This was the first known professional engineering society in Queensland. One of its major concerns was that condemned marine boilers were being re-used on land without inspection by mechanical engineers, posing major safety risks.
The first formative meetings were held on 16 July 1890 and 5 November 1890, with the inaugural meeting on 11 December 1890, when office bearers were elected, and it was resolved to meet on the second Thursday of each month.
From January 1891 until June 1895, regular monthly meetings were held, and the proceedings and technical papers were well reported in the newspapers. It encouraged standards in technical education, and awarded annual competition prizes, in mechanical drawing, open to Queensland technical students.
However, attendances at meetings declined, and in September 1896, it was reported that the Institute was "at present in a state of collapse". 1896 was the last known year that student prizes were awarded, and no further technical meetings were recorded.
Its remaining funds were transferred to the "Queensland Institute of Engineers" and received on 19 October 1905.
No official records of the Queensland Institute of Mechanical Engineers have been discovered. However, the notes and press cuttings collated and published by W.I. George in 1989, in Section 1 of Some references to early professional engineering societies in Queensland (1890-1919) provide a reconstruction of its activities until 1895, and include lists and details of technical papers and proceedings of its meetings.