Maiko Sheppeard, whose company is behind The Gold Coast Store by Newslink which supplied the books for the winning prizes, said it was an honour to be part of this exciting competition.

“With these new names, I believe the cranes will no longer be just cranes, but will become symbolic characters of the Gold Coast Airport expansion over the coming months,” she said.  

Managed by leading construction firm Lendlease, work at Gold Coast Airport’s southern terminal expansion is well underway, with two nine-tonne cranes recently moved onto site following the completion of foundation works.

The cranes are central to the new terminal works, which, when complete, will see four aerobridges in place and a terminal area that is double the existing size. The southern terminal expansion will cater for both international and domestic visitors.

It is estimated that 1,500 jobs will be created by this $200 million project.