Blackall Masonic Lodge is located in the centre of a level site at the corner of Hawthorn and Garden Streets. Its axis runs east west and it faces west and is parallel to Garden Street. It has a rectangular plan form and is two storeyed and supported on timber stumps. It has a gabled roof with a verandah on the north, west and east sides supported by 4" chamfered timber posts at 6' 0" centres. Bougainvillea are located on the north and south sides and at the south west corner of the site. The boundary fence consists of short tubular posts with chain suspended between, this replaced an earlier timber and chain wire fence. The original single rolled steel entrance gate which was located on the axis of the building in Hawthorne Street has been replaced with a set of low double gates which have maintained the rolled steel beehive pattern. What appear to be original gate posts have been relocated inside this gate.
The ground floor walls rise to approximately 15' 0" and have an exposed frame 4" x 2" stud wall at 18" centres. Above this and the verandah the upper level is clad in horizontal mini profile corrugated galvanised iron and above this the gables have rusticated boards. Three double hung windows are located in west and north elevations and there are four windows in the south elevation. Each of these have quadrant form hoods in galvanised iron. The roof and verandah are clad in corrugated galvanised iron. A narrow timber stair runs from the upper level across the back of the building.
The building is entered via a set of double timber doors centrally located in the west elevation and accentuated by a steep pitched verandah gable over. The entrance opens into a hall that contains a half turn timber stair with landings that rises to the temple on the upper floor. To the south of the entrance is a store room and to the east is the supper room entered through a set of timber double doors. Symmetrically located each side of the supper room are french doors that open out onto the north and south verandahs. The floors are 6" tongue and grooved timber boards. The walls to the supper room are horizontal beaded boards and the ceiling is the exposed heavy joists of the upper floor with hearing bone strutting.
The stair leads to a landing at the upper floor, off this to the south is a dressing room and to the east is the temple which is accessed through a single timber door. The walls of the temple are lined in horizontal beaded boards. The ceiling is lined in the same material and follows the rafter line to the level of the collar ties and is horizontal from this point. The space is painted in the traditional light blue. The furnishing within the temple consist of side benches for the brethren with a raised dais at the east end which has a shallow curved front with a centrally located Masters chair and a number of bentwood chairs either side. Further to the sides are more substantial chairs to accommodate the immediate Past Master and visiting Masters. Immediately in front of the Master is the altar and to the left is the Secretary/Treasurer. Forward of this is seating for the Senior and Junior Deacons and on the left hand side seating for the Senior and Junior Wardens. At the opposite end of the temple is the Tilers chair and forward of this is the black and white tiled square and siting on this is the ceremonial tripod supporting a pulley and stone block.
","history":"The Masonic temple is the second temple in and around Blackall and was completed in 1908.
Freemasonry spread from New South Wales into Queensland in individual lodges. The first Freemason's lodge in Queensland was established in 1859, shortly before Separation from New South Wales. New lodges were formed as settlement spread.
Blackall was surveyed and gazetted as a town in 1868. It served as a commercial and social centre for pastoral stations in the surrounding area and was the major western town until eclipsed by Barcaldine, which was founded to serve the terminus of the Central Railway in 1886.
Freemasonry was established in Blackall in May 1887 when a group of seven masons met at the Methodist Church, whose Minister was a Freemason, in order to found a lodge. By the end of the year there were 32 members. The first candidate initiated, James McKenzie, provided a brick building in Short Street to be used as a temple. This was used until 1905-6 when the owner required the building for other purposes. It was demolished in 1958.
For a time, the lodge then met at the former Government Lands Office, but this was not convenient and it was decided to construct a new building. A.E. Hewer, R.E. Burton and J.H. Hart donated an acre of land in Hawthorne Street and a two storey building was erected on it. Furniture which is still in use was donated by A.H. Whittingham. The new building was dedicated on 3 August 1908 and cost £1603 including the supply of gas and running water.
Members of the lodge were mainly prominent townsmen and managers and overseers from outlying stations such as Mt Marlow, Northampton, Emmet Downs, Terrick Terrick, Ravensbourne and Bloomfield. Attendance at lodge meetings was a major undertaking for many members who had to travel great distances, often over poor or non-existent roads. The fellowship associated with Freemasonry was very important to men living in areas of isolated or scattered settlement or in jobs which were itinerant or seasonal. Lodges hosted social events, contributed to local charities and provided opportunities for local businessmen to meet socially, all of which made an important contribution to the life the town.
The temple has remained much as it was when constructed, although new gates and posts were installed in 1987.
","criteria":"The Masonic temple is important in demonstrating the development of Blackall in the nineteenth century and the spread of Freemasonry through Queensland in the wake of European settlement.
|The Blackall temple is important as a characteristic and intact example of a regional timber Masonic temple, a category of building prominent in the streetscape and important in the social life of many country towns.
|The Blackall temple is important as a characteristic and intact example of a regional timber Masonic temple, a category of building prominent in the streetscape and important in the social life of many country towns.
|The Masonic temple, Blackall, has a special association with those Freemasons living in and around Blackall and with the Freemasonry movement as an early temple in Queensland.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion G","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places | The place is important because of its aesthetic significance | The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":14808,"place_ref":600033,"name":"Blackall Woolscour","alternate_name":"Woolscour Blackall","street_address":"4km northeast of Blackall","suburb":"BLACKALL","lga":"BLACKALL-TAMBO REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"Located in a rural setting approximately 4km north-northeast of Blackall on the eastern side of the railway line, the woolscour complex consists of a number of timber framed corrugated iron sheds, varying in size and complexity and serviced by an artesian bore, settling ponds, a railway spur line and sheepyards.
The major structures are the centrally positioned main building where the shearing, scouring and associated processes took place, an adjacent wool storage shed situated on the western side of the main building, extensive sheepyards adjoining the northeast corner of the main building and a dispersed group of accommodation and service buildings located about 100m to the southeast of the central group of buildings.
The main building, a large L-shaped conglomeration, is comprised of a series of attached sheds with timber trussed gable roofs. These sheds form a sequence of spaces through which the wool passed, beginning on the sheep's back in the northeast corner and ending in the southwest part of the building as baled wool. Areas associated with the successive phases of the wool processing, the shearing, classing, scouring and drying and pressing, are defined by changes in floor level and separate roofs.
The largest space, a long rectangular skylit shed, contains machinery and equipment for scouring, fellmongering and drying and a small office in the southwestern corner. To the east of this space, at the northern end, are the classing area and adjoining shearing board. These three attached sheds form the triple gable of the northern facade. The raised timber floor of the shearing board which is reached from the sheepyards by a timber ramp, steps down gradually to an earth floor in the scouring area.
On the southeast side of the main building, the inside corner of the L, are a number of ancillary structures. These include a free standing gable roofed work area and attached to the eastern wall of the scouring shed, a blacksmith's room, an engine room and a roofed area associated with the boilers. Further to the east is a large ash heap and the remnants of a trolley way, once used to cart timber to the boilers.
At the southern end of the scouring area is the only two storeyed part of the complex. Roughly square in plan it consists of an upper level wool room; a central open space bounded on the east and west by individual compartments; and an open plan lower level containing a wool press. A timber loading platform is located just outside between the western wall of the two storeyed section and the railway spur line. The spur line runs through the centre of the complex between the wool storage shed, a rectangular building with a double gable roof supported by rows of columns and the main building.
The scour buildings contain extensive machinery and equipment, including steam engines, boilers, cast iron tanks, dryers, wool presses, and a complex system of belts, pulleys and shafts.
The group of smaller scale buildings to the south east of the main building is comprised of a kitchen, shearer's quarters, toilet block, shower block and meat preparation shed. Excepting for the meat preparation shed which is a square planned, hipped roof enclosure, these buildings have simple gable roofs. The shearer's quarters has a verandah on the western side. The kitchen has attached skillion roofed spaces on the northern and eastern sides. A water tank and stand is located beside the shower block.
A shallow pitched corrugated iron roof on timber posts situated just south of the main building, shelters the head of the artesian bore and the generating plant. Bore water which falls into an adjacent settling pond is distributed via a series of drains.
A fuel depot, an elevated timber and corrugated iron shed, is sited southwest of the main complex where the spurline rejoins the railway line.
The former manager's residence, a single-storeyed gable roofed timber building with skillion roofed verandahs, is located on a nearby property, to the west of the railway line. The front verandah has wide overhangs and is enclosed with insect screens. A number of structures are attached to the rear verandah, the largest being a gable roofed wing with verandah.
Nearly all of the structures associated with the Blackall Woolscour remain largely as built in their original position. The building fabric shows signs of age and wear including the accumulation of dust and lanolin, the effects of weathering and some decay of structural elements.
","history":"The Blackall Woolscour, a collection of large sheds containing shearing and scouring equipment built for the Blackall Proprietary Woolscouring Company, commenced operations in 1908 at a cost of about £20 000. Situated 4km outside Blackall adjacent to the newly opened railway line the scour continued to operate until its closure in 1978.
Wool scouring, one of the methods for cleaning impurities from wool after shearing, began as an alternative to sheep washing in Australia in the 1840s and had almost replaced it by the 1890s. Initially scouring was done by manual methods such as pot and stick or hand box, but by the early 1890s steam driven mechanised scouring dominated the industry.
In Australia the large mechanical scours were generally located in the major urban centres. Western Queensland was the exception with the construction of mechanical scouring plants in Charleville, Barcaldine, Ilfracombe, Blackall, Longreach, Winton, Julia Creek, Richmond, Maxwelton and Alba near Hughenden between the late 1890s and the early 1920s. Of these Blackall scour is the only one to remain intact and was the last to cease operating.
Scouring, probably using the hand box method, began in Blackall in 1893 when
WH Banks established a scour near the town bore. Operations were transferred in 1900, after disputes with the town council over water leases, to Duneira, Banks's property.
Construction of the railway line to Blackall began in 1905. The same year the Blackall Proprietary Woolscour Co. was founded by five members of the local grazing and business community with JH Hart as chairman and in December tenders were advertised for the sinking of a bore "not more than three miles from the township of Blackall". The scouring and shearing shed was erected by Renshaw and Ricketts, Rockhampton builders, using hoop pine from Maryborough.
The plant, offered for sale in 1913, was acquired by Western Queensland Meat Export Co. The Melbourne based company which already owned a boiling down works and a wool scour in Barcaldine made progressive improvements and modifications to the machinery to increase the efficiency of the scour and therefore its capacity, more than doubling the 1913 output by 1918 to 7640 bales, the largest output in its history. The years of peak production were 1916 to 1920. Business declined in the 1920s with other scours in the region closing temporarily or permanently. The general management of the scour was overseen by AM Ferguson from 1913 until his death in 1933. Members of the Ferguson family continued to manage the complex until 1957.
WQMEC continued to operate the scour, mostly at a profit, until 1964 when it was sold to K Austin of Glencoe Station. In 1974 CF Thomas Pty Ltd bought the scour and it was closed in 1978 after a storm caused damage to the boiler. Subsidiary activities of the scour included fellmongering, the removal of wool from dead sheep skins; selling petrol for the C.O.R. Company and farming in the 1950s. Shearing was also carried out as a separate activity and wool could be classed and pressed without being scoured. The shearing board is still in use.
In 1988 Blackall Shire Council took out a 99 year lease. The site has since been subdivided to allow the Historic Woolscour Association to purchase most of the buildings and a substantial amount of associated property. The wool storage shed, on an adjoining property, is currently used by a pet food manufacturer. The bore remains the property of R Politch.
","criteria":"The Blackall Woolscour is important in demonstrating the pattern and evolution of Queensland's history being part of a once flourishing secondary industry which developed in western Queensland in the late 19th and early 20th century in conjunction with the spread of the railway.
|The place demonstrates rare aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage (i) as the only known surviving example of an early 20th century mechanised woolscour in Australia; (ii) for the unusual intactness in an early 20th century rural industrial complex of machinery and equipment which is still substantially in situ.
|The Blackall Woolscour demonstrates the principal characteristics of mechanised woolscours in western Queensland including: (i) an abundant supply of bore water; (ii) the rural setting adjacent to the railway line; and (iii) the dispersed character of the complex with large scale central buildings and scattered outbuildings.
|The Blackall Woolscour exhibits aesthetic characteristics valued by the community including:
\n(i) the evocative character of the buildings, machinery and setting due to the intactness of the site, the extensive use of timber and iron construction and the visible effects of age and use on the building fabric;
\n(ii) the contrast between the simple utilitarian building forms set in an open landscape and the complex internal arrangements of spaces, levels and intricate machinery; and
\n(iii) the well detailed construction of the main building and the examples of bush carpentry in the ancillary structures.
|As a well designed and efficiently organised example of the first generation of fully mechanical scours, the Blackall Woolscour demonstrates a high degree of technical achievement at the time of its construction.
|As a place of interaction between the rural and town communities the Blackall woolscour has a special association with the people of Blackall and the surrounding Shire providing a social, cultural and economic focus in the district.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion F | Criterion G","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage | The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places | The place is important because of its aesthetic significance | The place is important in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period | The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15608,"place_ref":600833,"name":"Tambo Post Office (former)","alternate_name":"Tambo Telecommunications Museum | Post and Telegraph Office Tambo","street_address":"Arthur Street","suburb":"TAMBO","lga":"BLACKALL-TAMBO REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The two former post office buildings are timber structures situated adjacent to the Shire Council chambers and across the street from the 1904 Post Office.
The former 1876 post office is a timber building set on low stumps and constructed of vertical boards and battens with verandahs to all sides. It has a pyramidal roof clad in corrugated iron and the separate verandah awning is also of corrugated iron supported on timber posts. It has a four-room core with a central front door and casement windows. To the rear of the building there is a detached kitchen of similar construction comprising a single room with an awning along the front.
Alongside this building is the 1880s post office extension. This is also a timber building set on low stumps and is T shaped in plan, comprising two rooms facing the street and two rooms, set one behind the other, to the rear. The roof is clad with corrugated iron and is hipped over the front section and gabled at the rear. A verandah with a separate roof runs around the three sides of the front section and is supported on timber posts. The building has a central front door and sash windows.
","history":"Thomas Mitchell first explored the area in 1846 and following subsequent exploration in 1858 by Gregory and by Landsborough and Buchanan in 1860, the first pastoral run in the area was taken up in 1861 to be soon followed by others. By 1864 most pastoral land in the area had been taken up.
Tambo was the first township on the Barcoo River, a town reserve being gazetted on 27 June 1863 as 'Carrangarra'. In 1864 a license was granted for the Barcoo Club Hotel and the settlement quickly developed. In 1866 a Clerk of Petty Sessions was appointed to Carrangarra and a mail service was established at the Royal Carrangarra Hotel with the publican as postmaster. In 1868 the town was surveyed and renamed Tambo. The first land sales were held in the following year although 50 people and 34 buildings were already present in the budding township. In 1873 the post office moved to the store, the storekeeper becoming the Postmaster.
The Overland Telegraph network was begun in Australia in 1854. The first line in Queensland was that established between Ipswich in Brisbane in 1861. Lines continued to be constructed and by 1870 most major coastal towns and some western centres were linked to the system. An Electric Telegraph Station was opened at Tambo on June 16 1874 following the construction of a telegraph line between Tambo and Springsure. This line ran northeast to Springsure through Clermont to Nebo, where it joined the main northern line extending from Brisbane to Dalby through Hawkwood and Camboon to Rockhampton and then to Bowen, Townsville and Cardwell to Normanton on the Gulf of Carpentaria. The line made Tambo a key part of the Australian communications network link. In 1875 a further telegraph line was opened to Charleville and in 1877 to Blackall. In 1876 the first purpose-built Post Office was constructed at the northeast corner of Star and Arthur Streets, Tambo. It was a timber building with a shingle roof and was constructed to a typical plan for a rural post office of the period, being domestic in form with public offices at the front and accommodation for the postmaster and his family at the rear with a detached kitchen at the back.
In 1879 the Post and Telegraph Offices were amalgamated in Queensland and in 1883 a second telegraph line opened between Tambo and Blackall. Tambo was now a major relay station and the old post and telegraph office was inadequate. In 1885 a new building was constructed adjacent to the existing post and telegraph office and the older building became used wholly for accommodation, a common method of extending inadequate premises at the time. The new building consisted of a single room and in 1886 a battery room was added to the rear. Extension of the lines was continued and by 1887 there were five telegraph operators at Tambo. Although some additions were made in 1895 to increase office and mail box space, when the buildings were assessed at Federation, when control passed into the hands of the new Commonwealth Government, they were considered inadequate. A new Post office was planned in 1903 on the site of the existing buildings. Tambo ceased to be a repeating station in 1916 when Charleville became the main station.
When the new post office was completed in 1904 the old buildings were old for removal. The 1876 building was sold to Mr and Mrs Sullivan who were licensees of the nearby Telegraph Hotel and moved across the road to land next to the hotel. Mrs Sullivan had been the widow of Denis Mulhern who had held the licensee of the hotel since its establishment in 1877. Mrs Sullivan had seven adult children from this marriage and the property passed to Denis George Mulhern in 1921. The building remained in use as a dwelling until the mid 1990s.
The 1885 building was sold for removal in 1905 to builder Frank Murch and was also moved across the road to an adjacent block also owned by the Sullivans. A photograph taken in 1906 shows that a verandah had then been added to the front and a room to the rear, presumably to make it more suitable for residential purposes.
In 1922 William and Hannah Volk became licensees of Telegraph Hotel and purchased the 1885 post office building as a residence. Mrs Volk died in 1970 and her home was offered to Tambo Council as a museum. In 1973 the Tambo Shire Council took on responsibility for the building, offering it in 1992 as a venue for the Tambo Teddies scheme. This well-known and highly successful cottage industry project made and sold teddy bears made from local wool. The Teddies project has now moved into the former Shire Hall on the site of the Telegraph Hotel and the former post office buildings now comprise the Tambo Telecommunications Museum.
","criteria":"The former Post Office at Tambo, comprising an 1876 office and separate 1885 extension, illustrates an important phase in the development of a communications network in Queensland. In the late 19th century Tambo was the main communication point in western Queensland north of Charleville and the rapid development of this network is evidenced by the fact that several post and telegraph buildings at Tambo were constructed in sequence as each building became inadequate.
|Although some alterations have occurred, the buildings, particularly the 1876 post office, are rare surviving examples of post office buildings of their era.
|They are good examples of architectural types developed at this time by the Public Works Department, which was instrumental in improving the quality of building design and construction in Queensland.
|The former post office buildings have aesthetic significance as part of a series of public buildings along the main street of Tambo, including the courthouse, an early 20th century post office and the shire hall, which define the visual character of the township.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion D | Criterion E","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage | The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places | The place is important because of its aesthetic significance"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15609,"place_ref":600834,"name":"Tambo Court House (former)","alternate_name":"Tambo Shire Council Library","street_address":"9 Arthur Street","suburb":"TAMBO","lga":"BLACKALL-TAMBO REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The former Court House is a single storey timber building with a hipped roof clad in corrugated iron with gables to the front elevation and over the main entrance. The building is T shaped in plan with the large rectangular courtroom set at right angles to a row of four offices to the rear, one of which has been converted into toilets. A verandah encloses the courtroom on three sides and is shaded by an awning supported on timber posts. A projecting decorative portico marks the entrance to the building, which is approached by low steps. A ramp has been constructed to the side of the building leading to the verandah.
The building has been refitted to suit use as a library but some of the original furniture survives including the Magistrate's Bench and Witness Box.
","history":"The former Courthouse at Tambo is a timber building that was constructed in 1888 and was used for judicial purposes until 1983. It has housed the Tambo Shire Council Library since 1991.
Thomas Mitchell first explored the area in 1846 and following subsequent exploration in 1858 by Gregory and by Landsborough and Buchanan in 1860, the first pastoral run in the area was taken up in 1861 to be soon followed by others. By 1864 most pastoral land in the area had been taken up.
Tambo was the first township on the Barcoo River, the settlement having begun with the establishment of an inn when a license was granted for the Barcoo Club hotel in 1864. A town reserve on the site was proclaimed as 'Carrangarra'.
The area developed quickly developed and in December 1864, Dr William Boyd was appointed Police Magistrate for the Mitchell District. A Clerk of Petty Sessions was appointed to Carrangarra in 1866 and in 1867 the town also had a Police Sergeant. In 1868 the town was surveyed and renamed Tambo. The first land sales were held in the following year although 50 people and 34 buildings were already present in the budding township. A mail service had been established in 1866 at the Royal Carrangarra Hotel with the publican as postmaster, but in 1874 a telegraph line was opened between Springsure and Tambo, making the town a key part of the communications network link with western Queensland. Further telegraph lines were opened to Charleville and to Blackall within a few years.
A building boom occurred in the 1870s during which a hospital, bank, post office, school and courthouse were constructed. The 1874 courthouse soon proved inadequate and tenders were called on 18 November 1886 for a new building. The contract was awarded to F W Bates on 1 January 1887 at a price of £1068. The new court was built to a standard plan, with a large courtroom surrounded by verandahs on three sides, placed at right angles to a row of offices at the rear. It is similar to surviving courthouses at Charleville and Mitchell. In February 1888, the people of Tambo petitioned the Colonial Secretary to have the courtroom furnished with a removable magistrate's bench, jury and witness stands so that the space could also be used for balls and other public events, there being no other public building in the town. The courthouse was ready for occupation by September 1888.
By 1897 the Lands Office, which shared the courthouse, needed more space to conduct its business. An additional office was added to the rear of the courthouse which provided an office and counter area. Other work carried out on the building over the years was largely maintenance and little change occurred.
The Tambo Shire Council acquired the building in 1983 following the erection of a new Police Station/Court House in Tambo. In August 1991 the Tambo Shire Council Library was relocated into the former Court House, which had been adapted for library purposes. The following year the offices at the rear were renovated to accommodate the Community Care Group.
","criteria":"The former Court House Tambo is part of the pattern of development of Queensland's history as evidence of the importance of Tambo when it was the main communication point and administrative centre in western Queensland north of Charleville.
|The former Courthouse is a good example of a small regional courthouse of its era, having a large courtroom with offices for magistrates and court officials to the rear in a T plan that was a standard plan for rural courthouses from the mid-nineteenth century until World War II.
|The former Courthouse has architectural and aesthetic significance as one of a series of public buildings along the main street of Tambo, including the three successive post offices and the shire hall, which define the visual character of the township.
|The former Court House Tambo has had a long connection with the people of Tambo and the surrounding district as the focus for the administration of justice, a venue for public events and as a public library.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion G","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places | The place is important because of its aesthetic significance | The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons"} ]}