The First World War Memorial is located in a prominent location facing the intersection of William and Steley Streets. It is surrounded by a low green painted fence of cast iron posts with decorative finials joined by circular rails.
The sandstone and Italian marble memorial comprises a pedestal surmounted by a digger statue.
It sits on three steps of red painted concrete which are surmounted by a base step of smooth-faced sandstone with chamfered corners. Above this are two more steps, each capped with cyma recta moulding. On the front face of each step is a leaded marble plaque.
The pedestal itself comprises recessed square plates with leaded marble plaques on each face bearing the names of the 37 local soldiers who died in the First World War, including two who Died in Camp. There are also leaded plates listing those who fell in later wars; two in the Second World War, and one in the Korean War. At each corner is an engaged column with Doric order capitals and bases and fluting to the lower half. These support a small cornice, capped with a larger frieze and cornice.
The digger statue stands on a base above the cornice and stands erect with the right foot forward and a tree stump for support. The life-sized statue is of Italian marble. The dress is that of an Italian-Alpino soldier, and his features are also Italian in nature.
","history":"The Howard War Memorial was unveiled on the 18 December 1921 by local war hero and politician, Colonel C D W Rankin who was father of Queenslands first woman Senator, Dame Annabelle Rankin. The pedestal was produced by Maryborough monumental mason, John T Satchwill, and the statue was imported from Italy. The memorial honours the 37 local soldiers who died during the First World War. Later plates honour the two soldiers who fell during the Second World War and one who fell during the Korean War.
In 1918, a Howard and Burrum district memorial committee was established to raise funds for a war memorial. They were assisted by the ladies of the Red Cross in raising approximately £300.
Australia, and Queensland in particular, had few civic monuments before the First World War. The memorials erected in its wake became our first national monuments, recording the devastating impact of the war on a young nation. Australia lost 60 000 from a population of about 4 million, representing one in five of those who served. No previous or subsequent war has made such an impact on the nation.
Even before the end of the war, memorials became a spontaneous and highly visible expression of national grief. To those who erected them, they were as sacred as grave sites, substitute graves for the Australians whose bodies lay in battlefield cemeteries in Europe and the Middle East. British policy decreed that the Empire war dead were to be buried where they fell. The word 'cenotaph', commonly applied to war memorials at the time, literally means 'empty tomb'.
Australian war memorials are distinctive in that they commemorate not only the dead. Australians were proud that their first great national army, unlike other belligerent armies, was composed entirely of volunteers, men worthy of honour whether or not they paid the supreme sacrifice. Many memorials honour all who served from a locality, not just the dead, providing valuable evidence of community involvement in the war. Such evidence is not readily obtainable from military records, or from state or national listings, where names are categorised alphabetically or by military unit.
Australian war memorials are also valuable evidence of imperial and national loyalties, at the time, not seen as conflicting; the skills of local stonemasons, metalworkers and architects; and of popular taste. In Queensland, the soldier statue was the popular choice of memorial, whereas the obelisk predominated in the southern states, possibly a reflection of Queensland's larger working-class population and a lesser involvement of architects.
Many of the First World War monuments have been updated to record local involvement in later conflicts, and some have fallen victim to unsympathetic re-location and repair.
Although there are many different types of memorials in Queensland, the digger statue is the most common. It was the most popular choice of communities responsible for erecting the memorials, embodying the ANZAC myth and representing the qualities of the ideal Australian.....loyalty, courage, youth, innocence and masculinity. The digger was a phenomenon peculiar to Queensland, perhaps due to the fact that other states had followed Britain's lead and established Advisory Boards made up of architects and artists, prior to the erection of war memorials. The digger statue was not highly regarded by artists and architects who were involved in the design of relatively few Queensland memorials
Most statues were constructed by local masonry firms, although some were by artists or imported.
The statue at Howard was imported from Italy and is unique in that no concessions have been made to the appearance of an Australian soldier. The statue is depicted in full Italian Alpino uniform and accoutrements, including badges. The demarcation of the rank of Sergeant is unique to this memorial. It is also one of only two in Queensland to include a back pack, the other being the Bundaberg memorial.
","criteria":"War Memorials are important in demonstrating the pattern of Queensland's history as they are representative of a recurrent theme that involved most communities throughout the state. They provide evidence of an era of widespread Australian patriotism and nationalism, particularly during and following the First World War.
It also has a special association with monumental mason, John T Satchwill as an example of his work.
|However, it is also highly significant as an example of an imported statue which was in no way modified for its Australian purchasers. Demarcation of rank is unique among soldier statues in Queensland and the inclusion of a backpack rare occurring elsewhere only on Bundaberg's war memorial. This statue is the most notably alien of all the imported statues on Queensland war memorials.
|The monuments manifest a unique documentary record and are demonstrative of popular taste in the inter-war period.
Erected in 1921, the memorial at Howard demonstrates the principal characteristics of a commemorative structure erected as an enduring record of a major historical event. This is achieved through the use of appropriate materials and design elements. As a digger statue it is representative of the most popular form of memorial in Queensland.
|The Howard memorial is of aesthetic significance both as a landmark and for its high degree of workmanship and design. It occupies a prominent corner, providing a focus for the entire town.
|The memorial has a strong association with the community as evidence of the impact of a major historic event. It also has a special association with monumental mason, John T Satchwill as an example of his work.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion D | Criterion E | 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 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":15464,"place_ref":600689,"name":"Maryborough Cemetery","alternate_name":"Cemetery Shelter; Cemetery Kiosk; Mortuary Chapel","street_address":"Walker Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"Maryborough Cemetery is located on the outskirts of Maryborough, approximately 4km west of the CBD. It is divided by Walker Street into northern and southern sections, with the southern section known as the Monumental Cemetery and the northern section as the Garden of Rest Lawn Cemetery. The cemetery reserve is bounded by the Bruce Highway and Bright Street to the west, Kent Street to the south, an industrial estate to the south east, Slaughterhouse Road to the northeast and bushland to the north.
\nViews to both cemeteries are partially screened by perimeter plantings of mature trees. Within the cemetery grounds, views across the individual sections are generally open offering vistas of the burial sites. A variety of fencing types are used to enclose the cemeteries, none of which are early or significant. The Lawn Cemetery has two vehicular access points from Walker Street, while the Monumental Cemetery has three access points – one each from Walker, Bright and Kent Streets. The Walker Street entrance is the main pedestrian entrance and retains its early timber gate posts. This entrance also aligns with the only built structure within the Monumental Cemetery – the Mortuary Chapel.
\nMonumental Cemetery (1873 - )
\nThe monumental cemetery comprises ten approximately square-shaped denominational sections, each divided into two equal parts by a gravel pathway running in an east-west direction. There are also a number of smaller sections along Walker Street, in the southwest corner bordering onto Bright and Kent Streets, and a small section in the northeast corner. The sections are labelled alphabetically and recently erected, colour-coded posts at the corners of each section assist with identification. Sections A (Baptist and Independent) and B (Lutheran) in the southeast corner are located at the original Kent Street entrance and each have a small rectangular area excised on their southern edge. Section F (Roman Catholic) in the northeast corner extends further to the east than other sections, with sections T and RC at its eastern edge (the extent of unmarked burials along this eastern edge is unclear). The sections are divided by a grid of gravel driveways. Drainage ditches run alongside the driveways in places and may contain evidence of early drainage systems and pipes.
\nBurial plots all face east and are arranged in straight rows. Many are identified by a cast iron metal peg displaying a number that corresponds with the burial register. The cemetery includes single, double and family burial sites. There are a number of unmarked plots in between the established gravesites, the number varying across the sections. The largest areas of unmarked graves are located in the older sections, with very few headstones in sections G and H (containing non-Christians and paupers). A memorial for the people buried in unmarked graves is located on the northwest corner of Section F.
\nMature plantings around the perimeter of the monumental cemetery include very large figs trees (possibly Banyan Figs, Ficus benghalensis), stands of bamboo (Bambusa), and several varieties of pines, including Cypress (Cupressus sp.), Hoop (Araucaria cunninghamii), Norfolk Island (Araucaria heterophylla) and Bunya pines (Araucaria bidwillii). Feature trees and avenue plantings of a variety of species are also located throughout the cemetery, particularly along driveways. The driveway between the Walker Street entrance and the Mortuary Chapel is lined with large, mature shrubs (species undetermined), which are remnants of a former planting scheme.
\nThe cemetery contains many substantial headstones of high quality design and craftsmanship, dating from the 1860s to the present day. Many of these are excellent examples of the design work and craft skills of monumental masons. Materials used include marble, sandstone, granite, concrete and metal. The more elaborate memorials demonstrate a variety of monumental forms, including vaults, ledger stones, obelisks and sarcophagi. Grave surrounds such as concrete curbing and/or slabs are commonly used throughout the cemetery, occasionally decorated with ceramic tiles or painted. Other materials used to surround or fill a grave include stones, gravel and shells. Larger enclosures, such as family plots, are often delineated by low fences of cast or wrought iron, some of which are ornate. Others have low concrete posts with chains slung between them.
\nA wide range of Victorian and Edwardian-era memorial symbols are also on display throughout the cemetery, including Calvary crosses, Celtic crosses, draped urns, broken columns, anchors, mourning angels and cherubs, figures of Jesus and Mary, carved garlands, flowers (eg, passion flowers, lillies, roses etc.), stars, doves, ivy, clover, grapes, and clasped hands. Some ornamentation references the deceased's occupation, hobby or association with a particular society - such as a circular saw blade, rifle or a square and compass (Freemason’s symbol). There are also a variety of grave ornaments, including immortelles and urns for holding flowers, and large sea shells. Monuments in the mid to late-twentieth century sections tend to be more modest, with mainly upright slabs with concrete grave surrounds or slab-and-desk monuments. There are also a number of soldiers graves with plaques or standard marble headstones located throughout the monumental cemetery.
\nHeadstone inscriptions demonstrate a range of languages other than English, including Chinese and German. Some inscriptions include biographical information about the person's life or the circumstances of their death.
\nNon-significant elements within the monumental cemetery include post-1970s plantings (particularly Cadaghi trees, Corymbia torelliana) and modern signage.
\nMortuary Chapel
\nThe Mortuary Chapel is prominently sited at the intersection of two principal axes, in line with the Walker Street entrance. It stands between the earliest sections of four of the major denominations: sections C (Wesleyan Methodist), D (Presbyterian), E (Church of England) and F (Roman Catholic). The timber building comprises two intersecting barrel vaults, producing four identical round arched entrances. Surmounting the point of intersection of the vaults is a tall fleche, in the form of a tower and dome, which doubles the full height of the building. The vaulted parts of the building are constructed with timber-framed walls clad externally with horizontal timber chamferboards (weatherboards on the sloping surfaces of the tower) and internally with diagonally-laid tongue and groove boarding. The curved roofs of the vaults are clad with corrugated iron. The entrances are ornamented with wide, carved timber fascia boards which rest visually on timber piers flanking the entrances. Internally the ceiling space is lined with regularly spaced timber trusses in the vaulted sections, and lined with timber boarding over the intersection. Low timber bench seats run along the base of each wall.
\nThe timber tower is supported on heavy timber beams with brackets, found inside the chapel at the four corners of the central internal space. The tower has a rocket-like quality, as it tapers from an octagonal base to a narrower octagonal drum surmounted by an octagonal domed roof, clad with flat metal sheeting. On each face of the octagonal base and drum are round arched openings in-filled with small fixed timber louvres. Similar louvred openings are also found in each wall of the barrel-vaulted entrances.
\n‘Garden of Rest’ Lawn Cemetery (1960 - ), including the War Cemetery (1942-45)
\nThe lawn cemetery comprises rectangular grassed lawns divided by a grid of bitumen or gravel driveways. Access is via a main entrance gate at the western end of the front (Walker Street) boundary or a secondary driveway entrance at the eastern end, which leads to a small car park in front of a site office (c1993) and modern, metal-clad sheds. To the west of the car park along the front boundary are a War Cemetery and a Columbarium Section. To the east of the car park are two brick and fibro-clad residences with pyramid roofs. Both residences stand within a separate fenced yard. The cemetery reserve to the north and east of the residences remains undeveloped with remnant bush vegetation. The northwest corner of the 1960 lawn cemetery extent is a former garden area with a hip-roofed brick amenities and shelter block.
\nThe main entrance gates are constructed from orange brick, with metal gates attached to two high, tiered brick columns with a square profile and recessed ornamental panels. Low brick walls extend from either side for a short distance with pedestrian gates at either end. The metal pedestrian gates feature the lettering MCC (standing for Maryborough City Council).
\nIn five of the six lawn sections the graves are arranged in straight, regularly-spaced rows and marked with uniformly-sized, east-facing plaques set flat into the lawn. Plaques are made from a variety of materials, including granite and brass, and some have tiled borders. A more recently developed section in the northeast corner has plaques attached to concrete strips surrounded by a concrete border and filled in with gravel. Grave plaques in this section are either flat or raised on an angle, and many are ornamented with inset or placed vases.
\nThe War Cemetery is a small rectangular lawn area enclosed by shrubbery with a small brick gateway to Walker Street. The ten marble headstones are standard Commonwealth War Graves Commission designs, arranged facing east in a single row and standing within a continuous garden bed.
\nThe Columbarium Section occupies an oval-shaped area bordered by hedges and garden beds, with a flat-roofed, brick shelter shed in the centre. Standalone columbarium walls radiate out from the shed, the earliest of which are made from brick on a concrete base, while recent walls are of pale grey granite. The Columbarium Garden is a long rectangular area of lawn between the Columbarium Section and the main entrance drive. It comprises a small number of marked plots with concrete edging.
\nSeveral avenues and feature trees of various species have been planted throughout the lawn cemetery over time, most dating from the 1970s onwards. Some large gum trees and a pair of mature fig trees (species undetermined) survive along the Walker Street boundary.
\nNon-significant elements within the heritage boundary of the lawn cemetery include the chain link fence along the Walker Street boundary; the site office and sheds; the brick and fibro residences; recent garden beds; and modern signage, garbage bins and bench seating.
\n","history":"
Maryborough Cemetery was established in 1873 in the regional port town of Maryborough in the Wide Bay district. The cemetery demonstrates the evolution of burial practices from the 1870s to the present day, and includes a monumental cemetery (established 1873), a mortuary chapel (1883-84) designed by architect Willoughby Powell, a War Cemetery (1942-45) and a “Garden of Rest” lawn cemetery (established 1960).
\nMaryborough Cemetery is the third cemetery established in Maryborough. The first cemetery was part of the original Maryborough township (QHR 602393), which was located to the northwest of the current city centre on the bank of the Mary River. The township was occupied between 1848 and 1855 and the cemetery was situated on the high ground to the northeast of the settlement (near the intersection of Alice and Aldridge Streets). In 1850 government appointed surveyor Hugh R Labatt selected a new site for the town further downriver, as it was a more suitable location for a port. Both sites were surveyed in 1850 and the township of Maryborough was declared in 1851. The first blocks of the new town site (near the current Queen's Park, QHR 600708) were sold on 14 January 1852. As trade at the port of Maryborough grew the settlers gradually relocated there and the original township was virtually abandoned by 1856. A second cemetery was established within the bounds of the new town, in Kent Street.[1]
\nMaryborough was proclaimed a Port of Entry in 1859 and a municipality in 1861. An influx of immigrants, including many of Scottish, Scandinavian and German origin, began with the arrival of the \"Ariadne\" in 1862. Early exports from the port included wool, timber, tallow, sugar, and coal. Maryborough became the port for Gympie after gold was discovered there in 1867.[2] The sugar industry expanded around Maryborough (a mill was built in 1865), and a large timber mill opened. Sensing an opportunity, John Walker of Ballarat, Victoria, opened a branch engineering works, trusting that his experience with mining machinery would also bring contracts from Gympie.[3]
\nBy 1861 the location of the second cemetery was already considered unsuitable by the Municipal Council, due to the shallow depth of the soil, its small size and its close proximity to the town. According to Alderman Dowser, at a council meeting held on 3 July 1861, the site was “on a rocky ridge, and a very unpleasant odour arose in hot weather”. It was suggested by Alderman Howard that “they should imitate the practise now being adopted in England of removing cemeteries out of town”, and that they should postpose their decision to relocate the cemetery until a Bill for the regulation of cemeteries was passed by Parliament.[4]
\nDuring the eighteenth and nineteenth century European cemetery practices changed, with new cemeteries being established separately from churches and located away from town centres for reasons of hygiene and health. Cemeteries such as Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris (1804) were very influential, while in Great Britain a number of cemeteries were established by private companies. Cemetery planning also became important, with the grid plan predominating in Britain by the end of the 19th century. In broad terms, these were the traditions which were drawn upon in colonial Australia when makeshift graveyards were replaced by more planned arrangements. In Queensland the Cemetery Act 1865 provided for the establishment of general cemeteries under the control of local trustees – the model that was used to establish the third Maryborough Cemetery.[5]
\nA site for the new cemetery was selected in 1863. A report from the Cemetery Committee to the Council recommended section 169 on the north side of Kent Street, approximately 2.5 miles (4km) from the centre of town, comprising an area of 69 acres and 22 perches (approx. 28ha). The site was described as “beautifully situated, embracing as it does both sides of the hill, and having a very regular fall north and south”. The report was adopted after testing of the soil depth was undertaken.[6]
\nIt was not until 1871 that both the second cemetery and the new cemetery were officially gazetted as cemetery reserves. In the meantime, a board of Cemetery Trustees was appointed in September 1970, composed of representatives from the principal religious denominations in Maryborough. Works to prepare the new cemetery were underway by 1872, including tree clearing and plans to construct a “neat and ornamental” lodge for the sexton.[7]
\nThe new cemetery opened in June 1873, with the first burial taking place on 2 June (seven-year-old Ada Purser).[8] The second cemetery was closed by proclamation on 7 June.[9] The new cemetery originally occupied the central portion of the reserve, covering only about a third of its total area.[10] It was laid out in a grid of gravel pathways and divided into sections by denomination, including Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian, Wesleyan Methodist, Lutheran, and Baptist and Independent. Smaller sections at the rear (northern) end of the grounds were reserved for non-Christians (including Aboriginal, South Sea Islander, Chinese, Indian, Jamaican and Japanese people), paupers, suicide victims and executed criminals. The sexton’s cottage was located near the Kent Street entrance gate at the southern end.[11]
\nBy October 1875 the cemetery was well established with just over 500 burials, and its appearance received praise in the local newspapers. It was described as surrounded by a ‘sightly and substantial’ fence with an ornamental gate at the main entrance from Kent Street. A straight, broad, gravelled path divided the reserve into two parts, with space allowed for cross walks between the alphabetical divisions. Plantings included shrubs along part of the perimeter fence, different varieties of shade trees flanking the main pathway, and flower beds adjacent to the sexton’s cottage. An article in the Maryborough Chronicle commented that it did not have the usual “gloomy grotesqueness” of older cemeteries, conveying instead the impression of “…a cheerful and well-kept garden”.[12] A year later, improvements to the cemetery were carried out, including additional tree clearing, forming of the cross walks with space for trees and flowers along the borders, and the cutting of drainage ditches and a water race. The Trustees made an appeal to the public for donations of trees and plants to ornament the cemetery.[13] By February 1877 a gardener’s lodge had been added to the site, near the main entrance, and space had been reserved for the erection of mortuary chapels within each denominational section.[14]
\nDuring the 1880s the colony of Queensland prospered. The population of Maryborough and district grew dramatically between 1876 and 1881, and this continued into the late 1880s.[15] Maryborough's dominance as a regional centre was strengthened when a railway line connecting Gympie to Maryborough's port was completed in 1881.[16] The years 1870 to 1890 were extremely profitable for Maryborough and new commercial establishments, industries and financial and other institutions were established in the town. Many significant buildings were constructed, reflecting the prosperity of the times, including Maryborough Court House (1877, QHR 600714), the Bank of New South Wales (1877, QHR 600711), St Paul's Church of England (1879, QHR 600705), Maryborough Railway Station (1880, QHR 600702), Maryborough Grammar School buildings (boys' in 1881 and girls' in 1883, QHR 600697), the Criterion Hotel (1883, QHR 600719), Maryborough Hospital (1888, QHR 601907), and the Maryborough School of Arts (1888, QHR 600701) - as well as fine, architect-designed suburban villas for wealthy residents.[17]
\nThe 1880s saw significant changes and improvements to the new Maryborough Cemetery. In November 1882 the Maryborough Cemetery Land Sale Bill was assented to in Parliament, allowing the cemetery trustees to sell off the unused portion of the second cemetery for residential development. The land was auctioned in July 1883 and the proceeds from the sale were used to improve both cemeteries, including erecting an ornamental fence around the second cemetery, improving the existing buildings at the new cemetery site, and commencing plans for a mortuary chapel. [18]
\nAn article in the Maryborough Chronicle on 31 May 1883 expressed the Maryborough citizens’ desire for a mortuary chapel to provide shelter for mourners and be “a fitting ornament to the grounds”. In August 1883, plans to construct “a large octagonal mortuary chapel with open sides” were underway, and it was to be positioned “in the centre of the grounds, to where the paths through the different sections of the different denominations all converge.” In October 1883, tenders for the construction of a mortuary chapel and sexton’s cottage were invited by the architect, Willoughby Powell, and the successful contractor was Clement and Son. Construction of the chapel began in November 1883 and it was completed in 1884.[19]
\nThe architect, Willoughby Powell, was born in Cheltenham, England, in about 1848 and was articled to the Cheltenham City Architect before emigrating to Queensland where he worked for architect Richard Gailey. He joined the Public Works Department as a draftsman in June 1874 but won a competition for the Toowoomba Grammar School and left his government position to supervise the construction works in 1875. He maintained a practice in Toowoomba until 1878 before returning to practice in Brisbane in 1879. [20]
\nBetween 1882 and 1885 Powell worked in Maryborough, and during this time he designed many important buildings including Baddow House, the Royal Exchange Hotel, shops, the grandstand and stables at the Maryborough Turf Club, Tattersall's Hotel, Cafe Royal Hotel and a parsonage in Lennox Street. Powell again returned to practice in Brisbane in 1885 and designed the Warwick Town Hall and the third Toowoomba Town Hall. After the collapse of the local building trade in 1892 Powell remained substantially unemployed until he was again appointed to the Works Department in 1896 where he remained until 1902. Powell designed many fine buildings throughout Queensland and the Mortuary Chapel was one of the most unusual.[21]
\nMortuary Chapels are most commonly chapels associated with tombs located in a church, however it is also the term used to describe a cemetery chapel or other structure where “coffined bodies briefly lie before disposal”. As a building type this form of mortuary chapel is relatively rare. In some cemeteries, the mortuary chapel is located at the entrance to the cemetery grounds and is more typically a chapel, although the structure often also served as the vehicular access point. At Maryborough, although services were sometimes conducted in the Chapel, the predominant purpose was to provide shelter to funeral parties and the cortege. In some cemeteries, structures erected for similar purposes are more prosaically known as “shelter sheds”. The William Mitchner Shelter Shed (1926) at the Warwick General Cemetery, although quite a different style of building, shares some similarities with Maryborough. The octagonal structure is a single storey brick and cement building designed with bell tower and seating accommodation. A smaller masonry shelter shed (also dedicated to William Mitchner) was constructed at Allora Cemetery in 1926, with a square plan, gothic arched openings and windows, and a square timber steeple.[22]
\nThe Mortuary Chapel at Maryborough Cemetery was an intricate single-storey timber framed structure, cruciform in plan (two intersecting barrel vaults creating four transepts) with a domed tower (known as a fleche) at the centre. The tall rocket-like form of the fleche stood as a highly unusual folly in the generally flat cemetery grounds. The Chapel straddled the intersection of two cemetery roadways with arched openings large to admit a hearse and mourners. Timber fascias on the barrel vaulted, semi-circular arched openings and a horizontal band on the fleche were decorated with repetitive Gothic patterning and carving. The centrally placed chapel served all denominations, with the four entrances ensuring that each of the surrounding religious sections had equal access and ownership of the small chapel. [23]
\nIn addition to the construction of new buildings the cemetery layout also changed, with the Trustees announcing in October 1883 that they intended to move the main entrance from the south (Kent Street) boundary to the north (Walker Street) boundary. One likely reason for this was the construction of the Burrum Railway extension (formally opened 30 March 1883) which cut off the western end of Kent Street from the centre of town, making Walker Street the more convenient access road. The railway line ran close along the east side of the cemetery reserve and the northeast corner was resumed for railway purposes. Also in 1883, an addition of four acres on the opposite side of Walker Street was gazetted as cemetery reserve. This land was fenced and used as a parking area for visitor’s horses and buggies.[24]
\nThe location of the Sexton’s cottage designed by Powell remains unclear. The two cottages shown on an 1885 survey plan near the Kent Street entrance were probably the first sexton’s cottage and gardener’s lodge, both constructed in the 1870s.[25] Neither of these cottages survives, with one of them sold and removed from the site in 1930.[26] It is possible that the Powell-designed cottage was the one constructed on the north side of Walker Street within the 1883 cemetery reserve extension. Positioned directly opposite the main entrance gate, this residence was a timber building with an L-shaped verandah, surrounded by a fenced yard. It was demolished c1977 and two other residences (constructed between 1964 and 1977), a site office (c1993) and sheds have been constructed in the area.[27]
\nOrnamental plants were integral to the cemetery’s layout. The cemetery’s reputation as a beauty spot was due in a large part to its trees and gardens, the result of careful planning and maintenance by the sexton and cemetery gardeners. Sexton Harry Nicholas Hansen, who began working at the cemetery as a young man in the late 1870s, was renowned in Maryborough for the rose gardens he created at the cemetery and often exhibited his blooms at local flower shows.[28] When the Governor of Queensland, Sir Henry Wylie Norman, visited the cemetery in 1890 he was presented with a bunch of Hansen’s roses.[29] The cemetery trustees, all members of the Queensland Acclimatisation Society, undertook a planting program in 1886, and in 1891 the cemetery was described as “a paradise of flowers”. Tree plantings focussed primarily on the driveways and the perimeter of the cemetery, with photographs showing palms and pine trees used in early schemes.[30]
\nThe cemetery’s extensive collection of memorials and monuments dating from the 1870s provide important evidence of the social, demographic and cultural history of Maryborough and district. The early pattern of immigrant settlement is reflected in the numerous Scottish, English, Irish, German and Scandinavian names found on the headstones, as well as the many Chinese graves located throughout the cemetery.
\nMaryborough Cemetery is the resting place of many notable citizens of the town, such as Edgar Thomas Aldridge (1817-1888), pioneer of the original Maryborough township and owner of Baddow House (QHR 600690); Henry (Harry) Palmer (1822-1916), pioneer and first Mayor of Maryborough; William Simpson Sim (c1854-1929), pioneer of the Maryborough timber industry; Dave Weir (1881-1929), Labor Member for Maryborough; Andrew Dunn (c1854-1934), newspaper proprietor, former Mayor of Maryborough and Member of the Legislative Council; nurses Cecelia Elizabeth Bauer (1883-1905) and Rose Adelaide Wiles (1877-1905) who died from pneumonic plague after nursing a family of sick children; and Martin Geraghty (c1836-1904) and Patrick Brennan (c1845-1914), founders of an important Maryborough trading enterprise (Brennan and Geraghtys Store, QHR 600704).[31]
\nOther burials are associated with epidemics, accidents and disasters that affected the Maryborough community: victims of numerous industrial and railway accidents, for example seven men killed by a boiler explosion at Pettigrew and Sim’s Union Saw Mills in 1872; drowning victims such as 16-year-old John Barrett (died 1884) whose dinghy capsized in the Mary River; victims of horse and vehicular incidents, such three-year-old Muriel Ross who was thrown from a buggy (died 1897); several victims of an influenza epidemic in 1919; and victims of misadventure, such as brothers William and James Bayley who died in 1932 from accidental poisoning.[32] Graves of soldiers from World War I and later conflicts are also located throughout the cemetery.
\nCharacteristic of late-Victorian cemeteries, Maryborough Cemetery contains a wide variety of elaborate monuments that reflect popular taste at the time. The works of many notable monumental masons (both local and Brisbane-based) are represented, including: Andrew L Petrie (Brisbane); P J Lowther and Sons (Brisbane); J Simmonds (Brisbane); Webb and Gibbs (Kent Street, Maryborough); W Prout (Lennox Street, Maryborough); Henry Brereton (Kent Street, Maryborough); and J Knight (corner of Alice and John Streets, Maryborough).[33]
\nIn the early 20th century the cemetery continued to grow while its condition deteriorated. The Roman Catholic section (in the northeast corner) was extended to the east in 1904 as it had nearly reached capacity, and the (as yet unused) cemetery reserve on the north side of Walker Street was extended by 34 acres, 23 perches (13.8ha) in 1914.[34] In the 1920s the Cemetery Trust found it could no longer afford to maintain and operate the cemetery, and in late 1923 control of the cemetery passed to the Maryborough City Council. This coincided with the retirement of the sexton of 45 years, Harry Hansen.[35]
\nBetween 1907 and 1921, relatives of people buried at the closed second cemetery were given the opportunity by the Cemetery Trustees and Maryborough City Council to relocate headstones and remains to the current cemetery. The second cemetery site was later redeveloped as a public park (now the Elizabeth Park Rose Gardens).[36]
\nFrom c1928 a new main road was constructed from the northwest corner of the cemetery (the western end of Walker Street) northwest to Saltwater Creek, and in the late 1930s-early 1940s this road was upgraded to become part of the Northern Highway (renamed the Bruce Highway in 1944). [37] The cemetery reserve on the northern side of Walker Street was extended to the northwest in March 1939, increasing the total reserve area to its maximum extent of 324 acres (131ha), bounded by the Northern Highway to the west and the North Coast Railway to the east.[38]
\nIn 1939 an avenue of tall pine trees lining the driveway from the entrance gates to the Mortuary Chapel were removed due to an infestation of borers. The Maryborough Chronicle described the trees as well-known landmarks and noted that the Council intended to plant crotons and other shrubs in their place in an effort to beautify the grounds.[39]
\nA war cemetery was established in 1942 on the north side of Walker Street, to the west of the Sexton’s cottage. The original plan allowed for four plots of 64 graves each, however only ten servicemen, all of whom died between 1942 and 1945, were buried there. Initially marked by wooden crosses, these were later replaced with marble headstones of a standard Commonwealth War Graves Commission design. A timber picket fence was constructed along Walker Street in front of the cemetery. [40]
\nIn 1956 preparations for extending the cemetery on the north side of Walker Street began. The new section, covering approximately 30 acres (12ha) was to incorporate the “latest trends” in cemetery layout, based on Brisbane City Council cemetery examples. Rather than upright headstones, only ground-level “Garden of Rest” plaques would be allowed in the area fronting the road, and a “rest-room and hygiene block” was to be constructed within the grounds.[41]
\nResponding to international trends, a new type of cemetery emerged in the mid-20th century in Queensland that shifted burial practices away from traditional monumental cemeteries, which were difficult to maintain and vulnerable to vandalism, towards garden or lawn cemeteries. In 1949 the Queensland Government approved ordinances which allowed the Brisbane City Council, by resolution, to prohibit the erection of walls, fences, vaults, monuments or other structures in a cemetery. A memorial plaque, laid to ground level, was to become the standard in new burial grounds. Hemmant and Mt Gravatt cemeteries were selected for the new layout, and by the end of 1949 two sections of the Hemmant cemetery with an area for 3000 graves, were under construction. The Hemmant ‘Garden of Rest’ came into operation during the year 1952-53, and was described as presenting ‘a peaceful sylvan setting’.[42] It set the standard for cemetery design in the state, with existing cemeteries creating new “Garden of Rest” sections as they expanded.[43] Dedicated lawn cemeteries (without an earlier monumental section) appeared in the second half of the twentieth century.[44]
\nMaryborough’s lawn cemetery was laid out in large rectangular sections, separated by driveways and divided into two categories: Roman Catholic and Protestant. Graves were to be marked with regularly-spaced rectangular plaques set into the lawn. Several brick structures were constructed, including a wall and gates at the entrance to the main driveway in the southwest corner, a small gate to the War Cemetery, a brick amenities block in the northwest corner, and a shelter shed.[45]
\nThe Garden of Rest was officially opened in 1960.[46] While it remains predominantly open grass lawns, over time trees of various species have been planted alongside driveways and pathways and within some plots. A columbarium garden now surrounds the shelter shed, with the first columbarium walls constructed by 1969.[47] Over time, to distinguish between the two sections, the earlier cemetery south of Walker Street became known as the monumental cemetery.
\nBetween 1965 and 1980 the extent of the cemetery reserve along the eastern side of the monumental cemetery was gradually reduced by the construction of a road (now Kingston Drive, originally surveyed in 1928) and the excising of unused land for industrial purposes.[48] In 1969 a portion of the reserve was excised along the western boundary of the lawn cemetery as a reserve for a crematorium, which was constructed by 1977.[49] From the 1970s large numbers of trees (including Cadaghi’s, Corymbia torelliana) were planted along driveways and pathways within both the monumental and lawn sections.[50] Due to these trees causing damage to drainage pipes and monuments, as well as interrupting sightlines, many have since been removed.
\nIn 1983, its centenary year, the Mortuary Chapel underwent restoration works, which were funded by a grant of $15,000 to Maryborough City Council under the National Estate Programme. Restoration works included the repair and replacement of damaged timberwork, re-roofing and painting.[51]
\nToday the cemetery continues to be the main cemetery for Maryborough, with new sections of the lawn cemetery being developed in a variety of configurations. In 2004 approximately 44ha was excised from the northern end of the cemetery reserve, reducing the total area of the reserve to 67.26ha.[52] New signage has been erected at entrance gates and recently erected signage posts at the corners of each burial section in the monumental cemetery assist with navigation and interpretation of the site.
","criteria":"Maryborough Cemetery, established in 1873 as Maryborough’s third cemetery, illustrates the growth and development of Maryborough as a major port town in nineteenth century Queensland. It is important in demonstrating the pattern of establishing large public cemeteries in regional centres throughout Queensland following the passing of the Cemetery Act 1865.
\nThe layout of the cemetery and its wide variety of monuments demonstrates the evolution of nineteenth and twentieth century burial practices, as well as providing evidence of the occupations, social composition and demography of the Maryborough district, in particular the diversity of the town's cultural, religious and ethnic groups since the 1870s.
\nMajor improvements made to the cemetery in the 1880s are illustrative of a boom period in Maryborough’s history, with the large and elaborate Mortuary Chapel (1883-84), designed by noted architect Willoughby Powell, surviving as the most prominent reminder of this time.
|The Mortuary Chapel is an important example of a building type that is rare. Designed to provide shelter to funeral parties, the structure, with its tall tower, decorative timberwork and four entrances positioned over a main axis of the entrance drive, is unique in Queensland.
|Maryborough Cemetery has the potential to contribute knowledge that will lead to a greater understanding of burial practices in a major Queensland centre from the late nineteenth to early twentieth century.
\nInvestigation of the sites of the first (c1873) and second (c1884) Sexton’s cottages have the potential to reveal information about this type of residence and the life and role of the Sexton in the management of cemeteries.
\nThe Cemetery contains monuments and grave surrounds from Maryborough’s second cemetery (1850s-1873) which may be the only surviving evidence of this earlier cemetery and therefore an important source of information.
\nMaryborough Cemetery also has the potential to reveal unmarked graves, outside the known extent of burial sections.
|Maryborough Cemetery is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a large public cemetery that has evolved over time. The progressive layering, development and diversity of styles of memorialisation contained within the cemetery, including the establishment of a lawn cemetery in the twentieth century, documents changing attitudes to burial practices and fashions in funerary ornamentation since the 1870s.
\nThe monumental cemetery (established 1873) is an excellent, intact example of a late-nineteenth century cemetery, retaining its original grid layout of driveways and pathways, separate denominational sections, mature trees, remnants of early planting schemes, and a variety of headstones and monuments that reflect the social, religious and architectural history of Maryborough from the 1870s to the 21st century.
\nThe Mortuary Chapel (1883-84), a fine and unique example of the work of architect Willoughby Powell, is intact, and continues to serve its dual role as an ornamental cemetery feature and a shelter shed for funeral parties and visitors. It retains its cruciform layout of four covered entrances, timber bench seating, decorative timberwork and domed tower.
\nThe War Cemetery (1942-45) is a modest, intact example of its type, illustrating the design principles of a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery, comprising uniform marble headstones in a straight row set within manicured gardens, which serve to make a dignified and reverential memorial site.
\nThe Garden of Rest lawn cemetery (established 1960) demonstrates the twentieth century shift in burial practices towards cemeteries that were easier to maintain and more uniform in appearance. Remaining largely intact, it retains is rectangular layout of grassed lawns, regularly-spaced and uniformly-sized plaques set into the lawn or along concrete strips, mature trees, entrance gates, shelter shed and columbarium garden, and amenities block.
|Maryborough Cemetery has aesthetic significance as a picturesque landscaped site that creates an atmosphere conducive to repose and reflection that was, and remains, an essential part of the ritual of honouring and remembering the dead.
\nThe monumental cemetery possesses evocative qualities generated by extensive vistas framed by tree-lined drives and pathways; the formal grid layout and ordered arrangement of monuments and plaques; perimeter plantings of large, mature trees; remnants of early planting schemes; and the variety, age, quality and extent of the headstones and monuments.
\nThe striking Mortuary Chapel has strong landmark qualities, is highly ornamental, and acts as a focal point within the monumental cemetery. Picturesque views of the chapel are obtained along the driveways and from the various denominational sections through gaps in the trees.
|As Maryborough’s principal place of public burial since 1873, Maryborough Cemetery has a special association with the community for social and spiritual reasons. It forms an essential component of the ritual of honouring and remembering the dead which continues to be important to the community.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion C | Criterion D | Criterion E | 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 has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding 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":15465,"place_ref":600690,"name":"Baddow House","alternate_name":"Baddow House Maryborough","street_address":"366 Queen Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"Baddow House is a large, two-storey residence with an extensive garden on the northern end of a ridge beside the Mary River, Maryborough. On two equal lots totalling 7284 m2, the land is bound on the north-western and south-western sides by treed parkland, on the north-eastern side by an unformed road reserve for Queen Street, and on the south-eastern side by Russell Street. The front of the house faces north-east to the road reserve and views to the Mary River are to the west.
The building is of brick construction rendered and scored to resemble ashlar coursing. It has a hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheets and a timber verandah with twin steel posts and decorative cast metal balustrade that wraps around the north-east, north-west, and south-west sides on both levels. The building, sitting within an established garden of lawns, trees, and garden beds, is in a Neo-Georgian style and the principal elevations are symmetrically composed. The house roof has three large, cement-rendered chimneys with mouldings and conical metal roof ventilators.
The north-eastern (front) elevation is viewed from the reserve of Queen Street below. A wide, central, cement-rendered stair leads from the garden onto the verandah. Flanking the entrance doorway and projecting onto the verandah are two octagonal bay windows rising across both levels with separate hipped roofs. Entrance is through a large round arched opening fitted with a panelled door surrounded by sidelight and a fanlight. The windows are large square headed openings fitted with double-hung, timber framed sashes.
The verandah is a reconstruction; has a timber floor, decorative cast-metal balustrade, frieze, and brackets; timber handrail; and panels of timber lattice screening the corners of the upper level. Under its own roof, the verandah wraps around to the symmetrical north-western elevation composed of three large windows and continues around onto the south-western elevation composed of one octagonal bay window and a secondary entrance via a central square-headed opening fitted with a panelled and glazed door surrounded by sidelights and a fanlight. The rear, south-eastern elevation, visible from Russell Street, has a central back door and a projecting service block at the eastern end containing laundry (ground floor) and bathroom (first floor). The laundry has large timber fixed louvred windows and the bathroom has small square-headed windows. The service block has a parapet roof that conceals a roof level water tank that supplied the rooms below. This tank was filled by a hand pump mounted externally on the wall at ground level which is connected to the underground beehive tanks nearby. The verandah on the upper level returns along the rear façade at the western end but it is narrower. Abutting the southern corner of the rear is a one-storey extension with hipped roofs and a large awning. This extension is designed to imitate traditional detail but is not of cultural heritage significance.
The plan of the two-storey part of the house is repeated on the two levels. A central, T-shaped hall provides access to the five main rooms and a decorative timber switch back stair with decorative turned balustrade and carved newel post finial provides vertical circulation. Generally, the interior walls are plaster with timber skirtings, timber architraves, and plaster cornices, all moulded. The floors and ceilings are timber boards. Internal doors are timber with four panels with bolection moulding and glazed horizontal-pivoting fanlights. The six fireplaces have moulded timber mantelpieces and metal fire surrounds and either a metal grate or stove. A timber partition of horizontal beaded boards divides the northern rooms on the upper level and this wall in the lower level contains large folding door with six panels with bolection moulding and matching timber panelling above the opening. The ceilings on the ground floor rooms are 4.2 m high with those of the first floor being 3.7 m high. The house contains cedar joinery throughout. The house contains much furniture and paintings brought into the house by the current owners. An octagonal side table and two framed paintings are in the dining room and may have been owned by the Aldridges. The Aldridge Collection is held by the Maryborough Military and Colonial Museum and contains domestic items donated to the museum by a member of the Aldridge family. It may give providence for the side table and paintings and also evidence of the domestic history of Baddow House.
The garden shows evidence of past landscaping including terracing for a past driveway and decorative cast-iron fence posts with chain link fence. There are two large brick underground 'beehive' water tanks in the grounds near the house. One is near the south-east side of the house and is 5.2 m in width and of a similar depth. The other is further down the bank in front of the house and is of a similar construction. A Canary Island Date Palm (Phoenix canariensis) is planted near the front (northern) steps. Nothing of the other vegetation on the site is of cultural heritage significance.
Archaeological evidence may survive in the grounds or under the house that may provide information pertaining to the 1850s to 1880s occupation of the site by the first settlers in Maryborough or of earlier landscaping elements of the house.
","history":"Baddow House, Maryborough is a large brick residence constructed in 1883 for Edgar Thomas Aldridge and his family. It was designed by (at the time) Maryborough architect Willoughby Powell and constructed by local builder Fritz Kinne on high riverside land adjacent to the original site of Maryborough.
The original town of Maryborough, originally and unofficially called Wide Bay Village, was established on the Mary River approximately eight kilometres upstream from the current town centre. In August or September 1847 George Furber built a wharf and store on the southern bank of what was then generally called Wide Bay River. It operated as a reception centre for squatters running sheep in the area and primarily provided transport for wool. [1] The river was officially named Mary River on 7 September 1847 by Governor Sir Charles Fitz Roy [2] and the first shipment of wool was dispatched from the wharf in December 1847 [3].
Edgar Thomas Aldridge was born in Great Baddow, Essex, England in 1817 [4] and immigrated to Australia. Well born and educated, he became a hotel keeper [5] on the Macleay River near Kempsey, New South Wales from about 1843 and began a variety of business pursuits. In June 1849 [6] he married widow Maria Sarah Slater (nee Steele), a former convict. She had a child, Frederick Slater [7], from her previous marriage and Edgar and Maria had two children, Maria Rachael [8] and Harry Edgar [9]. In late 1849 the family moved to Maryborough. Edgar had visited the previous year to establish his businesses.
The Aldridges settled on the northern bank almost opposite Furber's wharf, establishing a store, wharves for timber and wool trading, and the settlement's first hotel, the Bush Inn. [10] Other settlers arrived and chose to settle near Aldridge. Furber then relocated his operations to the more popular northern bank.
The first years of settlement were extraordinarily troubled with deadly conflict between Europeans and Aborigines. [11] This situation discouraged settlement. Aldridge petitioned the New South Wales government to send extra troopers in order to encourage settlement. [12] The struggling settlement was officially named Maryborough on 23 January 1849.
In 1850 Surveyor HR Labatt arrived in Maryborough with instructions to 'examine the River Mary ... to suggest ... the best site or sites for the laying out of the town, having regard to the convenience of shipping on one hand and internal communication on the other ... also ... point out the spots desirable as reserves for public building, church, quay and for places for public recreation'. The site recommended by Labatt was not where settlement was already established but further east, a decision not well received by the existing settlers who had invested time and money into the original township. Immediately, a government wharf was established at the new location able to service larger ships than was previously possible, effectively ending further development of the old town. [13] Over the following decade the town relocated to its current location where it quickly thrived. The old town was abandoned and most of the buildings removed by 1856.
The Aldridges lived in their Bush Inn upon settling in Maryborough. Another child, Joey Edgar Aldridge was born in 1850 but died in 1851. At 1852 land sales of the new township, Edgar purchased many allotments in the new town and re-established his businesses there. In 1854 he purchased land at the old town including five allotments covering over 18,200 sqm. This land included part of a creek and the end of a spur of high land to the south. Aldridge built a timber slab house here. The land overlooked the nearby wharves and Aldridge's store and inn which soon ceased operation. The Aldridges cultivated extensive and productive gardens including experimental exotic species such as sugar cane, the first grown in the area [14]. This established the viability of what would become an important and profitable crop for Maryborough. By 1863 [15] the area was being called Baddow, presumably after the Aldridge house, but Aldridge letters and diaries call the area West Maryborough or The Old Town. The Aldridge finances improved rapidly with speculative land purchases and successful business ventures and in 1860 Edgar retired from business with management passing to his son Harry. [16] Edgar held the position of Alderman of Maryborough from 1861 to 1864 and 1865 to 1866.
The 1880s were prosperous for the colony of Queensland as migration and capital investment created unprecedented growth. [17] Maryborough's growth was based on its role as the main port and centre for an extensive pastoral industry in the Wide Bay district, a sugar industry in the immediate vicinity of Maryborough, the Gympie goldfields, a timber industry in and around the main waterways, coal mining at Burrum and manufacturing industries such as Walker's foundry. Maryborough's dominance as a regional centre was also strengthened by its role as the terminus for the railway line south to Gympie which was completed in 1881. [18] Many significant buildings were constructed in the late 1870s and 1880s in Maryborough including: Maryborough Court House (1877), Bank of New South Wales (1877), St Paul's Church of England (1879), Maryborough Railway Station (1880), Maryborough Boys Grammar School (1881), Criterion Hotel (1883), Maryborough Mortuary Chapel (1884), Maryborough Base Hospital (1888), and the Maryborough School of Arts (1888).
During Maryborough's prosperous period of the late 1870s and 1880s wealthy residents constructed fine, architect-designed suburban villas. During this period, the middle-class home was a stage for social ritual and was an outward manifestation of the occupant's status in the community. The middle-class desired to emulate the lifestyle of the English gentry. Suburban villas were often built on the fringes of established urban areas throughout the colony, remote from the town centres. [19] They are characterised by a semi-rural grandeur brought about by an elaborate and substantial detached house of a Classical style surrounded by a large restful garden. In Maryborough these included: villa for John Vivian Williams, Churchill Street (1879), Doon Villa (c.1882), Riversleigh, corner North and Elizabeth Streets (1882), villa for JE Brown, Woodstock Street (1882), villa for Robert Hart (1883), and Philadelphia Villa, corner Lennox and North Streets (1884).
Construction of Baddow House was begun in 1883. It cost approximately £6600 and replaced the previous Aldridge house except for the detached kitchen which was retained for use in the new house. It was designed by architect Willoughby Powell (c.1848-1920) who came to Maryborough in 1882 to capitalise on the building boom in the growing town. Powell was born in Cheltenham, England where he trained as an architect before immigrating to Queensland in 1872. He worked for Brisbane architect Richard Gailey before joining the Queensland Public Works Department in 1874. Powell won a competition for the design of the Toowoomba Grammar School (1875) and left the Department of Public Works to supervise its construction. Other examples of Powell's work include Warwick Town Hall (1888) and Toowoomba City Hall (1900). Baddow House for 'Maryborough's wealthiest resident' [20] was one of his first works completed during his three-year stay in Maryborough. He completed at least 14 projects including two other villas in the town [21] as well as shops, hotels, a mortuary chapel, and a parsonage. Baddow House was built by local builder Carl Friedrich 'Fritz' Kinne (1844-1929), a German immigrant who arrived in Maryborough in 1871. [22] Kinne was responsible for constructing many Maryborough buildings, including the extensions for St Mary's Roman Catholic Church for architect FDG Stanley in 1884, and was later elected Alderman (1890-98) and the Mayor of Maryborough (1895).
Maria Aldridge's health began to decline in the early 1880s and Aldridge diaries suggest she spent the majority of her last years at another Aldridge property at Booral, by the sea. She died at Booral 17 March 1886. Edgar paid for the construction of memorials to her within Maryborough - St Thomas's Church of England and a large free-standing bell tower for St Paul's Church of England - that were completed in 1887.
Edgar died 18 May 1888 in Baddow House. He was not a wealthy man by this time and when the house passed to his son Harry, who lived there with his wife Lappy and their children until his death 4 February 1910, in 1912 the Bank of New South Wales foreclosed on the property and disposed of it by auction. Lappy Aldridge and her children moved to the Booral property.
After the Aldridges, the house passed through many hands. First, it was transferred to Hugh Biddles in 1913 [23]. After his death in 1939, it was transferred to Ethel Stiler in 1942 [24]. Under her ownership the verandahs were removed and the grounds were cleared of gardens. [25] During the clearing of the gardens, a Canary Island Date Palm that survived from the Aldridge years was damaged in a rubbish fire. A photo taken during the latter years of the Stiler's ownership clearly shows the burnt stump has a regrowth shoot. Around this time the house is thought to have been used briefly as a girls' boarding house for St Mary's Catholic School, Maryborough. [26] Baddow House was transferred to the Crown in 1950 [27] with the intention of use as a migrant hostel. This never occurred and the house remained empty and unused and was greatly vandalised. [28] In 1954 the Boy Scouts Association of Queensland used Baddow House as their meeting hall [29]. By this time the kitchen that had been retained from the previous house had been demolished, although the cellar under it survived. [30] During the occupation by the Scouts some repair of the vandalism was undertaken by caretakers. [31] Allotments 1 and 2, upon which the house stands, were purchased in 1967 by Donald and Daphne Scott. [32]. The remainder of the estate land continues to be in Crown ownership and is part of the parkland reserved for the Old Maryborough Town Site. It was then purchased by John and Lois Hastings in 1973, John Stevens in 1981, Tony Nioa in April 1986, and then by Barrie and Janice Christison in November 1986. [33] The Christisons used the upper floor as their residence and opened the lower floor as a museum, displaying historical paraphernalia. In 1988 buried bricks were uncovered while building a car park. [34] These were considered to be from the cellar now buried and filled with earth. The opening of the house as a museum was well-published, popular, and successful. In this period when Maryborough was generally promoting itself as a 'Heritage City' the house gained a high profile within the local community which continues today.
In 2003 the house was purchased by Ian Russell and Anne De Lisle. The house underwent a substantial renovation during the following three years. Local architect, Marion Graham, managed the project which included concrete underpinning, repair of rendering internally and externally, rebuilding of verandahs, and the construction of a one-storey wing to the south corner containing kitchen, garage, study, and bathroom. With reconstruction, the interior is a combination of new and original fabric. This work included recovery, repair, and rehanging of the large folding cedar doors in the ground floor reception rooms; rebuilding fireplace surrounds; repair or replacement of cedar joinery, doors and windows rehung or replaced; floors and ceilings repaired with some replacements of boards; and the whole interior plastered and painted. The reconstruction of the verandah was done to the dimensions and character of the original. The gardens were extensively redeveloped and planted. Much of the renovation was done by local tradespeople. The book 'A Grand Passion: A memoir' by owner Anne De Lisle published in 2007 documents this period and the work undertaken and has raised the public profile of the house significantly.
Baddow House remains a private residence in 2011. Highly regarded by the local community, it is occasionally used as a venue for fundraising events.
Reference list
1. Matthews T. 'River of Dreams: A History of Maryborough and District.' Maryborough: Maryborough City Council; p.43.
2. ibid., p.42.
3. ibid., p.46.
4. Ryan TL. 'Residents of Wide Bay Village.' 1989; p.5.
5. Burn D. 'David Burn - journal of a voyage from London to Hobart in the barque Calcutta, 31 July-22 Nov. 1841, and journal, 1 Aug. 1844 - 19 Feb. 1845.' Sydney: State Library NSW; Transcript No. a1502115; Call Number B 190/2.
6. T Matthews, op.cit., p.50 and NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages, V1849 140 87/1849.
7. NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages, V1842 4526 121B/1842.
8. NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages, V1846 320 58/1846.
9. NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages, V1848321 58/1848.
10. T Matthews, op.cit., p.48.
11. ibid., p.52.
12. ibid., p.66.
13. ibid., p.83.
14. ibid., p.167.
15. The Courier, 'Maryborough: From our own correspondent.' 7 December 1863; p.2.
16. Maryborough Chronicle; 19 May 1888.
17. Evans R. 'A History of Queensland.' Melbourne: Cambridge University Press; 2007. p.108.
18. Riddell Architecture. 'Maryborough Heritage Centre: (former Bank of NSW) - Conservation Management Plan.' For Fraser Coast Regional Council; 2009. p.3.
19. Davies H. ‘The Hume Family of Toowoomba and Brisbane: A Case Study of Middle-class Social Mobility' [PhD thesis]. St Lucia Qld: University of Queensland; 2004. p.46.
20. Watson D, McKay J. 'Queensland Architects of the 19th century: A biographical dictionary.' Brisbane: Queensland Museum Publication. p.147.
21. Riversleigh House for John Walker, cnr. North and Elizabeth Streets built 1882 and Philadelphia Villa for Philip Heckscher, cnr. Lennox and North Streets built 1884. If these survive, both are less substantial than Baddow House.
22. Carl Frederich Kinne arrived 9 March 1871 aboard the Reichstag from Hamburg. Also onboard was Emilie Zegenhagen whom he married in October 1871 in Maryborough. Carl uses Fritz as his first name after landing in Maryborough.
23. Certificate of Title - Vol: S 1252 Fol: 79 Barcode: 11252079 No. 213589.
24. Certificate of Title - Vol: S 1252 Fol: 79 Barcode: 11252079 No. 213589.
25. De Lisle A. 'A Grand Passion: A memoir.' Sydney: Bantam; 2007. p.193.
26. Recollection of Barbara Anson, descendant of Aldridge.
27. Note added to survey plan by Labatt, 1851. Vol: 8 Fol: 46(3 or 8) M.1409.8.
28. A De Lisle, op.cit., p.193.
29. ibid., p.194.
30. ibid., p.194.
31. ibid., p.195.
32. Deed of Grant of Land, 12 October 1967. Vol: S 4092 Fol: 47 Barcode: 14092047.
33. Deed of Grant of Land, 12 October 1967. Vol: S 4092 Fol: 47 Barcode: 14092047.
34. Courier Mail; 14 Jun 1988. p.23.
","criteria":"Baddow House, Maryborough (1883) provides evidence of the development of regional Queensland during the economic boom of the 1870s and 1880s when Maryborough, already a busy port, became a major regional town and agricultural, pastoral, industrial, and commercial centre for Queensland.
The place, combined with surviving documentary and photographic evidence, contributes to our understanding of the way of life of wealthy families in the establishment and development of major regional towns.
|Baddow House has the potential to reveal further information about domestic life of wealthy regional Queenslanders in the 1880s through an examination of the existing fabric in combination with documentary evidence. In particular, the examination of the water reticulation system, including beehive water tanks, hand pump, and rooftop tank, which is a rare and early hydraulic system, may provide further information regarding the technical accomplishments in providing domestic services that were sophisticated for the time.
Baddow House has the potential to contribute to our understanding of the effects of the 1870s-1880s economic boom on an important early regional Queensland community. Baddow House has potential to contain important subsurface archaeological features and deposits from the 1850s to the early 20th century. This may include evidence associated with the second Baddow House (c1854-c1883), the construction and design of the extant house and early gardens, and its ownership by two generations of the Aldridge family. Archaeological investigations of Baddow House may inform on consumption choices and patterns of the Aldridge family before, during and after the 1870s-1880s boom period. These investigations may provide an important insight into the perceptions of class and taste over an extended time and in a period of important social and economic change in Maryborough.
|Baddow House is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a substantial, architect-designed Queensland suburban villa of the late 19th century. These characteristics include: the form (detached, two-storeyed); structural materials (brick); planning of both the house (public rooms downstairs, attached rear service rooms, bedrooms on the upper floor, and verandahs) and the grounds (siting of the house overlooking the river amongst landscaped gardens); and decorative detailing and finishes (including external render, internal plaster, ornate cedar joinery, panelled doors, stained glass). The place evokes a strong sense of grace, genteel languor, tranquillity and seclusion through its setting - a characteristic of the original design which rarely survives at other suburban villas in Queensland.
It is a fine example of the work of Queensland architect, Willoughby Powell and of Maryborough builder Fritz Kinne, both skilled professionals, prominent and successful within their fields.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion C | Criterion D","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland's history | The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15466,"place_ref":600691,"name":"Post Office Hotel","alternate_name":"Post Office Hotel Maryborough","street_address":"Bazaar Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The Post Office Hotel is a two storeyed brick building, with cantilevered first floor verandah, located prominently on the corner of Wharf and Bazaar Streets, Maryborough.
Principal facades address both streets, with entrance to the accommodation and dining rooms from Wharf Street and the access to the incorporated ground floor shops from Bazaar Street. The external walls to the street, of bagged and painted brick, are surmounted by a partially rendered brick parapet, concealing a hipped corrugated iron roof. The truncated corner of the hotel is emphasised by a signage panel, projecting beyond the parapet, with "POST OFFICE HOTEL - 1889", surmounted by an open-topped pediment. The parapet features rosettes above moulded string courses supported on paired plaster corbels. Several rendered finials are placed along the parapet, with a slightly larger feature one on each elevation emphasising the principal entrance from that side. The building rests on a rendered masonry base, though which ventilation holes are punched.
The cantilevered verandah, extending the entire length of the principal facades, has a bull-nosed awning supported on reeded cast iron columns, and featuring cast iron frieze and brackets. The timber slatted balustrade is a replacement. The rear of the building has a two storeyed post supported verandah, onto which internal rooms are accessed.
Openings to the ground floor have moulded plaster surrounds, and retain some early joinery and leadlight glazing, although there are some replacement louvres. First floor openings are generally inward opening, half glazed, french doors with operable fanlights above.
Internally, the ground floor comprises the public bar, shops, and entrance and stair halls off which the dining room is accessed. The dining room is clad with timber sheeting, and the beaded board ceiling features cast iron ceiling roses. A carved timber chimney piece, complete with cast iron fittings remains intact, though painted. The public bar has been substantially altered although an early glazed door remains.
The cedar, three-quarter-turn open well stair features fine turned balusters, carved newel and turning posts, and a swan-necked handrail. The first floor comprises many timber framed accommodation rooms clad with tongue and groove boarding and accessed from a central corridor featuring plaster arches and skylights at various intervals. This floor remains substantially intact, in planform and fabric, with early joinery, glazing, timber floors and internal fittings.
","history":"The Post Office Hotel was built in 1889, for Messrs Hanley and Williams of Maryborough to a design of Victor Emmanuel Carandini, a Brisbane architect. The building replaced a previous single storeyed building on the site, also called the Post Office Hotel.
The land on which the Post Office hotel was constructed was originally acquired by ET Aldridge by a Deed of Grant in May 1852. The original one storeyed masonry Post Office Hotel was constructed in about 1870 one year after the construction of the adjacent Maryborough Post Office, after which it was named. Aldridge retained the site until 1878 when it was sold to Mr John O'Brien, and Messrs Hanley and Williams acquired the property by 1889.
By this time, the Licensing Authority operating within the Maryborough district, under the provisions of the Licensing Act of 1885, were becoming more strict with the licensees of hotels about the condition of the buildings and provision of services. In May 1889 the licensee of the former Post Office Hotel, GW Gaynor was refused a further annual licence for the single storeyed building which then existed, and it was then decided by the owners, Messrs Hanley and Williams, that a new building was needed.
On August 7, 1889 the tender of Mr Murray, a local builder, was accepted to construct a new two storeyed building to the designs of Victor Emmanuel Carandini, an architect from Brisbane. A substantial brick building was constructed in 1889 and this is the date indicated on the entrance corner parapet.
The early post supported verandah which lined the two principal facades of the building, was replaced with a cantilevered version, in line with a general movement in Maryborough to modernise the central business area in the 1930s by replacing all post supported awnings with cantilevered alternatives. The early verandah extended on the ground floor to the street line and was supported on cast iron columns, and featured cast iron brackets and frieze. The upper floor, which has also suffered modernisation, retains the bull nosed awning, but originally had slender turned timber balusters and timber venetian blinds on the outside edge.
","criteria":"The Post Office Hotel, which has been operating since about 1870 in varied when the town prospered as a major port.
|The building displays the principal characteristics of a Queensland country town hotel, in its corner situation, verandah arrangement and internal planning.
|The hotel is significant for its contribution to the Wharf Street area of Maryborough, and is a good substantially intact example of Queensland hotel architecture.
|As an operating hotel and public centre for about 125 years the Post office Hotel is significant for its value to the local community.
","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":15467,"place_ref":600692,"name":"St Marys Roman Catholic Church","alternate_name":"St Mary's Roman Catholic Church | St Marys Catholic Church","street_address":"271-275 Adelaide Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"St Mary's Church is centrally located in metropolitan Maryborough. The complex comprises the stuccoed masonry church, stone and concrete grotto, and two modern steel and canvas shelters.
The nave of St Mary's runs north west/south east on the block between Adelaide and Bazaar Streets with pedestrian access provided from both of these streets. The principal entrance to the complex is via Adelaide Street, at which end is the entrance of the church, with the chancel end of the building, and transepts at the Bazaar Street end. The building has a steeply pitched gabled roof, and with gothic accoutrements and essentially cruciform plan formed by the long nave and intersecting transepts, the building conforms with many of the ideals of gothic ecclesiastical architecture.
The principal façade of the building comprises the centrally located gable end of the building, abutted to the north east by a smaller gabled section surmounted by a small plaster statue of a rooster. On the face of the main gabled bay is a centrally located entrance formed by a gabled porch, surmounted by a statue of Our Lady and flanked by plaster moulded pinnacles. Above this is a large traceried stained glass window of five lancets with foils above. The roof is concealed by a moulded string coursed parapet which encircles the building. Surmounting this parapet on the central gable of the front of the building is a Latin Cross.
St Mary's Church has a seven bay nave, defined by internal columns supporting a nave arcade of pointed arched openings above which are small quatrefoil opening within triangular recesses forming the clerestory of the building. Around the altar the order of architecture changes to classical and, as a continuation of the nave arcade, Corinthian columns support an entablature to create the chancel space. On the entablature are painted, in relief lettering, several religions phrases in Latin, and this writing continues around the cornice line of the transepts at this end of the building. In one of the transepts is a large organ.
","history":"St Mary's Roman Catholic Church was constructed in several stages and incorporates the first permanent Roman Catholic church in Maryborough started in 1869 to a design of Charles Tiffin. The building was enlarged in two major stages of construction, the first in 1884-5 to the design of FDG Stanley and then in 1936 to the design of local architect, POE Hawkes.
The original township of Maryborough was situated, not in its current place, but on the north of the Mary River, after wharves were established in 1847-8 providing transport for wool from sheep stations on the Burnett River. In 1850 Surveyor, HR Labatt arrived in Maryborough with instructions to "examine the River Mary...to suggest ...the best site or sites for the laying out of the town, having regard to the convenience of shipping on one hand and internal communication on the other...also...point out the spots desirable as reserves for public building, church, quay and for places for public recreation." The site recommended by Labatt was not where settlement was established but further east and from the early 1850s this is where the growing town developed. As part of the survey two acres of land, through which a creek ran, in Section 85 was set aside for the Roman Catholic Church.
To service the early Roman Catholic community in Maryborough, Father James Hanley from Brisbane, visited Maryborough and held Baptismal services. The first service was held in August 1852 in the house of the local chief constable. Towards the end of the 1850s the town of Maryborough developed with the erection of several public buildings including churches, and in 1856 a decision was made by the catholic community to erect a timber building to house 300 people. The tender of Linklater and Thompson was accepted and the church was ready for use in 1858, though not on the reserved site which was subject to flooding. A new site had been donated to the church by James Cleary and this has remained the principal catholic church site in Maryborough. The timber building was erected principally as a school house, but used as a service centre when Hanley's replacement, Dean Rigby visited Maryborough.
After the formation of the State of Queensland in 1859, the Roman Catholic Church formed the Brisbane Diocese encompassing the entire state. Bishop Quinn was appointed and he arrived in his diocese in 1861 and immediately made plans to visit the populated areas, including Maryborough. He arrived in the town on 25 July 1861 with two fellow priests, one of whom, Father Tissot, remained in Maryborough as the first Parish Priest.
By 1867 Father Tissot and his congregation considered the timber building inadequate as their church and steps were made to construct a new permanent church. It was in this year that gold was found in Gympie and the development of Maryborough, as the port of the gold fields, was rapid. The services of Brisbane architect, Charles Tiffin were procured to design the new brick church and the foundation stone was laid on 29 July 1869. Tiffin was a well known public architect who was appointed to the position of Clerk of Works of Moreton Bay in 1857 and in 1859 he became the first Queensland Colonial Architect and was responsible for the design of many well known Brisbane landmarks, including Old Government House, Parliament House and the (now demolished) Public Lands Office. He also designed several buildings in Maryborough including the Government Bond Store in Wharf Street and the Post Office.
St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, as it became known, was completed and opened at a service conducted by Father Tissot on 4 February 1872. The building was constructed by local contractors G Smith and J Thomas under the supervision of WN Davidson. When completed, the church was described as Early English and of brick with stone quoining and detailing. The building had a steeply pitched gabled roof clad with shingles. Side aisles extended the length of the four bay nave and these were lined with double lancets. The plan incorporated a small porch, chancel and two sacristies. Father Tissot landscaped the grounds surrounding the church and provided the a chancel screen and other timber panelling carved by himself. He is thought to have been involved with the design of the high altar and the carved timber canopy, or baldacchino above the altar. Provision was made in the design for extension of the church at a later date.
On 21 November 1882, at a meeting presided over by the new Bishop, Robert Dunne, a decision was made to extend St Mary's. The services of Colonial Architect, FDG Stanley were sought and plans for alterations were prepared and the church was re-opened in May 1884. The contractor for the work was Fritz Kinne at a cost of £1871. The additions included the extension of the nave by three bays and the erection of a large chancel. The roof was reclad with slate and several ventilation gablets were added near the ridge. Internally the church was painted by Messrs O'Malley and Mill. A new set of Stations of the Cross from Lyons, described as oleographs or coloured lithographs printed with oil paints, were framed in gold.
During the nineteenth century the Roman Catholic Church in Maryborough continued to grow with several outbranches of the parish established in surrounding areas. A large presbytery, convent and school were constructed. In 1912 a new organ and blower, costing £900, were installed in the gallery of St Mary's.
Substantial alterations were made at St Mary's in 1936 to the design of innovative local architect, POE Hawkes and carried out by contractor, Herbert Neilson for £7000. Again, the length of the building was extended, north and south chancels were added, as were sacristies, confessionals and a Baptistry. The organ was moved from the gallery and placed in the Sacred Heart transept. Externally, the building was rendered and an entrance was formed from Adelaide Street, where previously access was provided only from Bazaar Street. A marble high altar was made by local craftsman, Mr Prout. A cock was added to the western gable of the church reflecting the French ties of Monsignor MacCarthy, the then parish priest. Cocks were traditionally added to the roofs of French churches to symbolise resentment over Italian dominance of the papacy.
Minor alterations have been made to the church since 1936, including the recladding of the roof with tiles and rib and pan roofing in two stages in 1959 and 1967. A section of the timber floor of the body of the church was replaced with concrete in 1979, followed by work in 1980 to stabilise foundations in the north western corner. A porch was constructed on the northern transept in 1987 and the timber canopy over the high altar was removed in 1989.
","criteria":"St Mary's Church the principal Roman Catholic Church in Maryborough illustrates the growth of the town from a small port to a large regional city. The church demonstrates the development of the catholic church in regional Queensland, from the establishment of centres in major regional towns in the mid nineteenth century to upgrading facilities during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
|The building is a characteristic example of a large regional Roman Catholic Church, with substantial sections dating from the nineteenth century and sympathetic early twentieth century additions.
|St Mary's has aesthetic and architectural merit as the work of a group of talented architects, forming a well composed building on a prominent Maryborough site. The building features fine craftsmanship, particularly the marble high altar, stained glass windows, Stations of the Cross and joinery.
|The building has important spiritual associations with the Roman Catholic community in Maryborough as their place of public worship for 125 years and has association with many of the parish priests who were responsible for adding to or altering the building.
|The building has associations with architects, Charles Tiffin and FDG Stanley and with POE Hawkes, an innovative Maryborough architect.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion G | Criterion H","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 | The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15468,"place_ref":600693,"name":"Australian Joint Stock Bank (former)","alternate_name":"Office of Sport and Recreation | Union Bank | Department of Primary Industries Building","street_address":"331 Kent Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The former Australian Joint Stock Bank is a prominent building in Maryborough, located on the corner of Richmond and Kent streets in the central business district of the town. The building comprises a two-storeyed section to Kent Street with a one storeyed wing to the rear, accessed from Richmond Street.
The brick load bearing building has stuccoed façades to Kent and Richmond Streets. Centrally located on the Kent Street façade is the principal entrance bay, comprising a two-storeyed recessed porch, broken at first floor level by a heavy entablature which lines the two principal façades of the building. Framing this recess are two sets of columns, Doric order at the ground floor and Corinthian order on the first floor. The ground floor has a smooth rendered base, above which the body of the walls are rusticated, with centrally located round arched window openings to both floors. The upper floor has paired Corinthian pilasters which frame the face of the sections flanking the entrance bay. Seemingly supported on the pilasters and the attached columns of the central bay on the first floor, is a dentilled entablature surmounted by a decorative parapet, with central triangular pediment flanked by balustraded sections over the side bays. Terminating the parapets are urns at each end. A steeply pitched, corrugated iron clad, mansard roof is partially concealed behind the parapet.
The Richmond Street façade of the building continues the architectural motifs of the Kent Street elevation, although the construction of a later verandah entailed the removal and replacement of some details on this elevation. Abutting the rear of the two-storeyed section of the former Australian Joint Stock Bank is a two-storeyed timber framed verandah, enclosed at the first floor and with deep scalloped frieze to the ground floor level. A single-storeyed section of the building to the rear of the Richmond Street elevation is constructed of painted and bagged brick and has a simple gabled roof and timber-framed verandah.
Internally the building has timber boarded floors and plastered ceilings and walls. Many internal alterations have occurred.
","history":"This bank building was constructed in Maryborough in 1882 as the third branch of the Australian Joint Stock Bank to the design of prominent Queensland architect, Francis Drummond Grenville (FDG) Stanley.
Settlement at Maryborough commenced in September 1847 when George Furber established a woolstore on the south bank of the Mary River at the head of navigation. He was followed in June 1848 by ET Aldridge and Henry and RE Palmer, who established their own wharves on the opposite riverbank, at a location now known as the original Maryborough town site at Baddow.
In 1850 a new town site was surveyed to the east, at a downstream position which provided better access for shipping. The first sale of land at this new site occurred in 1852, but most residents did not shift to the current centre of Maryborough until 1855 and 1856. Maryborough was gazetted a Port of Entry in 1859 and was proclaimed a municipality in 1861. [1] During the 1860s and 1870s it flourished as the principal port for the nearby Gympie goldfield and as an outlet for timber and sugar. The establishment of manufacturing plants and primary industries sustained growth in the town into the twentieth century.
During the 1860s and 1870s, many banking institutes established purpose-built premises from where they conducted business. One of the first banks established in this town was the Australian Joint Stock Bank which opened a branch at the corner of Kent and Richmond streets in 1864.
Floods in the 1870s destroyed the first Australian Joint Stock Bank and the building was rebuilt. By 1880 this rebuilt structure was considered uninhabitable and steps were made toward construction of yet another building.
FDG Stanley was the architect for the new building and he is known to have designed branches of the Australian Joint Stock Bank in Gympie, Mackay, Ravenswood and Townsville, as well as additions to the Rockhampton branch. The contractors for the project, local builders, French and Crystall, submitted a tender for £5378 which was accepted and it is thought the construction commenced in mid 1882. In August 1882 reports of the progress of building works appeared in the Maryborough Chronicle: ‘the AJS Bank premises are currently being pulled down to make way for a larger and finer edifice more in keeping with its rivals, a hint which might be taken by the owners of other somewhat insignificant buildings.'
A fine two-storeyed masonry bank was constructed with strong classical influences conveying the values of tradition and strength historically identified with this style of architecture. As part of the project a two-storey extension was constructed along Kent Street to house the local branch of popular Queensland department store, Finney Isles and Co. Along Richmond Street there was a one-storey bank manager's residence.
Maryborough was the birthplace of Helen Lyndon Goff who under the name PL Travers authored the well known Mary Poppins series of books. Her father was Travers Robert Goff, the manager of the Australian Joint Stock Bank at the time of her birth on 9 August 1899. A bronze statue at the front of the former bank commemorates Travers and her literary achievements. [2]
The bank continued in this branch until 1901 when it closed. By 1906 the premises had been leased to the Union Bank with a right to purchase the property, which was exercised in 1912. By 1924 a verandah had been constructed to the Richmond Street side of the building, requiring the removal of cornices and string coursing and the lengthening of several window openings to house French doors.
In 1952 the Union Bank merged with the Bank of Australasia to form the Australian and New Zealand (ANZ) Bank, which operated in Maryborough from the Bank of Australasia's premises. The former Union Bank was therefore offered for sale again and the Queensland Government purchased the building for $12,000 to house the local regional office of the Department of Primary Industries. Subsequently, the building became the home of the Office of Recreation and Sport, with the Correctional Services Department leasing space on the upper floor. It is now privately owned and houses a retail business.
References
Ref. 1 Extracted from the Walker's Shipyard history prepared by Brian Sinclair [Reported Place in CHIMS, Site ID 31936].
Ref. 2 Jan Downman; Louise Anemaat, 'Biographical Note', Guide to the papers of PL Travers in the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, (State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, 1991).
","criteria":"Built in 1882 as the local branch of the Australian Joint Stock Bank, this building illustrates the growth of Maryborough during the nineteenth century.
|The Australian Joint Stock Bank (former) is characteristic of a two-storey masonry bank, designed with a strong influence of classical architecture manifesting authority and strength, traditionally associated with financial institutes.
|The Australian Joint Stock Bank (former) is well composed and has considerable architectural merit. It is a landmark in Maryborough, contributing to both the Kent and Richmond Street streetscapes. The building is a good example of the commercial work of FDG Stanley and is associated with him.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E","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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15469,"place_ref":600694,"name":"Queensland National Bank (former)","alternate_name":"Woodstock House | Burrum Shire Council Chambers","street_address":"327 Kent Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"Woodstock House is a substantial two storeyed rendered brick building prominently located in the Maryborough town centre at the corner of Kent and Richmond Streets. Principal façades of the building address both streets.
The principal façades of the rectangular planned building are elaborate essays in classical architecture, comprising five bays on the long side, addressing Richmond Street, and three bays to the shorter Kent Street elevation. The bays of the building are defined by double storeyed height pilasters with Corinthian order capitals which are square planned, except those flanking the Kent Street entrance that are round planned. The square planned columns are paired flanking the central Richmond Street bay. The pilasters support a detailed entablature with a projecting cornice with stylised Corinthian order detailing, including dentil mouldings and modillions (or small scrolled bracket giving the impression of supporting another projecting moulded band of the cornice). Surmounting the cornice of the building is an Italianate parapet, formed by a balustrade of elongated urns separated with panels aligned with the pilasters on the face of the building. On the parapet over the two central bays are flat rendered brick panels. The principal entrance to the building, from Kent Street, is through an aedicule or framed opening comprising two columns supporting a round headed pediment. More simple versions of these openings line ground floor in each of the other bays, although the smaller versions do not support a pediment, only an entablature. Above these openings are first floor window openings which are surrounded by architraves. At the corners of the buildings these openings have a blank Italianate balustrade at base level and are surmounted by triangular pediments. The openings in the central bays of each elevation are surmounted by round arched pediments, similar to those in the central bays of the ground floor.
The faces of the building which do not have street frontage are smooth faced and are lined with double storeyed timber framed verandahs which are infilled on the upper floor.
","history":"The Queensland National Bank (former) is a substantial two-storey masonry building designed in a classical revival style. Originally constructed for William Southerden in c.1863 to a design by Brisbane builder, James Treevan, the building was substantially reconstructed for the Queensland National Bank (QNB) in 1914-15 to the design of architect, Frederic Herbert Faircloth.
Settlement at Maryborough commenced in September 1847 when George Furber established a woolstore on the south bank of the Mary River at the head of navigation. He was followed in June 1848 by ET Aldridge and Henry and RE Palmer, who established their own wharves on the opposite riverbank, at a location now known as the original Maryborough town site at Baddow.
In 1850 a new town site was surveyed to the east, at a downstream position which provided better access for shipping. The first sale of land at this new site occurred in 1852, but most residents did not shift to the current centre of Maryborough until 1855 and 1856. Maryborough was gazetted a Port of Entry in 1859 and was proclaimed a municipality in 1861. [1] During the 1860s and 1870s it flourished as the principal port for the nearby Gympie goldfield and as an outlet for timber and sugar. The establishment of manufacturing plants and primary industries sustained growth in the town into the twentieth century when the QNB building was constructed.
The QNB was the first and most successful of Queensland's three indigenous nineteenth century banks. Established in March 1872 by a prominent and influential group of Queensland squatters, politicians, lawyers, and businessmen anxious to secure development capital free from overseas or intercolonial control, the bank attracted widespread Queensland patronage including in 1879 when it secured all of the Queensland Government's banking business. The bank's first offices were opened in Queen Street, Brisbane in 1872. By the 1880s QNB dominated the colony's economy.
The land on which this former bank stands was originally granted to Edmund Blucher Uhr in 1852. By 1863, the land was in the possession of Maryborough businessman William Southerden. [2] That year, he accepted a tender for £2000 to erect a two-storey brick store covering an area of 60 feet (18 m) by 30 feet (9 m). The Maryborough Chronicle (9 June 1864) described the building as follows: ‘On the ground floor is first, on entering, a large store forty-two by thirty feet (13 m by 9 m); at the back of this a capacious office and private room; on the upper storey, which is reached by an easy flight of stairs, is one large room intended for reserve stock. The appearance of the building from Kent Street is very chaste, and from its loftiness very imposing. The lower part is furnished with two large plate-glass windows, surmounted by a handsome cornice, and above this are three sash windows, each having a single sheet of glass, and on the Richmond Street side five similar windows. The front towards Kent Street is stuccoed.' [3]
In 1872, the recently formed QNB acquired the land. [4] However, the bank did not operate from Southerden's former store but initially occupied a small timber building to the rear and then a purpose-built bank (no longer extant) facing Richmond Street. The bank leased the former store on the corner of Richmond and Lennox Streets to Stoward, Bryant and Co. and subsequently a number of other commercial operations before finally moving into the building in 1903. [5]
In 1914, the bank embarked on a substantial reconstruction of the building to the design of FH Faircloth. The Maryborough Chronicle (16 May 1914) reported that the original building would ‘form the base or skeleton of improvements and alterations that will completely transform the appearance of the old structure ...' A later article (15 June 1915) described the work as ‘dismantling and re-erection'. The reconstructed building occupied the same area as the previous building and the upper level window openings were located in the same positions.
The Chronicle described the completed building as follows: ‘The main building has a frontage of 33 feet (10 m) to the main street, with a depth of 60 feet (9 m) to Richmond Street, all of the work being done in cement on concrete foundations. The bricks used for the street frontages are of a reddish colour with white 'tuck' points, while the sand-stone coloured entablature, mouldings and embellishments form a fine set off to the effective looking Corinthian columns set on solid pedestals and extending to the full height of the two storeys, the extremities of the columns themselves being surmounted with beautiful entablatures and enriched cornice, further relieved with medallions and mouldings. Artistic effect is given in a lesser order in the Ionic style introduced on the line of the first floor, with small cornice and entablature butting into Corinthian columns and supported by Ionic columns and pilasters. The main entrance is attractively treated with Ionic columns and arched pediments whilst the windows on the first floor are also nicely relieved in fine architectural work. To save space the main entrance doors slide into recesses in the brick. Considerable artistic attention has been given to the general furnishing of the inside of the building, the walls being all finished in King's cement with appropriate colourings and the ceilings of stamped steel with very effective designs. The large banking chamber just inside the main entrance door facing Kent Street, has a length of 42 feet (12.8 m), and a width of 27 feet (8 m). The floor is tile covered, picked out in fine designs, whilst a beautiful semi-circular counter and partitions have been installed, the joinery work having been done by Messrs. James Fairlie and Sons. The effect in the room is enhanced by the antique copper gas pendants fitted up by plumbing sub-contractor, Mr W Wells. On the right hand side of the main door, connected with the banking chamber, is the manager's office, with a door leading therefrom to the chief office further back. Behind the banking chamber are the strong room and stationary room, with a passage leading to the clerks' entrance. On the Bungalow (south eastern) side is the entrance hall and a stairway leading to the upper storey. From the entrance hall access is gained to a large dining hall. The rest of the residential portion of the building is nicely furnished and well laid out with fine balconies on the eastern side and at the back of the premises.' [6]
The main contractor was NC Steffensen who had tendered to complete the work at a cost of £2997. [7] The bank moved into the new premises on 14 June 1915. [8]
Frederic Herbert (Herb) Faircloth was born in Maryborough in 1870 and was a pupil of German-trained Bundaberg architect Anton Hettrich. Faircloth set up his own practice in Bundaberg in 1893 and was very successful, eventually being responsible for the design of almost every major building there. He was also to have a major effect on the appearance and character of Childers where he was engaged to design replacement buildings after much of the main street was destroyed by fire in 1902.
In 1919 the block was subdivided and in 1922 the Bank of Queensland, formed in 1917 by an amalgamation of the Bank of North Queensland and the Royal Bank, merged with the Queensland National Bank. In 1949 a new title for this property was issued to the National Bank of Australasia Limited following a merger with the Queensland National Bank. These mergers meant that many bank buildings became surplus to requirements and in 1966 this one was sold to the Burrum Shire Council for use as their council chambers.
The Burrum Shire was formed in 1917 by the amalgamation of the Shire of Pialba, part of the City of Maryborough and parts of the Shires of Antigua and Howard. The Burrum Council met at first in the Maryborough Town Hall and then in a number of other Maryborough town venues. A building purpose-built for the council in 1938 was rapidly deteriorating by the early 1960s and alternative accommodation was needed, which prompted their move to the former bank building, which was prestigious in appearance and centrally situated. The Burrum Shire Council was formally decommissioned in 1976 when the building was sold into private ownership and used for office tenancies.
The name Woodstock House, which currently appears on the building's parapet, was given to it in the 1970s when it was purchased by doctors E Dunn and K Pearson for use as a surgery; Woodstock being the name of Dr Dunn's home in Lennox Street at the time. Major restoration work was carried out on the building after 1999 when the bricks were stripped and the columns were painted. [9]
References
Ref. 1 - Extracted from the Walker's Shipyard history prepared by Brian Sinclair [Reported Place in CHIMS, Site ID 31936].
Ref. 2 - This is not indicated in the historical title search but is supported by historical photographs and the Maryborough Chronicle (9 June 1864 and 19 November 1872). It is possible that the land was leased to Southerden.
Ref. 3 - Maryborough Chronicle, 9 June 1864, cited in 'A History of owners and occupants of Woodstock House', Jan Downman (unpublished paper).
Ref. 4 - Certificate of title and Maryborough Chronicle 19 November 1872.
Ref. 5 - Maryborough Chronicle 19 November 1872, 14 June 1873; Historical photographs and Maryborough Chronicle 11 February 1889, October 26 1886, cited in 'A History of owners and occupants of Woodstock House', Jan Downman (unpublished paper).
Ref. 6 - Maryborough Chronicle 15 June 1915, cited in 'A History of owners and occupants of Woodstock House', Jan Downman (unpublished paper).
Ref. 7 - NC Steffensen was responsible for the East Water Tower in Bundaberg, which is the only part of the 1902 Bundaberg Water Works scheme remaining and is entered in the QHR (600369). A Heritage Marker from the Queensland Division of Engineers Australia was placed at the tower in March 2011 to acknowledge its historical and technological importance [information viewed in March 2012 at http://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/queensland-division/welcome-queensland-branch-webpage].
Ref. 8 - Maryborough Chronicle 15 June 1915, cited in 'A History of owners and occupants of Woodstock House', Jan Downman (unpublished paper).
Ref. 9 - 'A History of owners and occupants of Woodstock House', Jan Downman (unpublished paper).
","criteria":"The Queensland National Bank (former) (1914-15) is significant for demonstrating the growth of Maryborough during the early twentieth century as the centre of a large primary industry and manufacturing region.
|The former Queensland National Bank is a good and characteristic example of an early twentieth century bank, employing features of classical architecture.
|The Queensland National Bank (former) is prominently sited and well composed, making a major visual contribution to the streetscape and to the character of the city centre.
|The Queensland National Bank (former) is a major work of the important regional architect, Frederic Herbert Faircloth.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion H","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 special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15470,"place_ref":600695,"name":"Engineers' Arms Hotel (former)","alternate_name":"Former Engineers' Arms Hotel | Mayfair Boarding House | Engineers Arms Hotel","street_address":"115 March Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The former Engineers' Arms Hotel is a two-storeyed rendered brick building located on what once was a five-way intersection but is now four-way. The site contains two single-storeyed brick buildings to the rear of the hotel.
The hotel, which has a hipped corrugated iron roof concealed by a string coursed parapet, is built to the property boundary of a acute angled block, giving it a V-shaped plan, truncated at the corner. The corner is emphasised with the addition of a pedimental element, projecting above the parapet. A relief moulding of the date '1870' appears on the parapet on this corner.
The building is lined on the March, Kent and Bowen Street facades with a two-storeyed verandah. The ground level of this has a shallow curved corrugated iron awning supported on cast iron columns, many of which have been replaced. The upper floor verandah, which continues to the rear of the building, has a skillion awning supported on timber columns which taper outwards from the building, due to the altered width of the verandah walkway.
There are three entrances to the hotel from the principal facades, a corner entrance, being a double, four-panelled and moulded timber door, to what was previously the public bar; and two doorways on March Street, one through an arched opening featuring multi-pane glazed sidelights and transom, and a four-panelled and moulded timber door. The exterior joinery is substantially intact and of high quality. All openings are untreated but for plaster sills.
The arched doorway leads to the stair hall, off which the principal ground floor rooms are accessed as well as the timber dog-legged stair. The stairway is naturally lit by an arched landing window. Internally, the building retains much of its early joinery, ceiling and wall cladding, timber ceiling roses and fireplaces. The plan arrangement remains intact.
","history":"The former Engineers' Arms Hotel in Maryborough was constructed in 1889 for Ann Dillane [1], to designs of Samuel Bragg, a local architect. It replaced an earlier building, also called the Engineers' Arms.
Settlement at Maryborough commenced in September 1847 when George Furber established a woolstore on the south bank of the Mary River at the head of navigation. He was followed in June 1848 by ET Aldridge and Henry and RE Palmer, who established their own wharves on the opposite riverbank, at a location now known as the original Maryborough town site at Baddow. In 1850 a new town site was surveyed to the east, at a downstream position which provided better access for shipping. The first sale of land at this new site occurred in 1852, but most residents did not shift to the current centre of Maryborough until 1855 and 1856. Maryborough was gazetted a Port of Entry in 1859 and was proclaimed a municipality in 1861. [2] During the 1860s and 1870s it flourished as the principal port for the nearby Gympie goldfield and as an outlet for timber and sugar. The establishment of manufacturing plants and primary industries sustained growth in the town into the twentieth century.
The property on which the hotel is situated was first purchased by William Southerden as a Town Lot on 17 April 1861. The next registered owner was Thomas Dillane who bought the property on 13 December 1872, though he is known to have been running the former hotel on the site since at least 1870.
The former Engineers' Arms is so known for the adjacent Walkers' Engineering Works and Foundry which began operations in 1868, supplying mining equipment firstly to the goldfields which were flourishing in Gympie and then, later, more widely. The original two-storey timber hotel may have been constructed in 1870, as the date on the parapet of the present building indicates.
By 1889, the Licensing Authority operating within the Maryborough district, under the provisions of the Licensing Act 1885, was becoming stricter with the licensees of hotels about the condition of the buildings and provision of services. It may have been as a result of this that the Engineers' Arms Hotel was replaced with a two-storey brick building, to a design by Samuel Bragg, who was a former employee of the Works Department. The building was constructed by local contractor Mr Caldwell and ready for business on 5 July 1889.
Two single-storey brick cottages at the rear of the hotel were thought to have been constructed as residential accommodation at this time.
Changes to the building fabric include the narrowing of the upper floor verandah, where, it seems the timber had rotted at the ends and was therefore cut away making it necessary to taper the verandah posts from their original fixed position to the new narrower width of the walkway.
The hotel, which ceased operating in 1951 [3], has subsequently been the Mayfair Guest or Boarding House, a restaurant, community centre and otherwise used as accommodation.
References
Ref. 1- Jan Downman citing Maryborough Chronicle 2 May and 4 July 1889.
Ref. 2 - Extracted from the Walker's Shipyard history prepared by Brian Sinclair [Reported Place in CHIMS, Site ID 31936].
Ref. 3 - Jan Downman citing Maryborough Chronicle 30 June 1951.
","criteria":"The Engineers' Arms Hotel (former) demonstrates the growth of Maryborough, particularly as a result of the Gympie goldrush, when Maryborough began producing mining equipment in the area where the hotel stands.
|The Engineers' Arms Hotel (former) hotel is an important element of the streetscapes of the town, and is an interesting example of Queensland country town hotel architecture.
|As the local hotel for the foundry workers for over one hundred years, the Engineers' Arms Hotel (former) has considerable social value to the surrounding community.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion E | Criterion G","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | 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":15471,"place_ref":600696,"name":"Hotel Francis (former)","alternate_name":"Metropolitan Hotel (1878-1935)","street_address":"310 Kent Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The Hotel Francis (former) is a two-storeyed masonry building located on the corner of Kent and Richmond Streets, Maryborough. The site contains several smaller buildings to the rear of the hotel.
The hotel comprises two major elements; the early hotel lined with two-storeyed verandahs extending down the Kent Street facade and around the corner into Richmond Street where it is met by the second stage of the building, a two-storeyed stuccoed wing.
The early section is constructed of rendered brick which has been scribed to resemble stonework to the height of the parapet, which consists of a face brickwork band surmounted by a stringcourse with dentils above which is an italianate balustrade punctuated with moulded masonry panels. Centrally located on Kent Street facade of the parapet, interrupting the balustrade is a face brick curved pediment, accentuating the ground floor entrance to the former accommodation and dining rooms. The parapet conceals a hipped corrugated iron roof.
The two-storeyed verandah is supported on posts, the cast iron body of which sits on a timber base and is also extended through the frieze in timber. The truncated corner of the building is emphasised by pairs of columns flanking the corner entrance, extending through to the floor above. The ground floor verandah frieze is of plain timber slats with feature fretwork slats, below which are diagonally cut timber panels. One bay of the ground floor verandah space has been infilled with rendered and scribed brickwork. The verandah to the upper floor has an ogee curved profile awning, balustrading of similar detail to the frieze below, and slatted timber brackets and frieze. A rudimentary rear verandah is accessed by a straight timber stair.
Entrance to the former public bar is through the double glazed doors, with arctic glass transom window above, on the truncated corner. The Kent Street facade has several half glazed and moulded french doors with operable transom windows above and a centrally located double doorway, of four panelled doors, as well as large window openings with moulded sills and consoles. The joinery to this elevation is very fine and intact.
Internally the building features pressed metal ceilings, cornices and roses throughout and timber floors. The upper floor retains some single skin timber partitioning, though the original layout is evident in the pressed metal ceiling where different patterns were used for each room.
The later rendered masonry extension, in Richmond Street, features round arched openings to the ground floor and square arched openings above, which are shaded by a hipped awning of fibrous cement. The flat parapet of this section has 'HOTEL FRANCIS' in relief, concealing a skillion roof.
To the rear of the hotel is a small one storeyed brick building with a hipped corrugated iron roof and a large brick chimney stack at one end.
","history":"The Hotel Francis (former) is a two-storey building, constructed in multiple stages between 1878 and 1938. It is on the site of an earlier hotel, the Maryborough Inn, later known as the Steam Packet.
Settlement at Maryborough commenced in September 1847 when George Furber established a woolstore on the south bank of the Mary River at the head of navigation. He was followed in June 1848 by ET Aldridge and Henry and RE Palmer, who established their own wharves on the opposite riverbank, at a location now known as the original Maryborough town site at Baddow. In 1850 a new town site was surveyed to the east, at a downstream position which provided better access for shipping. The first sale of land at this new site occurred in 1852, but most residents did not shift to the current centre of Maryborough until 1855 and 1856. Maryborough was gazetted a Port of Entry in 1859 and was proclaimed a municipality in 1861. [1] During the 1860s and 1870s Maryborough flourished as the principal port for the nearby Gympie goldfield and as an outlet for timber and sugar. The establishment of manufacturing plants and primary industries sustained growth in the town into the twentieth century.
The Maryborough Inn, believed to be the first hotel at the new town, was established on the site as early as 1853. The first licensee was James Davenport Walker. The site was subsequently occupied by the Steam-packet Hotel which was demolished to make way for the first stage of the present building. [2]
The first storey of the present building, then known as the Metropolitan Hotel, was erected in 1878. Described as a one-storey building with four sitting rooms and five bedrooms exclusive of those used by the publican, it had an 80 foot (24.4 m) frontage to Kent Street and a 33 foot (10 m) frontage to Richmond Street. Access was provided to the upper floors of the adjoining Helsham's Buildings for extra accommodation. [3]
On 1 May 1883, tenders were advertised for additions to the hotel. This was probably for the first storey of the rear extension facing Richmond Street. [4]
Further tenders were called in 1914 for additions and an extension to the bar; the architect being HWF Palmer. The hotel remained a single-storey building and was now described as having seven rooms for the public and three for private use. [5]
On 17 April 1919, the Maryborough Chronicle reported that plans had been prepared for a second storey. A photograph indicates this was completed by 1923. The photograph also shows, by this time, the Kent Street frontage was very similar in appearance to the present building but the rear, Richmond Street, extension (now two storeys) comprised only a single storey. [6]
The hotel was given its present name, the Hotel Francis, in 1935 while in the ownership of the Noonan family. In 1938 tenders were let for a second-storey addition to staff quarters facing Richmond Street. The architect was POE Hawkes. [7]
Surrender of the hotel licence was accepted by the Department of Tourism, Sport and Racing in September 1992. [8]
References
Ref. 1 - Extracted from the Walker's Shipyard history prepared by Brian Sinclair [Reported Place in CHIMS, Site ID 31936].
Ref. 2 - Jan Downman, 'Maryborough Inn' (unpublished paper), citing J Downman, K Gassan, 'The village people: Wide Bay Village, Maryborough 1848-1856', Maryborough, Qld: Wise Owl Research Publishers, 1998; Maryborough Chronicle, 19 September 1871, 25 July 1878, 29 October 1878.
Ref. 3 - Jan Downman, 'Maryborough Inn' (unpublished paper), citing Maryborough Chronicle, 25 July 1878, 29 October 1878, n.d. March 1879.
Ref. 4 - Jan Downman, 'Maryborough Inn' (unpublished paper), citing Maryborough Chronicle, 1 May 1883, 1885 map of Maryborough, 1893 ‘flood photo'.
Ref. 5 - Jan Downman, 'Maryborough Inn' (unpublished paper), citing Maryborough Chronicle, n.d. February 1914, 17 August 1917.
Ref. 6 - Jan Downman, 'Maryborough Inn' (unpublished paper), citing Maryborough Chronicle, 17 April 1919, dated photograph in the paper.
Ref. 7 - Jan Downman, 'Maryborough Inn' (unpublished paper), citing Maryborough Chronicle, 7 August 1935, 5 October 1938.
Ref. 8 - Jan Downman, 'Maryborough Inn' (unpublished paper), citing Maryborough Chronicle, n.d. September 1992.
Bibliography
Gavin Pattersen & Co. Pty Ltd Architects, 'Hotel Francis proposal for restoration and alterations' prepared for NIOA Holdings Pty Ltd, March 1992. (DERM Heritage Reports Collection, H-MARYB/005)
","criteria":"The Hotel Francis (former) demonstrates the growth of Maryborough.
|The Hotel Francis (former) is a good and intact example of a Queensland country town hotel, and is an important element of the Kent Street streetscape.
|As a hotel and public building for nearly 120 years, the Hotel Francis (former) is important to the local community.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion E | Criterion G","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | 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":15472,"place_ref":600697,"name":"Maryborough State High School","alternate_name":"Maryborough Boys' Grammar School | Maryborough Girls' Grammar School | Maryborough Grammar School","street_address":"Kent Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"Maryborough State High School comprises two campuses (formerly the boys' and girls' divisions of the grammar school) separated by Kent Street, the main thoroughfare of Maryborough. Standing in picturesque grounds, the school comprises two substantial brick buildings: the former boys' division building (1881); and the former girls' division building (1883). The school also retains a gymnasium (1880s), memorial entrance gates (1909), and King's Oval (1949). The two campuses are a complementing pair with the front entrances to the two grammar school buildings in alignment across Kent Street, visible between the memorial gates and framed by mature trees.
\nFormer Boys' Campus
\nStanding picturesquely in the centre of the 3.9ha boys' campus is the former boys' division building. Set well back from Kent Street behind a lawn and approached by a long, straight gravel path, the two-storey brick structure is impressive, well-composed, and in a Gothic Revival style. The building is approximately H-shaped in plan and its form expresses its original functions. A central wing, comprising ground floor classrooms and first floor living spaces, is terminated by perpendicular wings with prominent gable ends. The western wing contains an assembly hall (formerly double-height but now with a first floor inserted) and has prominent pier buttresses with rendered cappings, a series of high-level circular windows, and later skillion-roofed dormer windows lighting the first floor former dormitory. The eastern wing is longer, projecting from the rear, and contains a large classroom, former sitting room, and former kitchen rooms (now partitioned to create bathrooms) on the ground floor and a former hospital, large drawing room and bedrooms on the first floor. The building has red English bond facebrick walls, a steeply-pitched, multi-gabled roof clad with corrugated metal sheets, and three tall rendered chimneys.
\nThe front elevation is approximately symmetrical around a projecting, central, gable-roofed entry porch. Timber-framed verandahs line the front of the central wing on both levels and have paired timber posts and a tall, scalloped valance of boards with geometric, patterned cut-outs. The first floor verandah balustrade is enclosed with later sheet material. Pointed arch windows have timber-framed sashes and are protected by awnings with iron brackets. The exterior features a variety of decorative treatments including contrasting rendered quoining, elaborate timber fretwork bargeboards, acroteria, and other fine timberwork. Central access is via a pair of large timber, low-waisted doors with an arched fanlight. Flanking this, and on the upper verandah, are glazed French doors that provide access into the classrooms.
\nThe eastern elevation is prominently visible from the town, facing the flat grassed expanse of King's Oval. The elevation is approximately symmetrical. A single-story, skillion roofed verandah runs along this side and has stop chamfered posts and a scalloped valance of boards that have patterned cut-outs. The verandah wall has panelled French doors and double-hung and centre-pivot windows into the classrooms. The upper level has timber-framed, pointed arch windows with gable roof projections, and a large central stained glass window featuring the boys' grammar school crest and MARYBOROUGH BOYS' GRAMMAR SCHOOL, FOUNDED 1881. A rendered pointed arch moulding above the window is sheltered by a gable roof projection that features timber fretwork bargeboards. Bricks of a different type surround the window and continue to the east, indicating the later addition.
\nThe rear (north) of the building shelters a small courtyard. The eastern gable wall is rendered on the lower half, indicating the location of the demolished service wing. The wall has double-hung windows protected by a hipped convex hood, clad in corrugated metal and supported on ornate cast iron brackets, and decorative timberwork in the gable apex. The remainder of the rear elevation is lined on the lower level with a skillion-roofed verandah with a scalloped and patterned valance, and stop-chamfered timber posts. A small weatherboard-clad enclosure of the verandah accommodates store rooms. The verandah wall has glazed French doors opening into the classrooms and timber-framed double-hung and casement windows with corrugated metal clad, timber-framed hoods on the first floor.
\nInternally, the ground floor layout comprises a central stair hall running from front to back with a perpendicular, central hallway providing access to the classrooms on either side. The classrooms have plaster walls with large, decorative skirting boards and detailed cornices. Most walls have timber picture rails and one classroom features a framed section of wall with student signatures that date to at least 1918. Classroom ceilings are lined with beaded boards. The ground floor of the 1890 extension is converted to bathrooms, and the eastern stair hall has been removed and a floor inserted to increase first floor space.
\nAt the western end of the ground floor is the assembly hall. It is the largest volume of the building and has timber floorboards, plaster walls, and large, moulded timber skirting boards. The elaborate pressed metal ceiling of the hall incorporates coffering, cornice, and vented ceiling roses. Mounted at intervals on the hall walls are eight impressive, large honour boards recording the grammar school bursary, scholarship, and academic award recipients. An additional honour board commemorates past students that served in World War I and II, and a wall-hung memorial plaque is dedicated to a former principal. In 2014 the hall accommodates a museum of school memorabilia that includes: trophies, shields, photos, and early furniture, textbooks and uniforms.
\nThe first floor is reached via concrete stairs and accommodates classrooms and store rooms, as well as a large space above the hall (formerly a dormitory). The large timber roof framing is exposed in this space and the ceiling is lined with diagonal boards and has dormer windows. The first floor classrooms have similar floor, wall, and ceiling treatments as those on the ground floor but ceilings here have vented filigree ceiling roses. Early window and door hardware is retained throughout the building as are decorative timber mantelpieces.
\nGymnasium
\nThe gymnasium stands on the northwestern edge of King's Oval, adjacent to Sussex Street. Originally open-sided, it is a timber and iron-framed structure enclosed with later timber-framed weatherboard-clad walls. It is lowset on concrete and steel stumps and has a bell-shaped hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheets and topped by a ventilated roof lantern. All elevations have banks of later awning windows. Timber stairs lead to timber doors in the southeastern and southwestern sides. Fixed timber-framed fanlights are above most doors and windows. Internally, it is one space. The iron framing is exposed and supported on large, stop-chamfered, timber posts. The walls are single-skin with internally exposed timber framing and bracing, with the exception of half-height weatherboard cladding on the northeastern wall.
\nKing's Oval is positioned between the former boys' division building and the adjacent Maryborough Central State School. Surrounded by established trees and grassed embankments, the flat ground is used for sports and recreation and is an attractive setting for the adjacent boys' building. In the face of an embankment is a flight of concrete stairs down from the boys' building.
\nMemorial Entrance Gates
\nMemorial entrance gates stand at the front entrance to both campuses, facing each other across Kent Street. Either side of the fine, wrought iron gates is a short section of curved fence comprising facebrick walls and pillars with rendered dressings and iron palisades.
\nFormer Girls' Campus
\nThe former girls' division building stands prominently in the centre of a 2.59ha site. It is set well back from the road and aligned across Kent Street with the former boys' division building. It is approached via a circular front lawn with established plantings and perimeter footpaths. The building is a graceful, two-storey brick structure in the style of a substantial Victorian Italianate Revival house, incorporating elements of the style including: elaborate verandah decoration with filigree iron balustrades and cast 'turned' balusters, bracketed eaves, faceted bays, round-arched windows, corner rustication, pilaster window mullions, a prominent cupola, and a picturesque relationship with the landscape. It is approximately H-shaped in plan, comprising an east and a west wing connected by a core. The west wing contains an assembly hall and is the most prominent and decorative. The building has red, English bond facebrick walls, a multi-gabled and hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheets, and three tall rendered chimneys. Original filigree, metal wall vents are retained.
\nThe front (north) elevation has a well-composed asymmetry with a central timber-framed verandah on both levels terminated by the end wings. The verandah posts are cast iron and stand on rendered plinths on the ground floor. The elevation features decorative treatments including corner rustication, shaped bricks, and rendered mouldings. The windows are large with double-hung or casement sashes and glazed timber French doors with fanlights (lunette on the ground floor) open onto the verandahs. The cupola has a bell-shaped roof clad with flat metal sheets, a flagpole finial, and is an open-sided structure with cast metal posts and a low, filigree cast iron balustrade.
\nVisible and accessed from Ferry Street, the western elevation is picturesque, arranged around a projecting central, faceted entrance bay aligned with the cupola. Windows on this elevation are generally timber-framed double-hung, fixed, or casement sashes with arch-headed fanlights. The entrance door is a panelled set of French doors with fan and sidelights with coloured, patterned, or leadlight glass - the fanlight features the crest of Maryborough State High School.
\nThe projecting side wings of the rear (southern) elevation shelter a central, paved courtyard. The gable end of the eastern wing is rendered, indicating the location of the demolished service wing. The western wing has a faceted bay with large windows with rendered mouldings. A central timber-framed verandah on both levels has stop-chamfered timber posts. A tall valance on the ground floor has geometric cut-outs. The upper level verandah has a cross-braced timber balustrade and a raked ceiling of beaded boards. Panelled timber, glazed French doors provide access to the interior on both levels and there are large windows with double-hung timber-framed sashes.
\nThe western elevation has a wide timber-framed verandah on both levels. The posts are cast metal and those of the ground floor stand on rendered plinths. The upper level verandah retains early lead flashings. Large windows with double-hung sashes and glazed French doors open onto the verandah on both levels. At the centre of the ground floor is a fine, panelled timber door with side and fanlights and an early brass knocker, which provides access to a stair hall.
\nThe interior layout is intact. The ground floor accommodates classrooms (in 2014 used as administration rooms) and the assembly hall, and the first floor accommodates former dormitories, and teachers' sitting and bed rooms. Partitions are solid brick, plastered and have tall, moulded skirting boards, architraves, and cornices.
\nThe ground floor former classrooms have fireplaces with moulded timber mantelpieces. Honour boards hang on the walls of the central classroom recording the names of the high school's captains, sports, and bursary winners. The south eastern classroom has been converted to bathrooms. A central hallway with clear-finished timber dado panelling leads to the western assembly hall.
\nThe assembly hall is the largest and grandest space of the building. The walls are plaster and the room features finely-worked, clear-finished timber including dado panelling, windows, fanlights, architraves, pediment-topped doors, and cornice. A marble mantelpiece surrounds a cast iron fireplace and four large honour boards are hung on the walls recording the names of grammar school prefects and high performing students. A low stage stands at the northern end of the room. The tall, elaborate ceiling is coved and lined with v-jointed boards in contrasting directions. This is divided into sections by clear-finished, moulded trimmings and features ornate plaster and timber vented roses and panels.
\nThe stair hall has a timber stair with decoratively-turned timber balusters and handrail up to the first floor. The first floor rooms are large with high ceilings lined with v-jointed boards with plaster cornices. They retain fireplaces with moulded timber mantelpieces, arched openings into bay window projections with moulded architraves, and filigree timber and glazed fanlights.
\nEarly furniture is retained in the building as is window and door hardware.
\nThe girls' campus has mature trees including hoop pines (Araucaria cuninghamii) near the girls' building and a variety of fig tree species, including a row of evenly-spaced figs along the Kent Street boundary.
\nAll other structures within the heritage boundary are not of cultural heritage significance.
\nMaryborough State High School is a major element of a cohesive education precinct and a wider precinct of civic buildings primarily addressing Kent Street. The buildings and landscapes contribute to the streetscape and form an attractive landmark on the main thoroughfare of Maryborough.
\n\n
","history":"
Maryborough State High School was established as Maryborough Grammar School in 1881 during a prosperous period in the town. The school comprised two departments - boys' and girls' - and opened in a grand, new building designed by architect, John Richard Hall, on the north side of Kent Street. In 1883 the girls' department moved across Kent Street to their own separate site with an equally-grand, new building designed by architect, Francis Drummond Greville Stanley. The schools were transferred to state control in 1936 and were amalgamated and renamed Maryborough State High School in 1974. The buildings stand prominently on large, landscaped sites, facing each other across the main thoroughfare, Kent Street, and the schools have a strong connection with generations of Maryborough students, staff and parents as a centre of secondary education in Maryborough since 1881.
On the traditional land of the Badtjala (Butchulla) people, the small town of Maryborough grew quickly from its establishment in 1847. The site of the town was relocated downstream from its original position between 1852 and 1856; Maryborough was proclaimed a Port of Entry in 1859 and a municipality in 1861. Early exports from the port included wool, timber, tallow, sugar, and coal. Maryborough became the port for Gympie after gold was discovered there in 1867.[1]
The 1880s were a prosperous time for the colony of Queensland generally. The population of Maryborough and district grew dramatically between 1876 and 1881, and this continued into the late 1880s.[2] Maryborough's dominance as a regional centre was strengthened when a railway line connecting Gympie to Maryborough's port was completed in 1881.[3] The years 1870 to 1890 were extremely profitable for Maryborough and new commercial establishments, industries and financial and other institutions were established in the town.[4]
The first government school opened in the town in 1862 and Maryborough experienced a dramatic growth in schools beginning in 1875, with nine schools opening in 16 years. Granville State School and Tinana State School opened in 1875, the Sisters of Mercy Convent School in 1880, Maryborough Grammar School in 1881, St Helens State School in 1882; Albert State School in 1883, Maryborough West State School in 1886, a Christian Brothers School in 1888, and Sunbury State School in 1891.[5]
The establishment of schools was considered an essential step in the development of early communities and integral to their success. Locals often donated land and labour for a school's construction and the school community contributed to maintenance and development. Schools became a community focus, a symbol of progress, and a source of pride, with enduring connections formed with past pupils, parents, and teachers. The inclusion of war memorials and community halls reinforced these connections and provided a focus/venue for a wide range of community events in schools across Queensland.[6]
Education was important to the colonial governments of Australia. After separation in 1859, the Queensland Government addressed the growing need for an institutionalised secondary educational system by passing the Grammar Schools Act 1860, encouraging the establishment of secular grammar schools. Under the Act, if the local community could raise more than £1000 toward the establishment of a grammar school, the government would provide double the amount and an annual endowment. Due to this large deposit of money, Queensland grammar schools were only established in prosperous settlements with stable populations.[7]
The establishment of a grammar school in Maryborough began in January 1871 and came to fruition a decade later.[8] By the end of 1871, a 7 acre 3 rood and 22 perch (3.19ha) block was set aside in town for a grammar school, but this grant was cancelled in 1872 when local support waned briefly.[9] However, donations grew and in 1878 it was recorded that over £1493 had been raised. The first trustees decided the new school site should be on the edge of town on the Ululah reserve.[10] After strong public debate, this site was abandoned and the original site was reserved again in 1880, and increased to 10 acres (4ha). The school site was part of a 90 acre (36.42ha) reserve that also accommodated Maryborough National School (now Maryborough Central State School [QHR 601264]) and, later, other important civic uses including the Maryborough Railway Station [QHR 600702], police station, and a small hospital.[11]
In 1879, a competition was called by the Board of Trustees to design a substantial new building to accommodate 50 boys and boarding facilities.[12] The winning design was by important and prolific Brisbane architect, John Richard Hall.[13] Hall had previous experience supervising the construction of Brisbane Grammar School and had designed fine buildings throughout Queensland including buildings for the Queensland National Bank; residences including 'Greylands' [QHR 600230], 'Langlands' and 'Pahroombin'; commercial projects; churches; and hotels.[14]
Construction of the grammar school building began in 1880 and was completed in 1881 by Maryborough contractor, Henry Taylor, for £5500.[15] Standing in the centre of the site, the two-storey brick building faced south onto Kent Street and accommodated classrooms and a double-height lecture hall on the ground floor, and living rooms for the headmaster on the first floor.[16] It was in a Gothic Revival style, typical of grammar schools in Queensland at the time.[17] Upon completion, the classrooms were described as spacious, lofty, well ventilated, and allowed a desirable amount of subdued light to enter the spaces.[18]
Prior to completing the building, a 'Grand Bazaar' was held in the town in 1880 to raise additional funds to ensure a larger government contribution and annual endowment.[19] Above the anticipated amount, a £617/2/1 surplus was raised and reserved for the establishment of a girls' grammar school, a separate division of the Maryborough Grammar School.[20] The boys' and girls' divisions were to be controlled by one board.[21] In preparation for opening, advertisements were placed in prominent English newspapers and on 8 March 1881 Mr James Murdoch, a scholar of Aberdeen, Cambridge, Paris and Gottingen universities, was appointed the first headmaster of the boys' division and later in the year, Miss Caroline Darling of Dulwich College in England was appointed the principal of the girls' division.[22]
The Maryborough Grammar School opened on 5 September 1881 with 50 pupils (24 boys and 26 girls).[23]
It was the third school in Queensland to provide grammar school education for girls. The concept for formal academic education for women was just emerging in Australia in the late nineteenth century. Queensland's first grammar schools were exclusively for boys but in 1875 Brisbane Girls' Grammar School opened, the first in Queensland, followed in February 1881 by Rockhampton Grammar School, which had a girls' department.[24] Initial considerations for the girls' grammar school in Maryborough had been to lease a suitable building near the boys' school but this was soon rejected in favour of a purpose-built school building to be completed promptly after the school's opening.[25] Ten days after the opening of Maryborough Grammar School, a 4 acre 16 perch (1.65ha) site directly across Kent Street was reserved for a separate campus for the girls' division.[26]
The new girls' building was designed by Government Architect, Francis Drummond Greville Stanley. Stanley immigrated to Queensland in 1861 and became one of the most prolific and well known Queensland architects of the late nineteenth century, responsible for a great number of important government and private buildings throughout the state, including the entirety of Queensland Government education architecture between 1875 and 1879.[27]
Construction of the girls' division building began in 1882 and was completed 1883. It was the first girls' grammar school in Queensland to be housed in its own separate building.[28] It was built by local contractor, Fritz Kinne for £3396.[29] The new, two-storey brick building opened 29 January 1883. It was designed in an Italianate Revival domestic style, as was typical and deemed 'suitable' for girls' grammar schools in Queensland at the time.[30] The ground floor included a large lecture hall, classrooms, a dining room for boarders, and a private dining room for the principal. The first floor included a large dormitory, linen room and bathroom, bedrooms, and principal's drawing and sitting rooms. The interior was described as 'having excellent lighting and ventilation, and extensive views of Maryborough and the surrounding areas'.[31] An attached rear wing accommodated a kitchen, laundry, servants' room, washhouse and toilets.[32] Later in the year, extensive plantings were added along Kent Street to correspond with the boys' campus opposite.[33]
The grand buildings of the boys' and girls' divisions are two of many significant buildings constructed in the late 1870s and 1880s in Maryborough, reflecting the prosperity of the town at the time. These include: Maryborough Court House (1877), the Bank of New South Wales (1877), St Paul's Church of England (1879), Maryborough Railway Station (1880), the Criterion Hotel (1883), Maryborough Mortuary Chapel (1884), Maryborough Hospital (1888), and the Maryborough School of Arts (1888) - as well as fine, architect-designed suburban villas for wealthy residents.[34]
Changes have occurred to both buildings over time. Completed in 1890 and costing £3500, remodelling and extension of the boys' division building was performed by local contractors, Messrs Crystall and Armstrong to the design of Brisbane architect, Victor Carandini. This work included a one-storey timber wing (later demolished) and a two-storey brick wing that extended the eastern elevation. Prominent from the central business district and the main thoroughfares, the building now appeared much grander and included a large stained glass window with the school crest and motto.[35] It accommodated a kitchen on the ground floor and two bedrooms and a 'hospital' on the first floor.[36]
In 1891 an extension was added to the girls' division building, costing £2300. Built by local contractors, Messrs Negus Brothers, under the supervision of Mr W Devon, Clerk of Works, the new wing dramatically increased the accommodation, doubling the size of the dining room, and adding an impressively-decorative assembly hall, an office, three bathrooms, three dormitories, and a sitting room.[37] This wing was attached to the northwestern side of the building and featured a prominent cupola.[38]
Works promoting health and exercise occurred at the boys' campus in the late 1880s. At some time between 1884 and 1890 a gymnasium was constructed by Crystall and Armstrong to a design by Carandini.[39] It was an open-sided structure, 54ft x 36ft (16.46m x 10.97m), standing to the west of the boys' division building.[40] It had an iron-framed structure with a domed, galvanised iron clad roof and the ground was a thick bedding of soft tan, intended to reduce injuries from falls. It was fitted with equipment including horizontal and parallel bars, swing rings, ladders, and poles.[41] By 1890 a cricket pitch had been constructed to the east of the boys' division building, between the new wing and Fort Street.[42]
In 1902 a first floor was inserted into the double-height volume of the hall of the boys' division building to provide extra accommodation for boarders on the first floor. This work included adding a pressed metal ceiling to the hall and improved the acoustics of the room. The dormitory above was described as large, commodious, well ventilated, and very cool. The works were designed and completed by Crystall and Armstrong.[43]
Funds donated by local Maryborough residents and past pupils of the schools contributed to the improvement and provision of facilities at the grammar school. In 1906, £5000 was bequeathed to the school by Robert Travis.[44] This money funded several additions to the girls' division building, as well as memorial gates constructed in 1909 at the front entrance to both campuses and dedicated to Travis.[45] A wide verandah was added along the eastern side of the girls' division building at some time prior to 1929.[46]
A Jubilee Fund was established by the Maryborough Grammar School's Old Boys' Association and funded an extension to the science laboratory, behind the boy's division building. The extension cost £299/7/11 and opened 5 September 1931 but was demolished by 1957.[47]
Also in 1931, the gymnasium was renovated, costing over £250. These works modernised the building by raising it up on a timber floor and enclosing it with walls. The building was then used as a meeting, dance, and general recreation space.[48]
The 1930s economic depression dramatically reduced student attendance at Maryborough Grammar School. In 1934, the school's Board of Trustees, the Director of Education, and the Minister for Public Instruction discussed the school's poor financial situation and condition of the buildings.[49] In October 1935, it was decided to transfer control of the school to the Queensland Government.[50] To do so, the Maryborough Grammar Schools Transfer Act 1935 was passed and the board and school were dissolved.[51] The school reopened as two separate schools in 1936: Maryborough State High and Intermediate School for Boys (in the boys' building) and Maryborough State High and Intermediate School for Girls (in the girls' building).[52] Boarding ended and the dorms were converted into classrooms. A domestic science building was constructed behind the girls' building during conversions in 1936-7, measuring 102ft x 32ft (31m x 9.75m), with two 29ft x 17ft (8.84m x 5.18m) front wings.[53]
The boys' school shared the site and facilities with the Maryborough Technical College and in 1943, the two schools were amalgamated.[54] In 1943 and 1950 Technical Training workshops were erected in the northwest corner of the site.[55] The workshops were demolished sometime between 2009 and 2010.[56]
The Advisory Council of the Boys' School was established in 1942 and immediately advocated for better conditions for students.[57] In 1947, Fort Street was closed to traffic between Kent Street and Sussex Street and the land was amalgamated into the boys' school grounds. It was decided to level this area (including the 1880s cricket pitch) into a large sports field and name it King's Oval in honour of, and as a reception place for, King George VI, who was soon to visit Maryborough. The work was completed quickly, but due to the King's ill health, the royal visit was cancelled. The oval opened on 7 May 1949 with a large fete.[58] Covering 4 acres (1.62ha), it was considered an asset to Maryborough and described as 'the most up-to-date sporting field in the city'.[59] It became an important gathering place for Maryborough citizens. Over 2000 children gathered there in 1953 to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and on 2 September 1959, Princess Alexandra was received on the field.[60]
In the 1950s and 1960s, new buildings were constructed on both campuses and alterations were made to old buildings to accommodate a strong increase in student population.[61] In 1956, the front verandah of the boys' building was enclosed to create additional room for the library.[62] In 1959 the gymnasium was moved to be adjacent to King's Oval. In 1966 it was moved again, to the northern edge of the oval, adjacent to Sussex Street.[63] The girl's campus was extended in 1964 to the south by 2 acres, 1 rood, 6 perches (0.92ha).[64] By 1966 the rear, timber wing of the former boys' school building was demolished and the brick face where the wing connected to the main building was concrete rendered.[65] In 1967, the boys' building was renovated and repainted, and between 1969 and 1974 the rear wing of the former girls' building was demolished.[66] Throughout the 1960s, the grounds of both campuses were complimented on their fine appearance, with beautiful shade trees and well-kept lawns.[67]
In 1974 the technical college (by then, a TAFE college) was decoupled from the boys' school and took possession of the entire boys' campus. The boys' and girls' schools were amalgamated and renamed Maryborough State High School and all students were taught, co-educationally, in the former girls' campus. The total enrolment was 927 and the school struggled with the limited accommodation. Initially, eight classes were held in the former boys' school building until the end of 1974 and the school continued to use the manual training, science, and toilet blocks on the boys' campus.[68]
Since the 1970s, new buildings have been constructed on both campuses; however, the two original grammar school buildings and the gymnasium remained virtually unchanged. The gymnasium was renovated at some time by the 1970s but alterations were only minor. By the 1990s, TAFE began to vacate the former boys' school building and the high school began to occupy the building as enrolments increased.
In July 2012, a small museum was relocated from the former girls' division building to the boys' division building and was opened to the public, exhibiting a large range of educational paraphernalia from the school's history.
In 2015 Maryborough State High School operates from both campuses using both original grammar school buildings. The buildings are linked across Kent Street between the memorial gates, framed by mature trees. The gymnasium and King's Oval continue to be used by the school for sports and by external organisations and Maryborough residents. The school is important to the town and district having operated since 1881 and having taught generations of Maryborough children. The attractive grounds and early buildings are a prominent feature on the main thoroughfare and the school remains a key social focus for the Maryborough community with the grounds and buildings used for regular community events.
","criteria":"The former Boys Grammar School demonstrates the growth of Maryborough in the 1870s and 1880s when the town was large enough to raise sufficient funding to erect a substantial Grammar School, second only to that in Brisbane.
|The building is an accomplished example of the nineteenth century architectural style, Gothic Revival, as applied to an academic building. The steeply pitched roofs; siting; Gothic detailing including pointed arched openings and polychrome masonry detailing; and massing of the building contribute to Gothic Revival styling. The building is characteristic of Grammar Schools throughout Queensland constructed in this style.
|The building is of architectural merit as a well-composed and interesting example of a Gothic Revival structure, adapted to the sub tropical Maryborough climate and well sited. The building is a landmark in the town.
|It has a special association with the town as a place of public education since the late nineteenth century.
|As a good and intact example of the work of Brisbane architect, John Hall, the building has special associations with him.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion G | Criterion H","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 | The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15473,"place_ref":600698,"name":"Maryborough City Hall","alternate_name":"Maryborough Town Hall","street_address":"388 Kent Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The Maryborough City Hall is prominently located on the corner of Kent and Lennox Streets, in the central business district of Maryborough. The building is surrounded by grassed embankments to Kent Street and lawn areas and formal garden beds to Lennox Street.
The City Hall comprises a number of sections; the original building being two intersecting gabled wings, one wing forming the administration offices and principal entrance to the hall in a gabled sections running parallel to Kent Street, and centrally abutting the rear, south western side of this another gabled section of the same height housing the auditorium. Joining this, to the south west again, a large stuccoed fly tower was added. More recently, a two storeyed administration block was added to the northern corner of the original building.
The original sections of the City Hall are constructed from face brickwork with white limed tuckpointing and regular bands of smooth faced stucco. The two storeyed Kent Street section is dominated by a large central pedimented portico supported on six two storeyed Doric columns on the entablature above which is the lettering 'CITY 1906 HALL'. A triangular pediment above this is filled with brickwork and has a central oculus. Flanking the portico are a series of three square arched window openings, taller on the ground floor. The central, first floor, window on each side is lengthened to form a door and a small semi circular Juliet balcony surrounds this. These balconies are visually supported on large oversized keystones above the corresponding openings on the ground floor level.
Rising from the rib-and-pan roof of this section of the building, is a three storeyed stuccoed clock tower, with balustraded openings on the second floor and a four faced clock in the section above. The tower is crowned with a complex domed roof, clad with zinc. Large triangular pediments are formed in the gabled ends of this section of the building, and these are defined by closely space and oversized eaves brackets and feature a central segmented semi circular opening.
Internally this front section houses offices, meeting rooms, a large stair hall and entrance hall to the auditorium. The entrance hall provides access to the auditorium and other hallways through a series of double timber doors, some with arctic glazed panels and all surmounted by operable transom windows. A bifurcating concrete stair commences on the two sides of the entrance hall and meets at a landing above the entrance door, proceeding for another flight to the first floor level. At the first floor the stair hall is ceiled with painted pressed metal. Access is provided from the stair hall on this level to the Council Chamber and a large meeting room. As this area was subject to a damaging fire, much of the interior has been refitted, in the case of the these rooms with a reconstruction of what was originally built. The Council Chamber has a barrel vaulted plaster ceiling and is lined with timber wainscotting to about 2500mm.
The auditorium wing is constructed of similar brickwork, but without stuccoed banding. Externally the section is lined with a series of simple pilasters, and has square arched openings centrally placed between the pillars. Surmounting the ridge of the corrugated iron clad roof of this section is a number of simple ventilators. The interior of the auditorium has a raked timber floor toward the stage which is framed by a classically inspired proscenium archway; flanked by reeded Corinthian columns supported a gently curved entablature. The heavily coffered timber ceiling of the auditorium is barrel vaulted centrally. A gallery at the north eastern, entrance end, has a curved floor plan and features early seating. Flanking the auditorium are semi-open verandah spaces, to which access is provided from the hall through double French doors. Attached to the wall of the auditorium, toward the stage end of the room are five Honour Boards, commemorating the citizens of Maryborough's involvement in the various wars.
To the south west of the auditorium is a large wing constructed as a fly tower behind the stage. This is a concrete structure, without openings, stuccoed with rough cast render. The surface of the section is broken by shallow pilasters, and high level semicircular openings within the shallow gables of the roof.
Attached to the northern corner of the City Hall, abutting the entrance section, is a more recent two storeyed brick and glass extension, with skillion roof, tuckpointed brickwork and a modern interior fitout.
","history":"Replacing a smaller timber building constructed on a different site, the Maryborough City Hall was built in 1908 as the second Maryborough Town Hall. The building was designed by renowned Queensland architectural partnership, Hall and Dods.
The original township of Maryborough was situated, not in its current place, but on the north of the Mary River, after wharves were established in 1847-8, to provide transport for wool from sheep stations on the Burnett River. In 1852 the growing town was gradually transferred further north where ships were able to better navigate the river. Development followed and by March 1861, Maryborough was declared a municipality and Henry Palmer was appointed as the first Mayor. Meetings of the newly formed Council were held in various buildings until 1874 when a timber Town Hall was constructed, adjacent to the School of Arts in Kent Street. A Deed of Grant had been issued for the land in 1868 but construction of the building did not occur for several years. During the late 1860s and 1870s Maryborough developed rapidly as the port for the nearby gold rushes in the Gympie area. The new town hall, which was erected for about £400 was opened in 1876.
Dissatisfaction with the first town hall was voiced in the local press for many years, and attempts were made at various stages throughout the nineteenth century to replace the timer Town Hall with a masonry building reflecting the importance of Maryborough in regional Queensland. In 1884, The Maryborough Council sought permission from the State Government to exchange the land on which the Town Hall was built with land on the opposite side of Kent street facing the Town Hall, then used as a police and justice reserve. Though this permission was given in 1901 the construction of a new town hall did not commence until the several years after.
Lack of funds at the Council delayed the construction of a new Town Hall and meetings and business continued in the early timber building until 1908 when the current Town Hall was opened. Funding for the Town Hall was not forthcoming from the Council, but from a local benefactor, Mr George Ambrose White who donated £10,000 for the sole purpose of constructing a new Town Hall. Although generous this gift was to be offset by a annual payment by the Council to Mr White of 5% of the amount. White previously donated money for the construction of a public swimming pool in Maryborough and therefore he was already well known in the local community.
In 1906, work began on the new site in Kent Street, removing the early police and justice buildings many of which survived from the initial development of Maryborough in the 1850s and 1860s. An inspector's residence, stockade and stables were removed to the new police site in Lennox Street where a police station designed by the Public Works Department was being constructed. As well many buildings were removed from the site and sold including a court house, disused since the construction of a new court house in Richmond Street in 1877, lock-up, cells and police quarters.
What remained was for the Council to procure the services of an architect to design their new Town Hall, to be a fitting symbol of Maryborough's prominence. Initially it was thought that a competition to be assessed by LG Corrie, President of the Queensland Institute of Architects, along with Mr AB Brady, the Government Architect and a member of the council, would discover the most suitable design for the Town Hall. However this plan was abandoned when the assessors' fees and prize money was deemed to be too costly. Enquiries were made into which architects might be most suitable for the work and these pointed to the prominent Brisbane partnership of Francis Hall and Robin (Robert Smith) Dods. The Mayor travelled to Brisbane to interview Hall and Dods and they were commissioned to produce designs for the new Town Hall.
Hall and Dods formed in 1896 when Dods won a competition for the design of the nurses' home at the Brisbane Hospital. By 1906 the partnership was one of the premier architectural firms in Brisbane, achieving, in the words of local architect AE Brooks, "an architectural revolution in Brisbane" resulting largely from Dods' architectural sophistication and innovation from his professional experience in Britain where he became well versed in both the aesthetics and philosophical background of both the Arts and Crafts movement and Edwardian Classicism. Hall and Dods' projects was wide ranging and included hospital, ecclesiastical, domestic and commercial work.
After preparing plans and specifications for the Maryborough Town Hall, Robin Dods was invited to a special meeting of the Maryborough Council to discuss the plans which were adopted in October 1906. The design for the town hall was a substantial brick building with steeply pitched gabled roof and four Tuscan Order columns defining the portico. The building reflected the Victorian ideal of municipal buildings strongly influenced by classicism, in this case stripped and manipulated with the sophistication characteristic of the work of Hall and Dods. The building was designed to house a 900 seat auditorium, council offices and a council chamber.
Tenders were called in December 1906 for the construction of the Town Hall, and that of local contractors, Crystall and Armstrong for £8976.13.5 was accepted and completion was to be within twelve months. A Clerk of Works, Mr Sayers from Sydney, was appointed to oversee the work. Among the other contractors were Fairlie and Sons who completed the timberwork including the internal joinery; G Horbourgh and Co who undertook the plumbing; Mr Fulsig the painting and Messrs Walker the ironwork, including the rib and pan roof. Messrs Rolley and Pagett of Brisbane supplied the patented casement openers for the side casement windows. Local bricks from Meredith Brickworks were used on a foundation of cement blocks cast on site. The auditorium was supplied with 500 bentwood chairs from Finney Isles and Co, with older chairs and forms supplementing this seating.
After some delays the new Town Hall was opened by the leader of the Federal Labour Party, the Hon Andrew Fisher, MHR. The building was received with mixed reviews, the Maryborough community, as expressed in the local papers described the building as plain and with a quality of "red-brickiness" whereas the national architectural journal, Building, praised its "simplicity with dignity in a splendid fashion". The interior of the building was more universally appealing with well crafted internal moulding and joinery and well proportioned rooms. The final cost of the building was £9000.
Soon after the opening, plans were made to alter the entrance stairs to a design of George Halibut and this saw outward sweeps added to the stair and plinths for lighting incorporated. The council also undertook landscaping work to improve the surrounds of the building. The next additions were made in 1918 when four honour rolls, made by Fairlie and Sons, were erected in the auditorium.
Substantial additions were made to the Town Hall in 1934 to the design of Brisbane City Council architect, Walter Kerrison who was on loan to the Maryborough City Council. These additions included the erection of a clock tower, the construction of a fly tower and the widening and lengthening of verandahs flanking the auditorium. In 1948 a single storeyed extension to the western side of the building was added to supplement office accommodation in the building. This was designed by Colin Tesch. A second storey was added to this section in 1978. The lettering above the entrance door, which on completion of the building in 1908 was "TOWN HALL" was changed to "CITY HALL" in 1964, although Maryborough was proclaimed a city much earlier in 1905. In 1971 other alterations were made to the entrance doors to the design of architect, Werner Hug.
The most recent alterations to the building occurred in 1990 when a serious fire substantially damaged the building interior. Restoration and reconstruction work was undertaken by Brisbane architect, Robert Riddel.
","criteria":"The Maryborough City Hall, a large regional municipal building, demonstrates the growth of Maryborough in the early twentieth century, as the focal town of a large fertile agricultural area. This site, which was from the earliest Maryborough surveys, laid aside as public land, has historical and social importance as the long time municipal focal point of the town.
The Maryborough City Hall has associations with the early development of the Maryborough Council, with prominent citizen George Ambrose White, and with Brisbane architectural partnership, Hall and Dods.
|The City Hall is a fine example of the work of prominent Queensland architectural partnership, Hall and Dods. The building is the only built municipal example of the work of Robin Dods. The building is characteristic of a regional town hall, with classically inspired design and fine craftsmanship, symbolising the prominence, stability and progressiveness of the town.
The building uses a variety of local timbers and is a fine example of local craftsmanship with fine plasterwork and joinery throughout the building.
|The building has aesthetic value as a well composed municipal structure, on a prominent site which is an integral part of the Maryborough townscape and the Kent Street streetscape.
|This site, which was from the earliest Maryborough surveys, laid aside as public land, has historical and social importance as the long time municipal focal point of the town.
|The Maryborough City Hall has associations with the early development of the Maryborough Council, with prominent citizen George Ambrose White, and with Brisbane architectural partnership, Hall and Dods.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion G | Criterion H","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 | The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15474,"place_ref":600699,"name":"Royal Bank (former)","alternate_name":"Windsor House | Queensland International Heritage College","street_address":"297 Kent Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The former Royal Bank is a substantial two storeyed rendered brick building prominently located on Kent Street, Maryborough.
The symmetrically composed principal façade of the building is divided into three bays by round pilasters on square planned plinths. The capitals of the pilasters are of the Corinthian order and from the base to about one third of the overall height, the pilasters are reeded. The central bay is flanked by single pilasters and the pilasters at the corner of the building are paired. Surmounting the pilasters are panels which project from the face of an entablature but have similar mouldings. Above this is a large broken triangular pediment which acts as a parapet, and runs the entire width of the building but comprises a central signage panel, broken arched pediment at the apex, mouldings and urns. Between the pilasters on the face of the building are a number of round arched window openings. The openings on the upper storey, glazed with timber framed sashes, are above blind Italianate balustrades. The central ground floor entrance, is through a round arched opening which is flanked by rusticated pillars supporting an entablature and a scrolled curved pediment. Flanking the central entrance, in the recesses of the side bays are round arched openings.
The three elevations of the building which do not address Kent Street are of rendered brick and are less richly decorated, featuring segmental arched openings, a double storeyed verandah and a moulded parapet.
","history":"The former Royal Bank was constructed in 1888-9 to the design of Brisbane architect, Victor Carandini. The building was the first branch of the Royal Bank opened in Maryborough.
The original township of Maryborough was situated, not in its current place, but on the north of the Mary River, after wharves were established in 1847-8 providing transport for wool from sheep stations on the Burnett River. In 1850 Surveyor, HR Labatt arrived in Maryborough with instructions to suggest the best sites for the towns and wharves. The site recommended by Labatt was not where settlement was established but further east to allow for the development of deeper wharves and from the early 1850s this is where the town developed. During the 1860s and 1870s Maryborough flourished as the principal port of the nearby Gympie goldfield and as an outlet for timber and sugar. The establishment of manufacturing plants and primary industries sustained its growth as a major regional centre. .
Many banks opened branches in Maryborough during the nineteenth century, and the Royal Bank opened a branch in 1888 after many of the other banks were established. The Royal Bank was established in about 1886, and their head office was opened in February of 1886, with shareholders concentrating on business, mining and agricultural interests near the eastern coast. The architect chosen to design the Royal Bank was Brisbane architect, Victor Carandini who practised from 1885 in partnership with Alfred Banks and from mid 1887 in private practice. He won several competitions and designed a number of fine buildings throughout Queensland, including a fire station in Townsville; St Thomas' Church of England, Beaudesert; a School of Arts in Redland Bay and the Post Office Hotel in Maryborough. The new bank building was designed to incorporate the banking chamber and offices on the ground floor and a residence for the manager on the upper floor, a common practice in regional banks at the time.
The Royal Bank merged with the Bank of North Queensland in about 1917 to form the Bank of Queensland. In 1921 this in turn merged with the Queensland National Bank and became part of the National Bank of Australasia Limited in the late 1940s. This merging meant that many banks in Maryborough were surplus to requirements and the former Royal Bank was one of these., being sold in 1973. It became known as Windsor House and was leased as private tenancies, including some residential use and as a restaurant In 1983 it was purchased as a group medical practice and also contained pathology laboratories until 1995, when it changed hands again. It was then opened as the Queensland International Heritage College. At this time some of the internal partitions erected for previous tenants were removed and the building was painted.
","criteria":"The former Royal Bank is of historical importance for demonstrating the growth of Maryborough in the 1880s when many financial institutes established branches.
|The building is a good example of a late nineteenth century bank influenced by classical architecture, reinforcing the banking values of tradition and strength.
|The former bank is a well composed building of architectural value and a prominent element of the streetscape.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E","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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15475,"place_ref":600700,"name":"Royal Hotel","alternate_name":"Bush Inn","street_address":"Kent Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The Royal Hotel, Maryborough is a substantial two storeyed rendered masonry building on a prominent intersection on the corner of Kent and Bazaar Streets, Maryborough. The hipped corrugated iron roof, featuring a prominent glazed roof lantern, is concealed by a rendered masonry parapet of italianate balusters, punctuated by a series of moulded panels.
The principal facade, from Kent Street, is symmetrically composed around a central bay surmounted by a curved pediment above a moulded panel projecting above the parapet, emphasising the entrance. The symmetrical quality of the facade is offset by the addition of a cantilevered awning which features an arched detail, not over the principal entrance designated by the central bay, but over on an arched opening to the right of this. The central bay is flanked by a series of arcaded bays, divided by pilasters rendered to imitate vermiculated stonework. The ground floor features a series of large arched openings, some of which are balustraded, and flanking these are bipartite round headed arched windows to the public bar toward Bazaar Street, and modernised shop fronts in the other direction. The central bay is flanked on the first floor by five bay arched loggias terminated by the end wings of the building which feature three arched window openings, over an italianate baluster panel. The first floor loggia provides an indication of the original open character of the central section of the ground floor.
The cantilevered awning which is attached to the building with a series of iron tie-backs, has an elaborate soffit of coffered pressed metal panels and a reeded pressed metal fascia. The awning extends the whole distance of the Kent Street facade, is curved around the corner and extends only a short distance on the Bazaar Street facade. Surmounted on the Kent and Bazaar Street corner of the hotel is an illuminated sign supported on metal framework with lettering, "ROYAL".
Windows to the first floor nearest the corner of Kent and Bazaar Streets retain double hung sashes, though most other openings in the building have been glazed with aluminium framed windows. Leadlight glazing survives on the upper sashes of several arched windows of the public bar. Window joinery to the Bazaar Street elevation is generally more intact. The building has a rear first floor verandah, access from which is gained by a straight timber stair.
The building is accessed via the centrally located principal entrance, originally an open loggia entrance vestibule, but now closed with glazing. This space features a fine tessellated and encaustic tiled floor, which continues in less decorative form into the entrance hall and dining room. The entrance hall is punctuated by an arcade supported on heavy masonry columns with stylised ionic capitals, initiating the stair and forming a walkway through the space, indicating the entrances to other rooms. The bifurcating dog leg stair features very fine cedar joinery of carved timber balusters joined by a carved panel below the handrail. Heavy columns flanking the stair are met by the expanding lower treads and the wreathed handrail.
The dining room, originally extending through two storeys with gallery above, is now ceiled at the first floor. The coved ceiling of the gallery space features a large central clerestory, now boarded below the windows. Reeded pilasters line the plaster walls, and access to the loggia is given through a number of half glazed french doors.
The upper floor has a number of accommodation rooms, all with access to the loggia or rear verandah. The timber framed and boarded rooms retain original detailing including four panel doors, with timber fretwork transoms above and timber skirting and architraves. A large clerestory in the corridor provides natural lighting.
The public bar and subsidiary ground floor rooms have been substantially altered. A one storeyed concrete block extension has been added to the south of the Bazaar Street elevation. To the rear of the early building is an area of partially surfaced carparking.
","history":"The Royal Hotel, Maryborough is a substantial rendered brick building, constructed in 1902 to designs of Messrs Eaton and Bates, architects of Rockhampton. The present hotel was built for Mr RM Hyne, a local pioneer who developed many local manufacturing and community initiatives.
The original township of Maryborough was situated, not in its current place, but on the north of the Mary River, after wharves were established in 1847-8, to provide transport for wool from sheep stations on the Burnett River. In 1852 the growing town was gradually transferred further north where ships were able to better navigate the river. Development followed and by March 1861, Maryborough was declared a municipality.
One of the early settlers in the area, Mr ET Aldridge established a hotel, apparently first known as the Victoria but later named the Bush Inn, in the old town in 1848. In 1856, Aldridge moved the hotel to the south of the River in Kent Street, where the present Royal Hotel is situated, with the shifting of the focus of development. This was a large two storeyed timber building.
During the 1860s Maryborough flourished as a result of the gold discoveries in Gympie, for which it became the primary port. In 1870 a first floor timber balcony with cross-braced balustrade was added to the Bush Inn, which was to become known as the Royal Hotel in the next few years, by the owner, Mr Cooper. In 1873, Mr RM Hyne took over the licence.
Prior to establishing himself in Maryborough, Hyne engaged in various businesses in Gympie, including the running of the Mining Exchange Hotel. Astutely, he realised that Maryborough would become a permanent centre and port for the Wide Bay Burnett district and moved to the town, where he immediately became involved with the running of the Bush Inn/Royal Hotel. Hyne was interested in establishing Maryborough as a major respected centre, and worked towards improving health, education, welfare and recreation facilities. He was mayor for a term in 1878.
Upon arriving in Maryborough, Hyne acquired the lease of the Royal Hotel in mid 1873 and purchased the hotel soon after. Hyne busied himself with improving the hotel, he added bathrooms and replaced the timber balustrading on the balconies with a cast iron balustrade and established a driveway where he planted several Bunya Pines in 1878. This former Royal Hotel did not occupy the site immediately adjacent to the corner, and a two storeyed masonry building was constructed by Hyne on this corner site in 1892-3. This two storeyed building, which was to be incorporated into the current Royal Hotel, was designed by William Devon, a local architect as a shop for Hanleys, drapers in the town. Hanleys remained in the shop for about five years, when Finlaysons took over the lease until the shop became the public bar of the new Royal Hotel in 1902.
As the town continued to prosper, the Royal Hotel soon became the leading hotel establishment, and many important civic functions were held there. By 1900 the question of modernising the hotel arose. In a letter to Hyne from a relative in Glasgow, the latter suggests that plans be acquired for the best use of the site, with a corner bar, sitting rooms and an imposing front entrance, preferably further away from the public bar, as this area is always objectionable to Ladies. Other suggestions included the filling in of the front with shops and the provision of accommodation for 40 on the first floor.
A decision was duly taken to rebuild the Royal Hotel, and a competition of Queensland architects was held, from which eight entries were received and Messrs Eaton and Bates were chosen. The design competition specified that the new hotel was to incorporate 'the best features of the Oriental Hotel in Colombo and Shepheards Hotel in Cairo'. Though the final design was obviously not as elaborate as either of the hotels cited, it does have many features which could be loosely described as having eastern origin, in particular the open entrance, first floor loggias and the stair hall with their openness, arcades and tiling. The drawings which survive from this competition, now in the hands of the Hyne family, are signed by Messrs Eaton, Bates and Garlick.
When constructed the Royal Hotel was described as one of the finest hotels north of Sydney and the most complete in Australia. It incorporated the building on the corner of Kent and Bazaar Streets and extended along Kent Street with the principal entrance on this facade. Through this was a large entrance vestibule, open to the street through wide archways, beyond which was the extravagant stair hall. A large dining room, to the right of the stair hall, extended through two stories, with a gallery encircling the room at the first floor level and a large clerestoried ceiling section. Elsewhere on the ground floor was a large billiard room, the bar area, on the corner of the streets, and sample rooms for the requirements of commercial travellers. The bar area incorporated a public bar, two parlours and two private bars, all of which could be served from the same counter. On the first floor accommodation facilities were provided, those facing Kent Street opening onto a long arched loggia. Shops were found on the ground floor of the Kent Street elevation.
The hotel was not fully completed when Mr RM Hyne died on July 5, 1902, but action had been taken by this stage to move to the new hotel.
Many parts of the hotel was refurbished during the 1930s. The lounge was renovated in 1932, under the supervision of local architect POE Hawkes, when a timber floor and wall panelling was introduced, and fibrous cement was used to clad the ceiling. A variety of locally grown hardwood timbers, including mountain ash, red gum, spotted gum and iron bark supplied by Hyne and Son timber merchants, were used to create the striking parquetry floor. Tenders were called, again by architect POE Hawkes, on September 21, 1934 for the erection of a cantilevered awning clad with Wunderlich pressed metal panels to the front of the hotel, though this was not erected until 1939, when the shop fronts were modernised. This work was completed by local contractor, SV Stevens, and a stipulation of the contract was the employment of only local labour.
The hotel remained in the ownership of the Hyne family until 1960, when it was sold to another established Maryborough family, the Williams. The shops to the Kent Street elevation remain, and a family restaurant is situated in the entrance and dining room.
","criteria":"The Royal Hotel is important in demonstrating the pattern of development in Maryborough. A hotel has been on the site since the initial stages of the development of the new town of Maryborough, and the subsequent rebuildings indicate various phases of the town's prosperity.
|The hotel demonstrates the principal characteristics of a large hotel in a Queensland country town, designed to provide superior accommodation to attract travellers and local clientele. The hotel is influenced by eastern design traditions, appropriate in the sub-tropical climate of Maryborough.
|The well composed exterior employing classically derived features and the finely detailed interior, of high quality planning, joinery, tiling and plaster work, contribute to an impressive building, of value for its aesthetic characteristics.
|The building is important to the local community and recognised as the premier hotel in Maryborough, and a centre of the town's social life since its construction in 1902.
|The building is associated with the Hyne family, important pioneers of Maryborough and in particular with Mr RM Hyne, and also the Queensland architects, Eaton and Bates.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion G | Criterion H","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 | The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15476,"place_ref":600701,"name":"School of Arts","alternate_name":"Technical College and Recreation Club | Museum | Maryborough School of Arts","street_address":"427 Kent Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The Maryborough School of Arts is a substantial two storeyed masonry building, prominently located on Kent Street adjacent to the new City Council Chambers and opposite the 1906 Town Hall. The site contains the building constructed to the line of the footpath with a two storeyed timber framed verandah to the south east covering a driveway to an open space at the rear. The School of Arts is a smooth rendered brick building with a hipped roof.
The principal, south western façade of the School of Arts, which addresses Kent Street, is symmetrically arranged and employs classical proportion and detailing. The façade is divided into five bays divided by rusticated pilasters at the ground floor level and by single and double engaged columns with Corinthian capitals on the first floor. The central bay features a recessed arched entrance porch to which access is provided via two concrete steps from ground level. The keystone of the moulding surrounding the archway has a plaster moulded bust of Minerva, goddess of the city and protector of civilised life. From behind her head foliage, of two different types, emerges. Flanking the entrance, in the recesses formed by the rusticated pilasters, are two square arched openings surmounted by oculi with decorative mouldings joining the two windows. At first floor level are five, equally sized, round arched openings, in the recesses of the attached columns, with sills resting on blank balustraded panels. Mouldings surround the arched heads of these windows, and moulded swags are found on recessed panels above the windows. The engaged columns support an entablature which acts as a parapet, with a central projecting panel featuring the words, "SCHOOL OF ARTS". Above the signage panel is a triangular pediment supported on a rectangular panel divided by squat engaged columns aligned with those on the levels below.
The north western façade of the building is attached to the adjacent City Council Chambers and a recent thoroughfare on the first floor of the School of Arts provides access to its neighbouring building. The south eastern elevation of the School of Arts is concealed by a double storeyed verandah covering a driveway on that side of the building. The verandah is supported, at ground level on a series of cast iron columns on masonry plinths, and has a deep scalloped timber frieze below first floor level. The first floor of the verandah structure is infilled with fibrous cement sheeting and glazing. The face of this side of the building continues the openings found on the principal façade for two bays. The rear of the School of Arts is unrendered brickwork, of two types of brick reflecting the growth of the building. There are only four small square openings at first floor level on this elevation.
Internally the building is arranged around a large central hall, accessed from the principal entrance off Kent Street. Rooms are found off either side of the hall on the ground floor and the hall is terminated in the eastern corner of the building with the stair hall. The entrance is through an elaborate double timber door opening from the recessed porch. The doors are half glazed and panelled, surmounted by a triangular pedimented entablature and all surrounded by clear glazed sidelights and semicircular fanlight. Generally the interior has timber boarded floors, plastered walls and timber boarded ceilings. On the first floor level of the building the ceilings are of timber boards which rake downwards to meet original walls. The dog legged timber stair is cantilevered above the midway landing and has turned timber balusters and substantial turned and carved timber newels. Providing natural lighting to the stairwell is a large round arched opening on the south eastern wall of the building.
On the ground level of the School of Arts, through a door on the north west side of the central hall is the early library of the building, now used by a local historical society. This large room, extending almost the full length of the building, has a timber gallery, which seems to be suspended with iron rods from roof beams, to which access is provided via a steep and narrow stair. The gallery is lined with a simple cast iron balustrade, comprising decorative iron newels joined by an iron rail, and a base skirting board of timber with trefoiled cutouts. The library is filled with early books and bookshelves, early museum display cabinets and other early items of importance to the understanding of the history of the building. Elsewhere on the ground and upper floor are smaller rooms with extant timber joinery and other fittings.
","history":"The Maryborough School of Arts was constructed in 1887-8 to the design of Melbourne and Adelaide architect, John Grainger. The substantial two storeyed rendered brick building replaced the first Maryborough School of Arts which was a small brick building constructed in 1861 soon after the establishment of a local School of Arts committee in 1860.
The original township of Maryborough was situated, not in its current place, but on the north of the Mary River, after wharves were established in 1847-8 providing transport for wool from sheep stations on the Burnett River. In 1850 Surveyor, HR Labatt arrived in Maryborough with instructions to "examine the River Mary...to suggest ...the best site or sites for the laying out of the town, having regard to the convenience of shipping on one hand and internal communication on the other...also...point out the spots desirable as reserves for public building, church, quay and for places for public recreation." The site recommended by Labatt was not where settlement was established but further east and from the early 1850s this is where the growing town developed.
By 1860 the local community had decided upon the erection of a School of Arts, where technical classes could be held for adults and provision made for a public library. Schools of Arts were established all over Queensland in the nineteenth century, the first erected in Brisbane in 1849. The institutions were part of a nineteenth century British movement encouraging widespread popular education, particularly in industrial areas. Mechanics Institutes and later Schools of Arts, co-operative societies, working men's colleges and the university extension movement were all formed to improve the education of working men and instruct them in various trades. This movement broadened to include all types of adult education, both technical and cultural. Applied or useful arts, rather than fine arts, formed the basis of the education provided at the Schools of Arts, as they became the forerunners to the technical education movement and in fact usually provided class rooms for what latter became technical colleges.
Four tenders were received by the School of Arts Committee on 10 October 1860 for the erection of a timber building and that of local contractor, W Holland for £430 was accepted. In January of the following year it was reported that the government had granted a site to the Committee for the erection of their building, describes as Allotment 4 on Section 85 containing an area of two roods. Governments generally supported the establishment of Schools of Arts throughout Queensland and often provided some sort of subsidy, in the form of a loan for construction as well as a land grant for their construction. The land granted was in Kent Street where the current School of Arts building stands, opposite the early police and justice reserve.
The foundation stone was laid on 5 February 1861 by newly elected local member Gilbert Elliott. On 17 October 1861 the building was officially opened with the hope that it would "be the first of a number of links which would unite all classes for the common good, it was a place where all could meet without distinction." The building constructed was of brick with a steeply pitched gabled roof and ornamental bargeboard, symmetrically arranged with a central entrance and simple flat arched window openings.
Although Maryborough was proclaimed a municipality in October 1861 it was not until 1874 that the town acquired a Town Hall which was constructed beside the first School of Arts. In 1884 a Maryborough School of Arts Land Sale Act (1884) was passed to enable the trustees of the School of Arts to sell a portion of their grant to finance the construction of a new School of Arts. As early as 1885 sections of the Allotment were sold with the largest section retained as the site of the new School of Arts.
Competitive designs were invited from architects for a substantial School of Arts in Maryborough and £50 prize money being offered. Thirty one entries were received and, at a meeting on 10 November 1886, that of John Grainger was awarded the first prize and the contract for the project. The prize wining entry was for a substantial two storeyed rendered brick building, with a prominent classically inspired façade which was to cost no more than £3000.
John Grainger was an architect of Adelaide and Melbourne who had opened an office in Brisbane after his partnership, Grainger and D'Ebro, won a design competition for the Brisbane Public Offices, later known as the Treasury Building. Their design for the Brisbane building was overlooked in favour of JJ Clarke's. Grainger returned to Melbourne and his partnership with Charles D'Ebro ended before he entered the competition for the Maryborough School of Arts. After completion of that project he was appointed to the position of Chief Architect of the Western Australian Department of Public Works.
The contract for the construction of the School of Arts was let on 1 March 1887 to local contractors, Jacob and John Rooney (J&J Rooney) and the final construction cost was £3500. The foundation stone for the building was laid on 3 June 1887 in an elaborate ceremony.
The building constructed was a substantial two storeyed rendered brick structure with a classically inspired façade reflecting the cultural and educational aspirations of the institution. Many public buildings constructed since the Renaissance employed elements of classical architecture to imbue the structure with a sense of tradition and authority. The principal façade of the Maryborough School of Arts employs classical proportion and symmetry as well as detailing like the round arched windows of the first floor, oculi openings above the ground floor windows, entablature surmounted by central triangular pediment flanked by acroteria, as well as a system of projecting pilasters and rustication encouraging a three dimensional quality. In a lengthy report on Maryborough in 1895, the Sydney Mail, described the School of Arts as the "lion of the town" to which "every visitor is duty bound to go over...and admire...with fervour."
The building was opened in a discreet ceremony on 21 May 1888 and a short report in the Maryborough Chronicle, described the building and services offered in the improved structure. The library, with over 5000 volumes, was housed on the ground floor as well as two large class rooms separated by cedar folding doors. On the first floor was a reading room with a groined ceiling and, adjacent to this, a smoking room. Later in 1888 the School of Arts Committee received a grant of £500 from local benefactor, Janet Melville for the establishment of a museum in the new building. Glass cabinets were fixed in the foyer and reading room and an extensive collection was amassed including timber and mineral samples, works of art and examples of taxidermy.
After a grant of £2500 was received from the government for the establishment of technical classes in art and science in 1890, the Maryborough School of Arts commenced teaching classes. The popularity and success of these technical classes, which would in time lead to the establishment of the Maryborough Technical College, meant that a timber class room extension was added to the rear of the building in 1895. J & J Rooney's tender of £165.2.0 was accepted on the 11 January and the extension was completed in June of 1895.
In April 1896 a verandah and ground floor loggia was added to the eastern side of the School of Arts to the design of local contractor Charles Crystall from partnership, Crystall and Armstrong. The tender of another local contractor, Henry Neale, for £189.10.0 was accepted for the construction of the verandah and loggia and the cast iron balustrading was got from the local Albion Foundry. The spaces thus formed were provided as a shady retreat in the "trying summer months". A verandah was also erected on the rear of the timber classroom extension in 1900, although this section was again extended in 1903-4 with the erection of another lecture hall. A Recreation Club was established in one of the rear timber buildings and this was furnished with billiard tables and assumed the role of the smoking room on the first floor of the main building which was converted into a reference library.
The next major alteration occurred in 1907 when Bundaberg architect, Frederic Herbert Faircloth was commissioned to design a gallery in the library of the School of Arts. Faircloth had previously designed a similar gallery for the School of Arts in Bundaberg. Tenders were called on 21 August 1907 and the lowest tender from T. McLeod of £94 was accepted. The final cost of the gallery was £134.1.1 and the timber structure provided a balustraded platform on three sides of the library and was accessed by a narrow timber stair from the ground floor. This addition allowed the book shelving to be extended to the ceiling.
The Maryborough Technical College, although still housed in the School of Arts, became a separately managed association with its own committee in 1910. When the town hall was erected opposite the School of Arts, the former town hall site was purchased for the erection of technical college buildings. By 1936 the Technical College had expanded and was removed from the School of Arts to the newly established High School, at the former Grammar School grounds.
From the 1920s government subsidies to the School of Arts were reduced, in favour of the technical colleges and this further reduced their role in the community. Renovation projects were undertaken at the School of Arts from the 1910s and the building became used as offices for various local community bodies, including the Country Women's Association, the Grammarians Recreation Club. During the World War II the School of Arts was resumed by the Government for use by the Australian Comforts Fund when extra bathroom facilities were added. A servicemen's club for members of the RAAF stationed in Maryborough was established in the building.
Although the library continued operating on the ground floor, the first floor of the School of Arts was maintained as tenancies for various bodies after the War. In 1949 the Australian Broadcasting Company and the Engineering Section of the Post Master General's Department moved into the first floor. Plans for offices and a broadcasting studio for the ABC were prepared by Brisbane architects, Hennessey and Hennessey and the local ABC radio was established in the building. At this time the eastern verandah was enclosed to house offices of the PMG's Department.
In 1943 the Libraries Act was passed which sought to make better provision for the establishment and management of public libraries. The Act empowered local authorities to establish libraries, and also to assume management of the libraries currently operated by Schools of Arts. It was not until 1972 that the Maryborough City Council and the School of Arts Committee drew up an agreement which meant resulted in the Council accepting trusteeship of the School of Arts land and buildings, and for the council to be responsible for any financial deficiencies of the Committee. The School of Arts Committee agreed to operate the library until a Municipal Library was established. The Maryborough Public Library was opened in May 1977 and this meant the closure of the library at the School of Arts. Following this the Maryborough Wide Bay and Burnett Historical Society remained in the building as tenants and were given a forty year lease.
","criteria":"The Maryborough School of Arts building demonstrates the development of adult education in Queensland from the nineteenth century movement concerned with providing popular education by local communities to twentieth century state education programmes.
|The building is characteristic of a large regional School of Arts, constructed in a classical style, and housing a reading room, library and class rooms. Though a standard feature of most Queensland towns of the nineteenth century, Schools of Art have been replaced by other education facilities and municipal libraries, and therefore a once prominent and integral feature of the town fabric, the civic role of the Maryborough School of Arts has been altered dramatically.
|The building is an important element of the Kent Street streetscape, with a prominent, well composed façade. The building features fine joinery, well crafted plasterwork and well proportioned internal spaces.
|The building, a public facility for over one hundred years and the forerunner to the current municipal library and technical college, has special importance to the local community.
|The building, a public facility for over one hundred years and the forerunner to the current municipal library and technical college, has special importance to the local community.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion G | Criterion H","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 | The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15477,"place_ref":600702,"name":"Maryborough Railway Station Complex and Air Raid Shelter","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Lennox Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The Maryborough railway station complex of timber buildings runs for some distance along Lennox Street, contributing greatly to the streetscape. The Main Station Building also acts as a focal end point to the vista along Ellena Street. Four railway lines approached the station (which is aligned south-west to north-east) from the north-west. The station buildings, working along Lennox Street from north-east to south-west, include:
\n1878 Station Master's Residence (northern end of site on Lennox Street)
\nThis is a single-storeyed timber residence with verandahs to the southern, eastern and northern sides. It is set on concrete stumps on gently sloping ground. The house is clad in painted weatherboards and features French doors with fanlights, which provide access from the rooms in the main residence to the verandahs, and a mixture of 6:6, 4:4 and 1:1 vertical sliding sash windows to the kitchen and later rear extensions. A concave iron window hood returning at each end protects the triple sash window with louvered shutters on the front projecting gable, which also features bargeboards with supporting brackets along the eaves and a finial at the apex.
\nThe building is asymmetrically arranged with a number of corrugated zincalume clad gables of varying heights and skillion-roofed verandah awnings. The verandahs to the south and east are enclosed with lattice panels and the awnings are supported on chamfered timber posts with decorative capitals and brackets. The verandah to the north (former fernery) is enclosed with lattice and timber louvers. The rear extensions and original kitchen wing are also constructed with gabled roof forms interconnecting at varying heights. Many of the sash windows have sunshade awnings. A skillion-roofed garage at the rear of the kitchen is not of cultural heritage significance.
\nThe interior of the residence has been altered, but retains the original 4-room layout from the 1878 residence and the 2-room 1894 extension. The front door opens into a long hall, which leads off to rooms on either side and then to a large communal room. This front portion of the residence retains early French doors and window joinery, as well as a fireplace with decorative tiles and ironwork and timber mantelpiece in the front north-east bedroom (former lounge). This is the only fireplace in the house. The rear wing of the house has been altered to accommodate multiple bedrooms for railway staff. The internal walls are clad with sheet material over the original tongue and groove linings except in the kitchen and bathroom. The building is set in an established garden with mature trees.
\nAdministration complex, consisting of Traffic Manager and Engineers Office, Wagon and Traffic Offices, Loco Office, and Pay Office
\nThe Traffic Manager and Engineer's Office is timber-framed, low-set, and is clad in weatherboards. It has a gabled corrugated iron-clad roof. Most of the front verandah has been enclosed and the walls to the verandah have been removed. Internal partitions are tongue and groove-lined. The original open rear verandah links with the Wagon and Traffic Offices, forming a covered way.
\nThe Wagon and Traffic Offices are also low-set and timber-framed, and are clad with weatherboards. The gabled corrugated iron roof has a ridge lantern skylight which is closed off at ceiling level. The building is linked across two open verandahs with the Traffic Manager's and Engineer's Office to the south-east, and is also connected to the Loco Office to the north-west.
\nThe Loco Office is a low-set gabled timber building with a corrugated iron roof, set on concrete stumps and clad with chamferboards. Three of its verandahs are now enclosed and incorporated into the internal space. The open south-west verandah has stop-chamfered timber posts, simple strut brackets, and a timber handrail.
\nThe Pay Office is a weatherboard-clad timber structure with a gabled corrugated iron roof, connected by covered verandahs to the Traffic Manager and Engineer's Office and to the former Loco Office to the north. A small extension to the north-east corner accommodates a ladies toilet. Pay windows and barriers remain on the western side verandahs, and a concrete strong room extends out from the northern wall.
\n12 ton Weighbridge
\nThe weighbridge consists of a small timber skillion-roofed shelter with a scales mechanism inside, and a weighbridge steel plate surrounded by four timber bollards and concrete pads located to the south-west of the shelter.
\nRailway Station Building
\nThe station is a single-storeyed, timber-framed building, set at ground level. It is clad in chamferboards and has a gabled corrugated iron roof. The rear roof extends over the original station platform and is supported at its outer edge by unusual tapered stop-chamfered timber posts with octagonal capitals and strut brackets. The main front entrance consists of a projecting gabled portico supported on pairs of timber posts and features a timber arch and gable infill. A central passageway leads through the station to the main platform behind the building. There are skillion-roofed front verandahs, partly enclosed on the south-west side, either side of the portico. These verandahs have stop-chamfered posts and timber strut brackets that match those of the station platform. There is an extension at the south-west end of the station with skillion-roofed structures and a bracketed hood over the front windows. A separate timber-framed ladies waiting room and toilets with a gabled roof adjoins the north-east end of the station building. This has a domestic-scaled post-supported awning linked to the rear station platform. There are new male toilets in the former cloak room. A World War I Railways Honour Board is located at the rear of the station beside the ticket office.
\nGuards' Room and Porters' Store
\nThis is a gable-roofed timber building, clad in weatherboards, located to the north-west of the north-eastern end of the station building.
\nGoods Shed
\nThe Goods Shed is a timber-framed, corrugated iron-clad building with a gable roof. It has a weatherboard-clad, hipped roof office extension to the south-east. There is an elevated loading dock along the north-east elevation. Projecting rafters over the loading dock have decorative shaped ends and are strutted off the outer wall. The roof of the Goods Shed is supported on large timber queen post trusses. An internal platform and rail line runs the length of the shed against the south-west wall. The office wing has an open verandah on the north-east elevation. A modern steel canopy has been added to the northwest end of the Goods Shed, but this is not historically significant and has not been included within the heritage boundary.
\nMain Platform
\nThe platform was constructed in stages. The first seven bays of the platform roof are three-bays wide, with exposed king-post trusses each with lower arched brackets, and side skillion extensions. These are supported on tapering chamfered timber posts with octagonal capitals and decorative strut brackets of similar design to that of the station. The roof is clad in corrugated iron. The next four and a half bays (two bays wide) are to the north-east of the original refreshment rooms and are an extension of the original design for the main station building. To the north-west of refreshment rooms is a new canopy erected to cover a steam locomotive. From the refreshment rooms, the platform is an island, servicing tracks on both sides. The first nine bays maintain the original bell-cast roof profile, while the final 24 bays are a higher, simple pitched roof with stop chamfered timber posts and angle strut brackets. The roof to this section is of corrugated iron with curved ridge sheets and terminates at the north-west end with a weatherboard-sheeted gable, signage and surmounted clock housing. The tracks either side of the platform within the heritage boundary should be retained to assist interpretation of the site. A recent coach terminal has been added to the south-west side of the platform between the station and the former refreshment rooms, and a new canopy has been added northwest of the Refreshment Rooms, to shelter a historic locomotive. Neither of these two recent structures is historically significant.
\nRefreshment Rooms (former)
\nThe original Refreshment Rooms building is a timber-framed building clad with chamferboards. The gabled roof is clad in corrugated iron. The building is connected to the main station building by the platform and platform awnings. Internally the building consists of a kitchen and dining room area.
\nAir Raid Shelter
\nThe shelter is a concrete structure 47'6\" (14.5m) long, and 12' (3.6m) wide. The flat concrete roof is 6' (150mm) thick, and the walls are 12' (300mm) thick. Doorways are located at each end of the north-east elevation, with each doorway being set in a recessed area that is stepped back 4' (1.2m) from the end of the shelter, and 5' (1.5m) from the front face of the shelter. A sign on the north-east elevation reads 'Air Raid Shelter for Passengers Only'. The shelter is used for storage, and electrical cables enter it above the double timber doors at the north-west end. There is a single timber door at the south-east end. The building has not been inspected internally.
\nGrounds
\nThere is a large fig tree (Ficus sp.) in front of the Traffic Manager and Engineers Office, and there are mature trees around the 1878 Station Master's Residence.
","history":"The railway complex on Lennox Street in Maryborough consists of a number of timber buildings constructed between 1878 and the 1930s, as well as a brick and concrete platform and a concrete air raid shelter built in 1942. The Maryborough Railway Station was built as the terminus of a railway network that radiated from Maryborough, transporting timber, coal, sugar and other agricultural products to the wharves on the Mary River. Maryborough was also a busy rail terminal for passenger traffic. Although the Maryborough railway station is no longer used, the station buildings are a picturesque reminder of significant past economic activity and transport arrangements within the region.
Settlement at Maryborough commenced in September 1847 when George Furber established a wool-store on the south bank of the Mary River at the head of navigation. He was followed in June 1848 by ET Aldridge, and Henry and RE Palmer, who established their own wharves on the opposite riverbank, at a location now known as the original Maryborough town site at Baddow [QHR 602393]. In 1850 a new town site was surveyed to the east, at a downstream position which provided better access for shipping. Maryborough was gazetted a Port of Entry in 1859 and was proclaimed a municipality in 1861. Items shipped from Maryborough included wool, tallow, and timber and these were later followed by coal and sugar.
Maryborough grew quickly as the port for Gympie, where gold was discovered in October 1867, as it provided an alternative route - by ship to Maryborough, then overland south to Gympie - to the rough road running north from Brisbane. The long-term viability of the Gympie goldfield ensured the continued growth of Maryborough and the need for sawmills, foundries and construction firms. Coal mining on the Burrum River also needed Maryborough's construction industries and shipping. However, the Urangan Jetty in Hervey Bay, which opened in 1917, replaced Maryborough as the port for the coal mining and sugar industries. The closure of Walker's shipbuilding yards in 1974 spelled the end of Maryborough as a port.
Maryborough's rise as a railway centre also resulted from the discovery of gold at Gympie. In August 1877 the Queensland government approved three railways to connect mining towns to their principal ports: Townsville to Charters Towers; Bundaberg to Mt Perry; and Maryborough to Gympie. The railway to Gympie opened in August 1881, and in 1883 a branch line north to the coalfields at Burrum was started at Croydon Junction (Baddow), several kilometres northwest of Maryborough. When the line was extended north to Bundaberg in 1888 it followed this branch line, which meant that the North Coast line later bypassed Maryborough Station and left it at the end of a dead-end spur.
Maryborough station became the centre of a busy network of branch lines. A short branch line was built through the Botanic Gardens (QHR 600708) to the wharf area in 1880, and in 1883 this was extended eastwards alongside the river north of Kent Street to the Walkers Limited foundry and shipyards. It was later extended to the Maryborough Sugar Factory (established 1894). A branch line connecting to Maryborough was also opened from Theebine, south of Tiaro, to Kilkivan in 1886, and was later extended to Murgon, Proston, Windera, Kingaroy, Tarong and Nanango (the latter by 1911). A branch line from Mungar, south of Maryborough, to Broweena opened in 1889, and this line eventually extended to Gayndah, Mundubbera and Monto (1929). Coal from the Burrum fields eventually required better port facilities and a branch line was built to Pialba in 1896, from Colton, between Maryborough and Burrum. This branch was extended to Urangan in 1913.
Engine and carriage maintenance workshops were built and expanded in Maryborough from 1880. Henry Taylor Junior won the contract for a machine shop in January 1880, and this was extended in 1881, and 1884. The workshops, which were located to the south-west of the station, became less important after the Maryborough system was linked to the rest of Queensland in 1891. They are no longer extant, having been demolished for a shopping centre in the late 1990s.
After the line to Gympie was approved in 1877, drawings for buildings at the Maryborough station were prepared by the Engineering Branch of the Department of Railways. The site chosen for the Maryborough Railway Station was centrally located on a municipal park reserve. In 1878 construction at the site included a station master's residence, engineer's office (non-extant), store and blacksmith's workshop. A large programme of works in the years 1879 and 1880 saw the construction of a goods' shed, passenger station, closets and urinals, 30 foot turntable, loading banks, station gates and fences and a semaphore signal. The timber station building was handsome, yet modest in scale. A foreman's cottage was constructed in 1881 and a locomotive shed was built in 1882. In 1884 a gatehouse was built at the Ferry Street entrance, and new offices for the traffic manager and engineers were built the same year. In 1885 and 1886 a coal depot and a forkline were built, and the turntable was taken up. A new locomotive shed was built in 1900.
1878 Station Master's Residence (192 Lennox Street).
Drawings for the residence were approved by Chief Engineer Henry C Stanley on 16 April 1878. The builders were John Roddam and John Walker. In 1894 a verandah and an additional room were added on the south-west side. After 1896 alterations were made to the rear of the house, linking the formerly detached kitchen and service wing to the house. The building was later used as the District Traffic Manager's Residence, then as the District Superintendent's Residence by 1935 until about 1975, before being used by Queensland Rail as quarters for staff. Conservation work was undertaken to this building
in 2012.
Administration complex, consisting of Traffic Manager and Engineers Office, Wagon and Traffic Offices, Loco Office, and Pay Office
In 1884 drawings were made for new offices to replace the original (1878) Traffic Manager and Engineers Office. In plan the new building was a 42' (12.8m) by 18' (5.5m) rectangle containing four offices with verandahs to three sides. Additions were made to the south-west side later in 1884, and in 1911 a small rear addition was made for the Traffic Manager and Telegraph Office (later the Pay Office and ladies toilet). Soon after the Wagon and Traffic Offices were added to the rear, and in 1920 the Loco Office, with four open verandahs, was relocated to its present position behind the Wagon and Traffic Offices. By 1920, there were more offices at the northern end of the Traffic Manager and Engineer's Office, and it was linked to the Wagon and Traffic Offices in 1920. The complex was used by Queensland Rail as office space until 2008.
12 ton Weighbridge
This was extant by 1937.
Railway Station Building
Although the architect is unknown, drawings for the first stage of the station building were approved by HC Stanley on 24 October 1879, and the contract was awarded to Henry Taylor, Junior on 8 Jan 1880, for £1325. A head station building and a short platform were built. On 24 December 1892 Chief draughtsman Henrick Hansen approved alterations to the station and the main platform verandah, the demolition of the buildings extending to the north-west of the head station, and the enlargement of the lamp room. This contract was awarded to John Kyle on 24 January 1893, for £1176. The Station Master's office was enlarged in 1912.
Guards' Room and Porters' Store
The Guards' Room was built in 1917, and the Porters' Store existed by 1937 as an extension on the north-west end.
Goods Shed
The design for the goods shed was approved by HC Stanley on 8 July 1879, and the contract was awarded to G and E Negus in September 1879, for £698. The shed was 100' (30.5m) by 36' (11m), and included an office, warehouse crane, and docks. It had a raised timber floor and a single rail track running through the shed against the south-west wall. Four individual loading dock entrances penetrated the north-east wall, and a 50' (15.2m) outside loading platform was located at the north end. An extension was approved by Stanley on 4 October 1881, and Charles Whiting won the contract for £629. The extension to the south-west side of the Goods Shed was 66' (20.1m) long, with two docks and a warehouse crane. In 1908 a new office was built at the south-east end of building, and this was later extended. The office had an open verandah by 1920.
Main Platform
In 1880 the platform configuration included a covered verandah platform at the rear of the station building, plus a short uncovered platform extending to the north-west. In 1892 Hansen approved a platform verandah extension of seven bays by three bays wide, between the station building and a lamp room (which later became refreshment rooms), the carriage shed at the end of the platform was moved, and a fourth siding was built on the south-west side of the platform. Between 1893 and 1925 the island platform was extended several times to the north-west, to a total of 45 bays. In 1925 drawings for extending the main platform verandah included the last 24 bays of the current platform.
Refreshment Rooms (former)
The first (south-east) portion of the original Refreshment Room was built in the 1890s, and may have been a lamp room beforehand. It was doubled in size in 1909, and was closed in 1968. It has since been used for storage. A new refreshment booth was built to the south-east in the 1990s, under the main platform verandah.
Air Raid Shelter
One shelter survives of two built in the early 1940s to the south-west of the station building. The North Coast railway line was extremely busy during World War II, and the construction of air raid shelters at Maryborough railway station was probably linked to this increased wartime traffic as well as to Maryborough's value as an industrial target and transport hub. Government regulations regarding the safety of the population also prompted the building of shelters. In the Protection of Persons and Property Order No.1, gazetted 23 December 1941, Queensland's Premier William Forgan Smith ordered the Brisbane City Council to construct 200 public surface shelters in the city area. Another 24 local governments in Queensland's coastal areas were ordered to produce surface or trench shelters for the public.
A large number of businesses also had to build air raid shelters. Owners of any building in the coastal areas where over 30 people would normally be present at any one time were required to build shelters either within the building, or adjacent to it. However, there was disagreement over who was responsible for building shelters at railway stations. At a conference in late February 1942 the Secretary for Health and Home Affairs, EM Hanlon, stressed that if Queensland Railways did not act on building public air raid shelters it would make it harder for the State to insist that other businesses and local authorities do so. It was recommended that the department of Public Works proceed to construct shelters on or adjoining railway premises.
On 2 March 1942 a memorandum from the Undersecretary of the Department of Public Works reported that Queensland Railways had already built shelters for its employees at some of the larger train stations, and it recommended that a further 28 full-size public surface shelters, three half-size shelters, and three sets of trenches, be built outside Brisbane, at a total cost of £16,150. Most of the recommended surface shelters and trenches were on the North Coast railway line, at 19 stations from Nambour to Cairns.
Queensland was apparently the only Australian State to build air raid shelters at its railway stations. The survival of the public air raid shelter at Maryborough railway station is fortuitous, given the rate of shelter demolition after the war. The only other railway air raid shelters to survive are at Landsborough, Toowoomba (QHR 600872) and Shorncliffe.
1878 Engineer's Office
William Elliot and James Patterson signed a contract to build the Engineer's Office on 20 February 1878. In plan it was initially an 18ft by 38ft (5.5m by 11.5m) rectangle, with four rooms and a verandah. Alterations and additions in 1884 were signed by HC Stanley. Thomas Ferguson and Thomas Holden were the contractors. The office was turned into the Traffic Manager's Quarters with two extra rooms at the rear, a verandah around the whole building, and a covered way to new detached kitchen wing. The building was being used as the Station Master's Residence by 1935. It was moved 10 metres to the north-east in circa 1999.
Maryborough station remained busy until the 1980s. During 1962 there were 240 regular trains each week, including 147 passenger services. In 1965 Baddow on the main northern line had 331 regular services each week and 48 steam locomotives operated from the Maryborough Locomotive Depot at this time. The Sunlander did not stop at Maryborough however, and it dropped any passengers for Maryborough at Baddow where a taxi service (an engine and van) completed the journey. All passenger services from Baddow to Maryborough ceased on 20 April 1986, to be replaced by a minibus service, and in 1988 a main line upgrade by-passed Baddow. A new station was established at Maryborough West. In late 2007 Queensland Railways still had a freight train presence at the Maryborough station yards.
In April 2010 the 1878 Engineer's Office was substantially damaged by fire and, after a no prudent and feasible argument was made, approval was given for its remains to be demolished. It stood at the southernmost end of the complex on Lennox Street and comprised two adjacent single-storey, timber-framed structures, the former office on Lennox Street and a kitchen building to the rear. Clad in weatherboards, both parts stood on concrete stumps with timber slats between them. The former office structure had a roof made up of a series of gablets, two terminating a gable running parallel to Lennox Street and two terminating twin gables facing the rear of the site. Each gablet had decorated bargeboards supported on timber brackets and single vents filled with timber louvres. The former kitchen building comprised a gable running parallel to Lennox Street with a broken-back skillion connecting to the office and separate skillion at the rear. Its stove recess was clad in corrugated metal sheeting and had a separate skillion roof. The land on which the Engineer's Office stood was removed from within the heritage boundary for this place in 2013.
In 2013 Queensland Rail maintains a presence on part of the station site in relation to rail freight, while other parts are being developed into a shopping centre.
","criteria":"The Maryborough Railway Station (established in 1878) demonstrates the importance of Maryborough as a port for the export of the products of the interior. Although the Port of Maryborough declined after 1917, the railway station is a reminder of the past importance of the city to Queensland's export trade.
The complex of timber railway buildings in central Maryborough, including a residence, the station building and main platform verandah, nearby train tracks, guards' room and porters' store, refreshment rooms, goods shed, weighbridge, and administration buildings, also demonstrates the importance of Maryborough, until 1891, as the headquarters of a separate railway network. The original station master's house is a fine example of a residence built for Queensland Government Railways during the nineteenth century, and it also demonstrates the important status of Maryborough in the railway system of the time.
The air raid shelter is important as surviving evidence of the Air Raid Precautions that were implemented as part of the defence of Queensland during World War II. Designed to afford protection for civilian and military travellers at Maryborough railway station in the event of a Japanese air raid, the shelter is important in demonstrating the impact of World War II on Queensland.
|The existing railway sidings and timber buildings provide a highly intact example of a nineteenth century railway station complex that was expanded substantially in the early twentieth century. Significant components include a residence, main station building, goods shed, and ancillary buildings such as the weighbridge, guard's room and porter's store, refreshment rooms, and administration buildings, including a pay office. The pay windows and barriers to the pay office demonstrate the obsolete practice of workers queuing to collect their wages.
The core of the Maryborough Station Building, constructed in 1880, is the oldest timber station building to survive at a major Queensland railway station. The station building is substantially intact and its design is representative of Queensland Government Railways' best practice at the time. The extensions to the station building, and possibly the original building, are associated with the work of the important railway architect, Henrick Hansen.
The original Station Master's residence (erected in 1878) is a good example of an early and substantial Queensland Government Railways residence adapted to the sub-tropical climate with features including wide screened verandahs.
|The timber railway buildings, and the large fig (Ficus sp.) tree in front of the Traffic Manager and Engineer's Office, have considerable aesthetic value and contribute significantly to the streetscape along Lennox Street. In particular, the railway station building, its early platform verandah, and the original station master's residence are of a handsome design.
|The Maryborough Railway Station is rare as a substantially intact coastal terminal and system headquarters complex of timber buildings, established in the 1870s and 1880s.
The Air Raid shelter is a rare example of a concrete public air raid shelter designed by Queensland Railways during World War II to provide protection for the travelling public during air raids. It is one of only two railway station shelters surviving on the North Coast railway line, the other being located at Landsborough. Only four such shelters survive in Queensland, the only Australian state to build air raid shelters at railway stations.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion B","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 demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15478,"place_ref":600703,"name":"Ilfracombe","alternate_name":"Lambert Hyne House | Blairholme","street_address":"335 Lennox Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"Ilfracombe is a large one storeyed timber constructed overlooking, to the east, a reach of the Mary River. Access to the house is via a laneway from the northern end of Lennox Street, with the building concealed from the street. Surrounding the house is a large garden which includes several established trees and plantings.
The house is a timber framed building clad with horizontal timber weatherboards. The corrugated iron roof of the building, which incorporates an attic, is quite complex, reflecting the complexity of the internal planning. The roof scape comprises a number of asymmetrically arranged and variously sized gabled and hipped sections, with a steeply pitched mansard roof over the attic, which is surmounted with a decorative cast iron balustrade, with projecting finials from the corners. Surmounting the gabled ends are similar cast iron finials. The house is lined on three sides by bull nosed verandahs although some of these have been infilled.
Generally the building has high quality joinery and craftsmanship; several projecting bay windows are filled with etched and coloured glass panels and the external joinery is of fine quality.
Internally the building generally has timber boarded floors, walls and ceilings. Occasionally the size or orientation of timber boarding varies indicating that much of the house may have been papered or otherwise lined internally when constructed. The interior is arranged around a central vestibule from which hallways lead to the principal entrance to the south and to the kitchen on the west. Many original features remain intact, including a fine anaglypta lined vaulted ceiling in the drawing room; internal doors and other joinery; a fine fireplace with painted tiles, despite many internal alterations.
","history":"Ilfracombe was constructed in the early 1890s as the residence of Andrew Heron Wilson's sister-in-law, Margaret Blair and her family, adjacent to Wilson's own residence, Doon Villa.
The original township of Maryborough was situated, not in its current place, but on the north of the Mary River, after wharves were established in 1847-8 providing transport for wool from sheep stations on the Burnett River. In 1850 Surveyor, HR Labatt arrived in Maryborough with instructions to "examine the River Mary...to suggest ...the best site or sites for the laying out of the town, having regard to the convenience of shipping on one hand and internal communication on the other...also...point out the spots desirable as reserves for public building, church, quay and for places for public recreation." The site recommended by Labatt was not where settlement was established but further east and from the early 1850s this is where the growing town developed. During the 1860s an 1870s, Maryborough flourished as the principal port of Gympie where gold was discovered in 1867.
Andrew Heron Wilson arrived in Maryborough in about 1866 and established the Maryborough Sawmills, where he worked for many years before joining in partnership R Hart and J Bartholemew, and constructing a larger sawmill for Wilson, Hart and Co., as the partnership was known, in 1881. He retired from milling after only two years at his new mill. Wilson was a large investor in Gympie gold mining and was a director of the Monkland South Glanmire Cos and also of the Maryborough Building Society. He was a Member of Parliament from 19 September 1883 until his death on 29 August 1906.
In about 1882 Wilson acquired the property on which he constructed his residence, a large timber house, known as Doon Villa overlooking the Mary River. This was an impressive house and an early history of Maryborough considers it one of the residential jewels of Maryborough, and indeed of Queensland. Wilson planned an impressive garden around the house, and in fact constructed a bowling green for use by a club at his home.
In 1889 Wilson and his wife went on an extended holiday, first to England and then to New Zealand, where they visited Mrs Wilson's sister, Margaret Blair and her children. Margaret Blair's husband, Robert, died on 18 February 1893 and his wife and children left New Zealand and went to live with the Wilsons at Doon Villa in Maryborough. AH Wilson is thought to have managed the construction of a new house, called Blairholme, for his wife's sister and her four children. Wilson purchased the land, being section 2 on Allotment 147, adjacent to Doon Villa's Sections 3 and 4, on which Blairholme was built in 1891 and the house is thought to have been built sometime after Mrs Blair's arrival in 1893. Wilson's involvement with the timber and iron industries in Maryborough may explain the absence of tender notices for the construction of the house, which has made identification of an architect difficult. It is suggested that the architect of Blairholme was from Rockhampton. By 1895 the house was completed and the Blair family were in residence.
The death of AH Wilson on 29 August 1906 resulted in his land being transferred to Queensland Trustees Limited as a condition of his will, although it appears that the Blair family remained in the house until 1935 when the allotments were subdivided and sold. Hugh Keys bought the property on which Blairholme stood and, two years later, on 8 March 1937, this property was transferred to James Richard Lambert Hyne, a member of another prominent local timber milling family.
The Hyne family were descendant from RM Hyne who arrived in Maryborough and established himself as the publican of the Royal Hotel in about 1873. Hyne realised that Maryborough was an emerging municipality as the port of the flourishing Wide Bay Burnett region and Gympie goldfields. He became interested in establishing institutions in the town and helped improved health, education, welfare and recreational facilities in the area. Hyne was mayor of Maryborough for a year in 1878. The Hyne family have a long interest in the local timber milling industry and their family company continues to this day.
The Hyne family had a family home in Lennox Street called Ilfracombe and when they bought Blairholme the name was transferred from this earlier residence. On the death of his father the property was transferred to Warren Henry Hyne who retains the house.
The building has been altered over its life with rear sections removed and replaced. Internally, many changes have been made including extending the kitchen area both into the space of the verandah and into an extension of the house.
","criteria":"Ilfracombe was constructed between 1893 and 1895 as the residence Margaret Blair, who was the sister-in-law of Andrew Heron Wilson on whose land the house was built, adjacent to his own residence. The house demonstrates the growth of Maryborough in the late nineteenth century and, in particular, this section of Maryborough which developed as a residential area for large timber homes overlooking a reach of the Mary River.
|The building is a fine and characteristic example of a large timber home built in Queensland in the late nineteenth century.
|The building is a fine and characteristic example of a large timber home built in Queensland in the late nineteenth century.
|The building is associated with prominent Maryborough families, the Wilsons and the Hynes.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion H","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 special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15479,"place_ref":600704,"name":"Brennan & Geraghtys Store & two adjacent buildings and stables","alternate_name":"Geraghty's Store | Brennan and Geraghtys","street_address":"62-66 Lennox Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"Brennan & Geraghty's store museum is situated at 64 Lennox Street, Maryborough and is flanked by a house, 'Uskerty', built for Catherine Geraghty in 1904, and a cottage owned by the Geraghty family since 1934.
The store is a large, timber framed building on stumps with a gabled galvanised iron roof and a rendered brick facade. An awning supported on cast iron posts extends over the footpath. Two plate glass show windows flank the entrance and are protected by removable shutters.
The interior of the store is divided by two cross walls to form three main spaces. The front section is the shop and is subdivided by an arched screen along a line of former partitions. The centre section contains a small store room in one corner and the rear space is open and without a ceiling. All three rooms are linked by a trolley running on timber rails. The building contains fixed shelving, cabinets, counters, furniture and items associated with running the store.
The shop contains a collection of more than 100,000 items, all original to the store. Most stock items date from the interwar period but range from 1885 Canton tea to soap from the 1920s and toilet paper from the 1950s. They are displayed as shop stock and serve to illustrate changes to goods, household needs and shopping practices. An almost complete set of trading records for the store dates back to 1871 and there is an extensive collection of advertising material.
The structure of the shop is very intact and reveals a lifetime of changes which demonstrate the growth and recession of the business. The interior remains unpainted except for the shop area, where original painted finishes have been preserved. The exterior has been painted to match the last colour scheme which is believed to be interwar.
The stables are sited perpendicular to John Lane at the rear of allotment 10 and are a single skin weatherboard structure with a gabled galvanised iron roof. Floors are earth except for two rooms with timber floors at one end.
'Uskerty' is set back from Lennox Street with more pretension than the cottage at no 62. It is a medium sized, single skin ,timber-framed and sheeted house on stumps with a galvanised iron roof. It contains four main rooms, a hallway and a kitchen wing containing two additional rooms. The house has verandahs on three sides with cast iron balustrading. The rear part of one verandah is enclosed to form two additional rooms.
The house is intact and includes elements probably recycled from the butcher's shop. The garden is fairly intact with pathways and mature trees and is divided from the street by a timber fence and gates with a scalloped top and shaped pickets.
The cottage faces Lennox Street and has a picket fence and gate. It is timber framed and sheeted, high set on stumps with a galvanised iron roof. The exterior walls are lined with weatherboards on the sides and chamferboards on the back. There is a simple verandah on the front and the back verandah has been enclosed to form a kitchen and bathroom. The interiors are intact, retaining original joinery and hardware with unpainted main rooms.
Portions of the split post and rail fences which marked the allotments between the buildings remain. Those immediately behind the store are reconstructed from second hand material.
","history":"Brennan & Geraghty's Store was built by partners Patrick Brennan and Martin Geraghty in what was then a small commercial centre in Lennox Street, Maryborough. The store was operated by members of the same family until 1972, thus completing a century of trading, and contains original stock and trading records.
Maryborough was established at its present site in 1852 as an outlet for the trade of the Wide Bay and Burnett pastoral districts. Wool, tallow, cedar and kauri pine flowed outwards with backloads of essential supplies for the stations providing a thriving trade. Timber was milled there and the strong impetus provided by the discovery of gold at nearby Gympie in 1867 soon established Maryborough as a prosperous commercial and banking centre.
Maryborough was also a port of entry and 22,000 immigrants arrived there directly from overseas during the period 1862-1890.
In 1863, Patrick Brennan and Martin Geraghty arrived in Maryborough from Ireland. Brennan worked for some time as storekeeper at Kilkivan station and was involved in the early Gympie gold rush. Geraghty, who married Patrick's sister Catherine in 1864, bought land in Lennox Street and built a cottage at no. 64, from which he ran a joinery and undertaking business, then opened a store at what is now no. 60, in 1869. At the time, this section of the street supported a small commercial centre, including a hotel which was across the road from Geraghty's property.
In 1871 Patrick Brennan and Martin Geraghty formed a partnership and adapted Martin & Catherine's extended cottage as a store, after removing interior walls. They built a house next to the old store which they used as a receiving depot. Brennan & Geraghty's sold groceries and ordered stores in bulk, being the only importers in Maryborough. By the end of the 1870s, the families had set up orchards. They grew fruit, particularly oranges, to sell and for making marmalade and fruit wines at their factory, which may have incorporated the old store at no. 60. Their products were sold in the store and also wholesaled.
The 1880s saw the peak period of the Brennan and Geraghty business empire. The partnership was involved in a number of ventures, ranging from brickmaking to running a cross-river ferry service. In 1886, tenders were called to build a new, ornate facade on the front of the store. Store records show that a sum of two pounds was paid to a Mr Hansen to prepare the plans. The contractors, G. Smith and G. Cordwell, began work in May 1886 and the completed work cost two hundred and eleven pounds, fourteen shillings and ten pence. Gas was installed at the same time. The rear room and trolley were added in 1887 at a cost of sixty pounds, nine shillings and five pence. The work was carried out by contractors Hansen and Stephenson.
This was a boom period in Maryborough as it was for Queensland generally. However, in the following decade Brennan & Geraghty's business began to fail and in 1896 a meeting of the creditors decided to liquidate the firm. In the years between 1886 and 1903, assets were disposed of and all debts were eventually paid out. The store itself was purchased by Frank Geraghty, Martin's son, who rented it back to Brennan & Geraghty for ten shillings a week.
In 1902 Michael Geraghty purchased the butcher's shop next door to the store which was owned by the Kruger family. By this time Lennox Street was predominantly residential as it is today. The butcher's shop was demolished and Michael built a house on the site for his mother, Catherine, following his father's death in 1904. This new house was named 'Uskerty' after the birthplace in Ireland of Catherine Geraghty's mother.
From 1903, when the partnership of Brennan & Geraghty was finally dissolved, until her death in 1934, Catherine Geraghty ran the store with help from her family, particularly Agnes, Florence and George. In 1934 the Geraghty family also purchased The Cottage at 62 Lennox Street. This was a relocated building which incorporated an 1970s cottage with extensions possibly from the 1890s. The business continued to run until 1971, as George Geraghty wished to complete one hundred years of trading from the premises. He died in 1973.
Some of the contents of the house and store were sold after George Geraghty's death and a demolition order was placed on the store by the Maryborough City Council. The whole Geraghty complex was purchased by the National Trust in 1975. By this time, grocery shopping practices had changed and stores like Brennan & Geraghty's were rare. What made this store even rarer was the fact that George had not made changes and had not disposed of stock or records. Many items in the store were no longer manufactured, or are now manufactured or sold in a different form. A fund raising campaign for the conservation of the store and contents was begun in the 1980s and had strong local support. In 1990 the store was opened to the public as a store museum.
","criteria":"It also illustrates the changing fortunes of the Brennan & Geraghty business which was a significant trading enterprise in nineteenth century Maryborough, a town which was important as a trading centre.
|Brennan & Geraghty's Store is significant for its rarity as a grocery store which survives intact with its own stock and trading records.
|It has the potential to yield information that demonstrates changes in grocery retailing and purchasing in Queensland over a century.
|It is an unusually intact example of a type of store which was once common in Queensland. In addition, the Geraghty houses flanking the store are good, representative examples of south east Queensland timber houses from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
|(Criterion under review)
|It also illustrates the changing fortunes of the Brennan & Geraghty business which was a significant trading enterprise in nineteenth century Maryborough, a town which was important as a trading centre.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion C | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion H","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 has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding 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 special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15480,"place_ref":600705,"name":"St Pauls Anglican Church and Hall","alternate_name":"St Paul's Anglican Church and Hall","street_address":"178-202 Adelaide Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"St Paul's Church and Hall are prominently located on the corner of Lennox, Ellena and Adelaide Streets in Maryborough. The site comprises three principal elements, the church, facing north west to Lennox Street, the hall, aligned with the church along Ellena Street but facing south east to Adelaide Street, and a large detached tower in the western corner, adjacent to the Lennox and Ellena Streets corner.
St Paul's Church is a large nineteenth century Gothic revival building constructed of face brick with polychrome brick and stuccoed detailing. The building has a traditional cruciform plan, with nave flanked by aisles running parallel to Ellena Street, shallow transepts bisecting the nave and an apsidal chancel at the south eastern end. The modern zincalume-like clad roof is steeply pitched over the nave, with gabled projections over the transepts and hipped over the chancels. The side aisles of the church are skillion roofed and abut the nave below the trefoiled clerestory window openings.
The principal façade of the church has a centrally located shallow porched entrance, formed by a steeply pitched gable, within which is a heavily moulded pointed arched doorway. Flanking the doorway, at ground floor level are thin lancets detailed like all of the other openings on the church, with contrasting brick quoining and a stuccoed head and sill. The nave of the church is framed on this elevation by attached buttressing which projects above the roofline and terminates in pinnacles decorated with crockets. On the face of the side aisles, flanking this central bay of the church, are traceried window openings, comprising two trefoiled lancets and quatrefoils above. Over the central entrance of this façade is a large traceried window comprising four lancets and three foiled windows above. Surmounting the apex of the gable on this elevation is a stone finial-like element which comprises a circular disc with a quatrefoil cutout.
Internally, the church is divided into nave and aisles by a nave arcade of pointed arched openings supported on clustered cast iron columns. In the spandrels of the arched openings are timber panels with foiled cutouts. Arched braced timber roof trusses support the roof and these also feature timber panels with foiled cutouts. Entrances from the transepts are concealed with timber panelled boxes around the doors. Above these boxes are large wheel windows, glazed with coloured glass. Lining the side aisles are lancets generally glazed with stained glass panels. The chancel is divided from the nave by a pointed arch chancel screen. Within the chancel which has a semi domed, timber framed ceiling, are four panels of early stained glass.
The tower, adjacent to the church, is a three storeyed battlemented structure which is missing a spire. Attached buttressing strengthens the corners of the structure, which has string coursing defining the floor levels. The many lancet openings, in a group of three on the first floor and paired on the floor above, are all surrounded with stuccoed detailing. The tower is surmounted by a battlemented parapet above a moulded cornice which projects from the line of the building.
St Paul's Hall is a substantial brick building, of similar proportion and massing to the church, housing a central auditorium with a steeply pitched gabled roof, clad with terracotta tiles. The hall is flanked by side aisles and the building has transept elements at the north western end and apsidal chapels flanking the principal, south eastern, façade. The building is constructed of brick with stuccoed detailing. The principal façade features a central projecting porch to which entrance is through the two return sides. The porch is surmounted by a wide band of rough cast stuccoed panelling, with a central pediment, acting as a parapet. This facade has bands of stucco, and is divided into bays by buttressing terminating in pinnacles above the roof line. The side elevations of the building, are lined with semi-open verandahs, above which on the face of the body of the hall are large arched clerestory window openings. Penetrating the roof are small hipped roof ventilators. Light modern extensions have been made to the south eastern end of the hall.
","history":"St Paul's Anglican Church was constructed as the third Maryborough Church of England, replacing a timber church on the same site. The building was designed by prominent Queensland architect, FDG Stanley in 1879. A large memorial hall, designed by local architect, POE Hawkes, was added to the church site in 1921.
The original township of Maryborough was situated, not in its current place, but on the north of the Mary River, after wharves were established in 1847-8 providing transport for wool from sheep stations on the Burnett River. In 1850 Surveyor, HR Labatt arrived in Maryborough with instructions to "examine the River Mary...to suggest ...the best site or sites for the laying out of the town, having regard to the convenience of shipping on one hand and internal communication on the other...also...point out the spots desirable as reserves for public building, church, quay and for places for public recreation." The site recommended by Labatt was not where settlement was established but further east and from the early 1850s this is where the growing town developed.
The first Maryborough Church of England was constructed at the early settlement in 1852 and this was a timber slab building with shingled roof not exceeding £30 in cost. Much of the material and labour of this early church was provided without cost by the local community and in this year the first pastor, Reverend E. Tanner arrived in Maryborough. In 1853 the Parish of Maryborough was formed as the most northerly outpost of the Diocese of Newcastle.
With the movement of the town following Labatt's survey, the timber church was dismantled and re-erected on land in Lennox Street which has been variously described as being donated to the church by early Maryborough citizen, ET Aldridge or as being secured for £21 by the church in early land sales in Maryborough. The Church of England retains this land as their principle Maryborough property to this day. Upon re-erection of the first timber church, a timber belfry complete with bells were added to the site.
This newly erected church remained in use for ten years, until it was replaced with another timber church dedicated as St Paul's Episcopal church on 27 May 1866. This church was designed by Maryborough architect, William Montgomerie Davenport Davidson, who as a church warden provided his services without charge. Maryborough flourished in the late 1860s as a result of the discovery of gold in Gympie in 1867, for which Maryborough was the port. The trade of supplying the gold field went through Maryborough leading to the establishment of several secondary industries and a consequent growth in the population. During the 1870s immigration schemes and the introduction of indentured labour caused more population increases in Maryborough.
By 1877 a decision was made by the parish to construct a new permanent masonry building and the foundations tone of this new structure was laid by Sir Arthur Kennedy in March 1878. The services of Colonial Architect, Francis Drummond Greville Stanley were sought and he furnished the church with a design. Although Stanley was employed by the Queensland Government as the Colonial Architect, effectively from 1871 until 1881, he was allowed to continue with private commissions but this remained a contentious point throughout his employment as other architects complained. In October 1877, Stanley submitted a resignation to the government detailing how he needed to supplement his income with private work which was causing him health problems. When granted a salary increase he withdrew his resignation but argued that he was committed to the work at St Paul's, Maryborough which he then brought to completion. Stanley resigned officially and vacated his position in July 1881.
The design Stanley provided to the Church of England for their church in Maryborough was very similar to his design for the Holy Trinity Church of England in Fortitude Valley. Both churches are constructed of brick on a masonry foundation and have a similar traditional church floorplan of central nave flanked by aisles with apsidal chancel and porch entrance. The clerestory in both buildings is supported on a cast iron pointed arched arcade extending for the length of the nave, with cedar panels set in the spandrels of the arches.
St Paul's Church of England was opened on 30 August 1879 by Bishop Hale and Bishop Stanton of North Queensland. The building was constructed at a cost of about £6000 and a report in the local newspaper described the completed building as Queensland's cathedral in reference to its size, architecture and prominence, thought to be greater than other Churches of England built in Queensland to that date. The report continues on to detail some of the internal decoration,
"The chancel has a neatly framed roof with quarter diagonals decorated with rosettes in alternating spaces...The lower windows in the sides, with the western ad wheel windows are of the new diamond glass - one whole sheet each with false diamonds and with the stained glass windows of the chancel were imported expressly for the church. The upper windows in lead frames were made in Maryborough. By night the church is lit by means of rose lights containing 12 jets one of which stands in every arch."
The church was constructed by local contractors; Mr Caldwell who was responsible for the masonry work and Mr Taylor, responsible for carpentering. The report does state that the building is similar to the Holy Trinity Church but calls St Paul's , "a vast improvement being very much larger and less costly". By 1883 an organ gallery was added to the north western end, also designed by FDG Stanley.
The next substantial addition to the church was in 1887 when a large free standing bell tower was erected near the church. The structure, with nine bells cast by Mears White Chapel Bell Founders of London, cost £3500 which was donated by ET Aldridge at whose suggestion the tower was constructed in memory of his wife, Maria. According to the National Trust of Queensland, the bell tower is believed to house the only full peal of bells in Queensland.
Another large addition was made to the site in 1921 when a memorial Hall designed by local architect, POE Hawkes was constructed. The hall was dedicated to the "glory of God and the memory of those who fell in the Great War." The foundation stone was laid on 3 August 1920 to co-incide with a visit to Maryborough by the Prince of Wales. The building which was designed to harmonise with the church, housed a hall with a stage, two dressing rooms and two vestries along with two wide verandahs which would serve to provide supper rooms and open air classrooms. The hall was constructed by local contractor, WE Ferguson at a cost of £5980. POE Hawkes was an innovative local architect responsible for many fine inter-war building in Maryborough, including residences and commercial buildings.
Within the church a Warrior's Chapel was dedicated on 3 July 1960 and Our Lady's Chapel was dedicated on 17 March 1963. Both the church and the hall remain substantially intact.
","criteria":"St Paul's Anglican Church, constructed as the third Church of England in Maryborough demonstrates the growth of the town during the nineteenth century. The size and quality of design of the building are evidence of the prominence of Maryborough as a port and centre for the Burnett region in the nineteenth century.
|The hall is an unusual example of a memorial hall built as part of a church complex. The bell tower houses a rare example of a full peal of bells in Queensland. The church and hall have considerable architectural and aesthetic merit as well composed prominent Maryborough buildings.
|The church is characteristic of a substantial nineteenth century Gothic revival ecclesiastical building.
|The buildings are associated with important Queensland architects, FDG Stanley and POE Hawkes.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion D | Criterion H","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 has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15481,"place_ref":600706,"name":"Eskdale","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"53 Pallas Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"Eskdale is a substantial two storeyed brick house with stone foundations located on Pallas Street, Maryborough facing another early Maryborough house, Oonooraba [600707] at 50 Pallas Street. The house demonstrates the principal characteristics of the Colonial Georgian style of architecture which is noted for its gentle symmetry and simple rectangular shapes with conservative detailing.
The external walls of 18 inch thick brick in English bond construction. The building has a hipped roof clad with corrugated iron sheeting. The house is lined on three sides with wide verandahs on both levels. The verandahs are incorporated under the main roof of the building and are supported on single stop chamfered timber posts with decorative cast iron brackets and, on the upper floor, cast iron balustrade panels. A valance of lattice marks the first floor level on the face of the verandah. The front façade of the building is symmetrically arranged and two large timber sash windows flank a central doorway framing double timber doors.
The front entrance leads into a hall with a central arch way and stairway. The walls are painted a soft green with decorative stencils lining the cornices and chair rails. The stencils have been reproduced from late 19th century styles. The front door is framed by lead-light windows, a fanlight above and rectangular panels on either side as well as two panels in the door itself. Another lead-light window is visible on the landing of the first flight of stairs. The hall leads off to rooms on either side and then through to an extension at the rear.
The hall with archway and interior decoration is replicated on the upper floor in the same position. The door to the front verandah has a simple fanlight with textured glass and features a green shamrock at the base of the window. All joists, cross bracing, lintels, doors, architraves and the staircase are of local red cedar.
On the northern side of the ground floor hall is a large living room. The wide timber (hoop pine) floor boards are exposed and polished, the walls rendered and painted dark red and the ceiling is lined with decorative pressed metal of the 1920s era. There are two doors accessing the hall at either end of the room. A large timber-framed sash window faces onto the front verandah and two similar windows line the northern side of the room facing the side verandah. This fenestration pattern also occurs in the rooms on the southern side of the house. A large fireplace with timber manell-piece is located in the centre of the rear wall.
On the other side of the hall is the dining room at the front and the kitchen at the rear. The dining room contains built-in bookcases of cedar with glass panel doors.
The house is set in established gardens with mature trees and still features some of the early outdoor structures and landscapes. The circular driveway at the front of the house is marked by the raised circular lawn with lantana hedge. Evidence of the former sweep of the driveway can be seen in the slight depression of the grounds to the north-west of the house. A landscaped garden on the northern side of the house consists of geometric garden beds set in concrete with concrete paths dating from about 1915. This area is lined by mature palms along its rear edge. A shed stands a short distance to the rear of this garden and includes some 19th century decoration, namely cast iron brackets. This was once the glass house and now stands as a timber framed structure with weatherboard cladding and a corrugated iron roof. There is also an underground brick water tank, 20 feet deep, the top of which is visible on the back lawn. This water tank is fed by another tank in the centre of the roof of the house not visible from the ground. This roof tank catches the rain water which is then diverted into the underground tank. Similar tank constructions can be seen at nearby Baddow House [600690] and they date from the time of construction.
","history":"Eskdale was constructed in about 1864 for the Mayor of Maryborough. A tender notice in the Maryborough Chronicle of 22 August, 1864 reads: 'Tenders are require on or before the 24th instant for the Brick and Stone Work of a Twelve-roomed House - Plans and specifications to be seen at Messrs Dowzer & Purser's.' No architect is specified and it is likely that Dowzer designed the house himself.
The original township of Maryborough was situated, not in its current place, but on the north of the Mary River, after wharves were established in 1847-8 providing transport for wool from sheep stations on the Burnett River. In 1850 Surveyor, HR Labatt arrived in Maryborough with instructions to "examine the River Mary...to suggest ...the best site or sites for the laying out of the town, having regard to the convenience of shipping on one hand and internal communication on the other...also...point out the spots desirable as reserves for public building, church, quay and for places for public recreation." The site recommended by Labatt was not where settlement was established but further east and from the early 1850s this is where the growing town developed.
James Dowzer and John Pursers both of Maryborough purchased Suburban Allotment 2 of Section 45, measuring five acres according to a New South Wales land purchase order. This was the land on which James Dowzer constructed a large two storeyed brick house as his residence, later known as Eskdale. Tenders were called in the Maryborough Chronicle for the brick and stone work of a 12 roomed house. It is thought that Dowzer designed his own residence as he is thought to have also designed the Church of England rectory in 1856.
Dowzer was born in 1826 at Clongall, County of Carlow, Ireland. In March 1853 he sailed for Queensland aboard the John Fielden and initially gained an appointment in the Ipswich Police Force. After leaving Ipswich, he arrived in Maryborough in November 1854 where he established a local business as a saddler and storekeeper in the fledgling town. He continued in business until about 1865, and was elected as the third Mayor of Maryborough in 1862. Little documentary evidence has been discovered about the origin of Eskdale, although 1864 seems to be the year in which it was built. Clay was apparently carried to the site and bricks were made at the rear of the property. Hand made iron nails were used in the construction of the European beech floor, and hand made brass nails were used in the construction of the doors. Internal joinery was made using local cedar.
In 1868 James Dowzer retired to a dairy farm near Tiaro and Eskdale was acquired by Edward Corser. Apparently when the Corser family moved to the house it was not yet finished. Edward Corser arrived in Brisbane in about 1863 and moved to Maryborough in the next year. Eskdale was named by the Corsers as a reminder of Eskdale in the Lakes District of Northern England. Edward Bernard Corser, the son of Edward Corser acquired Eskdale on the death of his father in 1874. EB Corser was a leading merchant and established the business, Corser and Co. For many years he presided over the Burram Divisional Board and was actively involved in many clubs and societies in Maryborough. From 1909 until 1915 EB Corser was a member of the Legislative Council and MHR Wide Bay within the federal government from 1915 until 1928, just three years before his death in July 1931.
Eskdale was transferred to EB Corser's son, Edward Stewart Corser in 1929 and he retained ownership until 1961. It remained in the Corser family until October 1975 when it was bought by Peter and Jacqueline Holtorf.
The Holtorfs used the residence as their family home until 1999 when they converted the house into a Bed and Breakfast. The original section of the house has been authentically restored and is used for guests.
The house originally stood on five acres of land on which there were three tennis courts, stables and gymnasium all of which were demolished due to subdivision. Of the original property the following buildings (apart from Eskdale House) are still in existence: 345 Ann Street (Sewart Corser's House - 'Charlcombe'), 352 Ann Street (The Gardener's Residence) and 47 Pallas Street (Herbert Corser's house - now 'Rhymney House').
A number of changes have also been made to the house itself. The lead light windows were installed around 1920 along with the pressed metal ceilings. The original roof was slate and the verandah roof was iron with alternate red and white panels. The slate roof was destroyed by a hail storm in 1966 and at the time the three chimney stacks were demolished to roof level, so that a new iron roof could cover them. The verandah roof pitch was also made steeper, so that the iron panels could be placed in a straight line.
The decorative cast iron baluster panels on the upper level of the verandahs were likely to have been designed and manufactured in Maryborough. This particular design used on Eskdale is featured in Brian Turner's book, Australia's Iron Lace (p 97), and is referred to as 'Maryborough iron lace patterns'. A foundry had operated in Maryborough from 1909 until 1981 run by the Daniels family and it '...produced cast iron panels of its own regional design.'
","criteria":"Eskdale, a substantial two storeyed brick house dating from about 1864, demonstrates the growth of Maryborough in the 1860s, after new wealth was generated by the nearby Gympie goldfields. It also reflects the trend of pioneering individuals who established themselves as community leaders in early townships to build residences reflective of their social status.
|The building is a good, intact example of a substantial 1860s two-storeyed residence in regional Queensland. The surrounding grounds and its various structures and landscapes and are also important in demonstrating the design and workings of an early Queensland regional residence.
|The building has aesthetic value as a substantial residence with attractive decorative features and balanced design, within a garden setting.
|Eskdale has special associations with both James Dowzer and Edward Bernard Corser who are of importance to Queensland's history.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion H","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 special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15482,"place_ref":600707,"name":"Oonooraba","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"50 Pallas Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"Oonooraba is sited on Pallas Street, facing, not south east toward that street but to the north east toward Ann Street, from where access was originally provided to the property. The site comprises the building, a substantial elevated one storeyed timber house, which is surrounded by a large garden with established trees including two Araucaria Cookii and several palm trees.
The building is timber framed and is supported on squared timber columns which elevate the home about 3 metres from ground level. Access is provided to the principal floor of the house via a wide straight concrete stair emerging from the principal, north eastern façade. The stair is flanked by concrete balustrade which terminates at the base with newels on which sit lion statues. Filling the cavity between the timber posts supporting the house is diagonal timber lattice panels. The house is clad with wide horizontal timber boards which are quite unusual with heavily beaded mouldings at the tongue and groove joints.
The house is essentially rectangular in plan with a kitchen wing adjoining the rear elevation on the south west side of the building. Wide verandahs line three sides of the building and on the principal façade where the two corners of the face of the building are punctuated with bay windows, this is reflected in the projecting line of the verandah. The hipped roof of Oonooraba also reflects these bays with the addition of small hipped partial pyramidal roof forms over the bays.
The bull nosed verandah awning of Oonooraba is supported on turned columns with curved brackets, paired toward the principal entrance of the house. Above the columns are frieze panels, comprising diagonal latticework flanking a central section of vertical battening. The verandah balustrades which are replacements of a cast iron balustrade, are of vertical timber battening with decorative cutouts in regularly spaced battens. Many early lattice screens and timber louvres survive in the verandah openings.
The principal entrance of Oonooraba is from the south east, where the steps provide access t the verandah, from which a large central doorway provides access to the house. The doorway comprises a substantial five panelled and moulded timber door, flanked by sidelights with leadlight glazing above moulded base panels. Theses are surrounded by a substantial architrave and the door is surmounted by a narrow operable fanlight. The doorway is surmounted by a centrally placed timber entablature which terminates in a broken pediment. Other openings to the house, flanking the entrance and from all internal rooms with access to the verandah, are full length vertical sash walk though openings surrounded by moulded architraves.
The entrance door gives access to a small entrance vestibule, which in turn provides access to a central hall from which the principal rooms of the house are accessed. The entrance vestibule has timber dado panelling, which comprises a skirting, an alternating timber boarded body and a wide dado rail. This pattern of dado panelling continues to other rooms of the house, with changes in other rooms of the amount of moulding and height of the skirting and dado rail and also the alternating timber boards, which here are two different types of timber, and with the lighter coloured timber reeded. Above the dado panelling in the entrance vestibule is early floral wall paper, divided into panels with vertical and horizontal border strips. Dividing this room from the central hall is a timber screen of half glazed double timber swing doors, flanked by similarly detailed half glazed sidelights and surmounted by transom lights. The glazing in the doorway is leadlight with a simple geometric pattern rendered in coloured and arctic glass.
The central hall is lined with unpainted vertical timber boards, above a dado panel similar to that found in the vestibule. Above a cornice around the timber boarding is a curved timber ceiling centrally placed in which is a lay light, or horizontal glazed panelling below a roof lantern, from which pendant lighting is hung. The rectangular lay light comprises three leadlight panels glazed with strongly coloured small sections of glass within regular borders surrounding three ceiling roses. Within the hall four doorways, with four panelled doors and operable transoms above lead to rooms on either side, and a round arched doorway in the far, south western wall, leads to the rear rooms of the house. Some early door furniture surviving in this section is of black enamel with handpainted scenes of foliage and birds in gold lacquer.
To the north west of the entrance hall are two large, public rooms, connected to one another by a squared arched opening in their shared partition. Both rooms are lined with a similar dado panelling to that mentioned previously, although in the room closer to the front of the building, the lighter timber in the body of the panelling is fluted, rather than reeded, and in the rear room, the lighter timber is smooth faced. Both rooms are lined with early printed wallpaper, of a hazy pattern of blotches of white and umber on a light warm grey base. The wallpaper is matched with a cut out floral frieze around the walls above the dado rail, and a larger frieze, below the cornice, comprising a wider cutout floral strip with regularly spaced large stylised scenes. The ceilings in these rooms are timber boarded with coffering and featuring several large ceiling roses, some with early colour schemes. Early door furniture survives in these rooms and is similar to that in the central hall but of white enamel rather than of black. A dark stained timber fireplace is in a truncated corner of the rear of the two rooms, and this is lines with ceramic tiles.
From this rear room access is provided via a four panelled sliding timber doorway into a large rear hall also able to be accessed from the arched doorway in the central hall. Another dark stained timber fireplace sits in a corresponding truncated corner. This room is lined to about 2500 high with vertical timber boarding, comprising dado panelling of only one type of timber but similar in other respects to that found elsewhere. From this room access is provided to a rear verandah from where the kitchen, and adjacent semi open room on the verandah and storage rooms are found.
On the other side of the central hall are the more private rooms of the house, and these are generally timber lined with vertical timber boarding, occasionally with string coursing at picture rail height and simple cornice and skirting. These rooms have interconnecting doors near the external walls. In a section of infilled verandah is an early (c1920s) bathroom.
","history":"Oonooraba was built in about 1892 to the design of prominent architect, George Henry Male Addison, for a prominent Maryborough citizen, James Malcolm Stafford. The house was supposedly built on the site of an early Aboriginal meeting place.
The original township of Maryborough was situated, not in its current place, but on the north of the Mary River, after wharves were established in 1847-8 providing transport for wool from sheep stations on the Burnett River. In 1850 Surveyor, HR Labatt arrived in Maryborough with instructions to "examine the River Mary...to suggest ...the best site or sites for the laying out of the town, having regard to the convenience of shipping on one hand and internal communication on the other...also...point out the spots desirable as reserves for public building, church, quay and for places for public recreation." The site recommended by Labatt was not where settlement was established but further east and from the early 1850s this is where the growing town developed.
The land on which Oonooraba was built was part of a ten acre lot, described as Suburban Section 29, which was first purchased by a William MacAdam of Maryborough on 20 September 1859. The land was apparently left undeveloped, and in 1886 the ten acre lot was acquired by George Ambrose White, who subdivided the land and offered for sale the smaller lots of land.
After the subdivisions James Malcolm Stafford a Maryborough solicitor, bought six acres of Suburban Section 29 in three purchases. The first, subdivision one of 2 acres, was purchased on 2 November 1889 from Otto Dias who had purchased the lot from White the year before. Next, Stafford purchased one acre described as resubdivsion 1 of subdivision 2 on 12 November 1889. On 21 September 1892 Stafford's wife, Jessie Wilson Stafford, purchased three more acres of Section 29. Presumably at about this date, after obtaining a six acre lot, the Stafford's had their house Oonooraba built. There is evidence that the house was constructed by 1895.
James Malcolm Stafford was practising as a solicitor in Maryborough from about 1883, after having practicing in Brisbane. He was born on 25 June 1859 in Ipswich and was educated and articled in that town. He was admitted as a solicitor in Brisbane on 7 March 1882 and practiced there before moving to Maryborough by about 1885 where he established a successful practice. He was elected to the position of Mayor of Maryborough in 1892 and retained this role until about 1896. Stafford died on 4 April 1900. In about 1892, Stafford commissioned George Henry Male Addison to design his one storeyed timber residence in Maryborough.
Addison was an important Queensland architect, who trained in England before emigrating to Melbourne in 1883 and joined the prominent Victorian architectural firm, Terry and Oakden. He became a partner and the chief draftsman and was a founding member of the Melbourne Art Society. He arrived in Brisbane in November 1886 to supervise construction of the London Chartered Bank which Terry, Oakden and Addison, as they were now known, had designed. He remained in Brisbane undertaking work as the northern partner of the firm, which again changed name and became Oakden, Addison and Kemp in 1887. In April 1892 he assumed responsibility for the Brisbane office of Anglican Diocesan architect, JH Buckeridge who had moved to Sydney. Addison left the partnership and practiced on his own until 1898 and formed several other partnerships in the early twentieth century. Addison designed many landmark buildings in Queensland, including the Exhibition Building of 1892 (now known as the Old Museum); the Mansions in George Street and the Albert Street Uniting Church. He also designed many of Brisbane's premier houses including Cumbooquepa at South Brisbane; Halwyn at Red Hill; Kirkston at Windsor; Fernbrook at Indooroopilly and Ralahyne at Clayfield.
George Layou's book about the history of Maryborough provides a long description of Oonooraba;
The place is named Oonooraba, so called because the ground was once the fighting place of the blacks. Four and a half years ago the house was built of fine pine and beech and the quality of the timber was of the best. The plot comprises six acres and it was on the spot where the house now stands that the first humpy was seen thirty five years ago. It commands a fine view of the Ulalah Reserve, a chain of fine waterholes where the old fowls love to dwell. Before the house is a fine circular lawn, two and a half chains in diameter, with a carriage drive around it. On either side of the lawn are ten beautiful Araucarias (Cookii). These forming the inner boundary of the drive around it, with Eugenia macrocarpa and Araucaria excelsa as the outer one make a pleasing and rich front. Mr Stafford has proved beyond question that the Japanese national flower, the chrysanthemum, is not alone suited to the cooler climates of the south as the .. chrysanthemum show in Brisbane he secured the champion prize for size and quality against all comers...One inestimable advantage of the situation is its opened. A fair view of the town is seen from the front, with the hospital buildings away on the south, while on the other side is a panorama of the rive, dale and hill...
James Stafford died on 4 April 1900 and the land was acquired by the Queensland Trustees. This did not comprise the entire block as his wife officially owned half of the land which she retained until her death in the 1930s. After her death the ownership of the property changed several times and, despite further subdivisions, has been retained as a private residence although with a much reduced garden.
","criteria":"Oonooraba demonstrates the growth of Maryborough during the late nineteenth century when a number of large residences were constructed, reflecting the growing infrastructure.
|The building is a rare surviving and substantially intact residence designed by prominent Brisbane, GHM Addison, with whom it has special associations.
|The house was supposedly built on a site where Aboriginal clans met, therefore the site has the potential to yield important information about early indigenous lifestyles in and around Maryborough.
|The building is characteristic of a large timber residence of the late nineteenth century, and is characteristic of the fine design skill of architect GHM Addison. The building has considerable architectural merit as a well composed and innovative residence.
|Many of the features of the building are of considerable aesthetic value including the joinery, particularly the entrance door, unpainted internally dado panelling which varies throughout; early wall paper complete with friezes and borders; other internal joinery and glazing; door furniture and fireplaces.
|The building is associated with prominent local citizen, James Stafford and with the fine architect, George Henry Male Addison.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion C | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion H","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 has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding 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 special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15483,"place_ref":600708,"name":"Queen's Park","alternate_name":"War Memorial and Entrance Gates | Bandstand; Banyan Fig | Bunya Pine; Crows Ash | Sausage Tree | Queens Park","street_address":"Sussex Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"War Memorial
The First World War Memorial is situated in a dominant position at the entrance to the Botanic Gardens, surrounded by a low rock wall garden bed. At the rear of the memorial is a set of large swing gates of wrought iron painted white and bearing commemorative lettering and the AIF badge. The gates are flanked by Helidon sandstone pillars. The memorial stands 45 feet to the top of the obelisk and comprises a base, four statues and the obelisk surmounted by a Winged Victory statue.
The grey granite monument sits on two circular concrete steps. The base comprises three layers of banded rock faced granite, cruciform in plan. Above each end of the cross are smooth-faced plinths. Each end face of the cross displays a bronze plaque with the names of the 100 local citizens who fell during the First World War. In the centre of the two front plinths is a larger bronze plaque with a granite triangular pediment detail. The front plinths also have additional bronze plaques commemorating the 55 soldiers who fell in the Second World War.
At each end of the cross stands a Carrara marble statue, facing outward. The statues are life-sized, and represent a Red Cross nurse, a soldier, a sailor and an airman. They all stand at ease and are remarkably Italian in detail.
In the centre of the four statues is a large obelisk sitting on a smooth-faced base capped with cyma recta mouldings. Bronze wreaths are located on the side and rear faces. Latin crosses are attached to the front and rear faces, as are bronze letters forming the words LEST WE FORGET. Surmounting the obelisk is a larger than life-sized Winged Victory figure in Carrara marble.
Entrance Gates
The entrance gates are located at the rear of the memorial. They comprise a set of large swing gates of painted, wrought iron [British gun metal] bearing commemorative lettering and the AIF badge. The gates are flanked by Helidon sandstone pillars. Originally there were two sets of gates, however the outer pair were removed at some stage.
The Bandstand and Melville Fountain
The Bandstand is an ornamental pavilion in Queen's Park, Maryborough which was originally constructed as shade over the Melville Memorial Fountain. The pavilion comprises a cast iron ogee curved shade supported on cast iron columns bedded in a concrete plinth. The Melville Fountain is located in near the south-eastern corner of Queen's Park. It is cast iron and form the centre of a large basin a column rises with griffin heads around the cap. Water spouts out of the mouths of the griffins. On the top of the column are three cranes. From the centre rises a two funnel shaped, floral-type tiers, the lower tier larger, with a similarly designed upper tier. In the centre of the upper tier is a cherub clasping a horn of plenty from which a jet of water is thrown upwards.
Other elements of Queen's Park
The single story, double-domed fernery is constructed of besser block and concrete with green shade covers placed over a framework of metal mesh. It is a dominant landmark terminating Adelaide Street where it meets Sussex Street.
The Lily Pond
The Lily Pond is located in the north-western corner of Queen's Park.
Queen's Park has larger, mature plantings including the Cocos Palm Avenue (Queen palms [Syagrus romanzoffiana]) running north-south through the park and other trees, including banyan figs [Ficus benghalensis], poinciana trees [Delonix regia], celtis [Celtis sinensis] and weeping figs (Chinese elms or Hackberry trees [Ficus benjamina]), running north-west to south-east through the park and, especially, the banyan fig, crows ash [Flindersia australis], sausage tree [Kigelia pinnata] and bunya pine [Araucaria bidwillii], all of which are located in the south-east corner of Queen's Park close to the entrance gates.
Pathways and seating areas are located throughout Queen's Park.
","history":"A reserve for the botanical gardens was gazetted in October 1873. Since that time, Queen's Park, Maryborough has undergone changes in use and in architectural and aesthetic features associated with the park.
In 1842, Andrew Petrie discovered the Monaboola stream, later the Mary River, upon which Maryborough grew as a port. In July 1847, Surveyor JC Burnett was sent to survey the area of the Burnett River and to comment on the conditions. The Wide Bay River (after Petrie's Monaboola) was renamed the Mary River by the Governor (Fitzroy) after his wife. By July 1850, Surveyor HR Labatt arrived in what was to become Maryborough with instructions to 'examine the River Mary is to enable you to suggest to me the best site or sites for the laying of the town...' The site recommended for the town by Labatt was not where the initial settlement was established but further east. In 1852, the first sales of land at the present site of Maryborough were sold, and the settlement on the north side of the river became deserted, as larger vessels could not access these wharves.
The 1850s and 1860s were a time of growth and expansion in Maryborough, the first hospital was underway by 1859, a Court House and Lock-Up was constructed in 1857; the School of Arts was established in 1861; also that year Messrs Gladwell and Greathead began the first sawmill. Upon the separation of Queensland in 1859, Maryborough was declared a port of entry. In March 1861, Maryborough was proclaimed a municipality, and Henry Palmer became the first Mayor. Palmer helped shape Maryborough's destiny during its early years. During a meeting of the Municipal Council of 3 November 1865, Palmer proposed that 'immediate application be made by the Council to the government for all the portion of the Wharf Reserve not required for shipping purposes to be used as a public garden and for recreation purposes'.
During the mid-1840s, amateur botanist, explorer and sometimes businessman, John Carne Bidwill collected specimens of trees from the Moreton Bay region. This tree was known to the Indigenous population by various names including Bunya Bunya. In local European circles, it was called Pinus petrianna, a description applied to the species either by or in recognition of pioneer free settler Andrew Petrie who, it is claimed by the Petrie family, was the discoverer of the species. Bidwill sent his specimen to Kew Gardens in London, where it classified as being a new species of the Araucaria genus. In recognition of Bidwill's voluminous collectings in both eastern Australia and New Zealand , 'Petrie's pine' was officially recognised as Araucaria bidwillii.
In 1854 Sir Charles Moore and Brisbane Botanical Gardens Curator Walter Hill made a collection of specimens from Bidwill's garden. The Bunya Pine, located in the south-east corner of the Park, near the entrance gates, is thought to be a surviving tree from the collection . Amongst Bidwill's plants was at least one specimen of Sausage Tree [Kigelia pinnata], also known as a Fetish tree. The Sausage Tree in the park is thought to be a surviving tree from Bidwill's collection.
By the late 1860s, the Brisbane Botanic Gardens were a well established centre for all things botanic in Queensland. A popular means of show casing the work of the gardens was participation in the colonial exhibitions. Walter Hill launched an extremely successful exhibit at the Intercolonial Exhibition held in Sydney in 1867. Reports in the press were favourable and had the effect of heightening community awareness of the potential use of gardens. Capitalising on this increased public perception, Hill set out to expand the botanic work in Queensland. At this time premium parks in Toowoomba and Ipswich were already established. As a result of this activity, Hill set out to insert working gardens in other places through Queensland.
Urban public parks became a popular vehicle for 19th century movements concerned with public health - the park provided a place for the outdoor recreation of those unable to afford private gardens and improved the environment of crowded central city and town areas. Botanic Gardens were started as part of an increasing interest in scientific understanding of the natural world. A botanic gardens was established in Brisbane in 1855 in response to 19th century interest in botany which saw botanic gardens established around the world, particularly in those colonised areas of the world where little formal knowledge of the interaction between geography and botany existed. An integral part of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens was a series of branch gardens in provincial areas throughout Queensland which provided botanic data across the wide spectrum of Queensland ecosystems.
Before proclamation as a park, the Queen's Park site was the location of a boiling down works operated by Edmund Blucher. Following the gazettal of the site as a Reserve for Botanical Gardens in October 1873, Trustees were appointed. They were Henry Palmer, Peter Graham, George Howard, Henry Stoward and RB Sheridan, who was subsequently elected as Chairman by his fellow Trustees.
RB [Richard Bingham] Sheridan [1822-1897], public servant and politician was born in Ireland. He arrived in New South Wales in 1842 and joined the Customs Department in February 1846. In February 1853 because of ill health, he was transferred to Moreton Bay. On 10 December 1859, Sheridan was appointed sub-collector of customs at Maryborough. Sheridan was deeply involved in the life of Maryborough and was respected for his integrity, fairness and humanity. He initiated the Botanic Gardens and was involved in the foundation of the School of Arts and the hospital and was the first chairman of the building society. Sheridan won the Maryborough seat in the Legislative Assembly on 17 August 1883 and held it until 5 May 1888. In 1885 he had become a trustee of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens.
In 1876, RB Sheridan, submitted the second annual Report on the Botanic Gardens, Maryborough. The report highlighted a number of factors relating to the park. The past season was considered to have been a highly successful one. At the time, the grounds placed under the control of the Trustees consisted of detached pieces, amounting to about 70 acres. One block, known as the Recreation Reserve, contained c58 acres, and was fenced with a 'substantial two-rail fence, and partially planted, and suitable gates are placed wherever found requisite, for public convenience'. The remainder, c12 acres, which was known as the Botanic Gardens, '..is that to which the Trustees devoted most attention, as it is situated immediately within the most populous part of town, and to some extent stretching along the river bank, renders it the favourite resort of the inhabitants, as evidenced by the great numbers who frequent the place...' The Botanic Gardens were planted with '...useful and ornamental trees, shrubs and flowers. By 1876, the Botanic Gardens also contained an ornamental bridge and a gardener's cottage, as well as the construction of fencing. By 1876, several new walks had been laid out, flower beds and borders had been planted, hundreds of rare trees and shrubs had been introduced.
It was also reported in 1876 that 'the establishment of a Botanic Garden in the town, in addition to the pleasure it gives the local inhabitants, by affording them a place of healthful recreation and instruction, has spread a taste for floriculture throughout the entire district' In addition to supplying many person with ornamental plants and seeds, the Trustees have had the pleasure of being able to distribute amongst several sugar planters, sugar cane cuttings raised from a number of choice varieties kindly supplied by Mr Walter Hill from the Brisbane Botanic Garden last year; besides they are forming a nursery for new and useful fruit trees and vegetables, from which they hope in time to supply plants and seeds to all who may require them...The Trustees acknowledge, with thanks, having received donations of plants and seeds from the undermentioned gentlemen - Mr Walter Hill, Botanic Gardens, Brisbane; the Acclimatisation Society; Mr Armitage, Mackay; Mr Woodhouse, Rockhampton; and from Messrs Byerly, Barton, Brown, Byers, Denman, Byrne and Jones'.
Early photographs of the area dated c1862 show the crows ash [Flindersia australis]. The crows ash is a species common to the original rainforests of coastal south east Queensland. Crows ash timber was used extensively for fencing, flooring, window sills and exterior decorative trimmings. Other historical photographs indicate that the banyan fig [Ficus benghalensis] was planted by at least 1905. Originating from Bengal in India, this particular species of fig is rare in Australia. The species is typified by its area roots which become multiple trunks and huge horizontal branches.
In 1890, the Melville or Fairy Fountain was unveiled under the rotunda. This was bequeathed by Miss Janet Melville to the City of Maryborough in memory of her brother, Andrew Wedderburn Melville. On his death in 1882 Janet inherited most of his fortune which she distributed locally. On her death she left £500 for the erection of a fountain and bandstand in the gardens.
The fountain chosen was exhibited at the Glasgow International Exhibition in 1888 and arrived in Maryborough in December and was erected early the following year. Although band concerts were held in the pavilion there were some difficulties encountered viewing the members of the band as the structure sat on ground level, not elevated as is normally the case of bandstands. Early in the twentieth century the bandstand was moved 18m and re-erected on a concrete plinth.
The rotunda was imported from Glasgow, from the William MacFarlane & Co, Saracen in Scotland. The Hon AH Wilson MLA had chosen the structure in Glasgow after visiting the area. As constructed the rotunda was surrounded by a cast iron pilastered fence bed in a stone plinth.
At some time the fountain was shifted to allow the rotunda to be used as a bandstand. The fountain was a gift to the city from Miss Janet Melville who gave large sums of money to various Maryborough institutions including the hospital. The trustees of Janet's will authorised the member for Maryborough, AH Wilson, to investigate suitable fountains during a Scotland holiday. Wilson selected the fairy fountain at the Glasgow International Exhibition and it arrived in Maryborough on 31 December 1889.
Janet Melville was one of the most generous benefactors in Maryborough, she came to Australia from Scotland with her brother Andrew Wedderburn Melville and his wife Maria in 1849. Andrew wrote for the Maryborough Chronicle and was a speaker in the Legislative Assembly. He served a term as Mayor in 1863. He died 5 November 1882 and his wife died 23 October 1890.
A report in the Maryborough Chronicle detailed the unveiling of the fountain:
The Melville Memorial Fountain is now erected under the ornamental pavilion in the Botanic Gardens and is at least an attractive object. From the centre of a large basin rises a column with griffin heads around the cap, which will spout water form their mouths. On the top of the column are three cranes in various attitudes and from the centre rises a funnel shaped tier out of which springs another of a similar design but smaller and in the centre of this is a golden cherub clasping a horn of plenty from which a jet of water is thrown upwards...(Maryborough Chronicle, 6 March 1890, p3)
In the 19th century, Walter MacFarlane's Saracen foundry was the largest in the world of its day covering ten acres with its own railway station and satellite suburb of Possilpark. The company exported their castings all over the world.
The Maryborough War Memorial was unveiled on 19 November 1922 by Major General R Spencer-Browne. It was designed by POE Hawkes and produced by local monumental masonry firm FW Webb. The granite and marble memorial honours the 100 local men who fell during the First World War and the 55 who fell in the Second World War.
Originally there were two sets of gates, however the outer pair were removed at some stage. The swing gates are made from British gun metal. The Memorial Gates were cast by the local Croydon Foundry.
In May 1920, a Memorial Committee was formed to collect subscriptions for the erection of a war memorial. The foundation stone was laid on 22 May 1921 by Lieutenant Colonel J M A Durrant, however, fund raising efforts were slow and Maryborough citizens were reminded that suburbs and outlying districts had already erected memorials. It was almost 18 months later that the memorial was finally unveiled.
As well as designing the monument, Hawkes selected the site, arranged importation of the statues through Anselm and Odling of Sydney and supervised the work. His first designs were not accepted by the memorial committee and he was instructed to submit alternatives. This second group of designs was also to be subject to public scrutiny.
POE Hawkes was born in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales in 1882. He worked as an architect in Wagga Wagga, Perth, Melbourne and Launceston before being employed by the Queensland Government in 1909. This was a temporary position from which he resigned in November of the same year. He subsequently worked in Maryborough, Bundaberg and Kingaroy, forming a partnership as Hawkes and Palmer in Kingaroy and Maryborough between 1914 and 1917. In 1919 he was employed by the Commonwealth Government as District Adviser, registering as an architect (Qld) in 1930.
The bronzework on the monument and the gates were made by Stevenson Brothers at Maryborough's Croyden foundry. At a cost of £2,300, the memorial is the second most expensive in Queensland.
Australia, and Queensland in particular, had few civic monuments before the First World War. The memorials erected in its wake became our first national monuments, recording the devastating impact of the war on a young nation. Australia lost 60 000 from a population of about 4 million, representing one in five of those who served. No previous or subsequent war has made such an impact on the nation.
Even before the end of the war, memorials became a spontaneous and highly visible expression of national grief. To those who erected them, they were as sacred as grave sites, substitute graves for the Australians whose bodies lay in battlefield cemeteries in Europe and the Middle East. British policy decreed that the Empire war dead were to be buried where they fell. The word 'cenotaph', commonly applied to war memorials at the time, literally means 'empty tomb'.
Australian war memorials are distinctive in that they commemorate not only the dead. Australians were proud that their first great national army, unlike other belligerent armies, was composed entirely of volunteers, men worthy of honour whether or not they paid the supreme sacrifice. Many memorials honour all who served from a locality, not just the dead, providing valuable evidence of community involvement in the war. Such evidence is not readily obtainable from military records, or from state or national listings, where names are categorised alphabetically or by military unit.
Australian war memorials are also valuable evidence of imperial and national loyalties, at the time, not seen as conflicting; the skills of local stonemasons, metalworkers and architects; and of popular taste. In Queensland, the soldier statue was the popular choice of memorial, whereas the obelisk predominated in the southern states, possibly a reflection of Queensland's larger working-class population and a lesser involvement of architects.
Many of the First World War monuments have been updated to record local involvement in later conflicts, and some have fallen victim to unsympathetic re-location and repair.
The Maryborough monument includes four statues and a winged figure of victory. Webb arranged for them to be imported from Italy through the Sydney firm, Anselm Odling and Company. Although they were commissioned for use in Queensland, they are very clearly Italian in character. This also occurred with other digger statues imported from Italy, however it is most obvious in this instance due to the number and types of figures. The memorial includes statues of a soldier, a sailor, an airman and Red Cross nurse. The latter, complete with rosary beads, is the most notably Italian in detail. Tablets commemorating the Second World War and subsequent wars were later added.
Since the mid-1990s, the Maryborough City Council has undertaken much restorative work to Queen's Park, including reinstating the Cocos Palm Avenue (Queen palms), the rose trellis, maze gardens, the Melville Fountain and the Judges' Walk. The pathway in Queen's Park, leading from Bazaar Street to Wharf Street, is known as Judges' Walk, in recognition of the judicial processions which took place there. The judges alighted from their carriages in Bazaar Street and proceeded in their robes to the court house. They were preceded by an escort and were followed by court attendants.
","criteria":"The Queensland botanic gardens network is important in demonstrating the introduction of multi-purpose scientific centres for the development of economic and ornamental botany for the benefit of the colony as a whole. Queen's Park, Maryborough, gazetted in 1873 as a Botanic Gardens is significant as the premier recreation and botanic retreat for the district. It demonstrates the importance of Maryborough as a major regional centre, demonstrating the desire to sustain a scientific, educational and recreational centre of international repute.
Founded on consistent ideological principles the Queensland botanic gardens demonstrate a clear and identifiable type of place. In terms of design, congruous hard and soft landscape features generate a sense of place that transfers to each a specific location. As a regional park, Queen's Park, Maryborough has maintained a position within a national and international network of botanic gardens of which the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London, was the originating hub.
The Bandstand in Queen's Park, erected in 1890 demonstrates the growth of Maryborough in the late nineteenth century.
War Memorials are important in demonstrating the pattern of Queensland's history as they are representative of a recurrent theme that involved most communities throughout the state. They provide evidence of an era of widespread Australian patriotism and nationalism, particularly during and following the First World War. The monuments manifest a unique documentary record and are demonstrative of popular taste in the inter-war period.
|Queen's Park, Maryborough, demonstrates the principal characteristics of a provincial botanic reserve, with a greater emphasis placed on the creating of a mixed collection of living exotic and native plants. The collection includes specimens rare in cultivation or of great maturity or both. Plantings dating from the nineteenth century include evidence of aesthetic, economic and experimental plants.
The bandstand is an unusual surviving example of an imported cast iron structure from William MacFarlane & Co, Saracen in Glasgow. The bandstand demonstrates the characteristics of nineteenth century cast iron bandstands.
Unveiled in 1922, the memorial at Maryborough demonstrates the principal characteristics of a commemorative structure erected as an enduring record of a major historical event. This is achieved through the use of appropriate materials and design elements.
|Queen's Park has individual items of particular aesthetic merit, including the Bandstand and Memorial Fountain (1890); the War Memorial and Memorial Gates (1922); the geodesic-domed Fernery, a dominant landmark, especially from the view along the streetscape where Adelaide Street meets Sussex Street; the Lily Pond; the avenues of trees, including banyan figs, poinciana trees, celtis and weeping figs, running north-west to south-east through Queen's Park; the Cocos Palm Avenue running north-south through the park, and mature plantings, especially the banyan fig, crows ash, sausage tree and bunya pine, all of which are located in the south-east corner of Queen's Park.
The structure [bandstand] is of aesthetic value as a picturesque addition to the park.
A major regional war memorial, it is also of aesthetic significance, as one of the most elaborately and unusually designed monuments in Queensland still surviving in its intact surrounds. It is also an uncommon example of statues which are representative of Italian models rather than Australian. As a large scale regional memorial it forms a dominant landmark within the town.
|As the first park established by the Maryborough City Council, Queen's Park demonstrates the commitment to provide recreational and educational facilities for the people of Maryborough and surrounding areas. Many important events have taken place in the gardens, and the place is generally held in high regard by the community and is a popular place for visitors to Maryborough. It is significant as a Maryborough landmark and for its visual amenity.
The place has social significance as a long used and popular reserve for public recreation and as an early example of the history of the state government vesting local authorities with the maintenance and control of public reserves. The park and garden feature a number of memorials and elements, commemorating well known local citizens, including Richard Bingham Sheridan.
The memorial has a strong association with the community as evidence of the impact of a major historic event and also with Maryborough architect P O E Hawkes as an unusual example of his work and local monumental masonry firm, F W Webb.
|Queen's Park, Maryborough is significant for its special association with the pioneering work of Richard Bingham Sheridan, and Henry Palmer, the first Mayor of Maryborough. Queen's Park, Maryborough is significant for its association with Walter Hill. Every Queensland botanic garden from the nineteenth century network is associated with the ground breaking work of Hill. His powerful personality guided the establishment, location and development of this group of places. The expertise he contributed to the process was invaluable to the implementation of scientific principles in remote Queensland places.
The bandstand has a special association with the life of Miss Janet Melville and her brother, Andrew Wedderburn Melville, prominent Maryborough citizens.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion G | Criterion H","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 | The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15484,"place_ref":600709,"name":"Customs House and Residence (former)","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Richmond Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2005-02-07","description":"The Customs House site contains two building, the former Customs House and the associated residence. These building are prominently located on the intersection of Wharf and Richmond Streets, Maryborough where several other important historical sites are located, including the Court House, Customs House Hotel, former Bank of New South Wales and the nearby Queens Park.
The former Customs House is sited toward the north western end of the site and addresses Richmond Street facing the Court House on the opposite side of the street. The residence, adjacent to the south eastern side of the former Customs House is more inwardly focussed with principal entrance on the southern corner. A small timber framed garage is an early remnant on the site. The former Customs House and residence are constructed from red brick and concrete on a dark brick base, and share similar rough cast stucco detailing. The principal difference in the buildings is that the Customs House is symmetrically composed, more outwardly focused and has details appropriate to public buildings. The residence displays more characteristics of domestic architecture in its scale and detail.
The former Customs House is symmetrically arranged, and has a rectangular plan with a Dutch gabled, terracotta clad roof, punctuated centrally by a square planned projection with a separate Dutch gabled roof, giving external expression to the former long room over which it sits. This projection is lined on four sides with face brick surrounded oculi on rough cast stuccoed panels, with brick quoining at the corners of the projection. Flanking this tower element, to the south east and to the north west are rectangular planned chimney stacks, rendered with rough cast stucco.
The principal façade, addressing Richmond Street, is dominated by a central entrance projection which integrates the brick fence with the building. The projection features three round arched window openings, which rest on an integrating sill and signage panel, with Art Nouveau lettering "H.M. CUSTOMS". Above the central opening is a concrete relief panel of the Royal Arms. Openings in the fence on either side of the porch provide access to concrete stairs which lead to smaller open porches on either side of the entrance projection. Large round headed arched openings on the face of the façade give access to these porches. On the outer side of these openings are segmental arched window openings, surrounded with face brick quoining. Excluding the central entrance projection which is face brick, this and all other external walls are face brick to mid-height and then rendered with rough cast stucco with face brick quoining.
The side elevations of the former Customs House have two segmental arched window openings. The rear elevation has a centrally located awning supported on oversized and closely spaced curved brackets. Flanking this are a number of window and door openings.
Internally the former Customs House is arranged around a large central room, formerly the long room which is under the tower element. This square planned space is divided from four adjacent recesses by round arched openings. The recess to the north west houses an entrance vestibule to which access is provided from the porches off the principal façade. The recesses on the other three sides of the former long room, house an office to the south east, opposite the entrance vestibule, and transitional spaces to doors on the north west and south west leading to offices flanking the long room. Internally the building generally has timber boarded floors, plastered walls and timber boarded ceilings with central fretwork panels featuring intertwined lettering "VR". Surviving in this building are several intact, though occasionally painted, fireplaces.
The residence is an asymmetrical two storeyed building, which shares the use of red face brick and rough cast stucco, on a dark brick base, found on the Customs House. It is an asymmetrically arranged building, with a complex roofline comprising many one and two storeyed hipped and gabled sections. A two storeyed verandah lines the north eastern side of the house. The verandah at the lower level is formed by a brick arcade of large round arched openings, and a timber battened balustrade. The residence has a large variety of window openings which contribute to its complex form, including several oculi, grouped lancet type windows with round arched heads and grouped square arched windows. Many of the windows in the house are glazed with pale glazed leadlight panels of regular geometric patterns.
The principal entrance to the residence is via a hipped roof porch which is in the recessed southern corner of the house. The terracotta clad awning of the porch is supported on small concrete Doric columns which rest on a brick plinth. The porch has a tessellated tile floor with a central panel of encaustic tiles. The porch provides access to a central entrance hall from which the stair hall and several other ground floor rooms are accessed. The entrance hall has a timber boarded dado panel, painted rendered walls, an elaborate dentilled timber cornice and a timber boarded ceiling.
A small seating recess is separated from the entrance hall with a round arched opening. A similar arched opening separates the dog legged timber stair. The stair hall is naturally lit with an oculus opening at the level of the first landing and three round arched openings at a higher level. The rooms on the upper level are accessed via a central hall leading from the principal stair to another smaller timber stair in the western corner of the building. Generally the interior of the upper floor contains timber boarded ceilings, plastered walls and timber boarded floors. Centrally placed in many of the internal rooms are decorative timber fretwork panels. Several fine fireplaces survive throughout the building.
","history":"The former Maryborough Customs House and associated residence was constructed in 1899 to the design of Queensland Department of Public Work's architect, John Smith Murdoch. The building replaced an earlier customs house and residence constructed in the 1860s.
The original township of Maryborough was situated, not in its current place, but on the north of the Mary River, after wharves were established there in 1847-8 providing transport for wool from sheep stations on the Burnett River. In 1850 Surveyor, HR Labatt arrived in Maryborough with instructions to "examine the River Mary...to suggest ...the best site or sites for the laying out of the town, having regard to the convenience of shipping on one hand and internal communication on the other...also...point out the spots desirable as reserves for public building, church, quay and for places for public recreation." The site recommended by Labatt was not where the settlement was emerging but further east and from the early 1850s this is where the growing town developed.
With the separation of Queensland from the colony of New South Wales in 1859, Maryborough was declared a Port of Entry and a sub collector was appointed. As a port, the conditions of importing and exporting from Maryborough were subject to the control of the Queensland Customs Department. Taxation on goods entering and leaving the colony was an important source of revenue for the newly established Queensland Government and, accordingly, customs services were highly regarded and respected. Collectors and sub-collectors were appointed as towns along the coastline were declared Ports of Entry, and although most customs officers commenced their duties in humble or makeshift buildings, the importance of the service soon demanded customs houses of more prominence and grandeur.
Brinsley Sheridan, the sub-collector appointed to Maryborough, worked from a customs office established in what became the kitchen of an early Maryborough hotel, which was later known as the Criterion. In 1861 a purpose built customs house was constructed with funds granted by the government. Tenders were called for the building in early 1861 and the building was ready for occupation in March 1862. The site chosen was adjacent to the wharf area. The buildings erected at this time included a brick customs house facing the river and a timber residence adjoining the rear of the main building. In 1863 a bond store was constructed on the Customs House Reserve to store goods held on the Customs House site.
Through the 1860s and 1870s Maryborough grew rapidly, in response to the discovery of Gold in Gympie to which Maryborough served as port and also with the introduction of the railway. The first rail systems were privately owned and linked the wharves with surrounding businesses. In 1881 the State rail line was extended to Gympie.
By the 1890s, the 1861 customs house was deteriorating and this was more rapid after a flood in 1893. Soon after this, a decision was made to construct a new Customs House. A large new customs house was constructed in Brisbane in 1889 and the high quality and substantial nature of this building inspired many of the customs houses built in the federation period, which included that at Maryborough, and others at Rockhampton, Townsville, Bundaberg and Mackay.
In January 1899, AB Brady the colonial architect called for tenders for the construction of a customs house and residence in Maryborough. The tender of local contractors, Henry Neale and Son, was accepted with work to be completed within 12 months. The final cost of the two buildings was £5956 and they were constructed of locally made brick on concrete foundations with Marseilles roof tiles. The Customs House was single storeyed with a long room, offices, strong room and toilets. The residence was a two storeyed building with six bedrooms and wide verandahs allowing sweeping views of the river. Unlike the previous customs house this building was sited to face Richmond Street and the Court House gardens opposite which had been established with the construction of the new Court House in 1877.
The building has been attributed to the architect, John Smith Murdoch who was an architect in the Department of Public Works in Queensland, under the leadership of AB Brady. Murdoch emigrated to Melbourne in 1884 and by July 1885 took a positions with the Queensland Works Department under one of Brady's predecessors, JJ Clark, but was retrenched within two years. He returned again to the Department to work on the Victoria Bridge project managed by the then Engineer for Bridges and Government Architect, AB Brady. Brady appointed Murdoch to the position of Draftsman and Inspector of Works in 1897 and to Second Assistant Architect in 1899. In July 1904 Murdoch transferred permanently to the Commonwealth Department of Homes Affairs, where he enjoyed a successful career becoming Director General of Works in 1927.
Murdoch, throughout his career, displayed a remarkable talent, designing innovative and well planned buildings of considerable architectural merit. A recent paper on the architecture of Murdoch , discusses his fusion of styles which meld the contemporary desire for an Australian federation architecture which was closely allied with the English Queen Anne style, with the imperial architectural style of Edwardian Baroque creating an individualistic and sensitive manifestation of two cultural phenomena of late nineteenth century in Australian society, namely nationalism and allegiance to the Crown. The principle elements of his style were picturesque asymmetrical massing; overscaled classical elements, including broken pediments, coursing, entablatures, columns; crenellation; Royal Arms motif and other sculptural elements. The paper asserts that examples of Murdoch's architecture have become "cultural and architectural icons, proudly displaying Royal Arms conveying authority, tradition and a link to the empire."
The Maryborough Customs House is a good example of Murdoch's architecture, integrating the familiarity and aesthetic comfort of the form of Arts and Crafts with the authority and tradition associated with Classical details and motifs. These stylistic elements are employed with an environmental consciousness which pervades the planning of both the customs house and the residence.
In 1901 the newly established Federal Government assumed control of the Customs service throughout Australia. This resulted in a change of ownership of the Maryborough Custom House from state to federal government. In 1995 the Customs Service was removed from Maryborough and, although the buildings remain in Commonwealth ownership, they are used as the office of the Electoral Commission and the local Federal Member of Parliament, Warren Truss.
Since construction both the customs house and the residence have remained substantially intact with recent internal alterations allowing the buildings to be adaptively reused.
The buildings are no longer owned by the Commonwealth.
","criteria":"The former Maryborough Customs House and Residence, constructed in 1899, demonstrate the growth of the port of Maryborough in the nineteenth century. The prominence and high quality of the design of the buildings provide evidence of the importance of the customs service in Queensland.
|This substantially intact site which includes a customs house and residence, as well as a bond store (600716), demonstrates the principle characteristics of a late nineteenth century regional customs precinct, sited adjacent to former wharves. The buildings are characteristic examples of the high quality of design produced by the Public Works Department of Queensland in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
|The Customs House and Residence are of considerable aesthetic and architectural merit as innovative and well composed public buildings on a prominent Maryborough site. The picturesque massing of the buildings and manipulated classical detailing and elements clearly demonstrate the characteristics of the architecture of John Smith Murdoch in his fusion of Arts and Crafts form with Edwardian Baroque detail.
|The buildings demonstrate considerable creative innovation as very good Queensland examples of the late nineteenth Australian architectural influence of the English Arts and Craft movement.
|The building has special associations with the fine Works Department architect, John Smith Murdoch who designed many small innovative public buildings during his employment with the state government before his transfer to the Commonwealth.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion F | Criterion H","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 is important in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period | The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15486,"place_ref":600711,"name":"Maryborough Heritage Centre","alternate_name":"Telecom Building | Post Master General's Department | National Parks and Wildlife Service Headquarters","street_address":"164 Richmond Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The Maryborough Heritage Centre is a two storeyed rendered brick building prominently located on the corner of Richmond and Wharf Streets, Maryborough. This intersection houses four important historical sites of which the Heritage Centre forms an integral part.
The building is of loadbearing construction and has a rectangular plan and a hipped roof clad with corrugated iron. The building is surrounded on three sides by a double storeyed verandah, with hipped curved awnings supported on cast iron columns on the first floor. A wide fascia board at the first floor level of the verandah, has signage, "Maryborough Heritage Centre". Joining the columns on the first floor are balustrade panels of decorative cast iron. Surmounting the columns on the first floor is a dentilled entablature, being the fascia of the awning. The ground floor of the verandah is lined with cast iron columns on rendered masonry plinths between which a wrought iron balustrade runs, also on a rendered masonry plinth.
The building has principal façades to both Richmond and Wharf Streets. The faces of the building are divided into vertical bays by shallow pilasters between which there are square headed arched window openings. The principal entrances to the building are through two timber framed doorways on the Richmond Street elevation. The openings on the ground floor align with similarly proportioned openings on the first floor, fitted with double half glazed French doors.
Internally the building is arranged from a narrow hallway accessed from one of the principal entrances at the south western end of the Richmond Street elevation, in which a timber stair runs to the first floor. The interior is generally timber boarded floors and plaster walls and ceilings. In the original banking chamber in the eh eastern corner of the building, which has its own entrance centrally located on the Richmond Street elevation and features elaborate plaster cornice and ceiling rose. Many rooms inside the former bank have ceilings clad with pressed metal sheeting. On the first floor the ceilings are generally timber boarded.
At the rear of the building are rendered masonry extensions, which have been added over time and are not always aligned with the original building, as is evidenced by a small set of internal stairs required to access the rear of the first floor. The extensions are both one and two storeyed. A timber open tread, quarter turn stair is located externally on the north western façade.
","history":"The Maryborough Heritage Centre was built in 1877 as the second purpose built branch of the Bank of New South Wales in Maryborough possibly to the design of Sydney architect, George Mansfield in conjunction with Queensland architect, James Cowlishaw.
The original township of Maryborough was situated, not in its current place, but on the north of the Mary River, after wharves were established in 1847-8 providing transport for wool from sheep stations on the Burnett River. In 1850 Surveyor, HR Labatt arrived in Maryborough with instructions to "examine the River Mary...to suggest ...the best site or sites for the laying out of the town, having regard to the convenience of shipping on one hand and internal communication on the other...also...point out the spots desirable as reserves for public building, church, quay and for places for public recreation." The site recommended by Labatt was not where settlement was established but further east and from the early 1850s this is where the growing town developed.
With the development of Maryborough, banking was introduced and during the 1860s and 1870s when Maryborough flourished as the result of the discovery of gold in Gympie, many banking institutes established purpose built premises from which they conducted business. Following close on the first discoveries of gold in 1867, the Bank of New South Wales established a branch in a portion of the Customs House Hotel at the corner of Wharf and Richmond Streets on 8 September 1868.
The Bank of New South Wales remained in this temporary accommodation during the construction of their first purpose built branch being a single storeyed building another of the corners of Richmond and Wharf Streets. This building was design by Joseph Backhouse, the brother of better known architect, Benjamin Backhouse.
As Maryborough expanded rapidly in the late 1860s and 1870s, a new, larger and more impressive branch of the Bank of New South Wales was planned in 1877. Tenders were called for this two storeyed rendered brick building on 26 January 1877 by bank manager, George Ranken. This suggests that the bank may have been designed by a southern architect. Other Banks of New South Wales constructed at this time include the Townsville Branch designed by James Cowlishaw (?1883); and the South Brisbane branch, designed by Benjamin Backhouse and supervised by AB Wilson (1884-5). Many Queensland branches of the Bank of New South Wales were designed from the 1860s by Sydney architect, George Allan Mansfield who continued to design banks until early in the twentieth century. It is thought that the bank, which has a plan standard to many Banks of New South Wales may have been designed by Mansfield and supervised by James Cowlishaw.
Over time additions have been made to the rear of the building. A new Bank of New South Wales was erected on the corner of Kent and Bazaar Streets in 1956 meaning that the 1877 building was redundant and was subsequently sold to the Commonwealth of Australia, when the Post Master General's Department moved into the building. By 1981 the Queensland Government acquired the property and the National Parks and Wildlife Service used the building as their regional office. In 1995 the building was acquired by Maryborough City Council who have, again, renovated the building for use as a local heritage research centre.
","criteria":"The Maryborough Heritage Centre is a former Bank of New South Wales constructed in 1877 when the town was experiencing rapid expansion as a result of the nearby Gympie goldfields for which it was a port and demonstrates the growth of the town during this period. The building is part of an important area, formerly the financial and judicial heart of Maryborough adjacent to the early port facilities.
|The building is a good example of a two storeyed masonry nineteenth century bank, with elaborate banking chamber on the ground floor and residence above.
|The building is a well composed and prominent landmark in Maryborough and has aesthetic significance.
|(Criterion under review)
|The Maryborough Heritage Centre is important for its use as a public building for about 120 years. Although the functions have changed over the years, the building has retained an important public role and is now the focus of historical research of the area.
|(Criterion under review)
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion F | Criterion G | Criterion H","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 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 | The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15488,"place_ref":600713,"name":"Maryborough Government Office Building","alternate_name":"State Government Offices | State Government Insurance Offices","street_address":"123 Wharf Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The Maryborough Government Office Building is a substantial rendered brick building prominently located on the corner of Wharf and Richmond Streets, along side the Court House. The building is designed to complement the proportions and massing of the Court House.
The building has a rectangular plan with a corrugated fibrous cement hipped roof over the body of the building, with hipped sections over the two bays at either end of the building. The corrugated fibrous-cement roof tiles simulate the appearance of terracotta tiles. The overhanging eaves of the roof are supported on moulded corbels which provide a decorative line around the cornice of the building.
The symmetrically composed Wharf Street façade of the Government Offices is divided into three bays, comprising the central portion and side wings. The ground floor of the building displays rendered stone coursing and is lined with a number of round arched window openings. Centrally projecting from the ground floor Wharf Street façade is a one storeyed entrance vestibule. This continues the ground floor stone coursing and has a centrally located round arched entrance which is surrounded by relief rendered quoining and an arched fanlight above. The central doorway is surmounted by a rectangular keystone which displays in relief the name 'Maryborough Government Office Building'. The upper floor of the building is lined with rectangular window openings glazed with six panelled vertical sash windows.
The side wings at either end of the building principally house the internal stairs and are distinguished externally by a central arched doorway to the street. The wings are stepped-back from the front façade of the building and flank the central core in symmetry.
The interior of the building comprises two levels which display much of the original fittings and joinery. The entrance to the lower floor leads into a large reception area which features a decorative terrazzo floor and large solid timber service counter. From this public space, the open-plan central office space can be seen and is accessed by a passage to the side of the counter. The central office area features decorative plaster coffered ceilings.
Located in the north-east corner of the ground floor is a records room adjoining a strong room which were part of the original plans. The strong room still displays its iron door, however both rooms are used for storage. In the south-east corner of the ground floor is a private office, originally the manager's office, which has original paquetry floors and timber panelled walls. This plan is replicated at the south-west corner of the ground floor, however this room does not display the same quality finishes. The north-west corner of the ground floor contains a separate room which was originally used at the typists' room.
Extending outward from the central open office space are two passage-ways which lead to stairways located in the side wings. The staircases and lower ground landings are intact and display terrazo flooring and steps with decorative rectangular cast-iron balustrade panels of a modern design consisting of three upright bars, the cental bar being a barley-twist. The handrails and upright posts are of timber. The ground floor landings also give access to Wharf Street via a double set of doors, the inner doors being French doors with six-panelled glass panes and the outer door of solid timber with surmounting fanlight. These landings also display original timber directory boards with glass panes.
The upper floor consists of numerous offices which flank either side of a narrow hall which runs the length of the central core of the building. This floor is characterised by its high quality timber features namely office doors and joinery and externally studded ceilings in a grid pattern. Toilets are located at either end of the upper floor, in the side wings.
The rear of the building, the northern face, fronts onto a landscaped pedestrian walkway which runs between the government offices and the court house. The walkway contains a recently completed mosaic ground mural in commemoration of the centenary of Federation.
","history":"The Maryborough State Government Offices were designed in 1939 by State Works Department architects GR Beveridge and RC Nowland to supplement the already existing state government office space provided for in the ground floor of the Maryborough Court House. The building was constructed on the Court House reserve in 1940, replacing an early garden between the Court House and Wharf Street.
The Maryborough State Government building is located in a precinct of substantial 19th and early 20th century public and commercial buildings around Wharf Street. It was designed to complement the adjacent Court House as well as the nearby Post Office and Customs House. The precinct around Wharf Street encompasses the core of Maryborough's historical public and commercial buildings which sprang from the development of the city's wharves in the area in 1852.
The original township of Maryborough was situated, not in its current place, but on the north of the Mary River, after wharves were established in 1847-8, to provide transport for wool from sheep stations on the Burnett River. In 1852 the growing town was gradually transferred further north where ships were better able to navigate the river. Development followed and by March 1861, Maryborough was declared a municipality and Henry Palmer was appointed as the first Mayor.
During the late 1860s and 1870s Maryborough developed rapidly as the port of the nearby gold rushes in the Gympie area. The first circuit court hearings were held in local hotels from the late 1850s. In about 1856 a permanent court house and lockup for Maryborough were designed by Alexander Dawson, Colonial Architect of New South Wales. By 1857 the New South Wales Government voted that the sum of £1000 be spent on the erection of a court house and lockup, but it seems this was not completed until after Separation in the early 1860s. These brick buildings, supposedly the first brick structures in Maryborough, were built on the corner of Kent and Adelaide Streets, on the site of the present Town Hall. Repairs and additions were made to these buildings in 1871 but, soon after, plans were being prepared for a new court house on another site.
FDG Stanley, the Colonial Architect of Queensland was responsible for the design of the new building which was completed by September 1875 when Stanley write a memo about his proposal;
\tthe design has been arranged so as to place offices of the Department of Roads, Public Lands \tand Survey on the ground floor as being more readily accessible from the street, and the courts \tand offices associated therewith on the upper floor as being removed from noise and as being in \ta better position as regards ventilation. The material to be employed is brick on stone \tfoundations faced in cement when not covered by verandahs; the roof to be slated and the \tinternal finishings of a plain substantial character.
Stanley remained in the positions of Colonial Architect for effectively ten years, from 1871 until 1881, during which time and with the help of his staff he produced many fine public buildings throughout Queensland, including several Maryborough buildings. The tender for the erection of the Maryborough Court House was won by John Thomas Annear with the sum of £7345 and work on the building was completed by 20 September 1877. The former court house was retained at its original site and became used as a quarters for police and was demolished to make way for the construction of the new Town Hall in 1908.
The Maryborough Court House was a large two storeyed building, designed to house the offices of several government departments on the ground floor and the court room and ancillary facilities above. The building was sited overlooking Queens Park and addressing both Wharf and Richmond Streets. Between Wharf Street and the court house a garden was established which enhanced the building's garden setting.
During the life of the Court House, only one major addition to the site has substantially altered the appearance, that is the addition of State Government Offices in 1940 between Wharf Street and the building, replacing the established garden. The offices already provided for government departments in the ground floor of the court house became inadequate and more floor space was needed and therefore the decision was made to erect a new building, in line with government policy for encouraging capital works in the 1930s to overcome the effect of the 1929 depression.
The building was designed by the Department of Public Works and two staff members seem to have been involved on the project. Two drawings of the proposed building were prepared. The first set was drawn by GR Beveridge and included elevations, ceiling and roof plans and general layouts of the site and the other, by RC Nowland is a detailed floor plan. Because the construction of the new offices solved problems of space in the court house, the court house was remodelled internally at the same time.
The Maryborough Government Office Building continues to house Queensland State Government Departments and displays much of its original design and fittings.
","criteria":"Constructed in 1940, the Maryborough Government Office Building is important in demonstrating the continued role of the city of Maryborough as a regional administration centre which developed from its significant position as a major Port of Entry since the 1850s. The building is also an example of construction work carried out under the unemployment relief scheme instigated by the State Government during the depression of the 1930s.
|The Maryborough Government Office Building is a good representative example of the Inter-War Georgian Revival style and is typical of the high standard of public buildings designed by the Queensland State Government Architects in this style prior to the Second World War. Other examples of this type of building include the Innisfail and Mackay Court Houses and the Government Offices in Cairns and Townsville. The intact interior design features such as the strong room, the individual offices and the high quality of finishes also demonstrate the workings of state government administration at the time of construction.
|The building is an important component of the Wharf Street precinct which comprises predominantly substantial commercial and public buildings from the 19th and early 20th centuries which developed near the busy trading centre of the Mary River wharves and now present a coherent character throughout the area. The building complements other buildings in the Wharf Street precinct, particularly the adjacent Court House to which it is harmonious in scale and form, making a significant contribution to the townscape. The form, scale and fabric of the building illustrate a skilled design approach, and the detailing of the materials and finishes exhibit fine quality craftsmanship.
|The Maryborough Government Office Building has special association with the work of the Queensland Works Department as a good example of their inter-war work throughout the State.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion H","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 special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15489,"place_ref":600714,"name":"Maryborough Court House","alternate_name":"Maryborough Court House and Government Offices | Maryborough Courthouse","street_address":"Richmond Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The Maryborough Court House is a two storeyed rendered brick building, situated on the edge of Queens Park, facing Richmond Street and addressing the principal façade of Customs House across Richmond Street.
The building has a rectangular shaped floor plan and a corrugated iron clad gabled roof. Lining the façades of the building are double storeyed verandahs, or loggias, which are recessed between rusticated corner pavilion towers. The verandahs are semi enclosed on the ground floor by a light timber framed arcade supported on timber columns. In the open spandrels of the arches are circular timber motifs. The upper level of the verandah comprises a number of regularly spaced timber posts with cross braced timber balustrading. The timber posts support a skillion awning which has a wide facia board where decorative timber brackets are aligned with the posts below. Above the verandah on the two short sides of the building are three semi circular openings above which is the gabled end of the roof. Centrally located on the edge of the verandah of the ground floor of the long elevations of the building, facing the park and the State Government Offices, are masonry pavilion entrances with round arched entrances.
The square planned corner pavilion towers between which the verandahs are placed, are rusticated at ground floor level with a round arched opening on each face, and smooth rendered on the first floor with a group of three round arched openings. Above these openings is a substantial cornice supported on closely spaced timber brackets. Above this moulding is a simple corniced parapet concealing the roofs of the pavilions. The parapet has a central moulded panel of interlocking circles.
The building was designed to accommodate offices on the ground floor and a court room and associated office space on the upper floor. The ground floor is presently essentially open plan with offices at the rear of the floor. The ground floor has a plaster ceiling with darkly stained timber grid framing. Regularly throughout the open section of the floor are substantial square planned stop chamfered rendered masonry columns. The rear offices are formed with plaster rendered walls and feature similar coffered ceiling framing.
The upper floor is accessed via a concrete stair in the southern tower, dating from the early 1940s. An open balcony on the first floor acts as an entrance vestibule to the court room which is entered via a double timber door. The court room is a large open plan room fitted with nineteenth century furniture. The original ceiling has been concealed with a suspended grid ceiling, housing lighting and other services. The room is naturally lit with a number of large windows and french lights opening onto the adjacent verandahs. Above these openings are high level semi-circular windows which sit on a string course lining the room. The walls are painted and bagged brickwork with a plaster skirting.
","history":"The Maryborough Court House was constructed in 1877 to the design of the then Colonial Architect, FDG Stanley for use as both a court house and government office block. The building is the second Maryborough Court House replacing an earlier 1860s building constructed on another site.
The original township of Maryborough was situated, not in its current place, but on the north of the Mary River, after wharves were established in 1847-8, to provide transport for wool from sheep stations on the Burnett River. In 1852 the growing town was gradually transferred further south where ships were better able to navigate the river. Development followed and by March 1861, Maryborough was declared a municipality and Henry Palmer was appointed as the first Mayor.
During the late 1860s and 1870s Maryborough developed rapidly as the port of the nearby gold rushes in the Gympie area. The first circuit court hearings were held in local hotels from the late 1850s. In about 1856 a permanent court house and lockup for Maryborough were designed by Alexander Dawson, Colonial Architect of New South Wales. By 1857 the New South Wales Government voted that the sum of £1000 be spent on the erection of a court house and lockup, but it seems this was not completed until after Separation in the early 1860s and seems to be unattributable to Alexander Dawson. These brick buildings, supposedly the first brick structures in Maryborough, were built on the corner of Kent and Adelaide Streets, on the site of the present Town Hall, which had been reserved for court house use in early Maryborough surveys. Repairs and additions were made to these buildings in 1871 but, soon after, plans were being prepared for a new court house. This was to be constructed on another site several blocks to the east of the first site, which had become available in 1874 following the relocation of the emigration barracks and the consequent extension of the adjacent Queens Park.
FDG Stanley, the Colonial Architect of Queensland was responsible for the design of the new building. Stanley arrived in Queensland in 1861 from Scotland where he trained. He was appointed to the Office of the Colonial Architect in 1863 as a clerk of works and in 1872 succeeded Charles Tiffin as the Colonial Architect. Prior to being asked to design the Maryborough Court House, Stanley was already experienced in the design of large public buildings, although this was early in his prolific career in Queensland.
Stanley conceived the Maryborough Court House as a double storeyed, arcaded pavilion with towers at each corner, sited between Queens Park and the adjacent street. The footprint of the building was set well back from Wharf Street providing space for a garden forecourt with Jacaranda trees enhancing the principal entrance. Stanley write a memo about his proposal for the Court House in September 1875;
\tthe design has been arranged so as to place offices of the Department of Roads, Public Lands \tand Survey on the ground floor as being more readily accessible from the street, and the courts \tand offices associated therewith on the upper floor as being removed from noise and as being in \ta better position as regards ventilation. The material to be employed is brick on stone \tfoundations faced in cement when not covered by verandahs; the roof to be slated and the \tinternal finishings of a plain substantial character.
The necessity of segregating the top and bottom floors caused Stanley to provide discrete stair halls at each end of the pavilion within the two corner towers nearest the park, at the rear of the building, to which access was provided from the north eastern verandah. The northern stair gave access for judges and barristers and the eastern stair was provided for prisoners escorted by police and the public.
The Maryborough Court House was constructed for about £7345 after Stanley's initial estimation of about £5500. Tenders were called on 20 October 1875 and on 19 November 1876 the lowest tender of local contractor, John Thomas Annear was accepted who undertook to complete the building within twelve months. The building was occupied, at least partially, by August 1877.
Stanley remained in the position of Colonial Architect for effectively ten years, from 1871 until 1881, during which time and with the help of his staff he produced many fine public buildings throughout Queensland, including several Maryborough buildings. The former court house was retained at its original site and became used as a quarters for police and was demolished to make way for the construction of the new Town Hall in 1908.
Many alterations have occurred since construction within the Court House precinct affecting both the setting and the building fabric. Firstly, stables were added by 1878. Very soon after construction another stair was built in the part of the south east verandah and for dedicated public use, where previously they were sharing the prisoner's stair. During the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century window shades were added, repair and repainting work was done and additional closets were built.
The addition of State Government Offices in 1939 between Wharf Street and the building, replaced the established garden and dramatically altered the context of the building. The offices already provided for government departments in the ground floor of the court house became inadequate and more floor space was needed and therefore a decision was made to erect a new building. This was in line with government policy for encouraging capital works in the 1930s to overcome the effect of the 1929 depression.
The building was designed by the Department of Public Works and two staff members seem to have been involved on the project. Two drawings of the proposed building were prepared. The first set was drawn by GR Beveridge and included elevations, ceiling and roof plans and general layouts of the site and the other, by RC Nowland is a detailed floor plan. Because the construction of the new offices solved problems of space in the court house, the court house was remodelled internally at the same time. This remodelling occurred in 1942 at a cost of £4851 and involved limiting access to Richmond Street, removing internal partitions on the ground floor level and removing six fireplaces. As well new stairs were constructed in three of the four corners of the building and a stables was demolished to make way for an air raid shelter.
","criteria":"The Maryborough Court House, constructed in 1877, demonstrates the growth of Maryborough in the 1860s and 1870s as a result of the discovery of gold in Gympie, for which Maryborough became the principal port. The building demonstrates the early civic history of Maryborough and has special social value for the community for its long and continued use as a public building.
|The Court House is a good example of a Queensland court house of the nineteenth century, with classical architectural influences, adapted to the sub-tropical Maryborough climate. The layout and form of the building are characteristic of a late nineteenth century court house.
|The building has aesthetic significance as a well composed Maryborough landmark with inherent formal qualities, symmetrical massing and repetitive rhythmic detailing which combine to produce a strong composition in its Queens Park setting which contributes to its aesthetic value. The building forms an integral component of a civic precinct with the adjacent State Government Offices, which although later, are clearly designed to harmonise with the Court House.
|The Court House has special associations with its designer, FDG Stanley who was Queensland's most prolific Colonial Architect.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion H","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 special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15490,"place_ref":600715,"name":"Customs House Hotel","alternate_name":"Custom House Hotel","street_address":"116 Wharf Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The Custom House Hotel is a two storeyed brick building on the corner of Wharf and Richmond Streets, Maryborough. A two storeyed residential wing extends from the rear of the hotel.
The building has a rectangular plan, extending further along the Wharf Street elevation, where a sympathetic later extension is found. The corner of the building is truncated and this is expressed on the hipped corrugated iron roof. Two storeyed verandahs line the two principal facades of the building, though the corner of the first floor has been infilled. The verandahs, which are supported on square timber posts, feature a cast iron balustrade and frieze, though this has been replaced with different cast iron panels in some parts. Horizontal timber louvre blades to the second floor verandah survive on the Richmond Street elevation.
The public bar is entered via a door in the truncated corner of the building. This rendered concrete section has been infilled under the verandah, and has a cantilevered awning, and a series of nine hopper windows on each facade. The original wall of the building is evident within the public bar, though large holes have been cut away from it.
Access to the dining and accommodation rooms is through a double panel door flanked by a tripartite window arrangement surrounded by particularly fine joinery and sidelights. Over the door and windows are large glazed panels with signage, "CUSTOM HOUSE HOTEL" written. The entrance and windows are separated by moulded pilasters. Further along Wharf Street are many window openings of two generations, those closest to the corner of the Richmond Street have replacement arctic glass hoppers, whilst the remaining are multipane vertical sashes with deep reveals.
The entrance hall, through the opening in Wharf Street, features a pressed metal ceiling and cornice, and remnants of an early wall paper strip above the dado rail. The unpainted timber stair has an open welled three quarter turn stairway, with turned balusters and square newels surmounted by acorn finials. From the entrance hall is access to the former dining and billiard rooms which have been substantially altered with a suspended ceiling and recent brick archways, though a chimney piece survives.
The first floor remains substantially intact, with a central plaster walled corridor featuring timber and plaster archways, timber skirtings and a beaded board ceiling. The accommodation rooms, accessed from the corridor, remain substantially intact with early furniture and fittings, including corner sinks fitted into small timber boarded cabinets. Entrance to the front verandah from the rooms facing the front is via french doors featuring fine margin paned glazing. A wide rear verandah ensures that all rooms have access to external space.
","history":"The Custom House Hotel is the oldest extant hotel in Maryborough, constructed in 1868 for a Mr Galbraith.
The original township of Maryborough was situated, not in its current place, but on the north of the Mary River, after wharves were established in 1847-8, to provide transport for wool from sheep stations on the Burnett River. In 1852 the growing town was gradually transferred further north where ships were able to better navigate the river. Development followed and by March 1861, Maryborough became a municipality.
With separation in 1859, Maryborough was declared a port and a customs official, or Sub-Collector, Mr Sheridan, was appointed and worked out of a small room where the Criterion Hotel now stands in Wharf Street. By 1861 a Customs House had been constructed on the corner of Richmond and Wharf Street and two years after this a Bonded Store was built along side the Customs House to provide needed accommodation for the bonding of dutiable goods when ad valorem duties were introduced.
The land on which the Custom House Hotel was to be constructed was purchased as two lots in May 1852, one by Henry Palmer and the other by Hugh Labatt. In February 1865, George Galbraith became part owner of the lot closest to the corner of Richmond and Wharf Streets, where the initial stage of the hotel was to be constructed. A two storeyed brick hotel was built in 1868 by Galbraith, it is unclear who designed the building. In 1870, Galbraith also bought the adjacent lot, and extended the hotel further along Wharf Street in that year. At this stage further accommodation was added to the first floor and a Billiard Room was added to the ground floor.
Galbraith retained the hotel until July 1871 when John Franklin acquired the Certificate of Title. Franklin had previously leased and operated another hotel in Maryborough, the Rose and Crown, at the corner of Lennox and Albert Streets. The Custom House Hotel has changed ownership many times, but continues to function as a hotel.
When built, the hotel's two storeyed verandah had cross-braced timber balustrading, but this was replaced with the present cast iron balustrade by 1894. By the 1950s the public bar area was extended on the truncated corner and two street elevations to the underside of the verandah, and a cantilevered awning was used to shade this area.
","criteria":"The Custom House Hotel demonstrates the pattern of growth in Maryborough, particularly near the docks, in and around Wharf Street.
|The hotel is a good intact example of a Queensland country town hotel, characterised by its situation on a prominent corner with two storeyed post supported verandahs to the principal facades.
|The Custom House Hotel is an integral element of the Wharf Street streetscape, and is of value for its aesthetic characteristics, including fine joinery, cast iron verandah friezes and glazing.
|As the oldest extant hotel in Maryborough, the Custom House Hotel is of value to the community as a long serving public building.
","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":15491,"place_ref":600716,"name":"Government Bond Store (former)","alternate_name":"Maryborough Bond Store","street_address":"Wharf Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2005-02-07","description":"The former Government Bond Store is a two storeyed masonry building, with upper principal level aligned with Wharf Street and a partially subterranean basement level. The building is located within the Customs House reserve.
The building has a rectangular plan, principal entrances to the upper storey from Wharf Street, and a corrugated iron double hipped roof, which may have the remnants of an early roof lantern. The two entrances from Wharf Street are emphasised by projecting gabled roof section surmounting brick projections with round arched openings to the doorways. The two entrances are slightly different in detail and size, reflecting the development of the building. The former Bond Store is of brick and stone construction; the external walls are face brick and the foundations of the building are rock faced stone. The principal façade of the building, off Wharf Street, is dominated by the two entrances, which are separated and also flanked by segmental arched window openings.
Internally the building has two principal rooms on the upper level, one of which has a timber boarded ceiling, rendered walls and timber boarded floor. The other room, on the south eastern side of the building, has ceilings open to the various sections of roof framing, a timber boarded floor and painted and bagged brickwork walls. In the eastern corner of the former bond store is a straight open tread timber stair leading downwards to the basement level. Access is also provided to this lower level from Macalister Street through large double timber boarded and braced doors. This level has unpainted rubble stone walls forming several smaller spaces, with large arched openings connecting them. The floor is earth and several timber frames, presumable used as storage bases, line the floor.
","history":"The Government Bond Store in Maryborough, one of the earliest brick buildings in the town, was constructed in several stages from 1863. The building served for many years as a store for goods being processed by the adjacent Customs House.
The original township of Maryborough was situated, not in its current place, but on the north of the Mary River, after wharves were established there in 1847-8 providing transport for wool from sheep stations on the Burnett River. In 1850 Surveyor, HR Labatt arrived in Maryborough with instructions to "examine the River Mary...to suggest ...the best site or sites for the laying out of the town, having regard to the convenience of shipping on one hand and internal communication on the other...also...point out the spots desirable as reserves for public building, church, quay and for places for public recreation." The site recommended by Labatt was not where the settlement was emerging but further east and from the early 1850s this is where the growing town developed.
With the separation of Queensland from the colony of New South Wales in 1859, Maryborough was declared a Port of Entry and a sub collector was appointed. As a port the conditions of importing and exporting from Maryborough were subject to the control of the Queensland Customs Department. Taxation on goods entering and leaving the colony was an important source of revenue for the newly established Queensland Government and, accordingly, customs services were highly regarded and respected. Collectors and sub-collectors were appointed as towns along the coastline were declared Ports of Entry, and although most customs officers commenced their duties in humble or makeshift buildings, the importance of the service demanded customs houses of more prominence and grandeur.
Richard Bingham Sheridan, the sub-collector appointed to Maryborough, worked from a customs office established in what became the kitchen of an early Maryborough hotel, later known as the Criterion. In 1861 a purpose built customs house was constructed with funds granted by the government. Tenders were called for the building in early 1861 and the building was ready for occupation in March 1862. The site chosen was adjacent to the wharf area. The buildings erected at this time included a brick customs house facing the river and a timber residence adjoining the rear of the main building.
As trade increased through the port of Maryborough, the Government made provision for £500 to be spent on the construction of a Government Bond Store in which to store goods held on the Customs House site. The contract was let in 1864 to a William Hope and a simple rectangular single storeyed brick building was constructed to the south east of the first Customs House. The design of this section of the current Bond Store has been attributed to Queensland's first Colonial Architect, Charles Tiffin.
Through the 1860s and 1870s Maryborough grew rapidly, in response to the discovery of Gold in Gympie to which Maryborough served as port and with the introduction of the railway. The first rail systems were privately owned and linked the wharves with surrounding businesses. In 1881 the state rail line was extended from Maryborough to Gympie. Trade increased and extensions, costing £158 were planned to the Bond Store in 1870. A storey was added to the building and a two storeyed wing extended the building to Wharf Street where an entrance was created. When extended the Bond Store was transformed from a simple rectangular planned building to an L-shaped plan.
Further additions, costing £962 were made by 1883 when another two storeyed wing was added between the original 1863 wing and Wharf Street, transforming the L-shaped plan to a rectangular planned building. As well a gauging store was constructed for a cost of £317 by local contractor Henry Neale around the lower floor level of the rear walls of the Bond Store.
In 1901 the Customs Service was transferred to Federal government management and therefore the Customs House and ancillary buildings, including the Bond Store were transferred to federal ownership. Although the building has altered very little since the last major additions were made in 1883, its function as a bond store was lost when the port was relocated near Hervey Bay and customs services became redundant in Maryborough. The building has since been converted to a place museum, interpreting the history of the former port of Maryborough.
","criteria":"The former Government Bond Store in Maryborough is evidence of the early history of the town as an important Queensland port.
|The building is a rare surviving and characteristics example of a nineteenth century bond store.
|As one of the earliest brick buildings surviving in Maryborough, the building has the potential to yield evidence of early construction techniques.
|The building is a rare surviving and characteristics example of a nineteenth century bond store.
|The building has aesthetic significance as a mid nineteenth century utilitarian brick building.
|The Bond Store has special associations with the local community as one of the earliest surviving public buildings in Maryborough and now home to a local historical museum.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion C | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion H","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 has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding 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 special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15492,"place_ref":600717,"name":"Maryborough Waterside Workers' Hall","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"96 Wharf Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1993-07-09","description":"The Waterside Workers' Hall is a single-storeyed timber and iron building facing Wharf Street to the north, with a view of the Mary River to the northeast.
This long rectangular building has a corrugated iron gable roof, timber stumps and a single skin chamferboard street facade with recessed central entry and a sash window to either side. These windows have sheet metal hoods and the gable has a mounted flagpole. The single skin weatherboard east elevation has sash windows and borders a service lane. Other elevations are of corrugated iron with a lean-to structure at the rear containing a gantry for unloading equipment.
Internally, the central entry leading into the hall, has a room to either side with single skin tongue and groove partition walls, most of which is missing from the northwest room. The roof is unlined and the rear lean-to, which has a raised timber floor, was accessed via an opening which resembles a proscenium arch.
The Criterion Hotel borders the west boundary and a diesel workshop and a large boarding house is located to the east. The rear of the property is grassed.
","history":"The Waterside Workers' Hall Maryborough is a single storeyed timber building erected c1918 for the Maryborough branch of the Waterside Workers Federation.
The port of Maryborough was regularly visited by a number of ships, most of which were associated with the carrying of timber. In 1850 the town of Maryborough was moved to its present site as that part of the Mary River was considered preferable for shipping. Gazetted a port in 1859, Maryborough continued to develop as the major port and centre servicing the Wide Bay region.
The Hall was used as a meeting place and pickup centre for the workers. It was funded by a levy of £2 struck on all members and was erected in Wharf Street, in proximity to the wharves and also to other buildings including the Bond Store, Customs House, and several hotels, also associated with the workings of the port. Prior to 1943, workers were selected according to the Bull System, that is workers for each shift were chosen by the shipping bosses. After that time, they were selected by the Union on a rotational basis. Both systems required the men to present themselves for work on notice of the arrival of a ship. In Maryborough some companies required the wharfies to meet at the wharves. Others, such as local firms Hyne and Sons and Wilson Hart are recorded as using the Hall as a pickup centre, which, as a sheltered building with seating was preferred by the wharfies to the open sheds on the wharves.
With changes in communication and transportation and the development and increasing importance of Urangan as a deep water sugar port, the port of Maryborough began to decline. By the 1950s Maryborough wharfies were increasingly employed at Urangan, but with Maryborough remaining the pickup place for local workers.
On 18 March 1963 the last work was performed by waterside workers at Maryborough. The Maryborough Branch and the Hall were, however, maintained, although all work performed by Maryborough workers was done at Urangan, Bundaberg, and Gladstone. In 1972 the register of waterside workers which was still maintained at Maryborough was closed and a register opened at Urangan. The Urangan Branch assumed control of the assets of the Maryborough Branch.
In the 1960s the back half of the Hall was rented to the present owner for storage. The front section was also rented - to bands for rehearsal and to weightlifters as a training centre. In 1980 the building was purchased by the present owner, who operates a marine engineering business from an adjoining building. The Hall is currently used for storage.
","criteria":"The Maryborough Waterside Workers' Hall, erected c1918, is important in demonstrating the pattern of the Queensland's history, in particular the development of Maryborough as a shipping port for the Wide Bay district and the development of Wharf Street to service that port area.
|It is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a worker's hall and meeting place.
|It is important in exhibiting a range of aesthetic characteristics valued by the local community, in particular the unpretentious and elegant nature of the building's forms, its interaction with the surrounding buildings, and its contribution to the streetscape of Wharf Street and to the Maryborough townscape.
|It has a special association with the Waterside Workers' Union in Maryborough.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion H","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 special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15493,"place_ref":600718,"name":"Gataker's Warehouse Complex","alternate_name":"Gatakers Warehouse | Rutledge and Netterfield | Netterfield and Palmer | Graham and Gataker","street_address":"106-108 Wharf Street & 310 Kent Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"Gataker's Warehouse Complex comprises three buildings built along the east boundary of the site between Kent and Wharf Street and a fourth, Brown's Warehouse or Store, built on an adjoining allotment to the west fronting Wharf Street.
Kent Street Building
The Kent Street Building is a two-storeyed cement rendered brick building with a hipped corrugated iron roof. The symmetrical south facade, to Kent Street, has corner pilasters, a protruding central bay and mouldings including window surrounds, eave brackets and a heavy cornice between floors. The first floor has a central sash window with an arched sash window to either side. The ground floor has a metal street awning with a skillion roof and timber trim, and timber framed glazing and doors. The west and north elevations are rendered and scribed to imitate stonework, with the west elevation having a metal access stair to the first level. A single-storeyed brick store with a corrugated iron gable roof and side awning is attached to the northeast of the building.
Internally, the ground floor has been refitted as an office with a concrete floor and partition walls but retains the original cast iron Ionic columns, some of the joinery and a section of the timber floor to the rear of the building. The first floor is accessed via a stair at the southwest corner and is used as a dance studio. A hardwood timber floor with insulation has been laid over the older pine floor, and partition walls used to create bathrooms and stores. This space has a raked boarded ceiling with exposed timber trusses.
Middle Warehouse
The Middle Warehouse is a two-storeyed English bond brick building with a corrugated iron gable roof and two-storeyed brick lean-to at the south end. Both floors have sash windows, some with bars, with arched brick headers and timber shutters, and each end gable has a lancet window. External steel stairs are located at the northwest to access a gallery space in the north of the first floor, and at the south to access staff amenities. A large, steel truss gable roof is attached to the southwest of the building covering the loading area, with a lower cement rendered toilet block and bike store to the west.
The ground floor has been extensively altered, with internal walls, columns and the raised timber floor at truck height being removed and a concrete floor laid and steel beams and columns inserted. Air conditioning has been installed, some openings bricked-in and an opening cut in the north wall to extend the space into an adjacent building. An internal stair at the south end leads to the staff amenities above, which has a suspended ceiling. The gallery space has a raked boarded ceiling with exposed timber trusses and heavy timber doors with original hardware.
Wharf Street Warehouse
The Wharf Street Warehouse comprises two single-storeyed brick sheds built at different stages. The front building has an unlined corrugated iron and cement sheet gable roof and barred louvred windows. Internally, the building has a concrete floor, a steel roller door to the south and a stair down to a lower door, opening onto Wharf Street. A large doorway with a sliding timber door opens into the second shed.
The second shed has an unlined skillion roof extending to a covered loading area to the west, with a concrete floor and steel roller doors. Remains of an earlier brick structure can be seen in the lower rear corner wall. A bitumen driveway runs along the western side of the site, and accesses car parking behind Brown's Warehouse to the west on Wharf Street.
Brown's Warehouse
Brown's Warehouse is a two-storeyed brick building with a parapeted, corrugated iron gable roof and a rendered facade to Wharf Street. This symmetrical facade consists of a central, arched recessed entry and flight of steps with iron gates and an arched sash window to either side. The first floor has a central sash window with J.E. BROWN ESTAB 1857 in relief above, with twin arched sash windows to either side. Render mouldings include a cornice and brackets following the gable with finials to the centre and corners, and window surrounds with horizontal cornice banding. The east elevation has a timber stair with a sliding timber door of diagonal panelling to the first floor and a steel roller door and sash windows with bars to the ground floor. The rear of the building has a steel roller door to the ground floor and the west elevation has only one window in the upper northeast.
Internally, the ground floor has cast iron columns and an exposed timber floor above. The building contains cedar joinery including panelled doors, staircase and architraves.
","history":"The Gataker's Warehouse Complex consists of four buildings erected on three allotments bounded by Kent and Wharf streets in proximity to the river and other buildings associated with the port of Maryborough.
Settlement at Maryborough commenced in September 1847 when George Furber established a woolstore on the south bank of the Mary River at the head of navigation. He was followed in June 1848 by ET Aldridge and Henry and RE Palmer, who established their own wharves on the opposite riverbank, at a location now known as the original Maryborough town site at Baddow. In 1850 a new town site was surveyed to the east, at a downstream position which provided better access for shipping. The first sale of land at this new site occurred in 1852, but most residents did not shift to the current centre of Maryborough until 1855 and 1856. Maryborough was gazetted a Port of Entry in 1859 and was proclaimed a municipality in 1861. [1] During the 1860s and 1870s it flourished as the principal port for the nearby Gympie goldfield and as an outlet for timber and sugar. The establishment of manufacturing plants and primary industries sustained growth in the town into the twentieth century.
Gataker's Warehouse Complex comprises: the Kent Street Building (1867-1868) [2]; the Middle Warehouse (c.1869) [3]; the Wharf Street Warehouse (erected in stages from c1947); and Brown's Warehouse (1879) along Wharf Street. Since 1885, the Gataker family have owned the site on which three of the buildings are sited. Brown's Warehouse was acquired by the family company in 1972. In 1988, the three allotments were group titled.
Kent Street Building, Middle Warehouse, Wharf Street Warehouse
The Kent Street Building and Middle Warehouse (located immediately behind the Kent Street Building) are substantial two-storey brick buildings. The Wharf Street Warehouse, a single-storey brick building, is located behind the Middle Warehouse and fronts Wharf Street.
The Kent Street Building was built as a store for the owner of the land, Robert Travis, of the wholesale and retail firm, Robert Travis and Co. On completion of the store, the Maryborough Chronicle (20 June 1868) published the following description: ‘The façade carries two cornices, an upper and a lower one - the former supported by ornamental trusses, the latter corbelled out, the members of both exceedingly bold and massive in detail, giving an appearance of great solidity to the whole building. An exceedingly light close-boarded, and slated king-post roof - a peculiar feature in which is the entire absence of all common rafters - covers the building. In the rear of the main store, and attached thereto, is a brick wine and spirit store, and beyond that a packing-house, built of the same material. A splendid water supply is secured by a large circular brick tank having a depth of 22 feet (6.7 m) with a diameter of 11 feet (3.4 m). ... The store on the ground floor is a splendid room 15 feet (4.6 m) high, extending over the whole of the building, with the exception that an office occupies a space of 15 by 15 feet (4.6 by 4.6 m) of the lower end. Two rows of handsome iron columns add to the ornament of this large room, and at the same time give solidity to the floor of the upper storey. Access to this upper storey is made by a staircase at the lower end of the building, on mounting which it will be seen the whole floor forms one large room, except that in the centre an opening has been left for facilitating communication between the two rooms, the opening being surrounded with a light elegant balustrade. The internal fittings are all of French-polished cedar, most of it grown in the district...' [4]
The Middle Warehouse was also built for Travis. The Maryborough Chronicle (2 March 1869) gave the following description of the building: ‘(It) is a massive two-storeyed pile, of the utmost solidity and security that bricks and mortar, laid in the very best manner, can ensure, with a slate roof of correspondingly durable appearance. The dimensions are 100 feet (30.5 m) long by 30 feet (9 m) wide, the lower story being devoted to the reception of bonded goods, and the upper one, which contains two apartments, to the purpose of an ordinary warehouse.' [5]
In 1879, drapers Rutledge and Netterfield (later Netterfield and Palmer) acquired the site and it was subsequently occupied by a number of commercial or light industrial operations before being sold at auction to CF Gataker of Graham and Gataker on 20 February 1885. [6] Graham and Gataker subsequently acquired land behind the Middle Warehouse fronting Wharf Street.
In 1906 Graham retired and, soon after, Gataker's two sons, Melmoth Leofric and Charles James entered the business to form Gataker and Sons. Graham Gataker retired in 1913. At the height of the depression, in 1933, the firm was forced to assign its estate, but the following year Gatakers Pty Ltd was formed, and the company purchased the assets of the old firm recommencing operations.
After World War II, Gatakers expanded their business to become liquor merchants including the Wide Bay distribution of Four-ex beer and the bottling of Bundaberg Rum. In c.1947 the first stage of the single-storey Wharf Street Warehouse was constructed by local builder Jack Ferguson fronting Wharf Street immediately behind the Middle Warehouse. A second stage was constructed in 1969 and a third stage later linked the Wharf Street building to the Middle Warehouse. In the 1970s the timber floor of the Wharf Street Warehouse was removed and replaced with concrete at a lower level to enable the handling of goods on pallets.
In the 1950s renovations were carried out to the ground floor of the Kent Street Building including a new hardwood floor and the addition of internal stairs from Kent Street to the upper floor. The cast-iron columns, reputedly used as ballast in a ship from Britain, were retained. By 1959, the slate roof of the Kent Street Building had been replaced with corrugated iron sheeting. In the 1980s the building was internally refurbished and the front awning replaced.
In 1989 the ground floor and part of the first floor of the Middle Warehouse were leased to Australia Post. Additions and alterations carried out for this tenancy included the erection of a covered loading area, the replacement of the timber (over brick) ground floor with concrete, the replacement of cedar joinery and shutters with silky oak, and the insertion of internal stairs to the first floor. The remaining part of the upper floor is occupied by the Wide Bay Art Society Gallery.
Brown's Warehouse
Brown's Warehouse is a two-storey brick warehouse erected in 1879 for Maryborough wine and spirit merchant, James Edwin Brown.
Brown arrived in Maryborough in 1857 becoming a business partner of WF Naugton, who died soon after. In 1872 Brown purchased the Wharf Street property, which was somewhat closer to the river than his previous premises at Richmond Street. A timber building on the site was replaced by a brick warehouse described at the time as the finest of the kind in the district and modelled upon the ‘best business warehouses of the southern capitals'. Supervised by Maryborough architect and surveyor, James Buchanan, the building contained a storeroom on each floor with an internal stair and lift at the rear. The upper floor was supported by 10 iron columns cast at Walker and Co.'s local foundry. Brick and plaster work was undertaken by local builder F Kinne, who later became a businessman and Mayor, and woodwork by D Ross.
Brown's business interests prospered until the financial crash of the 1890s, which caused him to return from retirement to the business. In 1897, Brown was joined by his two sons who continued to operate the firm as JE Brown and Sons Ltd after Brown's death in 1899 at his home called Woodstock.
Ownership of the property passed out of the Brown family in 1951. After a number of owners it was purchased by Gatakers Pty Ltd in 1972. After being group titled in 1988 the building passed to the present owners.
References
Ref. 1 - Extracted from the Walker's Shipyard history prepared by Brian Sinclair [Reported Place in CHIMS, Site ID 31936].
Ref. 2 - Maryborough Chronicle, February 15 1868, June 20 1868, cited in J Downman, 'History of Gataker's building' (unpublished paper).
Ref. 3 - Maryborough Chronicle ref.
Ref. 4 - Maryborough Chronicle, June 20 1868, cited in J Downman, 'History of Gataker's building' (unpublished paper).
Ref. 5 - Maryborough Chronicle, 2 March 1869, cited in J Downman, 'History of Gataker's building' (unpublished paper).
Ref. 6 - Maryborough Chronicle, 21 February 1885, cited in J Downman, 'History of Gataker's building' (unpublished paper).
","criteria":"The Gataker's Warehouse Complex, Maryborough, is important in demonstrating the pattern of Queensland's history, in particular the development of Maryborough as a shipping port for the Wide Bay district and the development of Wharf Street to service the port.
|The Gataker's Warehouse Complex is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of warehouses of the late 19th century, dating until the 1950s.
|The Gataker's Warehouse Complex is important in exhibiting a range of aesthetic characteristics valued by the local community, including the industrial nature of the buildings' forms and their interaction with the surrounding buildings; the difference in design of each building, displaying a hierarchy of use and intent; and their contribution to the streetscapes of Kent and Wharf streets and to the Maryborough townscape.
|The Gataker's Warehouse Complex has a special association with the life and work of Gatakers Pty Ltd, one of the oldest surviving Maryborough firms, who have occupied the site for over a century, and JE Brown, an early and prosperous Maryborough pioneer.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion H","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 special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15494,"place_ref":600719,"name":"Criterion Hotel","alternate_name":"Riverview Hotel | Melbourne Hotel","street_address":"98 Wharf Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The Criterion Hotel is a three storeyed painted brick building, facing the Mary River on Wharf Street. A hipped corrugated iron roof is concealed by a parapet featuring a linked-circular balustrade, and centrally located moulded pediment.
The building has verandahs to the first and second floors and is infilled under this on the ground floor. The verandahs have simple recently constructed timber posts and cross-braced balustrading,
The ground floor openings have been substantially altered with the addition of the tiled and rendered brick infill work, though some survive intact. Half glazed french doors with operable transom windows give access to the verandah from the upper floors.
Internally the ground floor of the building is much altered although many original elements survive. Entrance is gained from two doors, one, in the infilled section, leading to the public bar and the other, to the accommodation section and dining room. Where intact, the ground floor is generally of plaster walls and ceiling with modest cornices and skirtings throughout. A large moulded archway in the entrance corridors separates the dog legged timber stair from the hall. The stair, which has turned newels and square balusters, is naturally lit by a multi-paned arched window, at the first half landing.
The upper floors retain the original planform, of centrally located corridors running parallel to the verandah, off which accommodation rooms are accessed both to the verandah side and to the rear of the building. The rooms feature four panel doors, with large transom windows above, some of which are not glazed but covered with punched metal sheeting. The verandahs are enclosed on the transverse ends with louvred windows and sheeting, and the timber floors have been extended, increasing the width of the verandah.
","history":"The Criterion Hotel is one of only two three storeyed brick buildings in Maryborough, erected in two stages from 1878 to 1883 for the owner Neil Blue, to a design of local architect, James Robertson.
The original township of Maryborough was situated, not in its current place, but on the north of the Mary River, after wharves were established in 1847-8, to provide transport for wool from sheep stations on the Burnett River. In 1852 the growing town was gradually transferred to the south of the river which was considered preferable for shipping. Development followed and by March 1861, Maryborough was declared a municipality. The area in and around Wharf Street developed as a result of the wharves, and with the construction of the Custom House 1861 and Bonded Store in 1863.
The land on which the Criterion Hotel, first known as the Melbourne Hotel, was later built was first acquired by ET Aldridge in May 1852 by a Deed of Grant. An earlier Melbourne Hotel was constructed on the site by 1868, which was a timber building whose proprietor was TN Milner. Neil Blue acquired the hotel in October 1877, and on the 22nd of September 1878, the timber building was burnt down and another hotel was planned by him.
Neil Blue was born in Campbelltown, Scotland in 1845, and arrived in Maryborough in 1870 where he was involved with the steam coastal service. He married Sarah Gregory, daughter of local pioneers and the two remained as proprietors of the Melbourne Hotel until their deaths.
Blue commissioned a local architect, James Robertson, to design a replacement for the Melbourne Hotel, and tenders were called for this project on November 30, 1878. At this time two storeys were constructed using local builders, the Cooper Brothers and Henry Taylor for timberwork. The same contractors were used in 1883 when the second storey was added, though it is unclear whether this was originally planned by Robertson.
The Blues retained the hotel until about 1901, when Mr WE Boyce is listed as the proprietor. By 1916 the name of the hotel changed to the Riverview Hotel and Mr JR Ryan is the proprietor listed. The hotel then changes hands to Mr PJ Joyce and Mrs LM Joyce until 1939. By 1942 the name has changed to the Criterion Hotel with Mrs Mary Gummow as proprietor.
The building has experienced many changes including the replacement of a fine cast iron balustrade with a course timber cross braced alternative and the infilling of sections of the ground floor verandah space.
","criteria":"The Criterion Hotel is important in demonstrating the pattern of growth in Maryborough, particularly the evolution of the Wharf Street dock area.
|The Criterion Hotel is an important element of the Wharf Street streetscape, which is an intact area crucial to the understanding of the development of the port city of Maryborough.
|The hotel has been operating since 1878 and is important to the local community.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion E | Criterion G","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | 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":15495,"place_ref":600720,"name":"Shop, 134 Wharf Street, Maryborough","alternate_name":"Shop, Wharf Street","street_address":"134 Wharf Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The building at 134 Wharf Street is a simple one-storeyed, rendered brick building with a steeply pitched hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheeting. A small awning at the front of the building is incorporated into the principal roof and is supported on timber brackets. According to the reports of local people there is a shingle roof extant underneath the corrugated iron.
The frontage of the shop consists of a large glass window on the western side with the entrance, a double, panelled, timber door accessed by two steps, on the eastern side. The front door has a large fanlight above with vertical iron security bars. The front portion of the interior is one large, open, room. A brick extension at the rear of the building is accessed by a narrow hall along the eastern side which leads off to two rooms to the right and then to the rear exit door.
The shop is abutted by a lowset brick office building to the eastern side and is bounded by a driveway to the western side which leads around to the back of the building where two external toilets are situated. At the rear of the building the land backs on to the back blocks of other properties creating what looks like a common space.
The building is of a simple construction with no decorative features.
","history":"The shop at 134 Wharf Street was built in 1869 as one of three shops [1] in the midst of the wharf precinct of the port of Maryborough.
Settlement at Maryborough commenced in September 1847 when George Furber established a woolstore on the south bank of the Mary River at the head of navigation. He was followed in June 1848 by ET Aldridge and Henry and RE Palmer, who established their own wharves on the opposite riverbank, at a location now known as the original Maryborough town site at Baddow. In 1850 a new town site was surveyed to the east, at a downstream position which provided better access for shipping. The first sale of land at this new site occurred in 1852, but most residents did not shift to the current centre of Maryborough until 1855 and 1856. Maryborough was gazetted a Port of Entry in 1859 and was proclaimed a municipality in 1861. [2] During the 1860s and 1870s it flourished as the principal port for the nearby Gympie goldfield and as an outlet for timber and sugar. The establishment of manufacturing plants and primary industries sustained growth in the town into the twentieth century.
The small building was originally one of three identical shops with shingle roofs adjoining one another in a row fronting Wharf Street. The other two were located on its eastern side where a small office building is presently located. It is not known whether remnants of the former shops exist under the façade of this building.
The shop at 134 Wharf Street has always been used for small business purposes and has changed hands many times. It continues to operate as a retail store.
References
Ref. 1 - Jan Downman citing Maryborough Chronicle 12 June 1869.
Ref. 2 - Extracted from the Walker's Shipyard history prepared by Brian Sinclair [Reported Place in CHIMS, Site ID 31936].
","criteria":"The shop at 134 Wharf Street in Maryborough is important as one of the earliest surviving shops in the Wharf Street area, predating the late nineteenth century development which saw many of the earlier structures enlarged. It demonstrates the early development of the commercial precinct which occurred in response to the establishment of the port in the Mary River near Wharf Street.
|The design of the 134 Wharf Street shop, Maryborough, is characteristic of mid-nineteenth century shop design, with entrance door and window on the principal façade.
|The 134 Wharf Street shop, Maryborough, has aesthetic value for its contribution to the character of Wharf Street which is made up of many 19th century commercial and public buildings creating a coherent streetscape.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E","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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15496,"place_ref":600721,"name":"Lamington Bridge","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Gympie Road to Ferry Street, across Mary River","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"Lamington Bridge is a low level bridge, designed for inundation, and crosses the Mary River immediately south of the city of Maryborough between Gympie Road and Ferry Street.
It is a reinforced concrete structure comprising eleven spans of 15.2 metres clear or 16.6 metre centre to centre of piers. The bridge is reinforced on both faces with eleven rails, which were erected as frames and are bolted to the pier tops underneath the concrete and spliced with fish plates.
The bridge has a solid deck, 6 metres wide, with circular segmental soffit and a depth at the centre of the roadway varying in each span from 3.4 to 0.51 metres. The roadway camber is 0.13 metres and there is an integral kerb at each side. The reinforcement consists of railway rails 92mm deep, with 82.6 metre long lower flanges. There are thirteen such rails running longitudinally in each face at 610mm centre, with clear cover of about 170mm. The top and bottom rails are formed into eleven frames, each bolted to the pier top. The top member is continuous over the length of the bridge, achieved by fishplated connections.
","history":"The Lamington Bridge, which crosses the Mary River at Maryborough, was built to the design of AB Brady and opened in 1896. It replaced an earlier highset timber bridge constructed in 1874 and is one of Australia's oldest concrete bridges.
The port of Maryborough was established in the late 1840s to supply sheep stations on the Burnett River and provide an outlet for their wool. It was a port of entry and during the 1860s and 1870s Maryborough flourished as the principal port of the nearby Gympie goldfield and as an outlet for timber and sugar. The establishment of manufacturing plants and primary industries sustained its growth as a major regional centre.
The first bridge over the Mary River was a timber high set bridge constructed in 1874, upstream from the current bridge. During the disastrous floods of 1893, this bridge was partially demolished, cutting off the important road that linked Gympie to the port. The new bridge was designed by Alfred Barton Brady.
Brady was born and trained in England, designed many notable bridges and was one of Queensland's most important early engineers. He served the state for 37 years from 1885, at first with the railways, then from 1889 with the Public Works Department, and then as Government Architect and engineer for bridges from 1892. Although Brady designed many important and handsome public buildings, his forte was bridge design. As well as the Lamington Bridge, Brady was responsible for the design of the Herbert River Bridge at Gairloch (1889-90); the Granville Bridge in Maryborough (1889-90); the Burnett River Bridge in Bundaberg (1890-1900) and the Victoria Bridge in Brisbane (1893-97). Of the many bridges he designed, Lamington Bridge is his most technically innovative work.
In discussing his very early choice of concrete for the Lamington Bridge, Brady explained that 'the Author was induced to recommend a concrete bridge, as it ensures a structure of very great strength, almost everlasting in character, and the annual expenditure in maintenance is consequently reduced to a minimum'. The bridge was designed as a low level bridge, which was thought to be much safer during floods where floating debris causes much damage to high set bridges. Brady wrote a detailed account of the design and construction of Lamington Bridge in a paper he presented to the Institute of Engineers in 1900.
The bridge was designed in 1893 and tenders were called for the project in September 1894. The successful tenderers were Messrs AcArdle and Thompson of Brisbane. Construction followed and the completed structure cost about £25,000. The bridge was opened to traffic on 30 October 1896 by Hon. David Hay Dalrymple, MLA, Minister for Public Works. The bridge was named in honour of His Excellency the Right Hon. Baron Lamington KCMG, Governor of Queensland.
Lamington Bridge was widened in 1970 but the original handrails were retained and reused.
","criteria":"The Lamington Bridge, opened in 1896, is important in illustrating the development of bridge design in Queensland and the importance of Maryborough as a port and outlet for the Gympie goldfield in the late 19th century.
|The Lamington bridge has international importance as one of the first concrete girder bridges based on the Wuntsch system. It is technologically innovative as one of the earliest concrete bridges in Australia.
|The bridge is important as the most significant example of the work of Alfred Barton Brady who, during 37 years of work for several departments of the Queensland government, made a major contribution to the development of the state in both architectural and engineering design.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion F | Criterion G","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | 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":15743,"place_ref":600968,"name":"War Memorial Bridge","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Brooweena-Woolooga Road","suburb":"BROOWEENA","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The First World War Memorial Bridge is located 21km south of Brooweena on the Brooweena - Woolooga Road. Apart from the memorial pillars, it is a typical country bridge located in a treed landscape. It is constructed of timber and is supported by piers to form a slight arch over a small creek. A simple white painted timber balustrade runs between the pairs of pillars located at either end.
The white painted sandstone pillars sit on stepped bases and have pedimented entablatures. On the approach side of each pillar are leaded marble plaques. Those at the northern approach bear the names of the nine local men who fell and the theatres of war where they died on one side, and the names of the 38 local soldiers who returned on the other. The pillars at the southern approach display the dates of the First World War.
","history":"The Brooweena War Memorial Bridge was officially opened on 21 May 1921 by local clergyman the Rev Hardingham. Mrs A Brown, whose son was among the fallen, performed the unveiling of the honour roll. The memorial honours the 9 local men who fell during the First World War.
Australia, and Queensland in particular, had few civic monuments before the First World War. The memorials erected in its wake became our first national monuments, recording the devastating impact of the war on a young nation. Australia lost 60 000 from a population of about 4 million, representing one in five of those who served. No previous or subsequent war has made such an impact on the nation.
Even before the end of the war, memorials became a spontaneous and highly visible expression of national grief. To those who erected them, they were as sacred as grave sites, substitute graves for the Australians whose bodies lay in battlefield cemeteries in Europe and the Middle East. British policy decreed that the Empire war dead were to be buried where they fell. The word 'cenotaph', commonly applied to war memorials at the time, literally means 'empty tomb'.
Australian war memorials are distinctive in that they commemorate not only the dead. Australians were proud that their first great national army, unlike other belligerent armies, was composed entirely of volunteers, men worthy of honour whether or not they paid the supreme sacrifice. Many memorials honour all who served from a locality, not just the dead, providing valuable evidence of community involvement in the war. Such evidence is not readily obtainable from military records, or from state or national listings, where names are categorised alphabetically or by military unit.
Australian war memorials are also valuable evidence of imperial and national loyalties, at the time, not seen as conflicting; the skills of local stonemasons, metalworkers and architects; and of popular taste. In Queensland, the soldier statue was the popular choice of memorial, whereas the obelisk predominated in the southern states, possibly a reflection of Queensland's larger working-class population and a lesser involvement of architects.
Many of the First World War monuments have been updated to record local involvement in later conflicts, and some have fallen victim to unsympathetic re-location and repair.
Although there were many different types of memorials throughout Queensland, this is the only known example of a memorial bridge. It was designed and funded by Mr L S Smith of Mount Joseph station and, apart from the masonry piers, was constructed by his station hands, some of whom were returned soldiers. The masonry work was carried out by F W Webb of Maryborough.
Although the Smiths lost no sons in the First World War, they still wished to make their own commemorative gesture. Upon completion of the bridge, it was handed over to the Woocoo Shire Council. This si indicative of the strength of Brooweena's patriotic support during the First World War. The residents of the town and surrounding district funded an ambulance in France and another memorial in the form of a digger statue is located in the town.
The bridge remained in use until a new structure was built in 1972. Shortly after this date, Mr Smith jnr erected a commemorative cairn explaining the significance of the bridge. It remains as a local attraction within the area.
","criteria":"War Memorials are important in demonstrating the pattern of Queensland's history as they are representative of a recurrent theme that involved most communities throughout the state. They provide evidence of an era of widespread Australian patriotism and nationalism, particularly during and following the First World War. The monuments manifest a unique documentary record and are demonstrative of popular taste in the inter-war period.
Opened in 1921, the memorial bridge at Brooweena was erected as an enduring record of a major historical event.
|It is rare as the only known privately erected memorial bridge in Queensland and possibly in Australia. The use of a bridge as a memorial to the First World War is uncommon in Queensland. There is only one other known example, however, it was publicly erected.
|It is rare as the only known privately erected memorial bridge in Queensland and possibly in Australia. The use of a bridge as a memorial to the First World War is uncommon in Queensland. There is only one other known example, however, it was publicly erected.
|The Bridge has a strong and continuing association with the community as evidence of the impact of a major historic event. This memorial is of particular significance as evidence of the extraordinary patriotism of the people of Brooweena and specifically with the Smith family who were responsible for its construction.
|(Criterion under review)
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion D | Criterion G | Criterion H","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 has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons | The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15744,"place_ref":600969,"name":"Brooweena War Memorial","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Smith Crescent","suburb":"BROOWEENA","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The First World War Memorial is situated in the grounds of The Woocoo Historical Museum.
It comprises an unusually designed pedestal surmounted by a digger statue.
The sandstone memorial sits on a concrete base step. Above this are three smooth-faced sandstone steps, two of which are the same width, separated by a thinner step. On the front face of the two larger steps are leaded marble plaques bearing the names of the men and women who served in the Second World War. The uppermost step is capped with a cyma recta moulding from which the square pedestal projects. Marble plates are located on the side and front faces of the pedestal and bear an inscription in the form of a verse, the names of the 10 local men who fell and the 39 others who served in the First World War. Semi-circular hood-moulds are located over the top of each plaque. A series of moulded steps sit above this, on which the digger statue stands.
The digger statue stands with his head erect and his hands resting on top of a rifle which is in the reversed position and rests on the top of the right boot. A tree stump support is located behind and to the right side of the statue.
","history":"The Brooweena War Memorial was erected by the residents of the Woocoo Shire in late 1922. It is not known who designed the monument but it was produced by Maryborough monumental masonry firm F W Webb. The marble and sandstone memorial honours the 39 local men who served during the First World War including the 10 fallen. A later set of plates records the 43 local men and women who served in the Second World War.
The strength of Brooweena's patriotic support during the First World War was remarkable. It funded an ambulance for France and has another memorial (a privately funded bridge) south of the town. The size of the digger memorial is large in comparison to the size of the town.
Australia, and Queensland in particular, had few civic monuments before the First World War. The memorials erected in its wake became our first national monuments, recording the devastating impact of the war on a young nation. Australia lost 60 000 from a population of about 4 million, representing one in five of those who served. No previous or subsequent war has made such an impact on the nation.
Even before the end of the war, memorials became a spontaneous and highly visible expression of national grief. To those who erected them, they were as sacred as grave sites, substitute graves for the Australians whose bodies lay in battlefield cemeteries in Europe and the Middle East. British policy decreed that the Empire war dead were to be buried where they fell. The word 'cenotaph', commonly applied to war memorials at the time, literally means 'empty tomb'.
Australian war memorials are distinctive in that they commemorate not only the dead. Australians were proud that their first great national army, unlike other belligerent armies, was composed entirely of volunteers, men worthy of honour whether or not they paid the supreme sacrifice. Many memorials honour all who served from a locality, not just the dead, providing valuable evidence of community involvement in the war. Such evidence is not readily obtainable from military records, or from state or national listings, where names are categorised alphabetically or by military unit.
Australian war memorials are also valuable evidence of imperial and national loyalties, at the time, not seen as conflicting; the skills of local stonemasons, metalworkers and architects; and of popular taste. In Queensland, the soldier statue was the popular choice of memorial, whereas the obelisk predominated in the southern states, possibly a reflection of Queensland's larger working-class population and a lesser involvement of architects.
Many of the First World War monuments have been updated to record local involvement in later conflicts, and some have fallen victim to unsympathetic re-location and repair.
Although there are many different types of memorials in Queensland, the digger statue is the most common. It was the most popular choice of communities responsible for erecting the memorials, embodying the ANZAC myth and representing the qualities of the ideal Australian.....loyalty, courage, youth, innocence and masculinity. The digger was a phenomenon peculiar to Queensland, perhaps due to the fact that other states had followed Britain's lead and established Advisory Boards made up of architects and artists, prior to the erection of war memorials. The digger statue was not highly regarded by artists and architects who were involved in the design of relatively few Queensland memorials.
Most statues were constructed by local masonry firms, although some were by artists or imported.
The origin of this digger memorial is unclear. The pedestal is of a style not found elsewhere in Queensland and the inscription is also considered to be unusual.
The monument originally stood in front of St Mary's Church of England about three miles from Brooweena on the Mary-Biggenden Road. Prompted by fears of vandalism, it was moved to its present location in late 1992.
","criteria":"War Memorials are important in demonstrating the pattern of Queensland's history as they are representative of a recurrent theme that involved most communities throughout the state. They provide evidence of an era of widespread Australian patriotism and nationalism, particularly during and following the First World War.
|This particular statue is of aesthetic value, both for its prominence as a landmark in the town and for its unusual pedestal design and inscription.
|The monuments manifest a unique documentary record and are demonstrative of popular taste in the inter-war period.
Erected in 1922, the memorial at Brooweena demonstrates the principal characteristics of a commemorative structure erected as an enduring record of a major historical event. This is achieved through the use of appropriate materials and design elements. As a digger statue it is representative of the most popular form of memorial in Queensland.
|This particular statue is of aesthetic value, both for its prominence as a landmark in the town and for its unusual pedestal design and inscription.
|It has a strong association with the community as evidence of the impact of a major historic event. This memorial is also significant as evidence of the extraordinary patriotism of the people of Brooweena.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion D | Criterion E | 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 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":15745,"place_ref":600970,"name":"Yengarie Sugar Refinery ruins","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Old Mill Road","suburb":"YENGARIE","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The refinery ruins are located on Graham's Creek, a tributary of the Mary River, 1 km south east of Yengarie siding and 9 km south west of Maryborough. There were once wharves on the creek but these are not now evident.
The most striking feature of the site is the standing ruin of the main refinery building, measuring approximately 32 x 20 metres, as sections of brick, stone and pise walls on pise foundations. Most of the front wall remains and is pierced by a series of openings with round arched heads. Most of the wall on the side facing the river also remains standing but the other walls have collapsed. The building contains a large tank and several mature fig trees, the roots of which have penetrated the walls and foundations. The walls are buckled and slumped and have several large vertical cracks.
Concrete mounts for equipment are visible on the north eastern side of the building and although much of the site is overgrown with vegetation, it is believed that other evidence of use remains, including pits and a shaft leading down to a water channel. The presence of these obscured pits prevented safe inspection of some parts of the site. The area is scattered with loose bricks, some of which were made on site and are considerably more friable than others that bear the imprint of Brown & Sons of Paisley or manganese bricks from the chimney. Rubble from the machinery shed forms a mound about 100 metres behind the refinery building. Maintenance sheds were to the north of the refinery building.
The line along which the tram track passed is visible approximately 20 metres in front of the building. Other sections of line ran behind the mill and to the west, but these cannot readily be seen.
","history":"The ruins of the Sugar Refinery on Graham Creek at Yengarie are the remains of an important industrial complex, which began operations for the firm of Tooth and Cran in the 1860s. It produced meat extract before working as a sugar mill and then as a major refinery that serviced many plantations and mills in the area before closing in 1899.
Robert Tooth was born in 1821 and was the son of a hop merchant in Kent and nephew of a Sydney merchant and brewer who also owned numerous cattle runs. Robert and Edwin Tooth leased their uncle's brewery in 1843 and were joined by their brother Frederick in 1853. Robert speculated in pastoral properties and gold during the 1850s and was briefly involved with politics in New South Wales. He was also Director of the Bank of NSW in the 1850s and 60s and Director of the Colonial Sugar Refining Co, of which he was a major shareholder, between 1855 and 1863. He owned several pastoral properties in Queensland and in 1857 employed Robert Cran, first on Jondaryan Station and then as a supervisor at Pikedale.
Cran was the same age as Tooth and had come to Queensland from Scotland in 1849. He first worked as a stockman and was employed on several properties by Tooth until he became manager of Tooth's boiling down works and abattoir at Yengarie in 1865.
When the Maryborough Agricultural Reserve was thrown open for selection in March 1862, one of the first selectors was W C Giles, acting as agent for Robert Tooth of Widgee Widgee Station, who bought Lots 3 & 4 fronting the Mary River immediately below Graham's Creek. Tooth sold Widgee Widgee to JC White, who was his manager at Jondaryan. White set up a steam powered abattoir and boiling down works on the Yengarie land in 1863 but was financially ruined when pleuro pneumonia killed most of his cattle the following year. Tooth foreclosed on both the station and land. Robert Cran then took on the mortgage of Widgee Widgee and Giles leased the Yengarie land for agistment, though he also became insolvent in 1865.
Tooth was interested in the preservation of beef before refrigeration was available and the boiling down works was adapted with modern equipment as a meat extract plant, using Leibig's process. Tooth and Cran went into partnership with F F Nixon, Robert Lucas Tooth and Frederick Tooth as Tooth and Cran, the meat extract they produced winning a prize at the Intercolonial Exhibition in Sydney in 1870 and also receiving a prize at Amsterdam. By 1867 Yengarie had become a major business enterprise with bone crushing, wool washing and hide tanning divisions surrounded by what had become a small settlement.
Sugar was becoming increasingly important in the area and in 1867 Cran let contracts for clearing and planting cane and prepared to erect a sugar mill to work in conjunction with the meat extract factory. The first boiling in open pans began in October 1868. This produced a small-grained white sugar, immediately recognised as the best sugar available in the Maryborough area at the time. In 1869 a superior new process was installed under the supervision of Tooth, who was modern and innovative in his approach. The works at Yengarie were continually upgraded to keep pace with new developments and an increasing workload.
In 1870 the mill was expanded. New and larger boilers were installed and charcoal retorts added to utilise bone waste for refining sugar. A distillery was installed and J T Annear constructed a brick chimney. From 1871 Yengarie operated as a refinery, juice being supplied by mills in the surrounding area, many of which were constructed in the 1870s. The partners owned plantations at Yengarie, Yerra Yerra and Irrawarra. Melanesian indentured labourers were employed in both the refinery and at the plantations, as they were on surrounding properties.
With the increasing emphasis on sugar in the district, it was decided to close the meat extracting works in 1873. In the same year a horse-drawn tramway was constructed to the mill for conveying firewood, cane and later, juice. Juice mills were central to the sugar making process at Maryborough and by 1883, 28 small mills were sending juice to Yengarie by punt or through a network of pipes. At the height of its production, Yengarie produced three grades of sugar, rum, treacle and tar. The refinery became a very large undertaking comprising a factory, store, laboratory, distillery, brickworks, limekilns and wharves with a small township developing to accommodate workers and their families. Tooth and Cran also had their own steamer, the Nowra, which took sugar and rum to Maryborough for shipment south. From the 1870s gas produced to light the refinery was also piped to light the township, a luxury not then available in Maryborough.
In 1875 the partnership with Nixon and Croft, the manager of Yerra Yerra, was dissolved and Tooth left for England, leaving Cran in charge. Tooth began a new refinery, also called Yengarie, in the Philippines in his own name. The Tooth and Cran partnership was dissolved in 1879 and Robert Cran and Company ran Yengarie. In 1880 Cran spent some time in Europe arranging for machinery for a new refinery he planned to build in Bundaberg. This was opened in 1883 as Millaquin and Cran provided land at Yengarie for a short branch line and siding to connect the complex to the state railway. In 1885 there were 40 mills and 5 distilleries along the Mary River, although production and sugar prices began to fall. In 1889 Cran and Company opened a crushing mill at Doolbi to provide juice to Yengarie, thereby supporting the development of cane growing in the Isis area.
The 1890s brought problems due to depressed sugar prices and major changes in the sugar industry. Central mills servicing independent white farmers replaced the big plantations run by indentured labour, licenses to recruit Melanesian workers having ceased after December 1890. A number of plantations and mills closed and, by 1892, it was reported that much of the land along the Mary River was no longer under cultivation, or was growing crops other than sugar. The major flood in 1893 also damaged plantations and farms along the river and caused severe damage to the refinery. When Robert Cran died on 16 December 1894 he was insolvent and the Queensland National Bank took over his assets. The Yengarie site was permanently closed in 1899 and the land at Yerra Yerra, Irrawarra and Yengarie was cut up and sold between 1905 and 1908. James Mahoney, who owned a butchering business next to Yengarie, had occupied the land since 1900 and purchased it in 1908, using it for dairying, which became a major business in the area. His great grandson still owns the land.
The roof of the main refinery building was destroyed by fire and storm in the 1930s and 1940s. Numerous galvanised iron sheds at the southern end of the refinery were removed, as were worker's houses, a butcher's shop and a smithy associated with the refinery. Part of the refinery building was used as a cattle dip until the early 1950s. Over the years the machinery was removed and dispersed. The boilers were the last major piece of equipment to be removed and were sold for scrap in 1964. The brick chimney, having become unsafe, was demolished in 1983. Evidence for the placement of machinery can still be seen in the form of concrete mountings, pits and shafts.
The front and one side wall of the main building and sections of the other walls remain, though invaded by vegetation, particularly by a number of large fig trees growing within the building which have given the ruins a picturesque quality.
","criteria":"The ruins of Yengarie Sugar Refinery are evidence for a major early industrial enterprise that made an important contribution to the development of the sugar industry in Queensland.
|The ruins of Yengarie Sugar Refinery and surroundings are have the potential to reveal further information about the operation of both the sugar and meat works industries in Queensland in the 19th century.
|It is important for its association with the life and works of Robert Tooth and Robert Cran, who made a significant contribution to the development of the sugar industry in Queensland.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion C | Criterion H","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland's history | The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":16027,"place_ref":601264,"name":"Maryborough Central State School","alternate_name":"Central State School for Infants | Central State School for Girls | Central State School for Boys","street_address":"Kent Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1994-10-31","description":"The historically significant buildings and structures at Maryborough Central School, bounded by Kent, John and Sussex Streets, comprise teaching block A (infants school), education centre block B (technical college workshop), teaching and administration block C (central school), three playsheds and a principal's residence.
Teaching Block A
Teaching block A (infants school), located fronting Kent Street to the southwest, consists mostly of a series rooms opening off an articulated northeastern verandah. The central section contains the altered original building, and additions have occurred to the northern end with a later school building being added to the eastern corner. The building, a single-storeyed weatherboard and chamferboard structure, has masonry and concrete stumps and corrugated iron gable roofs with large dormer windows and a spire to the central section. Gables have decorative timber eave brackets and fretwork panels, and verandahs have timber brackets and posts with rail balustrades. Windows are mostly casements, with sashes to the verandahs and hoppers to some later sections.
Internally, the central section has vertically jointed boarded walls and hardboard ceilings. Two partitioned staff areas have boarding to sill height with sash windows or fixed glazing above, and a separate staff room projects to the northeast of the verandah. The attached school building on the eastern corner has enclosed northwest and southeast verandahs, and the northern additions have boarded ceilings raked to collar-beam height.
Education Centre Block B
Education centre block B (technical college workshop), located to the northeast of teaching block A, is a two-storeyed brick structure with a hipped corrugated iron roof. The building has large multi-paned sash windows with angled headers and rendered sills, with rendered keystones to the ground floor windows. Entrances are located on the southwest and northeast, with the southwest entrance having a deep cornice supported by brackets above the door and with a fixed window above. The northeast entrance consists of a two-storeyed rendered composition of double timber doors with windows above to the ground floor, and similar doors with an arched fanlight to the first floor accessed from an external timber stair. An incinerator stack is located on the southeast wall, and an external timber stair is located on the northwest.
Internally, the building has no access between floors. Both levels have suspended ceilings and some timber partition walls, but are mostly open plan. A steep timber stair is located on the first floor and accesses the roof space.
Teaching and Administration Block C
Teaching and administration block C (central school), located to the southeast of teaching block A and fronting Kent Street to the southwest, is a two-storeyed rendered masonry structure, scribed to imitate stonework, with a hipped corrugated iron roof with projecting gables.
The symmetrical Kent Street elevation (southwest) has a central gable section which consists of an entrance porch to the ground floor with double timber doors and a sash window either side, and a triple sash window to the first floor and rendered quoining to the corners. The porch has paired chamfered timber posts, arched brackets and batten balustrade, a concrete floor and hipped corrugated iron roof, while the first floor triple sash window has a long hood supported by curled metal brackets. Either side of the projecting gable section are two-storeyed verandahs which return at either end of the building.
The verandahs have timber posts and batten balustrade, with a deep arched timber frieze to the ground floor and capitals to the first floor posts. Glazing panels have been inserted to much of the frieze, and skylight panels to the first floor verandah roof. The southeast verandah has been enclosed on both levels. The rear of the building (northeast) has projecting two-storeyed wings at either end and similar verandahs between.
Each wing has an internal stair, and the northern wing has a ground floor toilet block extension and the southern wing a ground floor entrance verandah. Windows are mostly casements, but some sash windows survive from the original structure.
Internally, circulation is via the northeast verandah. Stairs are concrete with timber handrails, and metal balustrades and newel posts. Structural walls are rendered masonry with others being timber partitions, ceilings are boarded and an honour board is located in the ground floor southwest entrance. Very few rooms have french doors opening to the southwest verandahs.
Playsheds
The three playsheds, one located to the northeast of teaching and administration block C and two located to the northeast of teaching block A, consist of corrugated iron gable roofs with boarded ends supported by timber posts and struts. The playsheds have bench seating and no ceilings.
Principal's Residence
The principal's residence, located in the northern corner of the site fronting Sussex Street to the northeast, consists of a single-storeyed chamferboard structure with concrete stumps and a corrugated iron gable roof.
The building was originally symmetrical to Sussex Street, with a central projecting gable with triple sash window and verandahs either side. The building was later extended to the northwest. The verandahs have timber posts and batten balustrade, and are enclosed above with a metal grille. Gables have decorative timber brackets and pendants, and most of the sash and hopper windows have hoods. An addition has occurred to the rear of the kitchen, and small verandah spaces on the southeast and northwest have been enclosed.
Internally, the building has a central fireplace, vertically jointed boarding to walls, boarded ceilings and french doors opening onto the verandahs. The kitchen fireplace has been removed and the walls sheeted with hardboard.
","history":"The first state school at Maryborough was established in 1862 in a small building at the northeast corner of Kent and Lennox Streets, but in 1865 shifted to a purpose-built schoolhouse at the corner of Alice and Lennox Streets. Despite an additional wing being erected in 1872, the Alice Street premises proved too small to cater for Maryborough's burgeoning population, and the school was moved yet again to the present Kent Street premises in 1877.
Maryborough Central State School has a number of historically significant buildings. Block C, a two-storeyed masonry building, was erected in 1875-76, initially as an immigration depôt, and was converted for school use in mid-1877. The adjacent single-storeyed timber infants' school [Block A] was erected in 1881-2, as was the teacher's residence on the far side of the school reserve, fronting Sussex Street. Two of the three timber-framed playsheds were erected in 1879, the other in 1909, and the two-storeyed masonry building [Block B] behind the infants' school, was erected in 1923-24 as a technical college workshop.
Block C
The Maryborough Central State School site initially was acquired by the colonial government as a reserve for immigration purposes, and the first building on the site [now Block C] was erected as an immigration depôt. In 1874 the Colonial Architect's office, headed by FDG Stanley, prepared plans for a new immigration building at Maryborough, in response to increased direct immigration to that port. The building was to accommodate on the ground floor, wards for single men, 2 storerooms, a visitors' room and warders' quarters, and on the first floor, wards for married couples and single women. To each ward was attached a kitchen, lavatory, bath room and earth closets. Tenders were called in December 1874, and the contract was let in early March 1875 to Maryborough builder John T Annear, who tendered with a price of £4,650, and a time of 10 months.
The immigration building had been completed by early April 1876, and the colonial architect recommended that a wardsman occupy the building at once. This action was approved, but it is not clear whether immigrants were ever housed at the new barracks. The principal obstacle to occupation was the lack of water storage. The Maryborough Chronicle of 4 April 1876, in describing the new immigration building, commented: Now that the buildings are completed they are perfectly useless until supplied with tanks for water. For this purpose there is no money available, and the building must remain untenanted until the necessary money is granted by the Government. Whilst funding was made available for fencing and gates in 1876, a contract for two large brick underground tanks, each 20 feet deep by 16 feet in diameter, was not let until March 1877. In the meantime, the colonial secretary had been approached with an alternative proposal for the use of the site.
By December 1876, the Department of Public Instruction was investigating the possibility of exchanging the Maryborough primary school premises in Alice Street for the new immigration building, proposing to convert the immigration barracks into state schools (boys and combined girls and infants), and to convert the former school buildings, which comprised a two-storeyed brick building, a single-storeyed timber building and two playsheds, into an immigration depôt. Although a new school reserve had been gazetted in October 1876 - bounded by Kent, Sussex, Ferry and Fort Streets and adjacent to the new immigration reserve - acute overcrowding, particularly in the infant classes, at the Alice Street school prompted more direct action. In February 1877, Executive Council passed the proposal to exchange the existing school buildings for the new immigration premises, with the cost of fitting up the school buildings as an immigration depot to be met by the Department of Public Instruction.
Whilst the majority of parents were in favour of the exchange, the wider Maryborough community was not. At a well-attended meeting held at the Town Hall on 8 June 1876, residents protested at the conversion of the present immigration barracks to any other use than that for which it was originally built. They sought instead to sponsor the construction of a new school building, and elected a committee, headed by Mayor JT Annear (contractor for the immigration depôt), to pass on their resolutions to the colonial government and to institute a building fund. The protest was too late; the exchange went ahead despite a recommendation from the assistant immigration agent in Maryborough, that the school buildings would be unsuitable as an immigration depôt, being in a most wretched state of decay, and dirt having quite the appearance of being hurried to dilapidation.
Specifications for remodelling the interior of the immigration barracks for school purposes were prepared in March 1877, and the work was completed by mid-July, at a cost of £248. On the ground floor, the partitions forming the sitting room and two bedrooms of the warder's quarters were removed, and the two kitchens (warder's and single men's) were converted to classrooms, with galleries suitable for boys over the age of 8 years. On the upper floor, the two kitchens (married couples' and single women's) were converted to classrooms with galleries suitable for children under 8 years of age. The bathrooms and earth closets on both floors were fitted out as hat rooms and lavatories. The two brick underground tanks were removed and re-erected at the former school buildings in Alice Street.
The Alice Street school was closed from 17 to 20 July 1877 for furniture to be moved to the new building, and re-opened at the former immigration barracks on 23 July, with boys accommodated on the ground floor, and girls and infants on the first floor. Although the latter was a combined school, the girls occupied one half of the upper floor, and the infants the other, and there was little exchange between the two staff. From January 1878, three separate departments operated at Maryborough Central School: boys, girls, infants, the total enrolment for the combined girls and infants school having reached over 600.
The school population increased rapidly in the first few years, and alterations costing just under £600 were made to the main building by Messrs J & J Rooney in 1880-81. The lack of classroom space was not eased, however, until the construction of a separate infants' building [Block A] in the school grounds in 1881-82.
In the period 1914-16, a second staircase was installed in the main building, leading from the girls' school on the upper floor over the playgrounds at the back of the boys' school. In 1917 the school building committee decided to memorialise past students of Maryborough Central School who had served with the armed forces overseas since 1914, with the erection of an Honour Board in the foyer of the main building. This was unveiled on 19 April 1917.
From 15 August 1932, the Central State School for Girls and the Central State School for Boys were combined as the Maryborough Central State School, under a single principal. Since 1877, the two schools had shared common premises and a single building committee, and in 1932 it was finally recognised that the schools could be more efficiently administrated if combined. The Maryborough Central Infants' School remained separate.
By the 1930s, the main school building was badly in need of repair. In 1932-33, Works Department prepared a remodelling scheme to cost approximately £2,400. This comprised partitioning each floor into seven classrooms and teachers' rooms; walls were remodelled to permit maximum light and ventilation; and two sets of concrete stairs were constructed from the first floor., at the rear of the building. The building was rendered at this time. Work commenced in late 1933, and continued into 1934. When school re-commenced after the summer holidays, pupils were accommodated at the Maryborough show grounds until the renovations to the school building were completed in late May 1934. The official opening of the remodelled school was held on 13 July 1934.
From 1941, the office of the Chief Medical Officer of School Health Services, Maryborough District, was located in the main building of the Central School.
From August 1942, the Royal Australian Air Force used the main building of the Central School to conduct instructional classes (outside of school hours) for its 65th Squadron, apparently based at Maryborough. In 1943, the Air Force enclosed one of the southeast verandahs of the building, as an Orderly Room.
Block A [Infant's School]
The former Immigration Barracks barely accommodated the Alice Street students who moved there in mid-1877; by early 1879, overcrowding had reached chronic proportions, with some parents refusing to send their children to the school. In 1880, the Department of Public Instruction agreed that a new building was required. Plans were prepared by Public Works, and tenders were called for a new infants school building in March 1881. The contract was let in June that year to Maryborough contractors G & E Negus, with a price of £1,601, and the building was completed in August 1882. It comprised one large central classroom, and smaller a classroom at either end.
In 1910, dormer windows were installed in the southern side of the roof above the central classroom, tenders being called in April and the work completed in August. In 1920, two additional dormer windows were inserted on the northern side of the roof.
In late 1934 the infants' school was remodelled, with the southern verandah and hatroom removed and the southern end wall sheeted in weatherboards; the galleries removed in the main room, its floors levelled and the space partitioned into three classrooms; all classrooms lined in pine; and windows throughout enlarged.
In the immediate post-Second World War years, the infant school population boomed. A new classroom was added to the northwest end of the building c1947, necessitating the removal of a hat room. About 1953, this was extended with a two-classroom wing, and another wing was added to the southeast end of the building.
Teacher's Residence
In October 1881, the Department of Public Instruction also let a contract for the construction of a teacher's residence in the grounds of Maryborough Central School. This was erected and completed in 1882 by builder Robert Menzies, for just under £500.
The residence has undergone a number of small renovations since first constructed. The northwest end of the building was extended in 1909, with the addition of a new bedroom, bathroom and front verandah. In 1935 a WC was added to the back of the building; this room and the bathroom and back verandah were remodelled in 1939 to the present configuration.
Playsheds
Two shingle-roofed playsheds, one for boys, the other for girls and infants, were constructed by W Hinsch in 1879. Re-roofed, these structures survive, although the former girls' and infants' playshed has been repositioned within the school grounds.
An infants' playshed was erected in late 1909 by Maryborough contractors Crystall & Armstrong. This was roofed with galvanised iron sheeting rather than shingles.
Technical College
In 1923, work started on a Technical College workshop in the grounds of the Central Schools. The first brick of this two-storeyed building was laid by Premier EG Theodore on 20 April 1923, and the building was occupied in 1924. Under the Apprenticeship Act 1924, attendance at technical classes was made compulsory, and over their 5 year contract, apprentices attended the new Maryborough workshop at night. A report in The Maryborough Chronicle of 11 December 1926, described the equipment as up-to-date, and includes turning lathes and other machinery.
Maryborough Technical College had been established in 1889 as an adjunct of the Maryborough School of Arts, and by 1900 was one of the largest in Queensland. In 1908, the technical college was set up as a separate institution, with a wooden building constructed at the end of the School of Arts in 1910. Under the Technical Instruction Act Amendment Act of 1918, control of country technical colleges was gradually taken over by the Department of Education, but the Maryborough college, a non-government institution, remained outside the Department's control until c1937. Some government control was exercised, however, through annual funding subsidies. When the Maryborough workshop was erected in 1924, it was the second building erected for the Maryborough Technical College, and was done so by the Department of Public Works, with State Government subsidy. The building was taken over by the adjacent High School in 1943, but currently is used by Maryborough Central State School as a resource centre.
","criteria":"Maryborough Central State School is important for its association with primary education in Maryborough since 1862, and the present Maryborough Central State School buildings are important in demonstrating changing attitudes to education from the 1870s. The 1875-76 building, although associated with immigration for only a brief period, remains as important evidence of the expansion of immigration to Queensland ports other than Brisbane in the 1870s.
Block B is particularly significant for its association with the expansion of technical education in Maryborough in the interwar period.
|The 1881-82 infants' school and teacher's residence survive as examples of timber school and school residence design in Queensland. The teachers' residence in particular is one of the oldest and most intact buildings of its type in the state.
|The Central State School is located within an historic precinct of educational facilities consisting of the adjoining former Boys Grammar School [600697] and the present State High School (formerly the Girls Grammar School). The school is an important component of the Kent Street streetscape of civic buildings, and comprises a variety of building types and forms, demonstrating changing attitudes to education and the resulting architecture considered appropriate. The buildings form an attractive group, contributing to the Maryborough townscape
From its lengthy association with Maryborough and its prominent position on one of the major arterial roads in that city, the Central State School, and in particular the two-storeyed 1875-76 building, has acquired landmark status in the community.
|From its lengthy association with Maryborough and its prominent position on one of the major arterial roads in that city, the Central State School, and in particular the two-storeyed 1875-76 building, has acquired landmark status in the community.
","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":16138,"place_ref":601375,"name":"Urangan Point State School, Block D","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Miller Street","suburb":"URANGAN","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1994-10-03","description":"The Urangan Point State School, Block D, is a single-room, single-storeyed timber building with concrete piers and a hipped corrugated iron roof. The building is set back from the school's Miller Street frontage with a carparking area to the south, pre-school building and fenced playground to the west, and recent teaching blocks to the north and southeast.
The building has boarded ceilings, single-skin vertically boarded walls, with balustrade height walls at the northeast and southeast corners with sliding timber framed windows above. The timber entrance door is located on the northern side and is accessed via timber steps. A lean-to storage room on the western side is enclosed with horizontal timber battens and has a concrete floor.
Internally, the building has boarded ceilings raked to collar-beam height. Early timber shelving is located in the southwest corner, with the blackboard positioned centrally on the western wall.
","history":"This single-storeyed timber building was constructed in 1916 as the first Urangan Point State School. It was a Type 1 (Open-air) school design, built to plans prepared by the Queensland Department of Public Works. Of the 138 open-air schools recently identified as being constructed in Queensland between 1914 and 1922, the first Urangan Point school building survives as one of less than 25% such buildings still in use in Queensland schools. It is also one of the more intact of these structures.
European settlement of the Urangan area dates at least to the 1860s, when timbergetters moved through the area. In the late 1860s and early 1870s the area was thrown open for selection, with Maryborough solicitor Edward Corser taking up the bulk of the Urangan township blocks, first surveyed in September 1867. A small fishing industry was established at Urangan Point in the late 19th century, but the main impetus for the town's development was the construction of the rail link to Maryborough (opened 19 December 1913), and the deep water jetty at Urangan Point (erected 1913-1917). In November 1915, the township consisted of a station master's residence, boarding house, hotel, and several small stores. The railway had been completed, opening up Urangan (or Port Maryborough as it was more officially known) as a seaside resort, and the jetty was under construction. Fishing was still the principal commercial activity, and a number of South Sea Islanders who had opted not to return to their home islands under the legislation of 1901, which provided for the repatriation of all South Sea Islanders by the end of 1906, moved to the district and were associated mostly with the fishing industry.
Urangan Point residents petitioned the Department of Public Instruction in August 1915, for the establishment of state school in their community. They had the support of the Port Maryborough [Urangan] Progress Association, and Maryborough businessman and politician EBC Corser, who was the State MLA for Maryborough from October 1909 to May 1915, and the Federal MHR for Wide Bay from December 1915 until his death in July 1928. Corser offered to sell to the Department of Public Instruction a central Urangan site of about 2.5 acres, first taken up by his father in 1871, and transferred to himself in 1908. Following a community meeting held on 4 October 1915 and the establishment of a school building committee, a formal application for the establishment of a state school at Urangan Point was made. The prospective enrolment was around 24.
The Urangan community already had access to two schools in the district: Pialba, approximately 4 miles distant, and Torquay, just over 2 miles. Most Urangan children attended the overcrowded Torquay School, which was accommodating over twice the number of pupils for which it had been designed, and was in urgent need of additional accommodation. In his report of November 1915, the district schools inspector recommended that a school be established at Urangan, largely to relieve the pressure on Torquay, and that the site offered by EBC Corser would be suitable. Title was transferred to the Secretary for Public Instruction in July 1916.
As the Urangan Point settlement was a small one, and considered by the District Inspector of Schools unlikely to grow to any extent, an inexpensive Type I (Open-air) school building was recommended. The building comprised a single room, 21 feet by 14 feet, with desk accommodation for 30 students. It had canvas blinds to the window openings and two large canvas doors, one at the side and one in the front. There were no verandahs.
Open-air schooling had been experimented with around the turn of the century in England and Germany, and in the 1910s was promoted in Queensland by Dr Eleanor Bourne, Director of the Department of Public Instruction's School Medical Service from 1912. A recent study has identified 138 open-air schools constructed in Queensland between 1914 and 1922, with the bulk erected in 1915-16. Approximately 25% of these structures were constructed as annexes to established schools, but most were erected in sparsely settled districts as the only school building. They were comparatively inexpensive to construct, and were considered appropriate in areas unlikely to grow in population, or to transient mining or railway communities. Within a few years, the climatic disadvantages of these open-air schools, particularly those like the Urangan Point School, which had no verandahs, became apparent. When the canvas blinds were drawn against rain or wind, the schoolroom became dark and stuffy, and teaching was almost impossible. The canvas blinds were damaged easily, and required constant attention. They offered no resistance to intruders, and straying or native animals could not be kept out. In the early 1920s, all of the open-air buildings were enclosed with sliding sashes, timber walling and timber doors.
Tenders for the Urangan Point school were called in April 1916, with the contract being let in May to Maryborough contractor Christy Hansen, with a price of £183/5-, and a contract time of 3 months. The building was completed some months before opening to students on 9 October 1916. In the following year, local contractor James Ridgers was employed to fence the school grounds.
By mid-1918, the canvas blinds, which had no springs but used a weight, controlled by a rope, as counterpoise, were already causing problems. In 1924 these were replaced with the present sliding sash windows; the large canvas door at the front was replaced by vertically jointed timber to match the original walling; and the present entrance, at the side of the building, was filled in and a wooden door installed.
In June 1928, the school committee requested a shelter shed or verandah be erected, as on wet days children have to stand in the rain untill [sic] the arrival of the teacher. An awning or lean to was subsequently supplied, the work completed on 13 October 1928, at a cost of £20.
By mid-1931 the school building, which had been designed to accommodate 30 pupils, was seriously overcrowded, with an average attendance of over 40, and close to 50 pupils enrolled. Additional accommodation was considered urgent, and a new building, 21' by 18' with 8' verandahs front and back, to accommodate 40 pupils, was commissioned. The contract was let in late 1931 to Messrs McKewen and Eckstein with a price of £312, and the new building was ready for occupation by mid-February 1932. Students in grades 1-3 remained in the early building, and the older students moved into the new building. This second school building was demolished in 1977.
By the early 1960s, Urangan Point State School comprised three classroom blocks, and the first school building had become the school library. In 1977 it was relocated to another site within the school grounds. The building has been re-roofed, and the ridge original ventilator has been removed. It now functions as a music room.
","criteria":"The Urangan Point School - Block D, is significant as a substantially intact, small rural school building of the early 20th century. Evidence of its early open-air form remains in the extant sliding sash windows which replaced the original canvas blinds in 1924.
|The building remains one of the most intact of the former open-air schools surviving in Queensland.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D","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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":16288,"place_ref":601525,"name":"Albert State School","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"210-220 Albert Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2014-11-28","description":"Albert State School comprises a substantial teaching building and war memorial standing on spacious grounds with mature trees on a corner site in Maryborough. The school is in a low-density residential neighbourhood near the main centre of town and is prominent within its context.
Facing northeast and overlooking the main entrance on Albert Street is a large, symmetrical building (Ferguson teaching building) set back from the front boundary behind an expansive lawn, garden beds and mature trees. A formally-arranged memorial garden is situated at the entrance comprising timber flagstaff, concrete paths and low hedges in symmetrically arranged brick garden beds. Within the garden, a sandstone obelisk bears four leaded marble tablets listing 43 past pupils who died in World War I. Behind the memorial, mounted to the front of the school building, is a marble tablet memorial to George James, a past head teacher of the school.
The Ferguson teaching building is highly intact. It is a large, timber-framed building clad in chamferboards and highset on steel posts with perimeter brick walls and square brick piers around an open understorey play area with concrete floor and small, brick store rooms. The bricks are visibly of two different ages indicating the original lowset form of the building. Each of the three wings of the U-shaped building, formed around a parade ground, has wide verandahs running lengthways on both sides with attached teachers' rooms. The prominent corrugated metal-clad roof has multiple, intersecting and projecting gables. Its gable ends feature a variety of elaborate timberwork, including: moulded barge boards; scrolled, paired eaves brackets; fretwork; mouldings; stop-chamfering; lattice; finials; and pendants. Metal louvres in the apex of the gables vent the roof space.
The building retains hood mouldings and windows that rarely survive at other, similar schools and are distinguishing features. The gable ends of the side wings retain sheet-metal hood mouldings, over banks of timber-framed casement windows with fanlights and sunhoods, which indicate the location and size of the original narrow windows. In other locations above high level sills are original tall, narrow windows with vertically centre-pivoting sashes and later casement windows.
Accessed by timber stairs, the verandahs feature a variety of high-quality, decorative treatments, including diagonally-laid timber board ceilings, brackets, stop chamfered posts with mouldings, and an elaborate, cross-braced balustrade. The verandahs also retain original tall, high-level windows into the classrooms, as well as banks of later timber-framed, double hung sashes with fanlights. Mounted on the front verandah wall facing the street are large, timber honour boards that list high-achieving pupils and more of these boards are in storage on site. The building retains rows of metal hat hooks as well as an early sink. Original timber French doors with tall fanlights provide access into the interior.
Internally, the original large classrooms are divided by more recent light-weight partitions into smaller rooms, however, the northwest wing retains one classroom of original size. The interior walls of the classrooms and teacher's rooms are lined with more recent sheet material and a suspended ceiling has been installed throughout. The partitions and linings are reversible. Short lengths of the verandahs have been enclosed and the verandah wall removed to incorporate this space into the classroom. The building retains original doors including large, braced board doors and panelled doors with bolection moulding and original door and window hardware.
An early school bell is mounted to a timber post near the verandah of the northwest wing and the school retains a collection of early school-related paraphernalia including desks, cabinets, chairs, administration books, a bell, photographs, trophies, shields, sewing, an ink well, cane, and piano with stool.
Other structures within the heritage boundary are not considered to be of cultural heritage significance.
","history":"Albert State School in Maryborough opened in 1883 in a substantial new building designed by architect, Robert Ferguson, in a period when the town was undergoing major expansion and during the establishment of important institutions. As Maryborough grew, the school expanded to include other structures and landscape elements. The school has been in continuous operation since establishment and has long been a focus for the local community as a place for important social and cultural activity.
\nOn the traditional land of the Badtjala (Butchulla) people, the small town of Maryborough grew quickly from its establishment in 1847. After relocating downstream from its original position between 1852 and 1856, Maryborough was proclaimed a Port of Entry in 1859 and a municipality in 1861. Early exports from the port included wool, timber, tallow, sugar, and coal. Maryborough became the port for Gympie after gold was discovered there in 1867.[1]
\nThe 1880s were a prosperous time for the colony of Queensland generally. The population of Maryborough and district grew dramatically between 1876 and 1881, and this continued into the late 1880s.[2] Maryborough's dominance as a regional centre was strengthened when a railway line connecting Gympie to Maryborough's port was completed in 1881.[3] The years 1870 to 1890 were extremely profitable for Maryborough and new commercial establishments, industries and financial and other institutions were established in the town.
\nAlthough the first government school opened in the town in 1862, Maryborough experienced a dramatic growth in schools beginning in 1875, with nine schools opening in 16 years. Granville State School and Tinana State School opened in 1875, the Sisters of Mercy Convent School in 1880, Maryborough Grammar School in 1881, St Helens State School in 1882, Albert State School in 1883, Maryborough West State School in 1886, a Christian Brothers School in 1888, and Sunbury State School in 1891.[4]
\nThe provision of state-administered education was important to the colonial governments of Australia. National schools were established in 1848 in New South Wales and continued in Queensland following the colony's creation in 1859. After the introduction of the Education Act 1860, Queensland's public schools grew from four in 1860 to 230 by 1875.[5] The State Education Act 1875 provided for free, compulsory and secular primary education and the establishment of the Department of Public Instruction. This further standardised the provision of education, and despite difficulties, achieved the remarkable feat of bringing basic literacy to most Queensland children by 1900.[6]
\nThe establishment of schools was considered an essential step in the development of early communities and integral to their success. Locals often donated land and labour for a school's construction and the school community contributed to maintenance and development. Schools became a community focus, a symbol of progress, and a source of pride, with enduring connections formed with past pupils, parents, and teachers. The inclusion of war memorials and community halls reinforced these connections and provided a venue for a wide range of community events in schools across Queensland.[7]
\nPlanning for Albert State School occurred during 1881 beginning with choosing a two acre (0.8ha) in January. Fundraising began in March and tenders were called in August for construction of a ‘spacious and well-designed school house, and a master's residence'. This was won by local contractor, Messrs G and E Negus.[8] The final construction cost was £2500.[9]
\nMany significant buildings were constructed in Maryborough in the late 1870s and 1880s, reflecting the prosperity of the times, including Maryborough Court House (1877), the Bank of New South Wales (1877), St Paul's Church of England (1879), Maryborough Railway Station (1880), Maryborough Grammar School buildings (boys' in 1881 and girls' in 1883), the Criterion Hotel (1883), Maryborough Mortuary Chapel (1884), Maryborough Hospital (1888), and the Maryborough School of Arts (1888) - as well as fine, architect-designed suburban villas for wealthy residents. The substantial building for Albert State School was constructed in the midst of this boom.
\nAlbert State School was built to a standard plan supplied by the Queensland Government. The government developed standard plans for its school buildings to help ensure consistency and economy. From the 1860s until the 1960s, Queensland school buildings were predominantly timber-framed, an easy and cost-effective approach that also enabled the government to provide facilities in remote areas. Standard designs were continually refined in response to changing needs and educational philosophy and Queensland school buildings were particularly innovative in climate control, lighting, and ventilation. Standardisation produced distinctly similar schools across Queensland with complexes of typical components.[10]
\nThe teaching building for Albert State School was built facing northeast to Albert Street and was a standard design by architect, Robert Ferguson. Ferguson was appointed in 1879 by the Department of Public Instruction as its first Superintendent of Buildings. Ferguson immediately revised the design of schools to address deficiencies in ventilation and lighting and this period of school design was pivotal in this regard. Ferguson introduced tall and decorative ventilation spires to the roof and louvred panels to the gable apex to vent the classrooms. Additional and larger windows were incorporated with high sill heights that did not allow draughts and sunlight to enter the room. The overall form was lowset on brick piers and in larger schools multiple classrooms were arranged symmetrically around a parade ground. The designs remained single-skin to eliminate 'receptacles for germs and vermin' but were lined externally rather than internally to address the previous weathering problem. Notably, Ferguson's buildings were decoratively-treated with a variety of elaborate timber work and were heralded by educationalists as 'far superior in design, material and workmanship to any we have before built'.[11]
\nIn 1885 Robert Ferguson was replaced by his brother John Ferguson who continued to implement his brother's designs until his death in 1893, when responsibility for school buildings passed back to the Department of Public Works.[12] The Ferguson period (1879-1893) is distinct and marked by extensive redesign of school buildings including associated structures and furniture. The Ferguson brothers' designs were reflective of educational requirements of the time, responsive to criticism of previous designs, revolutionary in terms of internal environmental quality, technically innovative, popular and successful and provided a long-lasting legacy of good school design.[13]
\nThe teaching building at Albert State School was typical of Ferguson's designs. It was a large, lowset timber-framed building with a multi-gabled roof and prominent ventilation roof spire. It accommodated students in three large classrooms with verandahs on all sides. The building was attractively decorated with carpenter gothic timber work. The central wing accommodated rooms for hats, cloaks and lavatories at either end, and was separated by passageways from the classrooms in each side wing.[14]
\nThe school opened on 9 July 1883 with 220 children and 80 visitors present. Although the building was designed to accommodate up to 250 students, by September there was an average attendance of 320 students, and by the end of the school year attendance reached 450.[15] The unusually rapid increase of students was remarkable, demanding more classroom space urgently.[16] Extensions to the building, also by Robert Ferguson, were designed in late 1884. A large classroom was added to the rear of each side wing, and two hat and cloak rooms were added to both the northwest and southeast outer verandahs.[17] In form and detail, the new work was identical to the existing. Construction began immediately and was completed in 1885 by contractor John Jones. A newspaper reported that year that Albert State School was 'said to be the second best in the colony'.[18]
\nIn 1891 the average daily attendance was 611, making it the largest coeducational school in Queensland.[19] A newspaper report of 1896 said it was the largest and best equipped school in Maryborough, the district, and (in some respects) Queensland. It emphasised the high academic achievement of its graduates and its superior and extensive educational equipment, the excellent sanitary facilities, and the beautiful grounds with camphor laurel and fig trees.[20]
\nThe grounds of Albert State School were extensively planted and accommodated large open play areas, typical of Queensland schools. The provision of outdoor play space was a result of an early and continued commitment to play-based education and schools were built on spacious grounds to facilitate this. The grounds were planted with trees and gardens for beautification and shade, critical in Queensland.[21] A 1915 report of Albert State School stated that the trees were tended with 'solicitous care' and the school grounds were densely shaded, with classes held under the trees, benefitting the health of the pupils. The school was described as one of the 'beauty spots' of the town and the Education Department should ‘justly be proud of its educative work in this direction'.[22]
\nA tall sandstone obelisk was built at the front of Albert State School and was unveiled by the Mayor of Maryborough, George Holbut, on 14 December 1917. It was a memorial to past pupils killed during World War I, which was still ongoing, and was built from donations by relatives and friends of the dead servicemen.[23] It had 25 names on two of its four marble panels - another 18 names would later be added as the war continued. Over time, the obelisk became the site for remembrance ceremonies for the school and local community.
\nOver time, the Ferguson teaching building at Albert State School was altered to meet contemporary educational demands, particularly for improved lighting and ventilation. The Department of Public Works greatly improved the natural ventilation and lighting of classroom interiors, experimenting with different combinations of roof ventilators, ceiling and wall vents, larger windows, dormer windows and ducting. Achieving an ideal or even adequate level of natural light in classrooms, without glare, was of critical importance to educationalists and consequently it became central to the design and layout of all school buildings. Existing lowset buildings were raised for increased ventilation with the added benefit of providing a covered play space in the understorey. In 1926 the Ferguson teaching building at Albert State School was raised on tall brick piers and the ground underneath was concreted to create a large, understorey play space.[24]
\nAnother standard alteration was to the fenestration and classroom size of existing buildings. At schools across the state, windows were enlarged and sills lowered to let in more light generally. Smaller classrooms provided a greater amount of natural light so large classrooms were subdivided. Interiors became lighter and airier and met with immediate approval from educationalists.[25] During the 1920s and 1930s alterations were made to the vast majority of older school buildings to upgrade their lighting and ventilation and although this occurred at Albert State School it was to a lesser extent than most schools, with the Ferguson teaching building retaining most of its high-level windows. However, the existing windows in the gable walls facing the street were enlarged using banks of casements to brighten and better ventilate the rooms. In addition, all but one of the classrooms were divided with new partitions to create smaller rooms.
\nIn 1930 a marble tablet was unveiled by Director of Education, BJ McKenna in front of a very large gathering at the school. The tablet was prominently mounted centrally at the front of the Ferguson teaching building and was a memorial to the late George James, head teacher of the school for 24 years.[26]
\nIn 1932 a new highset teaching building was constructed at Albert State School to a standard design by the Department of Public Works. Accommodating infants, this building was attached to the rear of the eastern wing of the Ferguson building and was extended and altered over time.
\nThe accommodation at the school remained relatively static between 1932 and the 1980s; however, the grounds were expanded to provide more room for recreation.[27] An additional half-acre (0.2ha) of land was obtained on the southeast side of the school between 1951 and 1961, while land across Zante Street to the northwest was acquired from 1960.[28] Land was also obtained c1977 on the other side of Albert Street from the school, for a pre-school building, and later sold.[29]
\nOver time, some alteration of the Ferguson teaching building occurred, however, as this work was minor, the bulk of the building remained largely unchanged. To modernise and brighten the classrooms, in 1954 the interior walls were lined with sheet material and a flat ceiling was installed concealing the roof trusses. Between 1973 and 1977 the hat and cloak rooms on the verandahs were extended, providing small rooms for storage and staff. The large classroom in the centre wing was altered to accommodate administration in 1978 and in 1981 part of a verandah was enclosed for a staff room.[30] In 1988 a further part of a verandah was enclosed and more partitions were inserted. At some time, the roof fleches were removed.
\nBetween the 1960s and 1980s Queensland education was reformed. The Education Act 1964 was a turning point and the first major update of Queensland education's governing legislation since 1875. Effectively, a new era of state education began and required new architectural responses. The Department of Education (as it had been renamed in 1957) continued to give the responsibility of school design to the architects of the Department of Public Works. New materials, technologies, educational philosophies, government policies, architectural styles, and functional requirements influenced the evolution of standard designs and the predominance of highset, timber-framed buildings decreased.[31]
\nAfter a long period of relative inactivity, changes began to occur at Albert State School that reflected the push to modernise. The original teacher's residence, on the corner of Albert and Zante streets, was removed c1979-1988. In 1985 a tuckshop and toilet block was built behind the main building; a janitor's and sports equipment store was added to the northwest in 1986, and in 1987 a new two-storey teaching building was constructed on the site of the original tennis courts, later extended in 1989 and 1992. Shade structures were added in the 1990s and in 2010 two new buildings were added to the school grounds - a multipurpose hall and a teaching building. Through a gradual acquisition of land across Zante Street (including a closed section of the road itself), the school grounds totalled 2.9 hectares by 2014.
\nIn 2014, the school continues to operate from the site and the Ferguson teaching building remains highly intact. The school is important to the city having operated since 1883 and having taught generations of Maryborough students. Since establishment it has been a key social focus for the Maryborough community with the grounds and buildings having been the location of many social events over time.
","criteria":"Queensland schools have always played an important part in Queensland communities. They typically retain a significant and enduring connection with former pupils, parents, and teachers; provide a venue for social interaction and volunteer work; and are a source of pride, symbolising local progress and aspirations. Albert State School has a strong and ongoing association with the Maryborough community. It was established in 1883 through the fundraising efforts of the local community and has educated generations of Maryborough children. The place is important for its contribution to the educational development of Maryborough and is a prominent community focal point and gathering place for social and commemorative events with widespread community support.
|Albert State School is important for its aesthetic significance and generates a strong sense of place. The school is a landmark with the substantial Ferguson teaching building prominently sited in generous, landscaped grounds with large shade trees. The war memorial at the front entrance of the school, comprising a large sandstone obelisk, paths, garden beds and a tall flagstaff, has symbolic meaning and remains the focal point for annual remembrance ceremonies. Highly-intact, the Ferguson teaching building has considerable architectural value as a building of high-quality materials and construction with well-composed symmetrical elevations and layout, and decorative, finely-crafted timber work.
|Albert State School (established in 1883) is important in demonstrating the evolution of state education and its associated architecture in Queensland. The place retains an excellent, representative example of a standard government-designed school building that was an architectural response to prevailing government educational philosophies.
Constructed during a major boom period, Albert State School is also important in demonstrating the expansion of Maryborough in the 1870s and 1880s. Maryborough was a prominent and prosperous centre in colonial Queensland, which is reflected by the high-quality and size of the Ferguson teaching building.
|Albert State School is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of early Queensland state schools with their later modifications. These include: generous, landscaped sites with mature shade trees and assembly/play areas; and highset timber-framed teaching buildings of standard designs that incorporate understorey play areas, verandahs, and classrooms with high levels of natural light and ventilation.
The substantial, timber-framed teaching building designed by architect, Robert Ferguson is highly-intact, which is rare, and is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of this type. It retains: a symmetrical, U-shaped plan form of large classrooms surrounded by generous verandahs with projecting teacher's rooms; high-quality timber decorative detailing; and effective natural lighting and ventilation features.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion G | Criterion E | Criterion A | Criterion D","criteria_definitions":"The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons | The place is important because of its aesthetic significance | 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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":16463,"place_ref":601712,"name":"Sandy Cape Lightstation","alternate_name":"Fraser Island Lighthouse","street_address":"North end of island","suburb":"FRASER ISLAND","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1998-09-23","description":"The Sandy Cape Lightstation is located in a relatively remote area at the northern end of Fraser Island, surrounded by the natural vegetation of the national park. Fraser Island lies 30 kilometres east of Maryborough and 55 nautical miles east of Bundaberg. The lightstation is situated on a 259 hectare reserve. Sandy Cape is a prominent headland running down to a low sandy point with irregular sandhills covered with vegetation. The northwestern boundary of the lighthouse reserve is marked by the sea, with the track leading up from the beach to the lightstation.
The lightstation contains the following two precincts. The non-residential precinct includes the lighthouse, workshop, office, shed powerhouse, garage inflammable liquid store and bulk store. The residential precinct includes the Head Keeper's Cottage, Assistant Keeper's Cottage, fowl yard and shelter. An item of importance in the vicinity of the lightstation, but which does not fall within a precinct is a small grave site to the south of the lightstation, consisting of several stone headstones surrounded by a low picket or paling fence. The remains of a World War Two bunker are located in a gully some distance from the lightstation. The lightstation is generally linear in layout, but with buildings located along a sandy ridge running approximately northwest to southeast.
The 33 metre high lighthouse is circular in plan constructed of cast ironplates with splayed flanges at the base. The tower is conical in elevation, approximately seven metres diameter at the base, reducing to a diameter of approximately four metres at the lantern room. The structural cast iron plates pare painted white. The lantern room is constructed of cast iron. The domed roof is clad with copper sheeting and painted red.
The two keepers' quarters are timber framed buildings clad with fibro cement sheeting with timber cover battens. The door and window frames are timber. The buildings have fixed upper pane windows with sliding sash below and louvre windows. Modifications to exteriors include ramp access to rear entries.
There are a number of minor buildings on the site. The workshop, office and garage are timber framed buildings, lined with painted fibro cement sheets with cover battens. One of the more recent structures on the site is the power house. This building has brick walls on a concrete foundation. The roof is hipped stainless steel with central vent and metal door and window frames. The inflammable liquid store is also a recent structure. It is very similar in construction to the power house and has brick walls on concrete foundation and a hipped stainless steel roof with central vent and metal door and window frames.
","history":"Up until 10 December 1859, the colony of New South Wales extended as far north as Cape York Peninsula. In 1859, the new colony of Queensland acquired over 5000 kilometres of coastline which had few safety features in place, and became responsible for all navigation lights and harbours along this coastline. At the time the only lighthouse which existed had been built at Cape Moreton [600257] by the New South Wales Government in 1857.
By 1862, the Queensland government had appointed a Portmaster, Commander George Poynter Heath and had passed the Marine Board Act 1862. In the two years following, due to a lack of funds to spend on marine safety, activity concentrated on dealing with pilots and harbour lights, The issue of coastal lights was not taken up until 25 May 1864, when Members of the Legislative Assembly moved that a Select Committee be appointed to enquiry into and report upon the state of the harbours and rivers in the colony. The Committee consisted of Messrs Macalister, Douglas, Sandeman, Cribb, Challinor and Bell and convened for the first time on 27 May 1864. The Committee widened the terms of reference to include..the question of the necessity of additional lighthouses on the coast of Australia, within the colony of Queensland.
A Select Committee was also appointed by the Legislative Council with the more specific field of reference to enquire into and report upon the requirements of this Colony, under its increasing trade and commerce, as to the provision of additional lighthouses for its coasts and harbors.
The reports of both Select Committees were in agreement regarding the necessity of a light at Sandy Cape. Other points where it was considered that lighthouses were required were at Cape Capricorn on Curtis Island, Point Danger or Cape Byron and Bustard Head [601260]. Double Island Point [601722] and Lady Elliot Island [601580] were also mentioned by the Committee as possible suitable sites.
The Sandy Cape Lighthouse, designed by William Pole of Kitson and Company, of England and built by a local firm J & J Rooney, was completed in 1870. A report to the Marine Department's Treasure dated 30th June, 1895, states the initial cost of constructing the Sandy Cape Lighthouse was £4524 with annual maintenance costs of £630.
The contractors for the construction of the tower were J & J Rooney of Maryborough, whose tender of £4524 was accepted. J & J Rooney was a partnership of the brothers John and Jacob Rooney who had established themselves in the timber trade in Maryborough as builders and contractors in the 1860s. Sandy Cape was the first of several lighthouses which J & J Rooney constructed for the Colonial Architect's office over the next decade. Other towers were constructed at Cape Bowling Green, Cowan Cowan, Cape Capricorn and Lady Elliot Island.
Early records indicate that a First Order light was placed in the Sandy Cape lighthouse, although it currently contains a Fourth Order Light, probably installed in 1936. The power of the Sandy Cape light was increased in 1917 and six years later the power of both Sandy Cape and Bustard Head lights was increased and then converted to electric operation in the 1930s. The keepers' cottages at Sandy Cape were replaced in 1935 with the two existing timber framed, fibro clad residences.
Sandy Cape Lightstation was automated in April 1991 and destaffed in June 1994.
","criteria":"Completed by 1870, the second lighthouse built by the Queensland government, Sandy Cape Lightstation occupies an integral part in understanding the establishment of maritime navigational aids along the Queensland coast and reflects the growth and development of Queensland after its separation from New South Wales.
Sandy Cape Lightstation is associated with Commander George Poynter Heath, the first Portmaster of Queensland (1862-1890), a significant figure in the development of the Queensland lighthouse service. During Heath's time twelve major lighthouses were built along the Queensland coast.
|Sandy Cape Lighthouse is one of only two prefabricated cast lighthouses built in Queensland and is significant for its rarity. The other prefabricated tower being Bustard Head Lighthouse [601260].
|The lighthouse is substantially intact, and survives as a good example of a construction technique using bolted prefabricated segments of cast iron imported from England.
|At 33 metres and the tallest lighthouse in Queensland, Sandy Cape lighthouse is significant as a well-known landmark. With its white tower, capped with a bright red dome and surrounded by the Fraser Island National Park, Sandy Cape lighthouse makes a dramatic visual statement in the natural landscape.
|The place has a strong association with the life of the lightkeepers, their families and maintenance and stores people, who contributed to the continuum of a system dedicated to the single aim of maintaining the navigational aid.
|(Criterion under review)
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion G | Criterion H","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 has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons | The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":16559,"place_ref":601822,"name":"Commissioner Bidwill's Grave","alternate_name":"Bidwills Grave","street_address":"Cran Road","suburb":"TINANA","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1997-04-30","description":"Commissioner Bidwill's Grave is located on a rise, adjoining a sugar cane paddock, to the south of the junction of Tinana Creek and the Mary River, adjacent to Cran Road, Tinana.
The grave has a gabled sandstone headstone, with two large diagonal breaks, which has been reconstructed with a compressed fibrous cement sheet fixed to the back and a concrete base.
A Lychee tree is located to the west of the grave.
","history":"The headstone and lone grave located near the junction of Tinana Creek and the Mary River adjacent to Cran Road known as Commissioner for Crown Lands John Carne Bidwill's grave site is a significant place in the history of the Maryborough region. It marks the final resting place for John Carne Bidwill who was Commissioner for Crown Lands from 1849-52. Bidwill played an important role in the early development of the Wide Bay region, acting as Police Magistrate, Harbour Master, and registrar for Birth's, Deaths and Marriages.
Bidwill was however first and foremost a talented Botanist, and Natural-Historian. He is believed to have introduced certain fruits, such as the mango, into Australia. Bidwill took specimen examples of the Bunya Bunya pine (Araucaria Bidwillii) to London in 1843, a seedling of which was bought by Kew Gardens.
During exploration of the Brisbane Valley and areas to the north in 1841 he found examples of a giant Australian water lily (Nymphaea gigantea). He was involved in experiments to hybridise Gladioli, Hibiscus and Amaryllis. Bidwill's Hibiscus crosses were the first scientifically created examples in Australia.
John Carne Bidwill was born in Exeter, England, in February 1815. His father was a merchant. It is thought that his interest in botany was stimulated by two famous nearby nurseries owned by Veitch and Luscombe, Pince & Co. The Luscombe nursery was growing Australian plants in the 1830's. In 1832 Bidwill sailed aboard the "Exmouth" for Canada. After spending two years there he returned to England. In 1838 Bidwill and his sister Elizabeth sailed for Sydney to establish a branch of the family merchandising business in New South Wales.
At the end of 1838 John Bidwill applied for a 2000 acre grant of land to the west of Sydney. However increasing costs per acre of land, a result of the pastoral boom in New South Wales in the period of the late 1830's, saw Bidwill withdraw his application. Bidwill at this time sent back to England his first collection of Australian seeds, which were raised into plants at Joseph Knights Chelsea Nursery.
Bidwill left for New Zealand, arriving there in early 1839. He established two branches of the family business at Tauranga and Rotorua. Bidwill walked to Rotorua, collecting plant specimen's along the way. Two species were named after him resulting from his collecting through New Zealand, a Halocarpus and a Brachyglottis. His experiences in New Zealand saw him publish Rambles in New Zealand (1841). Bidwill returned to New South Wales, and sent the best of his New Zealand collection to John Lindley at the London Horticultural Society. Lindley did not publish Bidwill's work, and credited Ernst Diefenbach instead with his Bidwill's discoveries (Bidwill was to receive posthumous recognition).
John Bidwill returned to New Zealand in 1840 with his brother to build up the family business, and to continue his explorations and expand his botanical collection. Specimens from this period are kept at the Hooker Herbarium, Kew Gardens. Bidwill returned to Sydney in 1841 and worked with Jospeh Hooker son of the eminent Botanist. Colonial Secretary Mcleay also requested during this period that Bidwill undertake the collection of native fruits for study.
In furtherance of family business John Bidwill travelled to Moreton Bay in 1841, and began exploring to the north. He climbed the Glass House Mountains, and described a jasmine found on Mount Beerwah. It was known for a short time as Jasminum Bidwillii. Bidwill had also established a close relationship with the King and MacArthur families, and described and named a small orchid Dendrobium kingianum, which was named in honour of his friend Phillip King. In 1841 Bidwill began work as an assistant in the Sydney Botanical Gardens, and also became a member of the Australia Club. Bidwill sailed to England in 1843, auctioneering off botanical specimens collected in Australia, as well as his Gladioli Hybrids.
Bidwill returned to Australia in 1844, in company with his other sister Mary. On his return voyage he brought back to Australia specimens of banana's, apples, passionfruit and apricots. After his return he established his own nursery (thought to have been at Camden). Examples of his Camellias are still grown in the Camden area. He also continued his experimentation on hybridising Gladioli. Later in 1844 he again returned to New Zealand, sailing on to Tahiti. He attempted to establish a passionfruit plantation in Tahiti, which failed. He sent living examples of Tahitian orchids to England, but these were misdirected and sent instead to his father.
Bidwill was appointed in mid 1847 to the position of Government Botanist and Director of the Sydney Botanical Gardens, by Colonial Secretary Earl Grey. Charles Moore was appointed to this position as a result of a bureaucratic mistake in London, and arrived to take up this position in January 1848. Bidwill acted in the capacity of Botanist and Director until the end of 1847. Bidwill then took his case to the Governor and requested that he be considered for any Crown Lands Commissioner's position then being created. He was appointed Commissioner for Crown Lands in November 1848 and confirmed Commissioner for the Wide Bay region. Bidwill travelled from Sydney to Brisbane on the Tamar arriving at Wide Bay village in December 1848.
Bidwill after his arrival established a residence for himself on the banks of Tinana Creek, near the junction of the Mary River and the creek. His residence was some six kilometres down stream from the Wide Bay village. The village itself was renamed Maryborough in 1849, and subsequently proclaimed a township on 2 February 1851. Bidwill had erected for himself a cottage, stables and a barracks for his assistants in the Crown Lands work.
The name Tinana, given by Bidwill to his residence and gardens as well as the creek nearby, is thought to have been inspired by the Maori leader Tinanah. The garden that Bidwill established was extensive, and during his time as Commissioner, Bidwill continued to collect and grow botanical specimen's as well as to experiment and grow fruit and vegetable plants. He continued forwarding plants to Kew Gardens. Bidwill however was unable to act as an efficient administrator in his job as Crown Lands Commissioner.
In July of 1849 Bidwill was involved in an altercation with John Daniel Mactaggart of Kilkivan station, a result of a remark made by Bidwill accusing him of selling sly grog to his workers. Mactaggart challenged Bidwill to a duel, which was refused. Mactaggart struck Bidwill with a stock whip demanding satisfaction. A charge of assault was brought against Mactaggart by Bidwill, and the case was heard in Brisbane in May 1850. Mactaggart was found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment.
Bidwill was noted as sometimes exhibiting irrational behaviour during his term as Crown Lands Commissioner. He was considered a "harsh master", and disciplinarian. An employee of Bidwill's, George Dart who was later to become a well known identity in the commerce and social life of Maryborough claimed that Bidwill resorted on one occasion to purchasing and setting a man trap to halt the stealing of poultry, gardens and livestock by local Aboriginal groups.
According to Dart the trap did catch an Aboriginal raiding the house garden, and the extent of injuries led to the "mercy" killing of the individual by one of Bidwill's workers. Bidwill himself shot at local Aboriginals on several occasions in an attempt to prevent their pilfering. On another occasion Bidwill chose not to intervene in the murder of a local Aboriginal that was committed by a settler George Fueber in the Maryborough settlement. The shooting was witnessed by Bidwill outside of Richard Palmer's Inn. He chose not to act intervene in the matter despite the fact that he was Chief Magistrate for the Wide Bay, and was therefore responsible for policing.
Bidwill's property featured two gardens, the larger was at the junction of Tinana Creek and the Mary River. This featured most of the botanic and fruit specimens. The Commissioner's living quarters were situated at a higher elevation to the west of the "lower garden" and featured a "house garden" supplying pumpkins, sweet potatoes and yams.
In 1852 he was ordered to mark a tree line for the use of drays, and to speed up the transport of prisoners from Maryborough to Brisbane. A more circuitous route then in use required five days of travelling between the two centres. Bidwill set out with horses and a dray from Tinana Creek and five other men. They cut a straight track through to Tahiti station, near Tiaro. Along the watershed of Tinana Creek the party followed a spur that divided Tinana Creek from the Mary River, and then travelled through the area of what later became Gympie. A temporary bridge was built over the Mary River in this area, and during its construction Bidwill was credited by George Dart with locating traces of gold, fifteen years before James Nash found the Gympie gold field.
The party then proceeded further south in the direction of the Glasshouse Mountains marking the tree line. The party came across evidence of the remains of the large scale killing of a stolen flock of sheep taken from Marodian station near Miva. The group camped near this location for several days, when the cook of the party informed Bidwill that rations were running short. Bidwill believing that the party were near Durundur station decided to cut through the scrub with an assistant, Slade, to get rations.
Both men's rations were exhausted in two days. For the next sixteen days Bidwill and Slade existed off snails, and edible roots identified by Bidwill. A party of Aboriginals rescued the starving men near Durundur station. The privations of the eighteen days, including eight without food severely affected Bidwill's health. Bidwill stayed for several weeks recuperating, before setting off for Brisbane in weakened state. Doctors in Brisbane sent him on to Sydney for further treatment. He returned to Maryborough, but despite the attendance of three doctors- one from Gayndah and two from Maryborough, died on the 16 March 1853 at the age of 38. He was buried amongst the plants of his botanical garden ("lower garden"). Cause of death was attributed to a severe kidney complaint.
A Bunya pine was planted at each corner of his grave to mark its position. His brother Charles came from New Zealand to collect his personal effects, all other items of Bidwill's were auctioned. In 1854 Sir Charles Moore and Brisbane Botanical Gardens Curator Walter Hill made a collection of specimens from Bidwill's garden. Surviving trees from the collection are thought to be a Bunya Pine and Sausage Tree in Queens Park, Maryborough. Other specimens were sent to Brisbane, Rockhampton and Ipswich.
A Lychee tree thought to be a surviving specimen from Bidwill's "lower" garden survives near the bank of Tinana Creek, approximately 30 metres from the grave. Conservation work was carried out on this headstone in 1988. A sandstone headstone identifies the grave.
John Carne Bidwill despite his enthusiasm and drive for botanical collecting and study is today largely an unknown figure in the history of Queensland, New South Wales and in the history of the South Pacific. A suburb of Maryborough, and a Parish near Maryborough are named after him, as well as a suburb in Sydney. Ten Australian and three New Zealand plant species are also named after him. Altogether thirty plants carry his name.
","criteria":"The Commissioner for Crown Lands John Carne Bidwill's grave, located near the junction of Tinana Creek and the Mary River adjacent to Cran Road, is important in demonstrating the growth of the Wide Bay district and the role of the first Commissioner for Crown Lands in the pre-separation period of Queensland history. It also marks the burial location of the first person commissioned to mark a new direct tree line for transport between the Maryborough-Wide Bay area and Brisbane replacing a more circuitous route via the Brisbane Valley.
The grave and adjacent Lychee tree are the last surviving evidence of the residence and gardens that Bidwill created during the period of 1849-52 during his appointment as Crown Lands Commissioner in the Wide Bay district. Bidwill chose to establish his living quarters six kilometres downstream from the original village of Wide Bay and named the creek junctioning with the Mary River at this location, Tinana. He also established a large botanical garden for the growing of specimen plants on the property. Bidwill himself was an active and prolific collector and grower of botanical specimens, as well as hybridiser of flowering plants. Specimens collected by him during travels in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific are kept in the Kew Gardens collection.
|(Criterion under review)
|The grave marks the burial location of the first Commissioner for Crown Lands appointed to the Wide Bay region in 1849, John Carne Bidwill. In the early years of the Wide Bay area (1849-52) Bidwill played an important role in its establishment. As the Crown Lands commissioner his duties included administration of the licences issued for Crown Lands, but also acting as Police Magistrate, Harbour Master, and registrar for Births, Deaths and Marriages. After his death in 1853 Bidwill was buried in the botanical garden he created, of which reportedly only one fruit tree, a Lychee, remains.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion G | Criterion H","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons | The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":16643,"place_ref":601907,"name":"Maryborough Hospital","alternate_name":"Maryborough General Hospital | Maryborough Hospital","street_address":"Walker Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1998-02-02","description":"The Maryborough Hospital is a complex of hospital buildings standing amidst mature trees and large, open lawns on an elevated 5.9 hectare site west of the centre of Maryborough. The site is bounded by Walker Street to the southwest, which is the primary entrance, Yaralla Street to the southeast, Winston Noble Drive and a private aged care facility on the northeast, and Neptune Street to the northwest. The elevated grounds retain mature trees that are prominent in the largely-flat landscape of Maryborough.
Buildings of cultural heritage significance in the complex are:
-\tremnants of the original pavilion plan hospital (1887) including
-\tthe central administration building, (Centre Block/Block E)
-\tward, (Block C)
-\tremnant of the medical superintendent's residence, (Block N) and
-\tfront entrance gates;
-\tbus shelter on Walker Street;
-\tformer nurses' quarters (1928) (Demaine/Block F);
-\tformer Lady Musgrave Maternity Hospital (1928) (Block K and Block T);
-\tdoctor's residence (1928) (Block Y);
-\tformer operating theatre (1938) (Block V);
-\tnurses' quarters (1938) (Block O);
-\tdoctor's residence (1938) (Block X);
-\tcovered walkway between nurses' quarters (by 1947);
-\tmedical staff duplex (1950) (Block Z);
-\tkitchen block (1951) (Block G);
-\tambulance station (1951) (Block D), and;
-\tboiler house (1954) (Block S).
Remnants of the original pavilion plan hospital
The remnants of the original pavilion plan hospital comprise two two-storey, brick buildings (the central administration building - Block E, and the former ward - Block C) linked by a two-storey walkway, a remnant of the medical superintendent's residence (Block N), and front entrance gates.
Blocks E and C are substantially disguised by closely-surrounding buildings and later accretions that are not of cultural heritage significance.
Block E is a low-set, two-storey building with a facebrick core surrounded by timber-framed verandahs on the front and side elevations of both levels and a hipped and gabled roof clad with corrugated metal sheets. The building is symmetrically composed around a projecting front entrance that is aligned axially with the original front entrance gates on Walker Street; however, this relationship is blocked by recent, three and four-storey buildings. The verandahs are mainly enclosed. Original cast iron balustrade survives but has been relocated from the first floor to the ground. Gable ends feature decorative, stop-chamfered timberwork and eaves supported on timber brackets. The ground floor interior is reasonably intact in its original layout, retaining plastered masonry partitions, moulded timber joinery, fireplaces, doors and door hardware, and windows. The large front entrance door is double leaf, timber-framed and glazed with sidelights and a round arched fanlight. The 1929 lift is retained in its original condition. The interior of the first floor does not retain its original layout, with walls and partitions demolished to open up into the enclosed verandahs, and new partitions inserted throughout.
Block C is an L-shaped, low-set, two-storey, building with a facebrick core surrounded by timber-framed verandahs on both levels and a hipped and gabled roof clad with corrugated metal sheets. It has eaves supported on timber brackets. The ground floor does not retain its original layout. The first floor retains its original layout with the large ward spatially intact and bathroom annexe accessed from the verandah. The levels retain plastered masonry partitions, a decorative timber stair, timber joinery, and a raked ceiling of timber boards with decorative timber vented rose in the first floor ward.
The remnant of the medical superintendent's residence (Block N) is a small, low-set, one-storey masonry building standing closely-adjacent to the rear of the 1928 nurses' quarters. It has facebrick walls and a timber-framed verandah at the eastern end, which follows the apsidal plan form of the building. The building has a hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheets and a facebrick chimney. An attached block at the rear of the building has its own hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheets and facebrick chimney. The interior retains its original layout, masonry partitions, fireplaces, and timber joinery including French doors and large double-hung sash windows.
The front entrance gates comprise four substantial rendered masonry gate posts with cast iron palisade gates and a short section of palisade fence either side. The central gate allows vehicle access and this is flanked by narrower gates for pedestrians. The central two gate posts are larger than the flanking posts and all feature a steeply-pitched, double gabled cap. The faces of the central posts have trefoiled, lancet-type recesses and this motif is repeated on the smaller posts with circular recesses housing trefoils. The corner edges of the posts are chamfered and the posts have enlarged bases. The iron gates and fence are decorative with substantial staves relieved by more delicate tracery.
Bus shelter
The bus shelter stands immediately adjacent to the entrance gates, abutting the Walker Street footpath. It is an open-sided, timber-framed shelter with a hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheets. The timber corner posts are heavy and have large decorative timber brackets. The shelter is surrounded by a low, roughcast rendered masonry wall with iron chain swags between pillars. The wall supports a timber and iron perimeter seat under the shelter.
Former nurses' quarters (1928) (Demaine Building, Block F)
The former nurses' quarters (1928) is a large, low-set, two-storey masonry building facing Walker Street. It has a strong street presence with a well-mannered and robust domestic character. The building stands well back from the front boundary behind a generous landscaped yard featuring a circular drive around a small traffic island containing a mature poinciana (Delonix regia). The drive is framed on the Walker Street boundary by four mature, evenly-spaced fig trees. The structure has a reinforced concrete frame with rendered masonry infill sheltered by a hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheets. It is symmetrically-composed, comprising a long central wing, parallel to Walker Street, flanked by transverse wings that project toward the street. Lining the front and the rear of the building are timber-framed verandahs with timber-battened balustrades and valances. The verandah projects forward centrally at the front and rear entrance, emphasised by a large roof gable with a battened end on both sides. Entrance is via a central concrete stair with timber balustrade up to the ground floor and via a central timber stair at the rear. The layout of the ground and first floors retains the main central stair hall and stair and the first floor retains French doors onto the verandahs. The remainder of the layout on both levels has modern partitions, some are in the location of earlier partitions. External steel fire stairs are not of cultural heritage significance.
Former Lady Musgrave Maternity Hospital (1928) (Block K and Block T)
The former Lady Musgrave Maternity Hospital (1928) stands at the rear of the site and faces northeast to the former North Street. It is a long, one-storey, reinforced concrete building with a steeply-pitched hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheets. The core is encircled by a timber-famed verandah, enclosed with later weatherboards and aluminium-framed windows. The front is symmetrical with a central projecting bay emphasised by a gable roof with a battened gable end. Small concrete annexes project from the west verandah (the former matron's rooms), from the east verandah (former labour wards), and from the rear verandah (former bathrooms and service rooms). Connected by a short covered walkway to the eastern end of the rear verandah is the former septic ward (Block T). This small reinforced concrete structure is encircled by verandahs that are now enclosed.
The interior layout of the maternity ward is not intact. Original partitions have been demolished and modern partitions inserted.
Doctor's residence (1928) (Block Y)
The doctor's residence (1928) is substantially intact. It stands on the corner of Yaralla and Walker Streets and diagonally faces the intersection. It is a one-storey, low-set building with a hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheets. The reinforced concrete core is encircled by a timber-framed verandah that has a timber rail balustrade. The interior layout is intact, retaining timber partitions and timber joinery including doors, fanlights, and windows with original hardware. The yard is fenced separately from the hospital by an early fence and two mature pine trees frame the front corner view of the house from the street. Standing within the yard behind the house is a early, timber-framed and -clad garage.
Former operating theatre (1938) (Hanlon Theatre, Block V)
The former operating theatre (1938) is a one-storey, low-set masonry building standing immediately adjacent to the north-west of the former nurses' quarters (1928). The building faces Walker Street and has roughcast rendered walls and a hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheets. The front is symmetrical around a central projecting bay marked by a decorative Dutch-gable parapet. The bay is flanked by square steel-framed windows with hinged sashes of obscure glass.
Former nurses' quarters (1938) (Block O)
The former nurses' quarters (1938) is particularly intact and has a strong street presence with a well-mannered and robust domestic character. It is a large, low-set, two-storey masonry building facing Yaralla Street. It stands well back from the front boundary behind a generous, landscaped yard featuring a symmetrical circular drive around a small traffic island containing a poinciana (Delonix regia). Two mature palms stand in the front yard symmetrically, one either side of the drive. The structure has a reinforced concrete frame with rendered masonry infill sheltered by a hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheers. It is symmetrically-composed, comprising a long central wing, parallel to Yaralla Street, flanked by transverse wings that project to the front and back, resulting in an H-shaped plan. Lining the front and rear of the building are timber-framed verandahs with timber-battened balustrades and valances. The verandah is enclosed at the front entrance with steel-framed glass louvres and in other places with early sheet material and narrow, timber-framed casement windows - the windows are original and removed from elsewhere in the building. The verandah projects forward centrally at the front and rear entrance, emphasised by a large roof gable with a battened end on both sides. A central, concrete stair on both sides gives access to the ground floor. The layouts of the ground and first floors are intact. A central stair hall retains a clear-finished timber stair. A corridor runs through the centre of the three wings and provides access to small rooms on either side. The rooms open onto the verandah via timber, glazed French doors. Partitions are original timber-framed, single-skin clad with fibrous cement and Masonite. The building retains original timber joinery including doors and windows with original hardware.
A mature tree stands to the southwest of this building.
A timber-framed covered walkway connects the two nurses' quarters buildings.
Doctor's residence (1938) (Block X)
The doctor's residence (1938) stands to the south-east of the former nurses' quarters (1928) and faces Walker Street. It is a two-storey, low-set masonry building with a hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheets. The walls are rendered and the front is symmetrically-composed around a central arcade loggia with three round headed arches. The roof of the loggia is accessed from the first floor as a terrace. Square headed windows with timber shutters are located rhythmically on the front and sides and the rear elevation has a timber-framed, enclosed verandah on both levels. The interior layout is intact, retaining plastered partitions, and timber joinery including a clear-finished stair, and doors and windows with original hardware.
Medical staff duplex (1950) (Block Z)
The medical staff duplex (1950) is a one-storey, low-set facebrick duplex facing Yaralla Street. It stands within a defined yard near the street boundary and is a well-composed design with a hipped roof clad with tiles. The front elevation is symmetrical and has a central projection with a hipped roof accommodating the entrances and features timber-framed awning windows and two decorative, metal grilles. The front features darker orange bricks up to sill level with paler orange bricks above this. A fence separates the duplex yards into two. The interior was not inspected. The building retains its original layout intact.
Kitchen Block (1951) (Block G)
The kitchen block (1951) is a one-storey, low-set facebrick building with a gable roof clad with corrugated metal sheets. It stands immediately behind the Block E. The building has a series of large windows in its north-eastern side. The interior was not inspected.
Ambulance station (1951) (Block D)
The ambulance station (1951) is a one-storey, masonry building facing Neptune Street. It has a skillion roof clad with corrugated metal sheets concealed behind a parapet. The facade abuts the footpath and accommodates four large metal garage roller doors. At the northern corner of the building is a tall facebrick parapet tower that is symmetrically composed and attractively-designed. It has a rendered concrete cap and two parallel vertical concrete fins with curved tops. A narrow cantilevered concrete awning surrounds the building. It retains original double-hung timber-framed sash windows. The interior is not intact. The metal clad extension on the southwestern end is not of cultural heritage significance.
Boiler house (1954) (Block S)
The boiler house (1954) is a tall, reinforced concrete-framed building with facebrick infill panels and a steep, skillion roof clad with metal sheets. On all sides are metal louvres that ventilate the interior. The interior was not inspected.
All other structures on the site are not of cultural heritage significance.
","history":"The Maryborough Hospital opened in 1887 and has grown to comprise a complex of buildings covering a large site. The buildings of cultural heritage significance are: Block E (1887) and Block C (1887) - remnants of the original pavilion plan hospital; remnant of the medical superintendent's residence (1887); front entrance gates (1887); a bus shelter on Walker Street; former nurses' quarters (1928); former Lady Musgrave Maternity Hospital (1928); doctor's residence (1928); former operating theatre (1938); former nurses' quarters (1938); doctor's residence (1938); medical staff duplex (1950); kitchen block (1951); ambulance station (1951); and boiler house (1954). The hospital has remained in continuous operation and in 2014 it remains the principal and largest hospital in Maryborough.
On the traditional land of the Badjala (Butchulla) people, the small town of Maryborough grew quickly from a struggling settlement established in 1847 to a promising town by the 1860s. With a busy government port of entry and through servicing the extraordinary wealth of the nearby Gympie goldfields, Maryborough was successful and the years 1870 to 1880 were extremely profitable with new commercial establishments, financial and other institutes, and industries established in the town. In this time of prosperity it was decided to construct a new Maryborough Hospital.
The first Maryborough Hospital was established in 1854 and prior to this the sick and invalid were treated at home by a few local medical practitioners. By 1859 it was moved nearer the new centre of town and was moved again in 1863. In 1864 the hospital was moved into its first purpose-built building, a substantial two-storey brick hospital. It was extended with additions in 1865 and 1876.
By the mid-1880s the hospital was considered inadequate and over 12 acres (4.8ha) of elevated land on the western outskirts of the town was reserved for a new hospital. The reserve was bounded by Walker Street to the south, Yaralla Street to the east, North Street to the north, and Neptune Street to the west.
The foundation stone of a new Maryborough Hospital was laid by Queensland Premier, Sir Samuel Griffith on 15 April 1885. By this time much of the hospital reserve had been cleared and trees planted.
The architect of the project, John James Clark was at that time the Colonial Architect, a position he retained from 1883 until 1885. Though this was a limited period of employment, Clark is a well-regarded architect as the designer of many important Queensland buildings. These include: Public Offices in Brisbane (Treasury Building QHR 600143); court houses in Mackay (QHR 600673), Rockhampton (QHR 600795), Warwick (QHR 600948) and Charters Towers (QHR 600403) as well as the Yungaba Immigration Depot in Brisbane (QHR 600245). Clark designed many health-related buildings throughout Queensland, including hospitals at Charleville and Geraldton; additions to Townsville Hospital, a lunatic asylum in Toowoomba (QHR 601161), and the Lady Norman Wing at the Brisbane Children's Hospital (QHR 601903).
Constructed by local contractor Robert Taylor, the Maryborough Hospital was an impressive complex and opened 20 May 1887. The total cost was approximately £16,000, arising from substantial donations from local benefactors and the Committee's General Fund with the remainder coming from the government. The new hospital comprised four separate brick buildings - a two-storey central administrative core (Block E) flanked by a two-storey ward on either side (Block C was the ward on the western side) with a one-storey kitchen block to the rear of the core. All were linked by one-storey, covered walkways. Block E accommodated offices, nurses' day room, dispensary, operating room, and dining room on the ground floor, and bathrooms and unspecified rooms on the first floor. The wards were identical and each accommodated a large public ward, small private ward, nurses' room, and store on the ground floor, repeated on the first floor.
Also constructed on the site at this time was a separate, one-storey medical superintendent's residence and a palisade fence with gates along Walker Street. The hospital design was based on contemporary principles about the pavilion plan.
For about 80 years from the 1860s, all Queensland hospital wards were based on the principles of the pavilion plan, which emerged as a development of hospital design in Europe in the 1850s. Pavilion planning was seen to overcome problems of poor ventilation and sanitation. From the nineteenth century, credence was given to the idea that disease was spread by foul air, according to miasmatic theory. The first pavilion plan was used in the design of the Lariboisièse Hospital in Paris, which was a series of detached pavilions where increased ventilation assisted patient recuperation. This was a breakthrough in hospital design because for the first time the building form was considered a crucial element of the healing process. By the 1870s and 1880s pavilion plan type hospital wards were being constructed in major Queensland hospitals. Of 76 pavilion plan wards constructed in Queensland during the nineteenth century only six survive: Maryborough; Isisford; Ipswich; and three wards at Royal Brisbane Hospital.
Under the direction of William Demaine, the chairman of the Maryborough Hospital board and government nominee, the Maryborough Hospital was 'modernised' during the interwar years. Demaine engaged architects outside the Department of Public Works to prepare new building designs with attention to new understanding of transmittal of diseases by germs - germ theory of disease having replaced miasmatic theory. Accordingly, new hospital buildings were dust free environments, had steam sterilisation of clinical equipment and a steam laundry. At Maryborough Hospital, old buildings were upgraded and new buildings were progressively aligned with germ theory concepts to meet the modern requirements.
In 1928 two substantial, reinforced concrete buildings were built in the grounds of Maryborough hospital: the Lady Musgrave Maternity Hospital; and nurses' quarters. Both were designed by prominent and innovative local architect Philip Oliver Ellard Hawkes and were opened 24 November 1928.
The Lady Musgrave Maternity Hospital was constructed as a result of the Maternity Act 1922, which introduced a state-wide network of free maternity wards and baby clinics. Before 1922, 'lying-in' hospitals were run by charitable or religious institutes to provide services for women unable to pay for private pre-natal care. The Act changed the nature of maternity care in Queensland, dramatically increasing the access to maternal and child health care.
Implementation began immediately and resulted in the construction of about 94 maternity hospitals or wards throughout Queensland before 1930. Many of Queensland's maternity wards were constructed to a standard plan, based on pavilion planning principles with surrounding verandahs and all beds in the ward located near on operable opening. Attached to the rear of the wards by an open verandah or covered walkway was a septic ward. The plan of the Maryborough maternity ward was built to the standard plan but was longer, accommodating 25 beds, nine private wards, matron's office, doctor's room, kitchenette, two labour wards, semi-detached septic ward, sterilising room, and matron's quarters. The one-storey, low-set building stood at the rear of the site and faced North Street.
The nurses' quarters at Maryborough Hospital was constructed following the introduction of the Hospital Nurses Award in 1921. This award set basic wages and working hours for nursing staff, and stipulated that all staff were entitled to free board and lodging in, if possible, separate rooms or suitable cubicles. The result of the award was the upgrading of accommodation for Queensland nurses and also an increase in the number of nurses employed at each Queensland hospital. Between 1924 and 1930, 26 nurses' quarters were constructed in Queensland. The Maryborough Hospital nurses' quarters provided accommodation for 78 nurses and domestic staff in a two-storey, long, narrow building with encircling timber-framed verandahs. It was built facing Walker Street, standing to the south-east of the 1887 hospital ward buildings.
To construct the nurses' quarters, the 1887 doctor's residence was partially demolished and a new doctor's residence was constructed to replace it. Also built in 1928 and designed by Hawkes, the house was built at the corner of Walker and Yaralla streets and was a one-storey, reinforced concrete structure with wide, timber-framed verandahs. It cost under £2000 and was carefully-designed to ensure passive temperature control.
Also in the late 1920s, a new morgue was built at the rear of the site, the 1887 buildings were refurbished, a lift was installed in Block E, and a second storey was added to the one-storey walkways.
The next phase of development at Maryborough Hospital occurred in the late 1930s under Demaine's continued stewardship. In 1938 a new nurses' quarters was constructed on the grounds facing Yaralla Street. It was one of the largest nurses' quarters in Queensland and similar in design to the 1928 quarters. It was also designed by Hawkes, although it was supervised by another architect, EH Boden, who may have contributed to the final design. It was a long, narrow, two-storey, reinforced concrete building with more than 100 bedrooms and encircling, timber-framed verandahs.
After the nurses moved into their new quarters, the 1928 nurses' quarters was converted to accommodate 35 private wards. At this time it was renamed the Demaine Building in honour of William Demaine, who was also Mayor of Maryborough at the time.
To augment the Demaine Building, a one-storey, masonry operating theatre with steam sterilisation facilities was constructed directly to the west. It was described in the Maryborough Chronicle at the time of opening 'as the most up to date in Australia', influenced by a 'famous hospital in Berlin', and a lengthy report of the innovative fittings and finishes was included. The building was later extended (1950s and 1970s) before being decommissioned and converted for use as a store (late 1970s) after new theatres were constructed.
Also designed by Hawkes, in 1938 a two-storey, reinforced concrete doctor's residence was built facing Walker Street. At the time, the Maryborough Chronicle described it as 'an imposing structure ... built on modern lines' and noted that attention was paid to ventilation. It accommodated ground floor living rooms with first floor bedrooms.
The total building costs of the 1938 work was £33,000 and was completed by Constructions Pty Ltd of Brisbane.
The Hospitals Act 1923 was amended in 1944 and, among other changes to the health care system, introduced the concept of base hospitals. Within each region of the state a base hospital was established to offer more specialised services than other hospitals in the region. Maryborough Hospital was renamed Maryborough Base Hospital in 1944, servicing the Wide Bay region.
A covered walkway connecting the two nurses' quarters was built by 1947.
Although the hospital saw increasing need for accommodation during the 1940s and several buildings were planned, little construction occurred at Maryborough Base Hospital until 1950. At this time, a one-storey, facebrick duplex was constructed facing Yaralla Street to the design of Brisbane architects Prangley and Tesch, accommodating medical staff. The Yaralla Street half of the hospital grounds had grown as a dedicated residential zone with separate buildings surrounded by lawns with maturing ornamental trees.
From its establishment, the hospital grounds were carefully laid out and this practice was continued into the 1950s. Landscape compositions were symmetrical with the buildings well-separated and standing proudly, surrounded by lawns with defined, straight paths and small areas of flower beds. The street boundaries were defined by tall ornamental trees. A particular feature of the hospital was circular drives that were aligned with the front of major buildings. Early photographs show that the mature trees planted on the elevated site of the hospital were conspicuous in the generally-flat landscape of the town. After the 1950s, less attention was paid to maintaining these landscape elements and some were demolished to make way for the construction of buildings.
In 1951, a kitchen with attached nurses' dining room was constructed to the rear of Block E. It was designed by Brisbane architects Donoghue, Cusick and Edwards and was a one-storey, brick building costing £143,000.
Also in 1951 an ambulance building was constructed on Neptune Street to the design of Bundaberg architect Eric H Bowden by contractor Les Howard. It comprised four bays for ambulances, an area with a hoist for servicing vehicles, change room, office, treatment room, equipment room, and toilets. Housing four ambulances, an ambulance servicing area, change room, office, treatment room, equipment room, and toilets, it cost £7,500.
From 1952 to 1992 the hospital operated as a training hospital for nurses. Over this period, a large number of training nurses were accommodated in the 1938 nurses' quarters.
In 1953 the first section of what was to become the largest building on the site was constructed in front of the buildings facing Walker Street. Always intended to be extended, this section of the building was opened 14 November 1953 by the Minister for Health and Home Affairs, Mr WM Moore. It operated as an outpatients and administrative wing of the hospital. Constructed by Queensland Building and Engineering Co. for £89,945.
In 1954 a new brick boiler house was constructed on Neptune Street to the design of Brisbane architects Donoghue, Cusick and Edwards.
In the early 1960s, the hospital grounds expanded. A 5 acre (2.88ha) block of land across North Street was acquired, North Street was closed, and the new land and the road reserve were incorporated into the hospital site. In 1965 a new Lady Musgrave Maternity Hospital was constructed on the incorporated land. This new building took over maternity operations and the 1928 maternity ward was repurposed for general hospital use.
In 1977 and 1987 the outpatients building (1953) was extended, resulting in a large brick building of three and four storeys along Walker Street that obscured the earlier hospital buildings from view.
Between 1987 and 1989 the eastern ward of the original pavilion plan hospital was demolished.
In 1991 the former Lady Musgrave Hospital (1928) was extensively remodelled internally.
In 2006 a substantial aged care facility was constructed at the north east corner of the site on the land acquired in the early 1960s (corner of Winston Noble Drive and Yaralla Street). This facility comprised one-storey, masonry buildings in extensive gardens. To make way for construction, the morgue (1928) was demolished. The aged care facility was sold into private ownership in 2013 and the land it occupied was subdivided off from the hospital.
In 2009 the last resident doctor at Maryborough hospital retired and moved out of the doctor's residence (1928). The house was then used by the Wide Bay Hospitals Museum Society.
The ground floor of Block C was refurbished in 2012.
In 2014 Maryborough hospital continues to operate as the town's principal and largest public hospital.
","criteria":"Developed in phases since its establishment in 1887, Maryborough Hospital is important in demonstrating changes in health care theories, technology, and provision by the Queensland Government. Notably, it retains: pavilion plan hospital buildings (1887) that illustrate the prevailing miasmatic theory of health care; the former Lady Musgrave Maternity Hospital (1928) that illustrates the comprehensive and progressive Queensland Government-run maternal and child health care agenda of the 1920s and 1930s; a former operating theatre (1938) that illustrates the subsequent universal adoption of germ theory of disease in health care; former nurses' quarters (1928 & 1938) that illustrate the development of nursing education and the nursing profession in Queensland; doctors' and medical staff residences (1887 remnant, 1928, 1938, and 1950) that illustrate the development of the health professions, and; an ambulance station (1951) that illustrates the evolution of medical emergency services in Queensland.
Maryborough Hospital is important in demonstrating the development of Maryborough during the 1880s economic boom when it became a town of regional importance and an agricultural, pastoral, industrial, commercial, and shipping centre for Queensland.
|Maryborough Hospital is exceptional and rare in demonstrating the development of hospitals in Queensland from the nineteenth century through the twentieth century. The place retains buildings from the major periods of its development and many of these buildings are substantially intact.
The place retains rare surviving hospital buildings from the nineteenth century, including a rare surviving example of a pavilion plan ward in Queensland; an extensive number of such hospital wards were constructed but few survive.
|Maryborough Hospital is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a Queensland hospital, on a large site on elevated ground away from the town centre. Individual buildings on the site are also able to demonstrate characteristics of hospital buildings, including nineteenth century pavilion plan ward; nurses' quarters from the late 1920s and the late 1930s; maternity ward from 1928, several hospital residences and quarters; and an ambulance station.
|Maryborough Hospital is important for its aesthetic significance as a collection of buildings with strong architectural merit standing in attractively laid out grounds. Buildings and structures are well-composed and constructed with high-quality materials and skill, and have significant streetscape qualities enhanced by axial arrangements, sweeping circular drives, extensive lawns, mature trees, and bed plantings.
|Maryborough Hospital is important to the Maryborough community as their principal site of public health care since 1887.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion D | Criterion E | 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 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":16670,"place_ref":601934,"name":"Allan Slab Hut","alternate_name":"Price Property","street_address":"Warrah Road","suburb":"DUCKINWILLA","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2000-04-28","description":"The Allan Slab Hut is a small structure, approximately three metres by four metres in plan, located on a property in the vicinity of Doongul Creek, west of Torbanlea. It has a simple rectangular form, a pitched roof and a lean-to addition on the northern side. A large fig tree is located to the north, along with remnants of former fences and hitching rails.
The walls are constructed of vertical hardwood slabs that have been shaped with an axe or adze. The slabs have been dressed at the top and bottom to conform to a regular depth and are connected to top and bottom plates with either nails or lengths of twisted wire. Rails have been checked into round corner posts and there is also a central round post in each of the long sides of the hut. The floor is formed from ant-bed and although now covered with dust, is clearly discernible. An entry door is located on the eastern wall, it has a fanlight space above that is covered with corrugated iron. In the eastern end of the southern wall the slabs have been cut at about two-thirds height to form a long window-like opening. This has now been boarded up with horizontal boards. A galvanised, corrugated iron water tank is also situated against the southern wall.
The corrugated iron sheeting and roof battens have been replaced, however, some of the roof structure is comprised of hewn rafters. The gable ends are infilled with horizontal timber boards. The lean-to on the northern side also appears to be more recent. It is roughly constructed of a mixture of round and hewn rafters. The plate supporting the roof structure has been simply nailed or wired to the slab wall and the other edge of the roof is supported by three large round timber posts. The western end of the lean-to space has been enclosed with horizontal sheets of corrugated iron and the northern wall is enclosed with chicken wire.
An exterior hearth formed of a semi-circle of river stones located at the western end of the hut is now covered with dirt and can only be seen in times of heavy rain. Beyond the fig tree on the northern side is a small waterhole. The former orchard area lies beyond this, with a single Chinese Date tree surviving.
","history":"The Allan Slab Hut at Doongul Creek, via Torbanlea is a basic, hand-built hardwood structure built sometime in the first decade of the twentieth century by Henry Price, an emigrant miner from Wales, as the home for his family.
Henry Price arrived by ship in Maryborough sometime around the turn of the century and was followed some time later by his wife Esther Ann Price and her daughter Blodwen Comely Evans Price. It is believed that the family squatted on their small selection before formally selecting the land in 1913. The possibilities for self sufficiency offered by this selection of one hundred and sixty five acres and three roods, would have brought greater economic stability and autonomy than Esther Price had ever known. Illiterate and twice widowed by mining accidents in Wales, Esther married Henry Price in her middle age and emigrated to Australia with her daughter. Their lives were typical of poor migrants who came to Australia and eked out a living on small marginal selections.
The slab hut was the first house the family had ever owned and Henry built it himself from hardwood felled, or already fallen, on the property, possibly ironbark or stringybark. Esther was a midwife and in Wales had lived in a tiny urban cottage with her brother and five lodgers. She had to acquire a range of new skills to deal with life in rural Queensland. She cooked outdoors at an uncovered hearth and worked five acres of market gardens to raise a small income.
Her daughter, Blodwen married Archibald Allan, a miner from Howard in 1912 and raised her surviving five children on the property in a former school building, brought to the site from Upper Doongul sometime in the 1920s. A number of the children were born on the property with Esther in attendance as midwife. Archibald Allan travelled twelve miles by bicycle to work ten and twelve hour days, six days a week in nearby coal mines to support the family after Henry Price's death. Esther and Blodwen sold vegetables in Howard to supplement his wages which were barely enough to feed the family and the sons hunted for wild birds to provide some protein in their diet. Esther was known in the district as a "wise woman", someone who would assist women in having their babies and it is likely that she traded her midwifery skills for other goods or services. Midwives, both trained and untrained, provided the primary care for birthing women in Queensland until the 1930s and homebirthing continued as a more common practice in rural areas than urban.
The mines in the Torbanlea district were a source of opportunity for migrants and yet the conditions for miners were such that financial security was still difficult to attain. Coal was first discovered in the Burrum River region in 1863 and mining was well underway by the turn of the century. There were three producing mines - Burrum, Riverbank and Torbanlea, which in 1900 produced about one fifth of the Colony's total production. The Burrum Colliery run by Queensland Collieries Company Limited was by far the biggest operation in the district and was the stimulus for the founding of the town of Howard. The managing Rankin family had instituted a rule of "paternal despotism" and the fine house "Brooklyn" that the company built for them in Howard stands in stark contrast to the hand-built timber hut of the Allan family.
The Burrum coal mines were the last to be unionised in Queensland, conditions were notoriously bad and average wages were a shilling a day. Miners were paid by the ton, used pick and shovel and were never certain that they would have work the next day. Mining was the only local source of employment and the mine operators dictated the terms of employment. A small number of favoured permanent miners were provided with a miner's hut, a four-roomed stringybark cottage, of which there were fourteen in Torbanlea. Families had an average of eleven children and whilst most miners usually had only one meal a day, they endeavoured to provide two meals a day for their children.
In this context, the construction of the slab hut was something of an achievement. The building method is an improvised version of fencing construction techniques used to construct a basic dwelling of hardwood slabs nailed and wired to posts and rails. It demonstrates the family's need to make do with what they could find or afford, rather than reflecting a tradition of craftmanship or even bush carpentry. Many mining families in the district lived in dwellings constructed of posts, flattened kerosene tins and hessian sacks and strained economic circumstances meant that many families were not able to hold on to their selections. In fact, the Allan family property is now an isolated piece of freehold land within an area of former selections that reverted to Crown land when previous owners were unable to sustain a living. The resilience and tenacity that was necessary for the Allan and Price families to be able to hang on to their selection and indeed consolidate and develop it, is demonstrated by the length of time that the hut was used as a dwelling.
Esther Price lived in the slab hut until she died in 1936. She planted a fig tree that now shelters the hut, which is situated amongst the remnant evidence of the orchards and market gardens that once surrounded it. Three other trees have been planted on the property to commemorate members of the family, two figs and a Crow's Ash. The slab hut has subsequently been used as a fowlhouse and for general storage and is currently not used.
","criteria":"The Allan Slab Hut is important in demonstrating the evolution and pattern of Queensland's history, representing the continuity of pioneering life in rural Queensland into the twentieth century. The hut provides evidence of the harsh and basic living conditions and improvised building techniques and survival tactics employed by settlers of the Burrum region.
|As a surviving example of a slab building constructed using primitive building techniques and erected in the early twentieth century, the Allan Slab Hut demonstrates rare, uncommon and endangered aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage.
|The Allan Slab Hut, together with the large adjacent fig tree, has aesthetic significance for its qualities as a ruin and integral part of its rustic setting, evocative of past agricultural and domestic activities.
|The place has a strong association with impoverished mining families of the Burrum region, reflecting the struggle and hardship experienced by this community as they toiled to establish viable lives for themselves.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion E | 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 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":16990,"place_ref":602169,"name":"Woody Island Lighthouses & Ancillary Building Site","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Woody Island","suburb":"HERVEY BAY","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2001-03-30","description":"Woody Island Falls within the Great Sandy approximately five kilometres due east of Urangan, between Fraser Island and the mainland. The island has an area of about 660 hectares of undulating terrain and is approximately eleven kilometres long by three kilometres wide. The island is heavily timbered with hardwood species. A central ridge divides the island, rising to about 80 metres above sea level. The slope is easy on the landward or western side and falls steeply to seaward, culminating in an abrupt and discontinuous rocky escarpment towards the north which extends for about nine and a half kilometres. A small sandy beach is located towards the southern seaward point.
The ground cover consists of sparse native grasses on two old lighthouse clearings and dune flats, with very little cover through the higher and timbered areas. The two lighthouse clearings are located at Middle Bluff and North Bluff. The lighthouses are no longer operational.
The site consists of the:
Middle Bluff Lighthouse and surrounding area:
The Middle Bluff lighthouse is relatively intact. It has a hardwood timber frame clad with timber weatherboards. The lamp and prisms have been removed and the lamp room glass has been replaced with plastic. The second landing window has been replaced with an aluminium one, while the lower landing window has been removed and built over. A steel mesh grill has been installed in the lighthouse.
Internally, a timber ladder leads from the lower section to the upper section, or lamp room, of the lighthouse. A smaller opening then leads to the deck of the lighthouse. The timber deck and iron railings are intact and in good condition. The position where the light was placed in the lamp room is also evident.
The remains of the lightkeeper's residence are located a few metres to the north of the lighthouse. The residence was removed in the 1960s and the remains are predominantly timber boards. Some of the stone paving surrounding the keeper's residence is discernible to the east of the lighthouse, however, it is not particularly clear at ground level and is better viewed from the deck of the lighthouse.
North Bluff Lighthouse and surrounding area
The North Bluff lighthouse is in a more dilapidated state than the Middle Bluff light. Similar to the Middle Bluff lighthouse, the North Bluff light has a frame of timber hardwood. Much of the timber weatherboard cladding is coming away from the frame. Nothing remains of the lamp room. Most of the timber deck and iron railings are evident, particularly on the northern side of the lighthouse, though some of the railings have fallen to the ground. The lighthouse is surrounded by timber posts which were once part of a fence, constructed in the 1950s.
The timber remains of the assistant lightkeeper's residence are located about four hundred metres to the south of the North Bluff light. Unlike the paving at the Middle Bluff light, the stone paving surrounding the position where the residence was located at North Bluff is very clear. The square position of the house is evident and the remains of a wood-fired stove remain. Glass, ceramic and other items found by the various tour groups, particularly school groups, have been placed in a large mound on the stone paving.
About twenty metres to the south of the residence is a large mature tree near a brick-lined depression which housed toilet facilities.
Site of Signal Mast, North Bluff:
The site of the Signal Mast is located to about 100 metres up a slight incline to the west of the former residence site. The site is defined by a circular rock-lined area with the remains of the Signal Mast in the middle. The signal mast is no longer extant with only a circular metal base with the remains of a coat of black pitch in situ.
Rock-lined Track:
The remains of the track are extant at Middle Bluff, the track, however, is not particularly clear. Following the path north the North Bluff lighthouse, the track becomes clearer. At one point, the track disappears and reappears further along. The rock-lined track runs for approximately four kilometres, apart from the section (of around one kilometre) where it disappears.
Telegraph Line:
The remains of the telegraph line include the first line [1870] which ran along the western side of Woody Island to the mainland at Urangan and on to Maryborough and the second line [1903] which ran along the eastern side from Jeffries Beach across to Fraser Island and the Sandy Cape Lightstation. The remains include the cast iron poles, some with cross arms and glass insulators still intact.
Graves Site:
The grave of Sarah May Hardie is located on the eastern side of Woody Island south of the North Bluff light. It is a concrete headstone with the words 'SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF SARAH MAY HARDIE WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE AUG. 8 1883 AGED 19 YEARS "KEPT",' engraved on it. It is surrounded by a recently constructed painted, timber, picket fence. The remains of the original fence are located near the grave. The original fence posts are timber with decorative, chamfered tops.
A number of other unmarked graves are thought to be located in the same area as Sarah Hardie's grave. The exact location of these, however, is not clear. There are reputedly nine graves on Woody Island.
Gas Shed and Gas Pipeline:
The kerosene shed is a single storey, timber framed shed, with a gable roof clad with recent corrugated, galvanised iron, with a skillion roof extension. At the rear [western] elevation, the building has a small, copper [painted white] piping. This piping was laid underground and extended up the ridge to the Middle Bluff lighthouse. The copper pipeline is still extant and visible is some places along the track leading to the Middle Bluff lighthouse. The pipeline is surrounded by square, fibro sheeting.
","history":"The twin, timber lighthouses, and lightkeeper's residence at North Bluff, were constructed in 1866 to designs prepared by the Office of the Colonial Architect, Charles Tiffin. A second residence was constructed at Middle Bluff in 1868.
Up until 10 December 1859, the colony of New South Wales extended as far north as Cape York Peninsula. In 1859, the new colony of Queensland acquired over 5000 kilometres of coastline which had few safety features in place, and became responsible for all navigation lights and harbours along this coastline. At the time the only lighthouse which existed had been built at Cape Moreton [600257] by the New South Wales Government in 1857.
By 1859, Maryborough, first settled in 1847, was already operating as a port of some importance. The main export was wool from the inland areas. Migrant ships were also coming into Maryborough. Ships coming into Maryborough had to enter through Hervey Bay, an area full of sandbanks, on which ships could easily become stranded. A channel, with a minimum of over five metres of water at low tide, ran down the middle of the Bay, past the east of Woody Island, along Fraser Island and into the Mary River.
In 1862, the Queensland government had appointed a Portmaster, Commander GP [George Poynter] Heath and had passed the Marine Board Act 1862. GP Heath [1830-1921] was born at Hanworth, in Norfolk, England. Late in 1859 as a lieutenant, he applied for the government post of marine surveyor in the new colony of Queensland and was appointed. In his thirty-three tenure of office in what became the sub-department of harbours, lighthouses and pilots, Heath was responsible for supervising the opening of 13 new ports, establishing 33 lighthouses, 6 lightships and 150 small lights and marking the inner route of the barrier reef. In November 1887 he retired from public service because of ill health and later returned to England.
In the two years following the establishment of the Marine Board Act 1862, due to a lack of funds to spend on marine safety, activity concentrated on dealing with pilots and harbour lights, The issue of coastal lights was not taken up until 25 May 1864, when Members of the Legislative Assembly moved that a Select Committee be appointed to inquiry into and report upon the state of the harbours and rivers in the colony. The Committee consisted of Messrs Macalister, Douglas, Sandeman, Cribb, Challinor and Bell and convened for the first time on 27 May 1864. The Committee widened the terms of reference to include the question of the necessity of additional lighthouses on the coast of Australia, within the colony of Queensland.
In a 'Notice to Mariners' in the Government Gazette, in 1865, mention was made of the Burrum River which formed part of Hervey Bay, and that, when property beaconed and buoyed, the river would be easy steamers and small craft to navigate. In the same year, orders were sent for two lights for Hervey's Bay, as Hervey Bay was then known. Towers for fourth order, fixed [non-flashing] lights1 on Woody Island were completed by contract in 1866 and the lanterns were placed and fixed by the pilot's boat crew in 1867. Bringing the lenses and holophotes2 down from Maryborough and getting them up into the lanterns and finally adjusting them, took around ten days.
A call for tenders for the construction of lighthouses and a lightkeeper's cottage on Woody Island was advertised in the Maryborough Chronicle on 26 May 1866. Plans and specifications for the buildings were available in the Harbor Office in Maryborough. It is likely that the design for the lighthouses and the original lightkeeper's cottage at North Bluff was prepared by the Office of the Colonial Architect, Charles Tiffin. The Office prepared the specifications for the cottage at Middle Bluff two years later [1868]. The plans were likely to have been overseen by Robert Ferguson. Ferguson was employed by Tiffin as a temporary foreman of works from 1864-1870, where, in 1867, wrote specifications for and oversaw construction of the lighthouses at Bustard Head and Sandy Cape.
John Simpson was appointed as the first lightkeeper of Woody Island and the lighthouses became operational on 1 October 1867. The two lights were considered as one unit, twin lights that lined up with each other. In the Government Gazette in 1867, Portmaster, GP Heath described how the lights operated together in order to guide vessels through Hervey Bay:
When entering Hervey's Bay, steer so as to pass one or two miles of the Fairway Buoy, until the two lights on Woody Island are visible, and a brought into line. Steer with the lights in one ...until the two lights are almost on the same level ... keep a look-out for the red buoy ... On sighting the buoy, steer ... [directions given] ... for the red buoy off the Woody Island Spit ... When the lights are seen to become red at the same time, a vessel is about one-third of distance from the spit across the channel ... From thence, steer to pass ... as usual ... until the high light [Middle Bluff light] is obscured ... Steer SSW until the light again opens out as a bright light ... from which a course must be ... shaped for the river heads...
Initially, a keeper's house was built at North Bluff. The main light was positioned south at Middle Bluff, however, keeper's quarters were not constructed at Middle Bluff until 1868. Both lights had signal masts and a storage shed was built on the beach at Middle Bluff, on the eastern side of the island, to store kerosene for the lighthouse along with other provisions.
The lamps and burners were the first of that size and description ever constructed for petroleum oil, and burnt with great certainty and less variation of flame than other petroleum burners. The Portmaster was concerned, however, as to whether he was justified in having only one lightkeeper on the island, considering its nearness to Fraser Island. The lights were two nautical miles apart, over a bad road, and the keeper, while at one light, left his family unprotected near the other lighthouse. Also, in the case of sudden illness, there was no person able to light the distant light, which might have led to very serious results.
The issue regarding the safety of the lightkeeper and his family was resolved in 1868, when an assistant lightkeeper was stationed at the upper lighthouse [North Bluff] and a house built nearby. The contract for the cottage for the assistant lightkeeper went to Messrs Pawson and Humberstone for £127, and was built from drawings and specifications prepared by the Office of the Colonial Architect, Charles Tiffin. The telegraph line was completed to Woody Island about 1870, thus allowing the lightkeeper at the lower lights to communicate the approach of vessels from the northward, and the assistant, the approach of those from the southward.
The Portmaster proposed a line of telegraph between Woody Island and Maryborough, not only on account of any accident which might happen to the lights or lightkeeper, and as an instalment of the line which must eventually be carried on to Sandy Cape when the lighthouse was established there, but as a consequence to vessels arriving in Hervey Bay, or passing through the Great Sandy Strait, and wishing to communicate with Maryborough or any other station without going the thirty miles up the river and back again unnecessarily.
In 1870, the telegraph line was established and Woody Island was connected to the mainland and Maryborough. The line crossed underwater from Urangan and was carried on iron poles imported from England up to the Middle Bluff lighthouse. In 1903, the telegraph line was connected to the Sandy Cape Lightstation from the Middle Bluff light. The line was carried on iron poles down to the eastern shore of the Island to a point known as Jefferies Beach, where the cable again went underwater to Fraser Island.
In 1871, Woody Island was listed as a reserve for the Acclimatisation Society. This reserve was in place until 1959. During their time of association on the Island, the Society introduced several pairs of rabbits in 1866. Rabbits remained on Woody Island until 1952 when myxomatosis was carried to the island via mosquitoes and the rabbit population was killed off. Also, in 1871, one of the lightkeepers, Mr Sheridan, introduced 200 coconut trees to Woody Island, of only one of which has survived.
The first lightkeeper, John Simpson, remained at Woody Island until 1870, when he was transferred to the Sandy Cape Lightstation. Simpson's replacement was Peter Hardie, lightkeeper, who remained on Woody Island until 1897. In 1883, Hardie's daughter, Sarah May Hardie, died of lung congestion and was buried south of North Bluff. It is thought that a number of other unmarked graves are located in the area.
During the period when the lighthouses were operational, Woody Island was predominantly cleared of vegetation, this enabled a clear view to the lights and the signal masts from the mainland. Today, regrowth covers much of Woody Island.
The North Bluff light was converted to an unwatched automatic light on 21 June 1937 running on gas. The keeper was no longer employed but remained in the house. The North Bluff Lighthouse was closed on 17 June 1959, at the same time, the Middle Bluff Lighthouse was automated, running on gas. In April 1960, Woody Island was gazetted as a national park. The gazettal of Little Woody Island as a national park followed in February 1977.
Following the automation of the Middle Bluff Lighthouse in 1959, the keepers' residences at Middle and North Bluff were demolished during the 1960s. In 1985, Middle Bluff Lighthouse was converted to solar power, only to be closed two years later in 1987.
Some maintenance and conservation work has been undertaken in the last few years by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, particularly to the Middle Bluff Lighthouse. With reasonably easy access to Woody Island from nearby Hervey Bay, school and other tour groups are regular visitors to the island.
","criteria":"Constructed in 1866, while not forming part of the major lighthouses constructed along the Queensland coast from the late 1860s to 1890, the Woody Island Lighthouses and Ancillary Buildings site is significant in demonstrating Queensland's history, occupying an integral part in understanding the establishment of maritime navigational aids along the Queensland coast, and reflects the growth and development of Queensland after its separation from New South Wales. The site survives as an important illustration of the early industrial development of Queensland, and of the settlement of the Maryborough/Hervey Bay in particular, and the geographical importance of the area for maritime and communication purposes.
The Woody Island Lighthouses and Ancillary Buildings Site is associated with Commander George Poynter Heath, the first Portmaster of Queensland [1862-1890], a significant figure in the development of the Queensland lighthouse service. Heath was responsible for supervising the opening of 13 new ports, establishing 33 lighthouses, 6 lightships and 150 small lights and marking the inner route through the Barrier Reef.
|The Woody Island lighthouses are further significant as rare examples of twin lighthouses constructed along the Queensland coast.
|With further archaeological and historical research and analysis, the place has the potential to reveal important information about Queensland's history and early maritime technology and to reveal further information about infrastructure and other grave sites associated with the lightstation and with the history of Woody Island.
|Constructed using an octagonal, timber-framed tower clad with weatherboards, the Woody Island lighthouses are significant as early examples of this type of construction, typically found in Queensland. The use of timber framing [usually clad with iron] was even more frequent following the construction of the Lady Elliot Island lighthouse in 1873.
|The ambience of the lighthouses, including the ruins and the overgrown vegetation, combined with their distinctive positions on the Island, overlooking Hervey Bay, the Great Sandy Strait and neighbouring Fraser Island and Little Woody Island, creates a strong aesthetic appeal which has attracted public interest and has invited 'exploration', for many years.
|For the Hervey Bay and Maryborough communities, the place has a strong association with their heritage.
The Woody Island Lighthouses and Ancillary Buildings Site is especially significant for its strong association with the life of the lightkeepers, their families and maintenance and stores people, who contributed to the continuum of a system dedicated to the single aim of maintaining the navigational aids for a period of nearly 120 years.
|(Criterion under review)
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion C | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion G | Criterion H","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 has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding 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 | The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":19513,"place_ref":602393,"name":"Original Maryborough Town Site","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Russell Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2007-09-04","description":"The original Maryborough town site is aligned northwest/southeast along the northern bank of the Mary River, on the northwest outskirts of Maryborough. Indications of the early site include: gravesites; sawpits; stone building foundations; bridge remnants; and archaeological material. The site stretches over a series of creek-lined gullies and is currently occupied by a mixture of open parkland, pasture and heavy vegetation. The main entry to the site is along Aldridge Street, the only surveyed road within the town site that is sealed and open to public vehicles. This road did not exist when the town was settled and the park area near the intersection of Alice and Aldridge Streets was originally the cemetery.
\nThe extent of the cemetery is not known but the grass-covered park on the northwest side of Aldridge Street contains the marked graves of George Furber and Joseph Wilmshurst. The park contains at least one other identified grave, now marked only by a headstone plinth. Numerous other depressions in the ground are suggestive of several unmarked graves. Two more marked graves are located on the opposite side of Aldridge Street.
\nThe site extends southwest down both sides of Aldridge Street. Just past the (unformed) intersection with George Street the road crosses a creek at the bottom of a gully. In the creek bed on the southeast side of the road are the remains of the original creek crossing. These consist largely of remnants of structural timbers. The large park area on this side of Aldridge Street was originally the site of Chinese gardens. There is a carpark at the southwest end of Aldridge Street, which currently stops short of Queen Street. From the carpark, the site of Aldridge's first inn lies to the west.
\nMuddy Creek runs through the southeast side of the site, and joins the Mary River southwest of the end of Aldridge Street. The land to the southeast of Aldridge Street and the site of Aldridge's inns drops down towards the creek. East of the creek's mouth is a concentration of bamboo, mature native trees and other exotic species, and a small stone and concrete jetty stands just upriver from the mouth of Muddy Creek, near the site of Furber's inn.
\nNorthwest of the mouth of Muddy Creek, the terrain rises from the river to a river terrace, where Furber Street is located. The river terrace is quite flat and is framed by Muddy Creek to the southeast, a ridge to the northwest near the junction of Furber Street and Palmer Street, and another ridge to the northeast the parallels to the Mary River. Much of the original township spreads along the top of the northeastern ridge, with most buildings located on the southwest side of Queen Street.
\nThe lower river terrace is covered with over a metre of flood-deposited sediment that has helped protect archaeological material; council workers have encountered archaeological deposits during on-site works. The topsoil on the main ridge along Queen Street has been scoured in some areas, reducing its archaeological potential. Shale and course stone is evident where the ground is bare along the ridge. Some stone foundation work remains on the site of Aldridge's first inn. Behind the Queen Street ridge the land dips, before rising towards a second ridge.
\nThe upper river terrace, the site of Aldridge's two inns, the land by Muddy Creek, and the site of the pioneer graveyard, is largely open grassed parkland dotted with trees. Much of the old township, including the gaol, Blackman’s hut and store, Rickett’s Inn, and Thorpe’s hut and yard, is located in an adjacent paddock to the northwest. The paddock is largely clear of trees. There is patchy grass cover, with some areas of bare earth. The line of the old Gayndah road can still be seen, descending to the river terrace from near the site of Palmer's inn. There is little above-surface evidence of the town, but the placement of the structure markers enable the town's layout to be understood. Some features such as the marked graves and sawpits are clearly evident. Modern built features within the heritage boundary are not of cultural heritage significance.
","history":"The Original Maryborough Town Site was occupied between 1848 and 1855, and is located about four kilometres northwest of the current city centre, on the north bank of the Mary River. It provides important evidence of the early settlement of the Wide Bay district, and is unique amongst the pre-1859 towns of Queensland in that it retains most of its originally occupied town site in an open, relatively undeveloped state. The site has the archaeological potential to shed light on life in an early Queensland settlement.
\nThe free settlement of what became the colony of Queensland commenced on the Darling Downs in 1840. In 1842, the same year Moreton Bay was opened to free settlement, Andrew Petrie was commissioned to explore the Wide Bay district. With a group of men that included Henry Stewart Russell, the explorer and pastoralist, five convicts for crew and two Aboriginal guides from Brisbane, Petrie travelled by whaleboat to explore the Mary River (known variously to Aboriginal people as Moonaboola, Mooraboocoola, Numabulla or Booie) as a possible source of bunya trees (Araucaria bidwillii) for timber. The explorers travelled about 50 miles (80km) upstream, concluding the area would prove suitable for sheep rearing, as the river would allow wool to be transported by boat. One of the men, Captain Joliffe, was an employee of the pastoralist and businessman John Eales, who later took up a large run at Tiaro and sent Joliffe there with 16,000 sheep.
\nIn 1843 the Moreton Bay Commissioner for Crown Lands, Stephen Simpson travelled overland to the Wide Bay district. Downstream of Tiaro, around the junction of Tinana Creek and the river, Simpson noted the suitability of the area for a settlement. Although John Eales’ venture pastoral failed, due to a combination of disease, attacks by the traditional owners, and financial problems, other pastoralists soon took up runs in the area, largely to the west of the river. By 1847 more than 20 license applications for runs had been lodged in the region. In July 1847 the government surveyor JC Burnett gave encouraging reports of the suitability of what was then known as the Wide Bay River as a location for a port to service the area, predicting a settlement ‘as soon as there is prospect of trade’. The river was named Mary after Lady Mary Lennox, the wife of Governor Fitzroy.
\nIpswich publican George Furber arrived in the Wide Bay district in September 1847 to set up a wool store, shanty and wharf on the site of an abandoned outstation of Tiaro, named Girkum, in the midst of open forest on the southern bank of the Mary River. The first shipment of wool was dispatched in December 1847. However, the site was on the wrong side of the river for the sheep runs to the west, and in June 1848 Edgar Thomas Aldridge and the Palmer brothers, Richard and Henry, selected a new site on the north bank of the river, just opposite Furber's business. This site was not the best for ship access, but its closeness to Furber's site, and the fact that it was also open forest, offered some security against potential raids by the local Aboriginal people. The spread of the pastoral frontier and its associated violent disruption of traditional Aboriginal lifestyles and land use inevitably caused conflict between traditional owners and settlers. The site of Maryborough was the traditional country of the Badtjala/Butchulla people, while much the Mary River district further upstream was that of the Gubbi Gubbi/Kabi Kabi.
\nThe Palmers and Aldridge both established inns, along with wool stores and a wharf, and this settlement was known as Wide Bay. The Commissioner for Crown Lands, John Carne Bidwill, a noted botanist, arrived in December 1848, and established a camp on a new site nearby on the southern side of the river on the banks of Tinana Creek. Prior to building his own residence at Tinana Creek, Bidwill also rented a small slab hut in Maryborough, for himself and two men, next to the gaol site in what later became Queen Street. One of Bidwill's tasks was to find a coastal overland route from Maryborough to Brisbane as an alternative to the then route through Gayndah; however, he died in 1853 without accomplishing this task.
\nA post office was established on 23 January 1849, and the settlement then became known as Maryborough, then the most northern coastal settlement in Australia. That same year JC Ricketts built an inn in Maryborough. Furber had also opened a liquor establishment on the north bank of the river by 1850, near the mouth of Muddy Creek, but Aldridge's 'Bush Inn' did the best business of the four establishments, and he regularly supplied goods and services to the troopers of the Native Police. The presence of so much alcohol (including unlicensed outlets), and a high rate of crime and violence at the frontier settlement led to 15 residents petitioning the governor to establish a police force and Court of Petty Sessions. The court commenced in January 1850, with William McAdam appointed Chief Constable.
\nBy 1850 Maryborough was established as a commercial centre and as a port for shipping wool, hides, timber, and tallow. Boiling down unwanted sheep produced tallow, used to manufacture soap in Britain, and James D. Walker and Edmund Blucher Uhr had established boiling down plants downstream from the settlement. There were also sawpits between the inns and the river, which were used to square-off timber, including Hoop Pine (Araucaria cunninghamii) and South Queensland Kauri (Agathis robusta), for ship transport. The Maryborough to Gayndah road snaked northwards through the western side of the settlement, near the Palmer's inn. Numerous other buildings were constructed on the upper river terrace, including Robert Blackman’s hut and store, Emanuel Thorpe’s hut and enclosed yard, and structures on Charles Gregory’s and Henry Martin’s allotments. In the 1920s Bill Bolton, an early resident of Maryborough, recalled Chinese vegetable gardens in place along the banks of Muddy Creek, just east of the settlement, where potatoes, turnips, leeks and cabbages were cultivated.
\nAlthough most settlers at Maryborough erected their buildings wherever seemed the most suitable (or available), applications to purchase land were made to the government and, as the amount of wool being shipped from the settlement was increasing dramatically, in 1850 the government appointed a surveyor. Hugh R Labatt arrived in July 1850, with instructions to select a suitable site for a township, with regard to providing good conditions for a port. He came to the conclusion that the existing settlement was not the best location, and he preferred the site of Uhr's boiling down plant (now Queen's Park), where the river was deeper and would accommodate larger vessels. As the settlers contested this decision, both sites were surveyed.
\nMaryborough was declared a township in 1851, and had a population of 299 at the time of the March census. There were 45 families, with an average of 1.5 children per family. All of the 142 single adults were male and 24% of the total population were Chinese. The unusually high Chinese population was because of their role as labourers in the pastoral industry; their large presence in Maryborough during the census is likely to have been because they were waiting for work in the district. By 1856 there were 16 Chinese at Maryborough.
\nThere were 45 timber and shingle buildings in the town, including a courthouse, church, stores, houses and various inns. The largest occupation group was that of shepherds, stockmen and labourers, followed by the occupation group of commerce, trade and manufacturing. The census did not record the Aboriginal people who worked at the settlement, who included domestic servants and labourers.
\nThe first blocks of the new site (near the current Queen's Park) were sold on 14 January 1852. Although many were purchased, and the buyers included Henry Palmer, Aldridge, McAdam, Uhr, and Labatt, relocation did not take place immediately, as many people were naturally reluctant to move when they had established homes and businesses at the old site. In 1855 John G. Walker launched the 75-ton schooner Blue Jacket near the mouth of Muddy (or Baddow) Creek, it being the first boat built on the Mary River. However, as trade at the port of Maryborough grew and more and larger ships called at the wharves at the new site (or East Maryborough), it became apparent that the town at West Maryborough would have to be moved.
\nAnother impetus for the last settlers to abandon the original town site may have been the increased conflict with Aboriginal people at Maryborough betwe`en 1852 and 1855. While there was some co-operation during the early years of settlement, conflict and hostility was the pervasive form of interaction between settlers and Aboriginal people. An axe thrown during a dispute in 1847 over flour rations had wounded George Furber, and he was later accused of killing at least three Aboriginal people in the period after this event. Furber and his son-in-law Joseph Wilmshurst were in turn killed in 1855, while sawing timber next to Tinana Creek. Aldridge, once a stout defender of the old site, moved his business operations to East Maryborough in 1855.
\nBy 1856 the original Maryborough town site was virtually abandoned. The site reverted to farming, although Aldridge and McAdam continued to live nearby acquiring more property in the area. In 1883 Aldridge built Baddow House [QHR 600690], which still stands just to the southeast of the old town site. He also cultivated extensive gardens around Baddow House and the area they once occupied extends toward the bank of Muddy Creek. Remnants of the gardens also account for some of the exotic vegetation within the regrowth in this area.
\nThe wool trade continued to prosper, and shipping increased immensely after Maryborough was proclaimed a port of entry in 1859, and a municipality in 1861. In April 1861 land for agricultural purposes on the Mary River was sold, which accelerated the closer settlement process, and by the end of the 1860s thousands of free immigrants had entered Queensland through the port of Maryborough. The trade of supplying the goldfields discovered at Gympie in 1867 also went through Maryborough.
\nOf the early Queensland towns that existed by the time of Separation from New South Wales in 1859, only Maryborough retains most of its originally occupied town site in an open, undeveloped state. The original settlement areas of Brisbane (including at Redcliffe), Dalby, Drayton, Gayndah, Gladstone, Ipswich, Rockhampton, Toowoomba and Warwick have all been developed and are currently occupied.
\nThe site of the original Maryborough town site is largely still undeveloped. Signs were erected in a 1988 Bicentennial project to indicate the sites of various historical structures. Although the site of McAdam's house, southeast of the intersection of George and Aldridge Streets, is now freehold land outside the heritage boundary, the locations of all the remaining buildings of the settlement, as mapped by Labatt in 1850, remain undeveloped in 2015. As indicated in a 1987 archaeological study, the river receded from its 1850s waterline, and waterholes and streams in the area silted over. The vast majority of the surface evidence of the settlement was removed or obscured by the combined effects of flooding or human intervention. The site was periodically flooded and over a metre of silt was deposited on the river terrace where Furber Street is located. Sugar cane was grown over part of the site in the early twentieth century and fossickers have also combed the area for souvenirs.
\nIn 1919 a farmhouse was moved onto the northwest end of the site, near where Palmer's inn stood, but it has been since removed, along with its outbuildings. Cane farming on the pasture that lies to the northwest of the current parkland has resulted in a long mound running parallel to, and to the east of, Queen Street. A Maryborough City Council sewerage treatment plant was built near the location of Aldridge's inn, but was removed by 1987. A long thin mound running through the pasture parallel to, and to the west of, Queen Street may be related to this. The site of the plant's tank was the circular hollow between the sites of the first and second of Aldridge's inns. The stone and concrete jetty near the mouth of Muddy Creek is close to the alignment of Furber's wharf, but was built for the STP outfall pipe.
\nIn 2007, an archaeological investigation was conducted within an area of the known built township that extended outside (northwest) the then state heritage register boundary. This area encompasses one-third of the buildings of the settlement, and accommodated a variety of activities - residential, commercial, administrative and stock rearing. Structures within this area included Palmer's Inn, Palmer's Store, Blackman's hut, store and enclosed yard, the gaol, Emanuel Thorpe's hut and enclosed yard, and several huts. The archaeological investigations revealed artefacts and features dating to the historical occupation period, including deposits of bottle glass, moulded tobacco pipes, porcelain and stoneware fragments, as well as personal items such as a brass button and a copper half penny.
\nAdditional targeted archaeological investigations were undertaken in this area in 2015, taking advantage of improved access to historical occupation layers (due to the removal of later structures) and improved mapping technology. The investigations revealed isolated finds in the disturbed topsoil, as well as in-situ artefact deposits and features located in the relatively undisturbed subsoil clays. The majority of features were encountered on the west side of the study area, and included a number of post holes and pits containing deposits of ceramic bottles and glass gin bottles dating from the historical settlement. The decontextualised artefacts (including fragments of blue transfer ware, black and green glass, clay pipes, and earthen ware) found across the study area also have the potential to reveal important information about the occupation and abandonment of the site.
","criteria":"The Original Maryborough Town Site demonstrates the evolution of early settlements in Queensland's history, in particular the movement of pastoralists and timber-getters into the Wide Bay district in the 1840s, and their need for a safe port to ship their products and to bring in supplies.
Established in 1848 and largely abandoned by 1856, the town site provides relatively undisturbed evidence of early European occupation in the Wide Bay Region. Its abandonment reflects the need to establish a viable settlement with better river access.
|The Original Maryborough Town Site is unique among the early town sites of Queensland. Of those towns in existence by the time of Separation from New South Wales in 1859, Maryborough is the only one that retains most of its originally occupied town site in an open, relatively undeveloped condition.
|As a rare example of an early and substantial Queensland town site that has remained in a relatively undeveloped state since its abandonment, the Original Maryborough Town Site has the potential to yield information that will contribute to our understanding of Queensland's history.
\n
Archaeological investigation may provide evidence of the town's occupants and their material culture, the layout and buildings of the settlement, burials, early streets and industrial sites such as sawpits, yards and jetties that together may provide a more complete and accurate understanding of this important and early Queensland settlement.
The abandonment of the town site, the subsequent lack of development, and regular flooding that has deposited a protective layer of alluvium over the lower areas of the site, means the site has the potential to reveal, through archaeological investigation, important and new information about everyday life and work in an early Queensland settlement. While the upper northwest part of the site has been subject to disturbance from farming activities and erosion, the potential remains to encounter artefacts and features dating to the historical occupation period in this area.
The Central Mill ruins are located on the banks of the Mary River about 11 kilometres southwest of Maryborough. The major visible built features on the site are:
Fig trees
Features 1a and 1b Two large fig trees 6.3 metres apart, which were planted at the entrance to the mill site.
Holding tank
Feature 5 A brick lined holding tank with a diameter of 4.7 metres.
Ruins of house 1
Feature 7 ruins of manager's house, washed away in 1893.
Mill chimneystack
Feature 11 A chimneystack, square in plan and constructed of red bricks with arched openings to the east and west at ground level. It has stone foundations.
Stone flooring
Feature 12 A section of stone mill flooring.
Underground tank
Feature 13 An underground metal storage tank, recently filled with rubble.
Metal tank
Feature 14 A rectangular juice tank measuring 1.17 x 2.47 metres constructed of riveted iron plates. Directly behind this is a section of rubble stone wall
Slagheap
Feature 15 A lime slagheap 6.3 metres wide. Beside this are the remains of a stone base, possibly from a small chimneystack or furnace. A range of metal artefacts is located in the immediate area including rings and pipes.
Tramway Cutting
Feature 16/17/22 A tramway cutting between the first river terrace and the riverbank where the jetty once was. It is currently obscured by vegetation.
","history":"The ruins of the Central Sugar Mill, overlooking the Mary River at Yengarie, are the remains of an industrial complex that was constructed in 1866 as a purpose built sugar mill and refinery. It serviced many sugar plantations in the area before closing in the late 1890s.
Sugar cane had been first brought to Australia in 1788 but subsequent plantings at Sydney, Port Macquarie and Norfolk Island failed to be commercially viable. Captain Louis Hope grew a cane crop successfully in Queensland in 1862. By 1864 the first commercial sugar mill in Australia had been established by him at Ormiston and interest in growing sugar cane spread rapidly. By the end of the decade cane was being cultivated further north at Maryborough, Mackay and Bundaberg, where the warmer climate proved more suitable for cane growing.
In 1862 John Buhot, originally from Barbados, in the West Indies, experimentally produced sugar granules from cane grown in the Brisbane Botanical Gardens, demonstrating its potential as a commercial crop in Queensland. A number of farmers were interested in growing cane, but little was known about its cultivation in local conditions, or about the production of sugar. In October 1864, Buhot came to Maryborough to purchase plants from John Eaton who was growing an experimental cane crop. While there, he gave a lecture at the School of Arts on the cultivation and manufacture of sugar to a large audience. While in Maryborough, Buhot also trialled sugar production from some of Eaton's crop with promising results. Eaton and others formed the Maryborough Sugar Company in August 1865 and purchased 400 acres at Tinana for a plantation and mill. Several blocks were under cane by 1865 and the first crop was crushed by primitive methods producing a coarse yellow sugar.
Local timber millers Frederick Gladwell and Robert Greathead decided to construct a central mill that would process cane from a number of surrounding farms. Buhot was engaged to design the mill complex and supervise the production of sugar. In July 1866 tender notices were placed in the Maryborough Chronicle for the manufacture of 50,000 bricks for mill buildings and for the erection of a 'New Sugar Manufactory'. John Murray undertook the brickwork, stone flooring was quarried locally and machinery was obtained from Sydney. By September, wharves were constructed on the riverbank below the refinery in order to accommodate sugar cane punts. Vessels carrying goods to and from the Central Mill also used the wharves. A large cutting was made in the riverbank for a rail line between the mill and the river. This was operated by a rope and windlass to transport goods and equipment up and down the embankment. Written agreements were obtained from local farmers regarding the supply of cane. It was a major commitment by both the partners and the farmers producing the 'new' crop.
Unfortunately, an accident in October 1866 damaged the machinery and a boiler, which delayed crushing until February 1867. The late crush produced low sugar content and a very dark sugar. The enterprise experienced difficulties due to the small scale of the refinery, primitive equipment and inexperience. Although by September 1867 a fine light brown sugar was being produced, the problems of the business were compounded by an explosion and by a labour shortage caused by the discovery of gold at Gympie. In October the mill was operating night and day, but by November, it had closed due to financial problems.
The Australia Joint Stock Bank foreclosed on the mortgage and plant from the operation was sold at auction in Sydney in December 1867. Sale notices itemised a steam engine and boiler, evaporating pans, two large hardwood cane punts, a trolley with iron wheels with ratchet, a Cornish boiler and a tramway from the wharf.
The Central Mill was sold to John Meiklejohn who expanded the capacity of the mill and installed more modern equipment including centrifugals instead of the old-fashioned drainage boxes. He also installed a still for manufacturing rum that was in operation from July 1868. His first season produced a fine dry yellow sugar and by 1869 20,733 gallons of rum also.
In early November 1868 the Maryborough Chronicle reported that the mill's end of season production was estimated to be 70 tons of sugar and 75 hogsheads of rum. The first shipment of locally produced rum left Maryborough on 11 November when 19 hogsheads from the Central Mill and 20 tons of sugar left on board the Saxonia for Sydney. In 1869/1870 William Gibson, who had operated a sugar mill near Brisbane, purchased the Central Mill, which he ran until the mid 1880s. However, by 1877 the Central was operating only as a juice mill, crushing growers' cane and delivering the juice to the nearby Yengarie Refinery. This had been established by Tooth & Cran in 1867 and was upgraded in 1871 to be a large modern refinery producing a high quality white sugar.
The 1890s brought problems due to depressed sugar prices and major changes in the sugar industry. Central mills servicing independent white farmers replaced the big plantations run by indentured labour, licenses to recruit Melanesian workers having ceased after December 1890. A number of plantations and mills closed and, by 1892, it was reported that much of the land along the Mary River was no longer under cultivation, or was growing crops other than sugar.
Cran purchased the Central Mill in the early 1890s but a major flood in 1893 damaged plantations and farms along the river and caused severe damage to the mill and to Yengarie Refinery. This closed in 1899 and the Central Mill was taken over by the Kersnovske family, becoming the Central Plantation. The family continued to grow sugar cane and later operated the property as a dairy farm. In more recent times, up to 5000 head of beef cattle have been grazed on the property.
The Central Mill structures gradually fell into disrepair and now comprise one intact chimney and the base of another, remains of structures, vats and tanks and a dam and tramway formation.
Several other related sites survive in the Yengarie area, including the remains of the Yengarie Refinery [600970].
","criteria":"The ruins of the Central Sugar Mill are evidence for an early industrial enterprise that made an important contribution to the development of the sugar industry in Queensland. The sugar industry has been of great importance to the development of Queensland for its contribution to the economy and to the pattern of European settlement. The Yengarie area was the site of some of the earliest sugar plantations and mills in Queensland. The Central Mill was one of the earliest places in Maryborough to produce sugar and crushed cane from many small farms, foreshadowing the later importance of central mills to the development of the sugar industry in Queensland.
|The Central Plantation Sugar Mill ruins are rare as an early sugar mill, refinery and distillery in Queensland.
|The ruins of the Central Plantation Sugar Mill have the potential to reveal further information about the operation of the sugar industry in Queensland in the 19th century.
|The remains include characteristic features of a sugar mill and refinery including chimneys, underground vats, partial formations of a cane tramway and a dam which illustrate the processes involved
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion C | Criterion D","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 has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland's history | The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":19674,"place_ref":602556,"name":"Second World War RAAF Buildings, Maryborough Airport","alternate_name":"WWII RAAF Buildings | World War Two RAAF Buildings","street_address":"Saltwater Creek Road","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2007-03-23","description":"The Maryborough Airport is located to the north west of the city centre off Saltwater Road. It has two runways; the main runway is bitumen surfaced and is 1587 metres long. The cross strip is grassed and is 885 metres long.
There are trees dotted along the entrance road, though it is unknown if any of the trees are wartime plantings. To the left of the drive is an open area. To the right hand side of the drive is a row of Second World War structures. These comprise :
Building A - the former inflammables store, is a small building, square in plan, and set on a concrete slab. It is clad in fibrous cement sheeting and has a hipped roof clad in corrugated iron and topped with a large ventilator. It is currently used for storage.
Building B, the former Motor Transport Garage, is a rectangular building with a skillion roof. Its walls and roof are clad in corrugated iron and it has six narrow roller doors along the long axis facing away from the drive. It has casement windows on the northern side, two of which have sheet metal sunhoods with scalloped edges. It is now used for storage.
Building C is a set of latrines and is a rectangular building clad in corrugated set on a concrete slab. It has a gabled roof clad in corrugated iron. There is a narrow band of glass louvres set below the eaves.
Building D is an adapted P1 hut and was the former Hospital/Sick Quarters, now used for community purposes. It is a rectangular building set on low stumps and clad in horizontal corrugated iron. sheeting. It has a gabled roof clad in corrugated iron and what appears to have been a wide front verandah is now built in with casement windows. There is an extension at the rear. There are sheet metal canopies with scalloped edges suspended over the doors.
Building E is also a P1 hut and was formerly used as a parachute-packing shed. It is now the airport terminal and has had some alterations made for this purpose, including the adding of a covered baggage area.
To the north of the terminal and near the edge of the tarmac are:
Building F, a Bellman aircraft hangar. This is a prefabricated galvanised iron structure with a concrete floor. It has a low-pitched gabled roof and large sliding doors running along channels across the front.
Building G, which is also a P1 hut and is probably the most intact. It has a wide veranda facing the runways and was formerly a Flight Office. The Maryborough Aero Club now uses it.
","history":"The Second World War buildings at Maryborough airport were constructed during the early 1940s as part of the facilities of a military aerodrome serving Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) No 3 Wireless Air Gunner School and No 3 Air Navigation School. Following the war, Maryborough City Council redeveloped the aerodrome as a civil airport retaining these buildings in use.
Maryborough was established in the late 1840s to supply sheep stations on the Burnett River and provide an outlet for their wool. It was a port of entry and during the 1860s and 1870s Maryborough flourished as the principal port of the nearby Gympie goldfield and as an outlet for timber and sugar. The establishment of manufacturing plants and primary industries sustained its growth as a major regional centre. As such, it had a small civil airfield before the Second World War.
In 1938, in response to the threatened outbreak of war, an Australian Air Force was developed, which included the establishment of a major base at Amberley in southern Queensland. Following the First World War and the development of civil aviation in the 1920s and 30s, it had become apparent that air power would play an important role modern warfare. At the outbreak of war in 1939, urgent consideration was given not only to the construction of aeroplanes, but also to the training of technicians, pilots and aircrew. It was realised that although British factories could step up production of aeroplanes and equipment, it would not be able to train all of the aircrew needed to operate them.
The Empire Training Scheme (EATS) was set up in December 1939 and was an agreement between Britain and the Dominions, particularly Canada, Australia and New Zealand, for aircrews to be trained in those countries for service with the Royal Air Force. Australia agreed initially to provide 28,000 personnel over three years; a time span later extended, and eventually trained some 37,000 airmen. All Australian trainees did their initial training in Australia; 7/9ths completed their training here and 2/9ths doing advanced training overseas before being posted to squadrons involved in the defence of Britain and the conduct of the war in Europe, North Africa and the Mediterranean. The EATS scheme was conducted through 49 airfields in Australia, Queensland having EATS units at Amberley, Archerfield, Bundaberg, Kingaroy, Maryborough and Sandgate. Maryborough was chosen as a base for a Wireless Air Gunner School (3 WAGS) and an Air Navigation School (3 ANS).
The site was secured for RAAF use in December 1940 under the provisions of National Security (General) Regulations, but the existing airfield was inadequate and the Air Board set about acquiring more land to extend runways and facilities. The aerodrome covered an area of approximately 355 acres comprising the civil aerodrome on State land vested in the trusteeship of Maryborough City Council (133 acres), several holdings owned by the Council (84 acres), land held by 15 different private owners and public roads (138 acres). The land acquired was partially developed and included a sawmill, service station and several dairies. £257,928 was allocated for buildings, construction works, engineering services, furniture and fittings. By April 1941 the land was being cleared and runways and buildings constructed. The training school was opened 18 September 1941 and the first intake was on November 16 when work was still being carried out.
On 7 December 1941 the United States of America entered the war following the bombing of American ships by Japanese aircraft at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii. The EATS scheme was suspended for reassessment in response to the perceived threat to Australia. However, Australia initially had few planes and it was decided in February 1942 by the War Cabinet to continue the scheme but retain enough aircrew in Australia to crew home and Pacific based squadrons and recall some experienced aircrew. Australian and American personnel poured into Queensland as plans for the defence of Australia and the conduct of the war in the Pacific were quickly implemented.
The demand on materials, services and labour was beyond the scope of local resources and manufacture. Queensland had a small population and no heavy manufacturing, as the southern states had. The first buildings erected at the outbreak of war were 'P' series huts, pre-cut of timber and galvanised iron and assembled on site. There are three huts of this type remaining at Maryborough. A prefabrication scheme was then proposed whereby components were made in the south, shipped to where they were needed and assembled on site. Designs took into account the scarcity of labour and of some materials. Bellman aircraft hangars were such prefabricated buildings and contracts were let for the construction of two Bellman hangars for Maryborough.
The war in the Pacific quickly escalated as the Philippines and Singapore were attacked by Japan. Darwin was first bombed on 19 February 1942 and 14,000 Australians were taken prisoner following the fall of Singapore in February 1942.
From April 1942, Maryborough's activities included Recruit Training. No 3 Recruit Depot operated at Maryborough until July 1943 and No 6 Recruit Depot from November 1944 to June 1945. These units gave basic training to about 4000 recruits. Women (WAAFs) were also stationed at Maryborough.
The strategic air bases moved north following the theatres of the air campaign. The Battle of the Coral Sea took place in early May 1942 and the Battle of Midway in June 1942. Japanese troops landed at Gona on the north coast of Papua New Guinea on 21 July 1942. Hospitals at airfields were to be readied as field hospital for expected incoming battle causalities.
Maryborough aerodrome facilities were also used for airframe overhaul and a third and fourth Bellman hangar were erected at Maryborough sometime in 1944, though on 15 August 1944 it was decided to close number 3 WAGS Maryborough and train Wireless Operators at Ballarat instead. The facilities at the base were then used by RAAF 1 Radar School. The training school closed on closed on 6 December 1944.
Following the victory in Europe in May 1945 the Royal Navy formed the British Pacific Fleet. In June 1945 HMS Nabstock unit arrived in Maryborough. This was a MONAB , a mobile naval air base for training crew and the assembly of aircraft for the British Pacific Fleet. A number of Royal Navy Air Squadrons were based in Maryborough until late 1945. The RAAF station was closed after the departure of the last of these, MONAB VI HMS Nabstock in November 1945.
Following the cessation of hostilities, control of the aerodrome was transferred to the Department of Civil Aviation on 31 July 1946. There were 127 buildings on site at its peak and all those not needed by Civil Aviation needs were processed for disposal. Civil Aviation elected to retain the hospital, motor transport garages, two hangars, a flight office, a workshop, store, inflammables store and two latrines. One of the hangars was later removed, though most of the selected buildings remain on site. Some concrete slabs and other traces of RAAF buildings can still be seen dotted about the airport. The runways have been resurfaced and the third cross strip existing during the war has gone. The tree lined entrance drive is still the main access to the airport.
The airport is owned and operated by Maryborough Shire Council. It is an active civil facility regularly used by private and chartered aircraft, crop sprayers and maintenance enterprises and by the Maryborough Aero Club.
","criteria":"The surviving RAAF buildings at Maryborough airport are important in illustrating the measures taken for the training of aircrew during the Second World War under the Empire Training School scheme. Aircrew trained at Maryborough served with the RAF in many theatres of war and with the RAAF. The base was also used for training naval pilots to serve with the British Pacific Fleet.
|The Bellman hangar and field hospital are now uncommon in Queensland as examples of their type still in their original locations.
|Although most of the buildings that were on site during the Second World War have been removed, those remaining are indicative of the types of buildings and facilities constructed and which were necessary for the operation of a wartime air base. These include a hangar, flight office, field hospital, parachute packing shed, motor transport garage, inflammables store and latrines. In conjunction with wartime records and plans these buildings demonstrate the function of the aerodrome.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion D","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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":31875,"place_ref":602771,"name":"Colonsay Farm (former Doolong Farm)","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"125 Doolong Road","suburb":"KAWUNGAN","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2011-03-11","description":"Colonsay Farm is located on Doolong Road, at Kawungan in the southern portion of the City of Hervey Bay, and the farm buildings are accessed by a track that runs south from Doolong Road. The 1940s dairy sits about 170 m north of the c1909 house. The separator shed is about 20 m south-east of the house, under a large tree. The slab barn is about 60 m south-east of the house, and two piggeries are located just to the south of the barn.
The 1940s dairy is a rectangular timber building, partly open to the east. It has single-skin walls clad with weatherboards and a gabled roof clad with metal sheets which extends to cover a small verandah to the north-east. The building is divided into three sections by two internal walls lined with vertical boards. From north to south these include: a hay storage room with a doorway to the east, and corrugated iron cladding to part of the west wall; a 'walk-through' style bail section open to the yards to the east, with four bails and four exit doors in the west wall, along with stainless steel milk lines above the bails; and the milk room, containing a cream separator, milk cooling equipment, power board, electric motor and other machinery, two benches, wash trough and doors to the east and south. Floors are formed in concrete. Yards lie to the northeast and north of the dairy and are enclosed with timber post and rail fences. There is a concrete water tank to the south of the building.
The c1909 house is highset on timber stumps, with an understorey screened with timber battens. The basic plan of the house, which faces to the northeast, consists of a pyramid roofed central section which houses three bedrooms and a lounge, and a kitchen/bathroom wing which extends southwest from the northern rear corner of the house. There are verandahs to the northeast, southeast and southwest. The northwest end of the northeast verandah has been enclosed with weatherboards and timber louvres, and the southeast verandah is enclosed with weatherboards and casement windows to form several small rooms. The L-shaped southwest verandah is enclosed with fibrous cement sheeting, and the section of this verandah along the southeast side of the kitchen wing has become a dining room. There is a stove recess clad with corrugated metal sheeting at the southwest end of the kitchen. An internal stairway runs from the enclosed southwest verandah down to the understorey. Internal walls are lined with vertical timber boards.
The separator shed/cream house is a small, windowless, timber-framed structure clad with weatherboards. It is located under a large fig tree, stands on a concrete slab and has a steeply pitched roof clad with corrugated metal sheeting. There is a doorway on the south side and ventilation gaps with wire netting at the top of each wall. Inside the shed are some timber shelves fixed to the wall studs.
The slab barn is a gable roofed structure with two skillion roofed side rooms, to the east and west. Large round timber posts form the frame of the building, and the walls of the central gabled section are clad in corrugated metal sheeting. The walls of the skillion side sections to the east and west are constructed with vertical timber slabs and some corrugated metal sheeting. The eastern skillion section contains four cow bails formed by timber posts and rails. At the head of the bails small hatches are cut into the wall, enabling the cows to be fed chaff prepared in the centre section of the barn.
The two piggeries stand south of the slab barn, with timber yards and low shelters consisting of timber frames with skillion roofs clad with corrugated metal sheeting.
Structures on the site which are not considered to be of heritage significance include: a vehicle shed located between the slab barn and the house; and two open vehicle sheds located south-east of the house, just east of the separator shed.
","history":"'Colonsay' (formerly known as Doolong Farm) at Kawungan in Hervey Bay stands on 62.9 hectares (155.4 acres) of a former 80.9 hectare (200 acre) farm selected by a Danish immigrant in 1879. The existing structures were built during the first half of the 20th century, the high point of dairying in Queensland, and they illustrate past dairy farming practices in the Wide Bay region. The farm complex includes a c1909 residence, a slab barn with early hand milking dairy, a separator shed/cream house, two piggeries and a 1940s walk-through electrified dairy with yards.
European settlement at Hervey Bay began with the establishment of the pastoral run Dalgaroom (16,000 acres) in the mid 1850s, and timbergetting commenced in the district in the mid 1860s. Under the Crown Lands Alienation Act (1868) the entire Wide Bay region was declared a settled area and large land holdings were no longer permitted. Dalgaroom run was reduced to 14,000 acres and renamed Toogoom, while the balance of the land was set aside for a railway reserve. From 1870 the Toogoom run was resumed and cut into blocks for sale. Many selectors around Hervey Bay were Danish immigrants, arriving from 1871 as part of an assisted migration scheme. Farms in the Pialba area grew fruit, maize and potatoes, but they did not prosper beyond a subsistence level until the railway from Colton to Pialba opened in December 1896.
Another crop grown by local selectors was sugar. Four small sugar mills operated at Pialba in the 1880s, including a mill opened in 1883 by Hansen and Jorgensen, just southeast of Colonsay farm. Although all the Pialba mills had closed by 1889, following the opening of the railway to Pialba the district became a major supplier of cane to the Maryborough Sugar Factory, Mount Bauple Central Mill, Doolbi Mill and Isis Central Mill.
Besides sugar, a potential source of income for local farmers was dairy farming, which did not develop as a major industry in Queensland until the early 20th century. Initially, Queensland pastoralists or local farmers kept a few cows for domestic purposes, and small dairy operations supplied milk and butter to limited local markets. However, a combination of introduced grass species, technological advances, improved transportation networks and government encouragement through legislation encouraged the rise of commercial dairy farming in Queensland.
The advent of mechanical cream separators in Australia in the 1880s, the Babcock butterfat test in the 1890s, government grading of butter and the start of refrigerated shipping from Brisbane in 1884 also helped to encourage dairying. In addition, the spread of Queensland's railway network meant that some cream could be easily transported to butter factories and butter could be carried from the factories to ports for export. A further impetus for dairying was the Co-operative movement, where producers held shares in the enterprises that processed and sold their product.
In 1926 about 78% of Queensland's milk production went into making butter, and in 1928 about 10% of Queensland's population was largely dependent on the dairy industry. By 1929 the Wide Bay district (of which Hervey Bay was a part) was the second highest milk producer after the Moreton District. However, when the dairy industry declined in Queensland from the 1950s onwards, due to increased competition, a loss of butter markets and higher overheads, many farmers either switched to bulk milk production or left the industry. While some old dairies were upgraded by those farmers who remained in the industry, the rest were demolished, used for storage or left derelict.
In the Pialba district in the 1890s cream separators were too expensive for individual farmers to buy, and as a result a creamery opened at Aalborg (named after the town in Denmark). Creameries separated the cream from milk, so the cream could then be sent to a butter factory, and the farmers could take the remaining skim milk home to feed to their calves or pigs. Due to this process pig farming became a common adjunct to dairy farming. In 1901 a butter factory opened at Maryborough and Pialba farmers were able to buy their own cream separators from the factory, on credit against future payments for their cream.
Both sugar and cream have been produced on Colonsay, a farm which was first established by Anders Jensen. Born in Aalborg, Denmark in 1848 Jensen had fought in the Second Schleswig War of 1864. He arrived in Queensland on 4 March 1871 on the ship Reichstag out of Hamburg, along with 328 other immigrants, mostly Danes and Germans. Of the 6400 Danes in Australia by 1891, about half lived in Queensland, and as skilled farmers they played an important role in the Australian dairy industry.
Jensen married Magdalena (Madeline) Mortensen in Maryborough in 1872 and in January 1879 he applied to lease land in the parish of Urangan, County of March, under the Crown Lands Alienation Act (1876). Jensen resided on this selection, located about 4.5 km northeast of Aalborg, from March of 1879 and Portion number 1212, of 200 acres, was surveyed in May of that year. The survey map indicated that the land was covered with 'heavy forest' in the north and 'scrub' in the south.
Portion 1212 was inspected in June 1883, and a rough map produced from this inspection shows that Jensen's house was situated in the south-east corner of the selection. This was a four roomed house, built with pine palings and covered with pine shingles. Other structures included a kitchen, fowl house, stable, pig house, and underground tank. Out of a total of 10 acres of scrub cleared and burnt, five acres of land were planted with sugar cane, and the rest was planted with corn, potatoes and fruit trees. The uncultivated land was used for cattle and horses.
Jensen applied to purchase his selection of 2nd Class pastoral land in November 1883. A Deed of Grant was registered to Jensen in February 1884, and later that month the farm was transferred to James Buchanan. Jensen repurchased the farm from Buchanan's widow early in 1902, and later that year he sold 40 acres of the farm (in the southeast corner, which included the site of his first house) to Hans Jorgensen. Anders Jensen is listed in the Queensland Post Office Directory as a farmer at Pialba from 1900 to 1910 and when his wife Magdalena died in June 1906 Anders is listed on her death certificate as living at Doolong Farm, Urangan. Anders died in 1923.
Doolong farm was sold to Alexander Macpherson, a railway guard, in late 1909. According to the Macpherson family the current farmhouse was built around this time, using timber from the property. While the current house was being constructed the Macphersons lived in another house (built by either Buchanan or Jensen) located very close by, but this later burnt down. A joint title for Alexander Macpherson and his son Alexander Macpherson junior was registered in February 1913, and the latter received full title to the land in February 1925. Both men and their wives lived in the c1909 house for several years prior to the younger Macpherson's sole ownership of the farm, and louvres were added to the front veranda to form a sitting area for the younger couple. At this time sugar was grown on the southern part of the farm, while the front 100 acres was used for grazing. The slab barn southeast of the house, with its handmilking bails at its east side, was most likely built by the Macphersons.
Alexander Macpherson junior died in April 1944, and the farm was transferred to Harold Spall in 1945 and then to Heinrich Steinhardt in 1949. Steinhardt grew sugar cane, ran a small dairy herd, and grew some small crops and melons. The paling fence in front of the house may have been built during his occupation, and the 'walk-through' electrified dairy north of the house was probably built in the 1940s, either by Spall or Steinhardt. The old walk-through style of dairy has now been superseded within the dairy industry by herringbone or rotary-style dairies. Later owners of the farm included Herbert and Marjorie Dunn (1952) and Thomas and Rose Cornwell (1954). Walker and Jean Redman owned the farm briefly in 1968, and moved the dairy cows to another property, before the farm was resold to Marshall John McFie and Mavis Joan McFie, who moved in later that year.
After the McFies purchased the farm (which they named after the McFie clan's ancestral home, an island off the west coast of Scotland) they made some changes to the house, including enclosing the southeast verandah with casement windows and weatherboards, and relining the walls of the enclosed southwest verandah adjacent to the kitchen. Small residential blocks were subdivided off the farm for the McFie's children in 1984, 1986 and 1994, along with some land for road purposes, and by 2008 the farm covered 155.4 acres (62.9 hectares). It is now used for beef cattle, and is slowly being enveloped by new housing estates as the urban area of Hervey Bay expands.
","criteria":"Colonsay Farm demonstrates a way of life, a function and a land use that was once common but is now uncommon. Small scale dairying was once a common means of earning regular income for farmers in rural areas of Queensland, particularly in the Wide Bay and Burnett region. After dairying declined in Queensland, many older dairy buildings were destroyed, abandoned or adapted for storage as farmers either left the industry or upgraded their buildings.
Farm complexes such as Colonsay, which still contain all the intact main elements of a pre-1950 dairy farm, such as a house, walk-through dairy, piggery, and separator shed or cream house, are increasingly uncommon.
|Colonsay Farm is an intact example of a small, family-operated dairy farm, developed in the early 20th century. Comprising a c1909 house with a fenced front yard, an early 20th century slab barn with cow bails, a 1940s walk-through dairy with yards, a separator shed/cream house under a large fig (ficus) tree and two piggeries, it includes many of the principal characteristics of an early dairy farm.
|Colonsay Farm is an intact example of a small, early 20th century family dairy farm. It provides important evidence of the development of dairying in the Wide Bay District, a region which became the second highest milk producing area in Queensland. Dairy farming was once an important and widespread agricultural activity in Queensland, with about 10% of Queensland's population being largely dependent on the dairy industry by 1928.
The two types of dairy sheds on the farm, the handmilking bails in the slab barn, and the later 'walk-through' dairy with electrically operated milking machines, demonstrate two phases in the evolution of dairy farming technology in Queensland.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion B | Criterion D | Criterion A","criteria_definitions":"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 in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":null,"place_ref":650026,"name":"Pialba Memorial Cenotaph","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Freedom Park, Main Street","suburb":"PIALBA","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2016-05-06","description":"The Pialba Memorial Cenotaph stand within a 0.82ha area known as Freedom Park, on the corner of Main Street and Charles Street in the suburb of Pialba, in Hervey Bay. The site is bounded by residential properties to the west and commercial premises with parking facilities to the south. The open park setting contains level grassed areas, mature shade trees, and various modern landscaping features and memorial structures.
\nOnly the cenotaph is considered to be of state heritage significance. The memorial hall is considered to be of local heritage significance.
\nMemorial Cenotaph
\nThe Pialba Memorial Cenotaph is located at the southern end of Freedom Park and is axially sited at the junction of modern concrete pathways from Main Street and Charles Street. The memorial comprises a decorative white marble pedestal on a light-brown freestone base, centred on a stepped, dark granite platform.
\nThe squat stone base is square in plan, with rock-faced sides and a dressed top with bevelled edges. The pedestal has moulded, stepped sections and decorative leaded panels to each face, listing 22 men from the district who fell (on the east panel) and 90 men who served (30 each on the north, west and south panels) in WWI. The decorative cornice features carved lilies and foliage, and is crowned by a plain carved aedicule with triangular pediments. A metal globe, comprised of a welded frame with the continents attached in sheet metal, has been inserted into the top of the aedicule.
\nInscriptions to the bottom of the pedestal commemorate major conflicts including the: SECOND WORLD WAR 1939-45 (east); KOREAN WAR 1950-53 (south); MALAYSIA 1950-60 and BORNEO 1963-66 (west); and VIETNAM WAR 1962-72 (north). The east face of the shaft bears the inscription ‘THIS STONE WAS ERECTED BY THE CITIZENS OF PIALBA & DISTRICT IN HONOUR OF THE MEN WHO SERVED AND FELL IN THE GREAT WAR. 1914-1919.’
\nThe modern granite platform, metal globe and stencilled concrete paths are not of cultural significance.
\nLandscape Features and Other Structures
\nMature trees, including figs (Ficus spp.), are located to the west and north of the cenotaph, and to the north of the hall. The relocated former Pialba railway station building is positioned to the west of the cenotaph. A recently dedicated Light Horse Memorial is situated to the west of the hall and various other modern memorial plaques are positioned throughout Freedom Park.
\n","history":"
The Pialba Memorial Cenotaph in Freedom Park, Pialba, in Hervey Bay, was unveiled on Sunday 17 July 1921, in honour of the men of the district who left to serve in World War I (WWI), and those who died. Originally sited near the eastern boundary of a railway reserve to the west of Main Street, in the late 1990s the marble pillar on its freestone plinth was moved about 30m westwards to its current position, where it was mounted on a modern granite platform, set amongst the paths, grass and trees of Freedom Park. The Pialba Memorial Cenotaph is important in demonstrating Queensland's involvement in a major world event. As a focus for ANZAC Day ceremonies it is highly valued by the Hervey Bay community for its spiritual, symbolic, cultural and social associations.
\nPialba is now a suburb of the city of Hervey Bay. European settlement at Hervey Bay began with the establishment of the pastoral run Dalgaroom (16,000 acres) in the mid-1850s, and timber-getting commenced in the district in the mid-1860s. Dalgaroom run was reduced to 14,000 acres and renamed Toogoom, which was later resumed and surveyed as farming portions from 1870.[1] Farms in the Pialba area grew fruit, maize and potatoes, but they did not prosper until the railway line from Colton (on the North Coast Railway) to Pialba opened on 18 December 1896.[2] Other local industries have included sugar growing and dairy farming. In 1905 Pialba was referred to as ‘a township and favourite watering place [waterside resort area] for Maryborough’, with a population of 292 (1901 census), within a district with a population of 5000. [3] The railway, as well as transporting the produce of local farms, was utilised by seaside excursion trains and special picnic trains, generally run in conjunction with railway employee picnics, originating in Bundaberg, Gympie or Maryborough.
\nLike all Australian communities, Pialba was impacted by WWI, fought from 1914 to 1918. Of the 330,770 Australians who embarked for overseas service in WWI, 58,961 died and 170,909 were wounded, went missing or became prisoners of war.[4] Even before the end of hostilities, memorials were being erected by Australian communities to honour local people who had served and died. These memorials were a spontaneous and highly visible expression of national grief; substitute graves for the Australians whose bodies lay in battlefield cemeteries in Europe and the Middle East.[5]
\nFund-raising for local war memorials was a voluntary community effort, as no State Governments, other than Victoria, made direct grants for local WWI memorials except for the building of halls, hospitals and schools, which were eligible for public money whether or not they were memorials.[6]
\nWWI memorials took a variety of forms in Australia, including honour boards (from 1915), stone monuments (including obelisks, soldier statues, arches, crosses, columns or urns), tree-lined memorial avenues, memorial parks, and utilitarian structures such as gates, halls and clocks. In Queensland the soldier statue was the most popular choice of monument, while the obelisk predominated in southern states.
\nThe argument over whether a war memorial should simply be a monument, or have a utilitarian function, was had all over Australia. Post-WWI, most Australian localities decided on a monumental approach (60%), with only 22% choosing utilitarian buildings (mostly memorial halls) and 18% choosing the compromise position of utilitarian monuments (such as memorial clocks or drinking fountains). After World War II (WWII) the utilitarian form of memorial increased in popularity.[7]
\nPialba chose a monument for its war memorial, although some had preferred a memorial school of arts building.[8] In late 1918 Councillor W Whitaker and AEV Whitford, MLA, asked the Commissioner for Railways for a suitable site for a memorial ‘for fallen soldiers’, and a site was granted in Station Square, an open area between the Pialba railway station building and Main Street, by August 1918.[9] The location was apt, as many of the men would have departed via the railway station. The Pialba Farewell and Reception Committee (established c.1917) directed the movement, through a memorial committee. The memorial was to consist of a marble monument, with four panels (one on each face of the monument) listing the names of those who enlisted from the district and those who had died.[10]
\nPialba’s war memorial took several years to realise. The monument’s foundation stone, of freestone, was laid by Private Harry Aldridge on 14 December 1918.[11] By this time over £200 had been raised for the memorial by locals, but the delayed arrival of the Italian white marble for the monument’s pillar meant the finished memorial was not unveiled until 17 July 1921.[12] During the course of the campaign to erect the monument, the committee responsible met in the local shire hall.[13] The contractor for the monument was FW Webb of Maryborough, and the architect was POE Hawkes.[14]
\nHawkes, who also designed the Maryborough War Memorial, was born in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales in 1882. He worked as an architect in Wagga Wagga, Perth, Melbourne and Launceston before being employed in a temporary position by the Queensland Government in 1909. He subsequently worked in Maryborough, Bundaberg and Kingaroy, forming a partnership as Hawkes and Palmer in Kingaroy and Maryborough between 1914 and 1917. In 1919 he was employed by the Commonwealth Government as District Adviser, registering as an architect (Qld) in 1930.[15]
\nThe monument’s final design included octagonal curbing, and iron posts with wrought iron rails, and these were still extant in a 1950 photo of the monument, which also shows the Pialba Memorial Hall immediately to the north.[16] The base of the marble pillar was inscribed with the words ‘This stone was erected by the citizens of Pialba and District in honour of the men who served and fell in the great war, 1914-1918’, while the panel with the names of the fallen (on the same face of the monument) was headed ‘In memory of the men who paid the supreme sacrifice in the great war, 1914-1918’. The other three panels listed the men ‘who served at the front’.[17] The names of future wars would later adorn the base of the four sides of the marble pillar: WWII, Korea, Malaya and Borneo, and Vietnam.
\nAt the unveiling ceremony, it was noted that the district had sent 120 men overseas, and 18 had made the ‘supreme sacrifice’; although the monument currently lists 112 men, of whom 22 died. Mr Huxley Taylor, who had lost two sons at the front, performed the unveiling ceremony, and a German machine gun was also presented to Pialba as a war trophy. [18]
\nIn 1941 the former Pialba Shire Hall was moved to its current location near the cenotaph by the Pialba sub-branch of the RSSAILA for use as a memorial hall. It was located on land purchased from the Commissioner of Railways by the Burrum Shire Council. The hall, which had previously been used on ANZAC Days for gatherings and refreshments,[19] was extended by the RSSAILA.
\nThe use of the land around the cenotaph and memorial hall has changed over time. The last passenger service ran to Pialba station in 1972; the railway reserve was progressively subdivided from 1990; and train services were withdrawn from Pialba in January 1994.[20] By late 1998 the cenotaph had been moved 30m west, as Railway Square was landscaped as part of Freedom Park, which in 2016 covered 0.82ha of the former railway reserve, including the former railway station building and the memorial hall.[21] The railway station building was also moved westwards, and was rotated 180° to face the cenotaph, which was rededicated on 6 January 1999. A hollow metal world globe with laurel leaves at its base, designed and built by George Pujol, was added to the top of the marble pillar at this time.
\nA memorial plinth to National Servicemen was dedicated in 2003, north of the cenotaph, and a Light Horse statue and monument was added north of the station building, west of the memorial hall, in 2014 in time for the ANZAC Centenary in 2015. The cenotaph remains the focus of memorial ceremonies.
\n","criteria":"
The Pialba Memorial Cenotaph, unveiled in 1921, is important in demonstrating Queensland's involvement in a major world event. World War I (WWI) memorials are a tribute to those who served, and those who died, from a particular community. As the focus of ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day ceremonies, they are an important element of Queensland's towns and cities and are also important in demonstrating a common pattern of commemoration across Queensland and Australia.
|The Pialba Memorial Cenotaph is a good example of a well-designed and finely crafted WWI monument, funded by public subscription, and is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a WWI memorial. The cenotaph, which includes panels bearing the names of those who served and those that fell, represents the empty grave of those from the district who did not return. Its design and decorative treatments include classical references symbolising sympathy and mourning.
|The Pialba Memorial Cenotaph, funded by public subscription, has a strong and special association with the people of Hervey Bay. Commemorations at the cenotaph reflect the wider reverence felt for war memorials across Australia. As a focus for ANZAC Day ceremonies the cenotaph is highly valued by the community for its spiritual, symbolic, cultural and social associations.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | 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 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":null,"place_ref":650053,"name":"Pacific Islander Hospital and Cemetery site, Tinana","alternate_name":"South Sea Islander Hospital and Cemetery site, Tinana | Pacific Islander Hospital, Maryborough site","street_address":"cnr Genrich Road and Bluebell Road East","suburb":"TINANA","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2017-10-27","description":"The Pacific Islander Hospital and Cemetery site is located in the suburb of Tinana, across the Mary River from and approximately 5.5km southwest of the Maryborough CBD. The 19th century hospital site and cemetery reserve occupied Lot 5 M371033, Lot 1 RP880020 and Lot 1 RP880020, which slope down from the northwest to southeast and are bounded by Iindah Road (south), Genrich Road (west) and Bluebell Road East (north). However, the register boundary comprises two separate areas including part of Lot 1 RP880020 (cemetery, east) and part of Lot 5 M371033 (hospital site, west).
\nHospital site
\nThe registered former hospital site occupies 1.95ha in the northwest corner of Lot 5 M371033. Mature vegetation has been substantially cleared from the heavily disturbed site, with the exception of some scattered and perimeter eucalypts, and grass cover comprises thick, waist high weed species such as Blady or Kunai grass (Imperata cylindrical) and Snake Weed (Stachytarpheta spp.).
\nVisible evidence of the 19th century occupation includes three rectangular concrete chimney bases, positioned in a triangular formation and orientated roughly parallel to Bluebell Road, and isolated artefacts and scatters.
\n· The northern chimney base (detached kitchen) is the largest of the three and comprises a 4.37m (east-west) x 1.96m (north-south) concrete slab, with surface concentrations of mortar and scattered bricks on top and around. Outlines visible on the centre of the slab indicate the location of the former fireplace / boiler structure or partitions.
\n· The south-eastern chimney base (hospital building) comprises a 2.16m (east-west) x 1.72m (north-south) concrete slab, with surface traces of mortar and brick. Freshly broken pieces of concrete from the southwest corner of the slab indicate the possible use of heavy machinery in clearing the site.
\n· The south-western chimney base (hospital building) comprises a 2.18m (east-west) x 1.73m (north-south) concrete slab, with surface traces of remnant mortar.
\nArtefacts distributed across the hospital site are generally highly fragmented, comprising scatters and small isolated pieces of ceramic (predominately domestic, with traces of possible medical earthenware), glass, butchered bone, brick and clay pipe. Artefacts in the vicinity of the dam (former waterhole), to the southwest of the chimney slabs, include stone tools and freshwater mussel shells (Velesunio ambiguus).[1]
\nCemetery
\nThe historical cemetery reserve comprises 0.476ha in the northeast corner of Lot 1 RP880020, and the register boundary covers the northern 0.78ha of the lot, which includes a 10m buffer to the west and south to account for the potential for burials and other subsurface features to exist outside the reserve.
\nThe lot has been developed as a private residence, with a house, sheds, lawn areas and landscaped gardens to the north, bamboo along the western boundary, and a modern dam surrounded by various eucalypts to the south.[2]
\nOther Structures
\nHouses, sheds and other modern structures within the heritage boundary are not of cultural heritage significance.
\n
[1] EHP, Preliminary Archaeological Assessment of the Former South Sea Islander Hospital Site, Tinana, 2017.
[2] Lot 1 RP880020 was not accessed during the archaeological surface survey.
The Pacific Islander Hospital and Cemetery site at Tinana, formerly named the Pacific Islander Hospital, Maryborough, and originally comprising 13.18ha, is situated between Iindah, Genrich and Bluebird Roads, at Tinana, approximately 5.5km southwest of Maryborough. The hospital officially opened on 19 December 1883 and closed on 31 December 1888. One of only four central hospitals built for the treatment of South Sea Islanders (then called Pacific Islanders or Polynesians), the site is a rare and important remnant of the response by the Queensland Government during the 1880s to the high death rate among indentured South Sea Islanders. The former ‘Polynesian Cemetery’ site has the potential to yield new information that will contribute to a greater understanding of the role and treatment of indentured South Sea Islander workers in Queensland's history. The Pacific Islander Hospital and Cemetery site has a special association with South Sea Islanders who, as indentured workers, made an important contribution to the establishment of the Queensland sugar industry, and has a special association with their descendants.
\nThe settlement of Maryborough in the traditional country of the Butchulla people, started in 1847 to serve the needs of the pastoral settlers in the district. Maryborough, with a population of 299, was declared a township in 1851. It was proclaimed a port of entry in 1859 and a municipality in 1861. From April 1861, land on the Mary River was sold for agricultural purposes, and by the end of the 1860s thousands of free immigrants had entered Queensland through the port of Maryborough. Supplying the Gympie goldfields from 1867 further boosted Maryborough’s growth.[1]
\nSugar cane was cultivated around Maryborough from the late 1860s. The first commercially viable sugar cane crop in Australia had been grown by Captain Louis Hope at Ormiston, Queensland in 1862 and by 1864 he had established the first commercial sugar mill in Australia. Cultivated primarily on plantations, sugar cane production spread rapidly to coastal areas to the north, such as Maryborough, Mackay and Bundaberg, where the warmer climate proved more suitable.[2]
\nA labour shortage existed in Queensland at the time and it was believed that labouring in the tropics was unhealthy for Europeans.[3] Therefore, an inexpensive, non-European labour force was sought by cane plantation owners (planters). The use of South Sea Islander labour in Australia began in the 1840s when Benjamin Boyd employed them as shepherds in lieu of convict labourers in the Riverina District of New South Wales.[4] The first group of South Sea Islanders brought to Queensland as indentured labour arrived at Brisbane on 14 August 1863 aboard Robert Town’s ship the Don Juan, and went to work on his cotton plantation, Townsvale (later Veresdale), on the Logan River.[5] Captain Claudius Whish employed Islanders on his property near Caboolture (QHR 645607, Oaklands Sugar Mill Remnants), as did Captain Louis Hope on his sugar plantation at Ormiston, near Cleveland (QHR 600755, Ormiston House Estate).[6]
\nSouth Sea Islanders made a major contribution to Queensland's early sugar industry. Between 1863 and 1904, approximately 50,000 Islanders were brought to Queensland as indentured labourers, generally employed on three-year contracts bound by the current Masters and Servants Act 1861.[7] Most came from 80 islands in Melanesia, mainly those of present day Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. They made a vital contribution to the sugar industry by performing virtually all of the associated field work during the first phase of the sugar industry’s development. Most returned to their islands at the conclusion of their contract period.[8]
\nThe first South Sea Islanders employed in the Maryborough district arrived in November 1867 aboard the schooner Mary Smith, a month after the Gympie gold rush commenced. Most of this group of 84 men became employees of the Maryborough Sugar Company. The cost to employers of their travel to Maryborough was approximately £9 and their wages were £6 per annum (compared with wages for a European of £6 per month).[9]
\nBy March 1868, 2107 Islanders had been brought to Queensland, and were employed in various capacities including agricultural and pastoral work, and as servants in the towns. They lived and worked from Bowen to the Moreton Bay district, and west to Roma.[10]
\nThe need to protect South Sea Islanders from illegal practices became apparent soon after this trade in indentured labour from the islands arose. By 1868, there were reports that the recruitment of South Sea Islanders had devolved into kidnapping. At the least, there was coercion and deception involved in their hiring. The Polynesian Labourer Act 1868 was enacted to regulate recruitment. Under the Act, a government agent accompanied each recruiting ship to ensure all the regulations referred to in the Act were upheld, the Islanders were required to sign a contract for up to three years, and employers were required to pay them a minimum wage of £6 per year plus rations and pay for their return voyage home after completion of their contract. Deaths and desertions were reported to the nearest magistrate.[11]
\nBy 1870, sugar had become the third largest of Queensland’s crops, by area of cultivation. In 1872, 56 mills in Queensland were producing more than 6000 tons of sugar and 734,000 litres of rum per year, and sugar was being exported to other colonies. The labour shortage remained acute and the entire industry would have collapsed without South Sea Islanders.[12]
\nDuring the 1870s and 1880s there was ongoing public criticism and political debate about the use of South Sea Islander labour. Further Acts of Parliament were introduced to protect the Islanders from unscrupulous recruiters and employers. Inspectors of Polynesians were appointed to monitor Islanders’ health and welfare. The first Inspector appointed to oversee Bundaberg and Maryborough was employed in 1875 and also acted as the sub-collector of customs.[13]
\nConcerns continued to be raised about the living and working conditions, and the illness and death rates for South Sea Islanders. Complaints were made by successive Inspectors of Polynesians at Maryborough.[14]
\nIn January 1876, Richard Bingham Sheridan, Inspector of Polynesians at Maryborough, reported to the Office of the Colonial Secretary that South Sea Islanders were experiencing both harsh treatment and poor living standards. He alleged that some planters were deterred from trying to diminish the death rate by the prospect of saving both the cost of the labourer’s return passage and his accumulated wages if he died.[15] As a result of Sheridan’s charges, a select committee was established in September 1876 to investigate. Sheridan gave evidence about the medical neglect of the South Sea Islanders: ‘that medical attendance upon the Polynesians was greatly neglected; that there was no system of regular medical attendance; that numbers died without any medical man’.[16] Other witnesses, who were wealthy planters and members of parliament, reported favourably on the conditions for South Sea Islander employees.[17] The investigation did not result in legislation for improved conditions.
\nFollowing Sheridan’s resignation, Charles Horrocks became Inspector of Polynesians for Bundaberg and Maryborough from 1877.[18] He regularly inspected South Sea Islander accommodation and clothing, and weighed their food rations. Instances of large numbers of Islanders dying on individual farms were investigated, with the worst examples being Robert Cran’s Maryborough plantations of Yerra Yerra, Yengari and Irrewarra.[19] In 1879, the death rate amongst South Sea Islanders in the Maryborough district was 7.4%, compared with 0.9% for similarly aged European men between 16 and 30 years. During the previous five years, Cran’s estates had a mortality rate of 9.2%.[20]
\nOn 12 February 1880, the subsequent Inspector of Polynesians at Maryborough, Henry Reginald Buttenshaw, reported that Cran & Co’s properties had an exceedingly high death rate. On visiting the properties Yerra Yerra and Irrewarra, he found 60 Islanders ill with dysentery. Buttanshaw cited how local sugar planters benefitted financially by the death of an indentured worker. [21]
\nThe high mortality rate led to another medical investigation in 1880 when the Colonial Secretary, Arthur Palmer, ordered a departmental investigation into conditions in the Maryborough district. This was conducted by Drs Wray and Thomson who meticulously investigated the situation. They inspected Cran & Co’s plantations and seven other estates in the area for comparative purposes.[22] Their report blamed poor food, long working hours, polluted water, and a lack of proper care for the sick, for the high death rate.[23]
\nThe doctors advised of ‘an urgent necessity for a complete and efficient system of inspection’ at all levels. Their recommendations included ‘the speedy erection of a Central Polynesian Hospital in each district, presided over by a qualified medical practitioner’. Horrocks, who had suggested this system three years earlier, had also devised the means for its financing, through a fee paid annually by employers for each indentured South Sea Islander, with the wages of deceased servants likewise diverted into public funds.[24]
\nThe resultant new Act, the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1880 set limitations on the age of recruits; their living conditions; medical service and ration provisions; and the work they could undertake. Islanders could only be employed in tropical or sub-tropical agriculture, including the cultivation of sugar cane, cotton, tea, coffee, rice and spices.[25] This Act made medical care for South Sea Islanders compulsory and made provision for the construction of central hospitals, sponsored by the government and financed by the planters and other masters.[26] However, it took another three years for the first central hospitals, the Pacific Islander Hospitals at Mackay and Maryborough, to be constructed.
\nOrganisations outside Queensland also complained about the high death rate for South Sea Islanders. In 1879 the Aborigines’ Protection Society had contacted the Colonial Office directly about the excessive death rate for South Sea Islanders in Queensland.[27] In 1883 The British Medical Journal cited the Queensland Registrar-General’s annual report, which revealed that the death rate of South Sea Islanders was twelve times that of Europeans of the same age group, and requested investigation of the cause by the Secretary of State for the Colonies.[28]
\nThe period 1881 to 1884 marked the peak of the plantation system of growing sugar cane.[29] In 1881, there were 6396 South Sea Islanders living in Queensland. Of these, 1515 (23.69%) lived in the Maryborough and Wide Bay census district, comprising 1163 adult males, 55 adult females, and 269 male and 28 female minors.[30]
\nTwo central hospitals for South Sea Islanders, called Pacific Islander Hospitals, were built in 1883. They were funded by the Queensland Government, planters and other masters (all of whom paid 10s per South Sea Islander employee per annum to the Pacific Islander Fund, as stipulated by the Pacific Islander Labours Act 1880).[31] The first hospital opened was located at Mackay, the district with the largest South Sea Islander population. The second hospital was built at Tinana outside Maryborough. The Mackay Pacific Islander Hospital was reportedly ‘a good building, with large airy wards, on the same plan as, only larger than, the Maryborough hospital, and capable of carrying from 300 to 400 boys [sic]’.[32] Two more Pacific Islander Hospitals opened c1886, at Geraldton (Innisfail) and Ingham Hospitals, both comprising separate ‘Kanaka ward’ wings attached to the main hospital building, and with comparatively high bed densities.[33]
\nThe Pacific Islander Hospital for the Maryborough district was established at Tinana in late 1883. Specifications had been drawn up by the Department of Public Works in July 1882 and tenders for building the hospital and a resident surgeon’s residence were called soon afterwards.[34] The hospital buildings, chimneys and tanks were constructed during 1883 by contractor, Henry Neale, for £2762 10s.[35] Its construction progressed slowly because of a shortage of timber.[36] However, building was nearing completion in November 1883 when its first Resident Surgeon, Dr Charles H Clarkson, arrived to take charge of the facility.[37] The hospital opened officially on 19 December 1883, although Clarkson had already admitted some cases.[38]
\nThe hospital was sited on a 13.18ha site at Tinana bounded by Iindah Road and two unnamed roads to its west and north. It was intended to provide care for 50 patients. The hospital complex, at the time of its construction, comprised a hospital building and a doctor’s residence, built on the most elevated part of the site. The hospital building was specified as being built of ironbark or similar, supported by tarred ironbark or bloodwood timber stumps, and covered by a galvanised iron roof. The hospital building comprised two wards, a dispensary and a detached kitchen wing, connected by a covered way. The doctor’s residence, along with its detached kitchen wing and covered way, was built of similar materials, and located about 56 feet (17.2m) to the west of the hospital building. Concrete footings for the brick chimneys (hospital, residence and residence kitchen) and boiler mounts (2x 35 gallon boilers in hospital kitchen) were specified as being 15” (37.5cm) deep, with an embedded sheet of 24 gauge galvanised iron to receive the brickwork above. Both the hospital and residence buildings had separate earth closets (locations unknown) and eight 800 gallon (3637 litre) water tanks on timber stands.[39]
\nSoon after taking up his position, Clarkson reported to the Colonial Secretary on the building and made recommendations for improvements to it and the grounds, and about furniture needed for the hospital’s efficient functioning. Due to the necessity for isolation of violent or contagious cases, more rooms were needed than provided in the building’s current configuration.[40]
\nClarkson recommended clearing the thick timber that surrounded the buildings, and constructing: a two-rail fence on the three lines of road that bounded the site; a picket or light galvanised iron fence to divide the house from the main hospital buildings; and trelliswork around portions of the verandah for privacy. He regarded the hospital’s eight water storage tanks as inadequate to supply the probable number of patients. Furthermore, the tanks’ overflow travelled under the hospital building, which was wasteful and detrimental to patients’ health. He recommended that the hospital be connected to mains water from the Tinana waterworks on Teddington Road, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) away, at a cost of about £180 per mile. This water supply would also enable firefighting.[41] Clarkson also required; to be sited ‘at a distance from the building: a washing shed; a four-stalled stable and shed; and a “dead house” [morgue] with [a] Zinc and Iron-lined table’.[42] The Colonial Secretary or his delegate marked these additional building requests as approved on Clarkson’s report.[43] Temporary sheds for washing were under construction by assistant wardsmen in December 1883.[44]
\nClarkson also pointed out to the Colonial Secretary ‘the necessity for the reservation of a piece of land as [a] Cemetry [sic]. The Maryboro’ General Cemetry [sic] being six miles distant…’.[45] A year earlier, the Tinana Divisional Board had proposed a cemetery reserve adjacent to the Polynesian Hospital, but a suitable site could not be decided upon.[46] As the Pacific Islander Hospital neared completion, the local Inspector of Polynesians (Thomas B Smyth) was arranging for ‘the provision of a cemetery to bury the remains of those who die’ at the Pacific Islander Hospital.[47] A reserve for ‘Polynesian Cemetery’ R314 was created c1891 in the northeast corner of the site and appeared on later survey plans and maps.[48] This implies that the reserved site was used for burials while the hospital was operating and a cemetery reserve was created after the hospital’s closure to protect those burials.
\nIn December 1883, Clarkson reported to the Colonial Secretary that he had appointed the staff for the hospital. These were: one married wardsman at £70 a year to commence his duties from 1 January 1884; two assistant wardsmen at 20s a week; and three South Sea Islander wardsmen, one at 12s per week and the others at 10s a week. The men were employed at the time in cutting firewood, making necessary alterations, filling up the closets, and building temporary sheds for washing and so forth.[49] Clarkson also advised that he had engaged a carpenter at 40s per week to subdivide the ward and to make the necessary fittings – table and other furniture.[50] On 2 February 1884 Clarkson advised that the subdivision of the wards was nearly completed, but the stable and dead house (morgue) and various internal fittings remained to be done.[51] He had also added four additional tanks instead of the proposed underground tank, and reported that ‘necessary drainage will give a supply to a natural water course which exists about the middle of the paddock and the labour mostly of our wardsmen will as soon as the clearing is finished be able to turn it into a water hole available for the paddock and also for supplying water for washing purposes’. [52]
\nIllness was still very common among South Sea Islanders at this time. Clarkson’s March 1884 report stated that due to the prevalence of dysentery and malarial fever there had been a large increase in the number of admissions, as well as a comparatively high death rate, with eight deaths that month.[53] Clarkson was transferred to the Mackay Pacific Islander Hospital in April 1884 and replaced at Maryborough by Dr J Raphael Joseph.[54]
\nWater supply continued to be a concern. By November 1884, the Committee of Management of the hospital resolved to request that the government have water connected from Tinana, noting the insufficient supply from only 12 tanks containing 800 gallons each and that ‘the open waterhole that was made is unfit for use, even scrubbing purposes, the water going into it being contaminated with the worst kind of filth viz the washings from the Hospital itself’.[55] Tenders were invited for drainage work at the Polynesian Hospital, closing 2 January 1885, which was undertaken by A Brown for approximately £197. [56] By 8 December, water pipes connecting the hospital to Tinana Waterworks were laid but the water pressure was very low.[57]
\nOther improvements on the site were made soon afterwards. In January 1886 a carpenter was engaged in the erection of a stable, coach house, wash-house, bath and an ornamental paling fence around the doctor’s residence. Stables were confirmed on the hospital site by April 1886.[58]
\nRegulation of the hospital’s procedures occurred in 1885. By-Laws for the hospital, established by the Colonial Secretary’s Office, Brisbane, and in effect by 12 August 1885, specified requirements for a range of processes and activities including Committee of Management meetings and inspections, hospital visitation, reporting and burials. Forms were provided, to be completed for the notification of admissions, discharges and deaths.[59] According to the hospital by-laws, patient burials were to be conducted by the hospital staff, with a permanent staff member required to sign the burial report.[60] This change was reflected in the death register from August 1885 onwards.[61]
\nIn January 1886, all members of the Hospital Committee of Management resigned in protest against the Resident Surgeon’s over-expenditure and unwillingness to reduce costs.[62] The Committee was also concerned by the death rate at the hospital, reporting that the number of South Sea Islander deaths in the Maryborough district had risen, despite the hospital, from 77 in 1883; to 105 in 1884; to 122 in 1885.[63]
\nIn March 1886, Dr Joseph, the Resident Surgeon, faced a board of enquiry charged with five offences concerning the running of the hospital – primarily inappropriate use of hospital resources and staff. The charges included: using the night wardsman as a gardener in the doctor’s private garden while an Islander performed the function of night wardsman; falsification of the patients’ death rate to lessen the figure; often neglecting patients for up to a week, leaving a wardsman to do his work; and taking items from the hospital store for his private use.[64]
\nThe enquiry was inconclusive and no new legislation was enacted, but it did reveal that the doctor was abusing his position, although there was no evidence he falsified the death rate. Dr Joseph was dismissed by the Queensland Government in April 1886 and Dr David Watkins O’Connor, the local Health Officer, officiated at the hospital until the appointment of Dr Francis Bowe as the Resident Surgeon in May 1886. [65]
\nMeanwhile the number of South Sea Islanders in the Maryborough district continued to reduce due to falling sugar prices and new legislation to limit inexpensive South Sea Islander labour and to break up large plantations into small holdings. An amendment to the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1880 banned South Sea Islanders from a range of work, and restricted them to menial jobs in agriculture and the Pacific Islanders Act 1885 sought to end the recruitment of South Sea Island labour by 1890. At 31 December 1886 there were 759 indentured employees (of a total of 10,165 in Queensland), down from 1215 adults in 1881. Through 136 arrivals, 53 deaths and 254 departures, it was estimated that the number of South Sea Islanders in the district would be 563 by 31 December 1887.[66]
\nIn 1887, Arthur Woodward, Inspector of Pacific Islanders and Officer-in-Charge of The Pacific Islander Labour Office, reported upon the Financial Condition of the Pacific Islanders’ Hospitals, and recommended that all the Pacific Islander Hospitals be closed because the cost of running them would exhaust the Pacific Islanders’ Fund, which paid for them, by 31 December 1887.[67] Maryborough’s deficit was estimated to be £6749 by the end of December 1887 and the other hospitals were also in debt. Woodward reported that while The Pacific Islanders Fund, was in credit for £2871 3s 11d, the four Pacific Islander Hospitals (Maryborough, Mackay, Ingham, and Johnstone) were in deficit of £19,079 16s 5d, estimated to increase to over £21,263 by 31 Dec 1887.[68]
\nNo action was taken until Woodward’s report for the following year repeated his advice. The Maryborough and Mackay Pacific Islander Hospitals closed on 31 December 1888.[69] Subsequently, the ‘Kanaka Ward’ at Geraldton (Innisfail) Hospital and the ‘Kanaka Ward’ at Ingham Hospital, which had opened c1886, closed in December 1890.[70] Of these four Pacific Islander Hospitals, only the Maryborough one had an adjacent ‘Polynesian Cemetery’ reserve and has not been totally developed in 2017; with the Mackay, Geraldton and Ingham sites operating as modern hospital complexes.[71]
\nAfter the closure of the central Pacific Islander Hospitals, South Sea Islanders were cared for in separate wards established at general hospitals, or were cared for at their plantations.[72] Maryborough sugar planters had met in January 1889 to decide how to care for their sick South Sea Islander workers and resolved to approach the Maryborough General Hospital and to petition the government to have portions of the Polynesian Hospital building, and its furniture, shifted to the Maryborough Hospital, as a separate ward, because the Maryborough people did not wish to have ‘the coolies mixed with the whites’ at the hospital.[73] Subsequently, in 1889, part of the Pacific Islander Hospital building at Tinana was removed and established at the Maryborough General Hospital as a ‘Polynesians’ ward’.[74]
\nMeanwhile, a large quantity of furniture and stores from the Pacific Islander Hospital, Maryborough was sold by auction at the Immigration Depot.[75]
\nA survey plan of the site from 1891 shows the hospital building and adjacent doctor’s residence located in the northwest corner of Lot 5 of Section 130 and orientated parallel to the northern lot boundary (later Bluebell Road). A waterhole is located to the southwest of the residence, which was surrounded by a square, fenced garden area, and was accessed via a made road that had a gated entrance on Iindah Road to the south. The Polynesian Cemetery Reserve, R.314, is identified as a 1 acre and 28 perch (4755m2) area to the northeast of Lot 4 of Section 130.[76]
\nIn March 1892, the remaining buildings were inspected for disposal, and a more detailed plan of the extant, and recently removed, structures was prepared. The hospital building comprised a long central ward, with north and south-facing verandahs and double-sided chimneys at either end; flanked by wings to the east (ward with partitions at northern end) and west (partitioned to form several rooms), each with verandahs that had enclosures (possibly lavatories) at the northern end. The detached hospital kitchen, which was connected to the northern verandah of the central ward by a covered way, had a south-facing verandah and contained three rooms, the largest central room with a chimney flanked by boilers. The residence comprised a square core of four rooms, the sitting room containing a chimney, with verandahs to the east, south and west (enclosed bathroom at northern end); and had a detached two-room kitchen to the north that contained a chimney and was connected by a covered way.[77]
\nThe disposal report noted that a portion of the hospital building (west wing), down-piping and guttering, all 12 tanks and stands, the roof of the covered way, and kitchen and ward partitions, had been removed. The residence was recommended for reuse as a Police Station at Tinana, and was subsequently rebuilt at Gympie Road for that purpose. The cladding used for the verandah enclosures matches that of the detached kitchen. Material from the hospital building was used for the associated police cell built on the Tinana Police Station site.[78]
\nA total of 363 patients died at the Pacific Islander Hospital, Maryborough between 1883 and 1888.[79] Prior to the establishment of Pacific Islander Hospitals, South Sea Islanders were buried on the plantations on which they worked or in the ‘non-Christian’ or ‘coloured section’ of general cemeteries. [80] In January 1876, Richard Bingham Sheridan, the Inspector of Polynesians for the Maryborough district, said in his report to the office of the Colonial Secretary: ‘…I am led to believe that the interment of a South Sea Islander in no way differs from the burial of a dog or any other carrion. As I am informed, a hole or grave is made in the most convenient place, the body, as soon as possible after it has ceased to breathe, is rolled in the blanket in which it died, and put in the shallow resting place without further care or ceremony.’[81] While the Maryborough Cemetery [QHR 600689] does contain a small section in which South Sea Islanders were reportedly buried, there are no known records of South Sea Islander burials at the Maryborough Cemetery between 1883 and 1888.[82] Given the distance (6 miles/9.6km) to Maryborough Cemetery from the Pacific Islander Hospital, it is likely that some, if not all, of the deceased patients were buried in the adjacent Polynesian Cemetery Reserve.
\nThe Pacific Islanders Act 1885, which aimed to end recruitment, was repealed in 1892 on economic grounds. However the Pacific Island Labourers (Extension) Act 1892 further barred South Sea Islanders from construction work on plantation roads and tramways. Nevertheless, the plantation system was gradually supplanted by the central mill system serving small cane farms worked by European labour.[83]
\nAfter Federation in 1901, two pieces of Commonwealth legislation put an end to the South Sea Islander labour trade: the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 and the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901. The former initiated the various policies that came to be termed the 'White Australia Policy' by excluding all non-European immigrants. The latter legislation ended recruitment of South Sea Islanders from March 1904 and started their deportation after December 1906. Up to 1908, around 7000 people were deported. About 1200 were granted residency, and an estimated 1000 others stayed on in Australia without residency approval.[84]
\nOn 30 March 1911, Lots 4 and 5 of Section 130, the land comprising the former Pacific Islander Hospital, Maryborough (excluding the Reserve for Polynesian Cemetery), were sold to William Nichols, who was subsequently issued a Deed of Grant in September 1914.[85] The land changed ownership a number of times thereafter. In 1972 the Reserve for Polynesian Cemetery was redesignated as Portion 134 and subsequently sold at public auction to the owners of Lots 4 and 5 in late 1972 or early 1973. In 1994, the former cemetery site and adjacent allotment to its west were reconfigured to increase the size of the former Portion 134 to 1.148 ha. [86]
\nOver time, modification of the former hospital and cemetery site has occurred, in association with various occupation and land use practices. A residence, flanked by paddocks or enclosures to the west and south, was established to the south of the former hospital buildings by 1940.[87] The made road from the former hospital to Iindah Road was still evident, though the central portion of the alignment deviated to the west of that indicated in the 1891 survey plan. Mature vegetation in the vicinity of the residence and to the north and east of the made road had been substantially cleared. By 1957 the residence was no longer extant, and the lot containing the former cemetery reserve, and an area in the southwest corner of the site, had been substantially cleared of vegetation, the latter reportedly used as a gravel quarry.[88] Further clearing of vegetation across the northern centre of the site was evident by 1964, along with the addition of a dam to the immediate south of the former cemetery reserve.[89] A house was constructed on the northern side of the former cemetery reserve by 1994, and further structures, vegetation clearance and landscaping has occurred across the northern extent of the site in recent years, including a dam excavated in the vicinity of the historical waterhole.[90]
\nIn 2017 the former Pacific Islander Hospital and Cemetery site comprises three allotments – Lot 1 RP880020 (east, cemetery reserve); Lot 2 RP880020 (centre); and Lot 5 M371033 (west, hospital and residence site).[91]
\nAn archaeological surface survey of the former Pacific Island Hospital site (Lot 5 M371033 and Lot 2 RP880020 only) was undertaken in May 2017. The site was found to be heavily disturbed but some structural and artefactual traces of the former complex were identified. These were concentrated in the northwest corner of Lot 5 and included three concrete slabs that correspond with the configuration of chimney bases for the hospital building and detached kitchen, as indicated in the 1892 plan, as well as small isolated fragments and scatters of ceramic, glass, butchered bone, brick and clay pipe. The type and range of ceramics were limited but generally consistent with domestic activities, including possible high-status vitrified ceramics in the vicinity of the doctor’s residence, although some of the heavy earthenware could relate to medical purposes. Two lithic artefacts and freshwater mussel shells (Velesunio ambiguus) in the vicinity of the dam (former waterhole) could potentially predate the hospital era or relate to South Sea Islander peoples adapting traditional technologies and food sources on site. Several timber posts, generally consistent with the description of the timber rail fence erected around the hospital reserve, were observed. No historical artefacts or features were located on Lot 2, other than a timber post on the southern boundary. Overall the fragmentary and decontextualised nature of surface finds, which were difficult to accurately date, general absence of substantial building debris and apparent lack of rubbish pits, broken bottles or dense artefacts scatters that are normally found at late 19th and early 20th century occupation sites, has resulted in low (Lot 2) to moderate (Lot 5) archaeological potential.[92]
\nA surface survey of Lot 1 RP880020 was not undertaken due to access restrictions. Historical records indicate that this former cemetery site has high archaeological potential. Archaeological investigations at and around the site, including the use of non-invasive methods such as Ground Penetrating Radar, have the potential to clarify the presence, nature and extent of burials, which along with the identification and analysis of associated artefacts and features could address broader research questions that relate to: the treatment of deceased patients and burial practices at the hospital; mortality rates, gender and age; spatial distribution and arrangement of graves – whether patients were buried individually or communally; evidence of traditional South Sea Islander cultures in burial practices; comparative studies with plantation burials; and broader late 19th century social attitudes towards South Sea Islander indentured workers.[93]
\nThe place was nominated for entry in the Queensland Heritage Register in 2017 due to its importance to the South Sea Islander community and to highlight South Sea Islander history and association with the site.[94]
\n","criteria":"
The Pacific Islander Hospital and Cemetery site (1883-88), located at Tinana, is important in demonstrating the response by the Queensland Government during the 1880s to the high death rate among indentured South Sea Islanders employed in Queensland’s important sugar industry. As the site of one of only four ‘central hospitals’ built exclusively for the treatment of South Sea Islanders; and one of the two not attached to a general hospital, it is a rare and important remnant of this government initiative.
|As a rare example of a ‘Polynesian Cemetery’ reserve attached to a 19th century Pacific Islander Hospital, the place has the potential to yield new information that will contribute to a greater understanding of the role and treatment of South Sea Islanders in Queensland's history.
\nArchaeological investigations at and around the former cemetery reserve could clarify the presence, nature and extent of burials, which along with the identification and analysis of associated artefacts and features could address broader research questions include: the treatment of deceased patients and burial practices at the hospital; spatial distribution and arrangement of graves; evidence of traditional South Sea Islander cultures in burial practices; comparative studies with plantation burial practices; and broader late 19th century social attitudes towards South Sea Islander indentured workers.
|The Pacific Islander Hospital and Cemetery site has a special association with Queensland’s South Sea Islander community, who are descendants of those who came to Queensland as indentured labourers between 1863 and 1904. Now an archaeological site, it represents the loss of South Sea Islanders to illness and injury as a result of their labour to establish and develop the Queensland sugar industry.
|The Pacific Islander Hospital and Cemetery site has a special association with the South Sea Islanders who, as indentured workers, made an important contribution to the establishment and development of the Queensland sugar industry. Over approximately 35 years, thousands of South Sea Islanders worked in the Maryborough district, and 1964 were admitted to the Pacific Islander Hospital at Tinana; where 363 died.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion C | Criterion G | Criterion H","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland's history | The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons | The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":null,"place_ref":650256,"name":"Maryborough Baby Clinic (former)","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"445 Kent Street","suburb":"MARYBOROUGH","lga":"FRASER COAST REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2020-12-04","description":"The Maryborough Baby Clinic (former) is located in the Maryborough central business district at the corner of Kent and Lennox streets. Domestic in scale and appearance, the building faces southeast toward Kent Street and is sited in an open yard providing views to the building from Kent and Lennox Streets. The baby clinic is a strong contributor to the streetscape of late 19th century and early 20th century masonry civic buildings of a similar quality of design and detail.
\nThe Maryborough Baby Clinic Building (former) is an intact single-storey concrete building with a roughcast finish. It is approximately T-shaped in plan and has a hip roof with a prominent fleche at the centre of the ridge. The front (southwest) elevation is symmetrical with a central recessed entry porch flanked by two pairs of Tuscan order columns. The main entrance is from the front porch, accessed via a central cascading stair, which leads to the central waiting hall.
\nThe interior layout reflects the building’s use as a baby clinic with former doctor, nurse, retiring and treatment rooms opening from a large central waiting room. Leading off the central waiting room, a short hallway accesses a sink room and kitchen at the rear (northeast) of the building. The doctor’s room is connected directly to the treatment room and from there through to the sink room.
\nMinor alterations have been made to the building over time which are not of state-level cultural heritage significance. The linen presses (cupboards) in the waiting hall have been altered to open in to the rear rooms. The nurses’ room store and adjoining toilet have been combined by demolishing the partition between, creating one larger room. Original sinks have been removed and some doors replaced. A small extension (1960s) has been made to the rear of the building, requiring the infill of the rear windows.
\nFeatures of the Maryborough Baby Clinic (former) of state-level cultural heritage significance include:
\nFeatures of the Maryborough Baby Clinic (former) not of state-level cultural heritage significance include:
\nMaryborough Baby Clinic (former) was built in 1924, and is situated on the prominent corner of Kent and Lennox streets, opposite the Maryborough City Hall (QHR 600698). Following the introduction of the Maternity Act 1922, which was part of a movement to improve the health of mothers and babies, the clinic was one of ten regional clinics built by the Queensland Government throughout the state in the early 1920s. Constructed to a standard, high-quality design by the Department of Public Works, the Maryborough Baby Clinic (former) remains highly intact. The clinic served the Maryborough community until its closure in the mid-1990s.
\nMaryborough is a regional centre 215km north of Brisbane, and forms part of the traditional land of the Butchulla (Badjala) People. The original township of Maryborough was situated further west upstream on the Mary River, after wharves were established there in 1847-8, to provide transport for wool from sheep stations on the Burnett River. In 1852, the growing town was gradually relocated further downstream where ships were able to better navigate the river. Development followed, and by March 1861 Maryborough was declared a municipality. During the late 1860s and 1870s, Maryborough developed rapidly as the port for the nearby gold rushes in the Gympie area.[1] By the 1920s, Maryborough had a population of more than 10,000 people and was a major regional centre.[2]
\nIn the mid-19th century, deaths of children under five comprised 50 percent of all deaths. While this had been reduced to 11 per cent by the turn of the century, this was still too high. Dysentery, diarrhoea, cholera, diphtheria and typhoid were the main causes in the late 19th century. Mrs Mary McConnel, formerly of Cressbrook Station in the Brisbane Valley, initiated the establishment of the first children’s hospital in 1878 in Brisbane, the second such hospital in Australia. The first resident medical officer for the Brisbane Children’s Hospital, Dr Alfred Jefferis Turner, was appointed in 1889. Turner’s early work was in the eradication of diphtheria. Through his collaboration with Brisbane doctor LN Ashworth, their use of the antitoxin led to a significant drop in the death rate from diphtheria between January 1895 and November 1896. Other significant medical advances made by Brisbane based doctors include the identification of hookworm as the cause of filariasis, the introduction of a test to identify typhoid and the identification of lead in paint as a significant factor in lead poisoning of children, an issue which required a long public campaign to reduce the lead content in paint.[3]
\nDespite these advances, infant mortality still remained high, being 10.68 per cent of all deaths in 1892 and 10.91 per cent in 1901. Diarrhoeal disease was still a major factor and there was a higher death rate during the summer months, many of which could be attributed to poor infant feeding. Dr Turner embarked on another public health campaign, in educating mothers in the hygienic preparation of food, particularly for those infants not breast fed.[4]
\nThe early 1920s heralded a major public health campaign by the Queensland Government following the introduction of the Maternity Act 1922. As part of a national and international movement to improve the health of mothers and babies, baby clinics were established throughout Queensland.[5] Under the stewardship of the Department of Public Works (DPW), a standard design for the Queensland regional baby clinic was produced.[6] Based on this plan, ten regional clinics were built. These included Rockhampton, Townsville (demolished), Ipswich, Toowoomba, Bundaberg, Gympie, Mackay, Charters Towers, Warwick and Maryborough. The Rockhampton clinic was the first to be opened on Saturday 27 October 1923. It was described in the 1924 DPW Report:
\nA compact tile-roofed one-storey reinforced cement plaster building of attractive design, containing waiting hall 16 ft by 16 ft; a doctor's room 12 ft by 11 ft; treatment room 13 ft by 11 ft; retiring and nurse’s rooms 11ft by 10 ft with water closet, lavatories, store, press etc. Modern fittings and furnishings have been installed throughout and a septic system provided for conveniences.[7]
\nSpecifications for the Rockhampton Clinic are indicative of those used for the standardised designed clinics. They were domestic in scale, included Classical architectural treatments to the street-fronting elevations and included interior treatments that were hygienic and easily cleaned. Generally, the foundations were altered to suit individual sites, but essentially the same elevations and floor plans were adapted from the original plan. Some clinics had a bathroom added adjacent to the kitchen if the nurse lived on site, and others had a tool room included, adjacent to the sink room, to enable the gardener to maintain the grounds.[8]
\nThe government was eager to have a baby clinic established in Maryborough, to serve the major regional town and its district. Following a visit in March 1923, the Home Secretary, Mr William McCormack, identified an appropriate site for a new baby clinic - a vacant lot on the corner of Kent and Lennox streets, adjacent to the stately Maryborough School of Arts (QHR 600701) and opposite the grand Maryborough City Hall (QHR 600698).[9] Between 1876 and 1908, this had been the site of the first town hall. The old town hall had become dilapidated, and amidst community support, removed from the site in 1908.[10]
\nIn 1910, the vacant lot was granted by the government for a new technical college. By the early 1920s, however, this was yet to be constructed.[11] In April 1923, it was announced that the former college reserve would be the site for a new baby clinic.[12] Following the completion of the plans by the DPW, the construction of the clinic began in late 1923 and finished by September 1924. The official opening ceremony, attended by several dignitaries including the Assistant Home Secretary, MJ Kirwan MLA, was held on the afternoon of Saturday 13 September 1924.[13] The new clinic was described in the local newspaper:
\n[The clinic] will be of reinforced concrete, with the partitions of the same material … the roof will be of Marseilles tiles, and will be surmounted by a fleche … which will add to the ornamental effect as well as provide for utility. The frontage of the building will be to Kent Street and will stand about 10 feet from the footpath. The clinic will contain several rooms, the dimensions of the whole building being 40 feet frontage and 37 feet in depth. A porch entrance will be provided and off this will be a waiting hall … [there] will be the doctors’ and nurses’ rooms, treatment room, retiring room, and a kitchen and sink room, while the various conveniences will be provided for.[14]
\nTwo nurses were appointed for the clinic, with Ms MA McLean in charge. The doctor for the clinic was Honorary Medical Officer, Dr HC Garde.[15] An attractive timber fence, which had been built as early as 1910, was in good condition and retained.[16]
\nThe establishment of baby clinics throughout Queensland was financed through the profits of the state run lottery, the Golden Casket, established in 1920. The Maternity Act 1922 sought to decrease the death rate for mothers and babies; to increase the birth-rate; to expand outback settlement and to train mothers how to care for children and essentially develop a healthy population. The Act also initiated the establishment of a network of free maternity hospitals throughout Queensland, managed under the Motherhood, Child Welfare and Hospital Fund.[17]
\nIn response to the high infant death rate at the turn of the 20th century, Queensland’s first baby clinic had opened in Brisbane in 1908 and was attended by Dr Turner, who saw up to 100 babies a week, free of charge.[18] Following a conference on child welfare in Sydney in 1916, representatives of women's organisations, benevolent societies and the Crèche and Kindergarten Association lobbied the Home Secretary, John Huxham to establish a network of baby clinics in Queensland. In August 1917, he announced that three clinics would be built, which was later expanded to four. At that time the first baby clinic had just been built in Victoria, while New South Wales already had eleven. All were based on the philosophy of New Zealand doctor, Frederick Truby King, which promoted breast feeding, the training of nurses in maternal and infant welfare and the education of mothers in domestic hygiene.
\nA national agenda for public health and social reform was implicit in the growth of the town planning movement. The second Australian Town Planning Conference and Exhibition held in Brisbane in mid-1918 included a display illustrating the proper care of babies. The organiser of this conference was Charles Edward Chuter, an officer of the Home Secretary's Department, who was to have a significant impact on local government and on the health system in Queensland. He had managed the finances of the Brisbane General Hospital from 1917, and sought the means to implement the social policies of the recently elected Labour government of T J Ryan. Chuter established the Motherhood, Child Welfare and Hospital Fund, which was financed through the Golden Casket Lottery. He also had significant input into the drafting of the Maternity Act 1922. The decision to operate a regular lottery from 1920, with the profits deposited into the Hospital Trust Account, financed a major building program in maternity hospitals and baby clinics.[19]
\nThe first government baby clinic in Queensland opened in a rented cottage in Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley (Brisbane) on 8 March 1918, managed by Matron Florence Chatfield of the Diamantina Hospital. Three more clinics opened shortly after at Woolloongabba, Spring Hill and West End. Nurse Chatfield travelled north in October 1920, seeking suitable sites to build clinics in Cairns, Townsville and Rockhampton, preferring a central location, close to the shopping areas and close to public transport. She also sought support from at least one doctor in each town to act as the Honorary Medical Officer, attached to the clinic.
\nBetween October 1923 and November 1924, new baby clinics were erected at Rockhampton, Townsville (now demolished), Ipswich, Toowoomba, Cairns (now demolished), Bundaberg and Maryborough. A new Fortitude Valley Clinic, replacing the Brunswick Street clinic, opened in 1924, and included a training school for nurses. The training centre staff had been educated in both New Zealand and Sydney and the centre produced eight graduates in 1924 and eleven in 1925.[20]
\nOnce in operation, the centrally located Maryborough Baby Clinic proved a valuable facility for both mothers from Maryborough and those from surrounding districts. The work of the nurses was to give advice:
\nto expectant mothers in matters regarding their own health and that of their babies, before and after birth; to visit all newborn infants within their districts so far as possible; to distribute leaflets and invite the mothers to visit the clinics; to encourage natural feeding of infants … to advise medical or hospital treatment for such cases as may need it; and to educate the women of Queensland in mothercraft, so that the next generation will be stronger, wiser and happier.[21]
\nAccommodation for one nurse was provided in the clinic building. As well as tending to mothers visiting the clinic, the nurses were expected to make home visits to those unable to travel into Maryborough. There were also branch baby clinics set up in Pialba, Biggenden, Howard and Childers, with a nurse from the Maryborough clinic visiting once a week.[22]
\nIn 1924, it was reported that the establishment of baby clinics in Queensland was proving to be a success with ‘40,356 attendances at clinics’ throughout the state.[23] Specifically, in December 1927, the Maryborough clinic recorded 629 new births for that year, with the rate of infant mortality decreasing.[24] By February 1930, attendances at the clinic had reached 726 per month.[25]
\nIn 1940 the Kent and Lennox streets corner of the clinic site was truncated by the Maryborough City Council in an attempt to improve traffic safety. It was agreed that the existing fence would be realigned to accommodate this.[26] By the early 1960s, this timber fence was deemed beyond repair by the DPW and was subsequently replaced with the current tubular pipe-framed chain wire fence in 1960.[27]
\nIn 1965, a rear extension was constructed to provide extra room for the clinic. It consisted of a new laundry, bathroom and public toilet. Minor alterations were made to the clinic building at this time including changing the use of one of the rooms for extra accommodation for the nurses.[28] In 1977, a carport was built at the Lennox Street side of the clinic. The clinic continued to serve the Maryborough community until its closure in the mid-1990s. [29] It was then leased to several commercial tenancies until the property was sold to the Fraser Coast Regional Council in 2020.[30]
\nThe Maryborough Baby Clinic (former), established in 1924, following the introduction of the Maternity Act 1922, played a central role in the health and wellbeing of mothers and their babies throughout the Maryborough district for more than 70 years. The clinic is a highly intact example of the Department of Public Works’ standard design for regional baby clinics. Prominently sited, the finely designed building makes a positive contribution to the streetscape of Maryborough's civic centre.
","criteria":"The Maryborough Baby Clinic (former) (1924) is important in demonstrating Queensland’s response to the movement to reduce infant mortality and improve maternal health during the 1920s, by providing health care to babies and their mothers and education in infant welfare and domestic hygiene.
\nConstructed and operated as a Queensland Government initiative following the introduction of the Maternity Act 1922, the Maryborough Baby Clinic was established as the base for providing vital material and infant health services in the Wide Bay region. In its form, fabric, materials and layout, it is a representative example of a Department of Public Works standard design regional baby clinic.
|In its form, fabric, materials and layout, the Maryborough Baby Clinic (former) is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a Department of Public Works standard design baby clinic of the 1920s. Highly intact, these include its: central location; domestic scale and form with modest classical influences; symmetrical front elevation; masonry construction with timber-framed hip roof and prominent ventilation fleche; open front porch; functional layout comprising central waiting hall, doctor’s office, treatment room, sink room, kitchen, nurse’s room, and retiring room; and use of robust materials with simple detailing including roughcast render, terracotta roof tiles, moulded timber joinery, flat sheet ceilings with decorative timber cover battens and glazed doors and multi-light casement windows and fanlights.
|Highly intact, the Maryborough Baby Clinic (former) is important for its aesthetic significance brought about by its beautiful attributes and contribution to the streetscape of the city. Through its skilful use of classical architectural stylistic features, symmetrical composition, open central porch with columns, hip roof with fleche, the building is an attractive, well-composed design.
\nThe place stands on a prominent corner within a collection of impressive late 19th and early 20th century civic buildings clustered at the centre of Maryborough. Views to the building’s street elevations, and particularly its porch and fleche, are obtained from Lennox and Kent streets. The building is an important contributor to the streetscape through its modest proportions, use of classical architectural style, symmetrical composition, solid materials, hip roof with fleche, and street-facing porch with columns.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E","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"} ]}