Queensland celebrated its birthday today not with a whimper, but a bang - or four successive bangs to be precise.

"A Battery" Queensland Permanent Artillery gave a four gun salute using cannons dating from the 1850s to celebrate the day Queen Victoria gave her approval for Queensland to become a self-governing colony.

On the lawn outside QPAC at Southbank Parklands, dozens of school children, tourists and military history buffs covered their ears as 140 pounds of black power went off with each shot.

The Victoria Barracks Historical Society Major Donald Heap rfd. ed. said the cannons have fired on Queensland Day for the last 16 years, but have never been fire in anger.

"The cannons were originally brought to Brisbane to salute the governor," he said.

Resplendent in his white pith helmet and 19th century military uniform complete with medals, Major Heap explained that the cannons had originally been used for training purposes at Ipswich before becoming museum pieces.

The cannons are part of the only complete battery of its kind and can trace its history back to a real-life miliary unit in the 1850s.

The elevating gears on the pieces are even older than the rest of the cannons.

"(They are) actually French, salvaged by the British after the Battle of Waterloo," Major Heap said.

It is this uniqueness that has scored the cannons every woman's dream - to star alongside Hugh Jackman.

Owing to their status as the only operational battery of its kind in Australia, the "A" Battery will appear as Confederated States of America cannons in "Wolverine," being shot in Sydney.

The guns were restored to their former glory when the historical society removed the concrete plugs from their barrels, built new carriages for them and found a member who was licensed to make black powder.

When they are not firing ceremonial cannons, the gun crews of the are Victoria Barracks Historical Society civilians and come from all walks of life.

In addition to its ceremonial role, the historical society put on demonstrations at schools and colleges around Brisbane and have a museum at 28 Church Street, Fortitude Valley.