The First World War Memorial is located in a park setting and is surrounded by cast iron posts with decorative finials.
The sandstone and granite memorial sits on a stepped concrete base with the cast iron posts fixed into the lower step. Above this is a smooth faced step capped with a cyma recta moulding. The front face bears the words Their Name Liveth Forever More.
Surmounting the base is a smooth faced step with a chamfered central section on each face. The non-chamfered corners provide bases for columns with Doric order capitals and bases which surround a recessed plates of red polished granite. The plates bear an inscription and the cut and (originally) gilded names of the 51 local who served from the First World War. The uppermost section of the front plate bears a AIF badge.
The four columns support a large entablature comprising a smooth faced fascia and a concave cornice. Each corner is surmounted by large acroteria. Positioned in the centre of the entablature is a red granite column which sits on a square base step. It has a simply moulded base and no capital and is capped by a polished red granite sphere.
","history":"The Mitchell War Memorial was unveiled in 1927. It was designed and produced by monumental masonry firm A L Petrie of Toowong, Brisbane and honours the 51 local fallen of the First World War. It cost £464, which was raised by local residents.
The Mitchell Downs run was taken up during the 1850s. A Post Office opened at Mitchell Downs in 1865 with mail services commencing for the surrounding district at this time. The Reserve for the town of Mitchell was gazetted in 1869, on the site of the Mitchell Downs head station, the owners having erected another homestead further west. The Division of Booringa was gazetted in 1879 and Mitchell became the administrative centre for the Division and later the Shire. The Western Railway line was extended to Mitchell in 1885, and Mitchell consolidated its position as the business centre of the surrounding pastoral district.
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.
There were many different types of memorials erected in Queensland, however this is the only known one of this design. The design is unusual, as are the materials.
The memorial was made and presumably designed by the Brisbane monumental masonry firm of A L Petrie and Son. At this time, they were the largest monumental masonry firm in Queensland and supplied many memorials throughout the state.
","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.
|The memorial is an unusual design and is the only one of its type in Queensland.
|Erected in 1927, the war memorial at Mitchell 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.
|It is of aesthetic significance for its high level of workmanship, materials and design.
|It has a strong and continuing association with the community as evidence of the impact of a major historic event and as the focal point for the remembrance of that event.
|It also has special association with monumental masonry firm, A L Petrie and Son as an example of their workmanship.
","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":15146,"place_ref":600371,"name":"Mount Abundance Homestead","alternate_name":"Mt Abundance Homestead","street_address":"Warrego Highway","suburb":"ROMA","lga":"MARANOA REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"Mount Abundance Homestead, consisting of house and attached quarters, is located approximately 5km west of Roma and 1km south of the main road to Charleville. It is sited on high ground on the southern bank of Bungeworgorai Creek. The approach is via a stone causeway which crosses the creek.
The main house is a single storey structure of three main rooms facing north with a wide verandah on three sides and services rooms on the south side. Part of the verandah has been closed in creating additional rooms. The north side and the portion of the west side which remain open feature a decorative timber valance. The main roof is a moderately pitched hip which reduces in pitch at the verandah line.
The foundations are a system of load bearing bed logs that support floor joists and tongue and groove timber floors. Damage to the foundations has caused the western end of the house to subside. The wall construction is a timber frame with chamferboards to the external walls. The interior walls and ceilings are constructed from tongue and grooved boards which are finished in a dark stained varnish. Two of the main rooms have masonry fireplaces with brick and stone chimneys. Six sets of french doors open out from the main rooms onto the north side verandah. One of these has been altered to create a window.
The roof is clad in corrugated galvanised iron laid over the original timber shingle roof and cantilevered beyond the earlier roof line. The cantilever section is supported by decorative brackets off the timber verandah posts.
The main house connects via a covered way to a single storeyed structure set on low timber stumps which housed quarters and a kitchen. Located to the south of the house, this building has exposed timber frame construction, timber cladding and a steep corrugated galvanised iron gabled roof with skillion additions.
Little remains of the original fencing but original steps and mounting stones can be seen. Forming the front entrance to the homestead are the original stone gate posts and iron gates. This entrance, which has been relocated, is flanked by large bottle trees.
","history":"This single storeyed timber homestead was built c1860 for Stephen Spencer, a squatter from New South Wales who arrived in Queensland in 1857.
The Mt Abundance run was taken up in 1847 by Allan MacPherson, a young squatter from New South Wales. MacPherson had come to Queensland seeking new pastures, and had followed the route of Sir Thomas Mitchell into the Mt Abundance area. Mitchell had named Mt Abundance in 1846 during his expedition to find a route from New South Wales to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Following constant conflicts with local Aboriginies, MacPherson decided Mt Abundance was a dangerous place and in late 1849, MacPherson withdrew his sheep from Mt Abundance, leaving it as a cattle station, and returned to England. In 1856 MacPherson briefly visited Australia at which time he disposed of his pastoral interests, including the sale of Mt Abundance to Stephen Spencer.
Spencer and his family are considered to have been the first European family to settle in the area. It is recorded that when they arrived at the station, it was found to be run down, and the buildings damaged by fire. Rough huts provided temporary quarters until Spencer built a new homestead, and Mt Abundance station is described as the focal point for the district during this period. Spencer ran a supply store, and the station formed a depot for European explorers heading into the western districts. A post office was opened at the homestead in September 1861. AC Gregory arrived at Mt Abundance in 1862, and selected a locality for the township which become known as Roma, proclaimed in September that year. The post office at Mt Abundance homestead closed at the end of 1863 when the Roma post office opened.
A stone causeway over Bungeworgorai Creek is believed to be contemporary with the development of Mt Abundance, however little is known about the stonework.
The Spencers are recorded as being interested in agriculture and horticulture, growing the first wheat in the district, and experimenting with grape vines, fig, peach and apricot trees.
By late 1868, Spencer was heavily in debt and in 1869 the Government auctioned the freehold of 175 acres of land on which the Homestead and other associated buildings of Mt Abundance Station were erected. The land was purchased by Robert Morehead and Matthew Young of Sydney, who represented the Scottish Australian Investment Company. The stock was auctioned early in 1870, and was also bought by Morehead and Young.
The Scottish Australian Investment Company was active in investing in pastoral property in Queensland between 1860-1890. The Company had been founded in Scotland, encouraged by reports from Scottish settlers in Australia, and was established with two main purposes: acquisition of land largely for grazing and agricultural pursuits; and granting loans or advances on property mortgages. Despite this two-fold purpose, in its first twenty years in Australia it was primarily a loan and mortgage company. During the early 1860s through the persistence of Robert Morehead as its Australian manager, the Company entered into pastoral activity and acquired property in Central/Western Queensland (Bowen Downs) and in the Gulf Country. During the 1860s, the Company made a number of loans to Queensland graziers, including Mt Abundance.
An article in 1875 recounted that when the Company took possession of Mt Abundance, The "improvements" consisted of only a wretched homestead, and suggested that He [Spencer] was contented to live in his bark-covered buildings till they were old, and dilapidated. It is possible therefore, although not actually stated in the same article, that the Company may have erected a new homestead on the property in the late 1860s. Documentary evidence to confirm this has not been available.
By the mid 1870s, Mt Abundance station was described as one of the largest establishments in the Maranoa and considered to be one of the best grazing properties in Western Queensland. The Head Station comprised a Homestead (occupied by the Manager), sub-Manager's residence, office, store, residences for the storekeeper and bookkeeper, mens' quarters, workshops, two large receiving stores and 7 acres of garden. Stock returns for 1875 indicate that Mt Abundance was run in conjunction with Nive Downs, a property north of Charleville which had also been acquired by the Company. The woolshed to the southwest of the homestead was reputed to be one of the largest in Queensland in the early 1880s. Photographic evidence indicates that the shingle roof of the homestead was clad with iron between 1890 and 1895.
Mt Abundance station was resumed by the government in 1923, being regarded as offering the best prospect for successful closer settlement. The main purpose of the resumption was the subdivision of land for the combined raising of wheat and sheep, and to extend agricultural settlement into the western districts. The land was made available for selection in 1927, and the Mt Abundance Homestead block comprising 2018 acres was selected by Ernest Martyn. Following the death of E Martyn, the property passed to his son PJ Martyn, who died in 1993. The property was further subdivided in the late 1970s, and presently comprises an area of just under 500 hectares. Of the former complex of buildings, only the homestead and quarters to the rear of the building are extant.
","criteria":"Mt Abundance Homestead provides rare surviving evidence of the pastoral development of western Queensland from the 1850s.
The resumption of Mt Abundance during the 1920s, and the subsequent division into smaller farming properties and re-settlement during the 1930s, is important in demonstrating the pattern of land use and occupancy in rural Queensland during the early 20th century.
|Mt Abundance Homestead provides rare surviving evidence of the pastoral development of western Queensland from the 1850s.
|The place has the potential to provide archaeological evidence of building construction techniques from the mid-19th century and of the formerly extensive pastoral station complex, of which only the homestead and attached quarters are known to be extant.
|(Criterion under review)
|The Scottish Australian Investment Company, which played an important role in the development of the pastoral industry in Queensland during the latter part of the 19th century, established the reputation of Mt Abundance as a fine grazing property and the association of this company with the property is of importance.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion C | 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 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 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":15599,"place_ref":600824,"name":"War Memorial and Heroes Avenue","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Wyndham Street","suburb":"ROMA","lga":"MARANOA REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The First World War Memorial encompasses a large area and comprises the avenues of trees, the cairn and the cenotaph.
The avenue of trees begins at The Railway Station, turns right into Wyndham Street and left into Bungil Street ending just after the intersection with Hawthorne Street. There are over 90 trees, all of which are bottle trees (Brachychiton rupestre)
The cairn is located outside the Post Office and is a white painted concrete pillar with a large chamfer on the top corner. The chamfered face displays a bronze plaque with the names of the 93 local men who fell in the First World War. These names were originally located on plaques attached to each tree.
The memorial located in Queen's Park comprises a cenotaph sitting on a slightly larger base, both of rock faced pale grey granite. The cenotaph has three leaded marble plaques which are recessed into the granite. The front face (facing Bungil Street) bears Laurence Binyon's ode 'To the Fallen' with a bronze AIF badge above. The rear plaque bears the 93 names of the fallen with a bronze laurel wreath above. A later plaque has been added to the eastern side to commemorate the 39 local men who fell in the Second World War.
The cenotaph is located in the centre of a paved area facing the end of the avenue of bottle trees. It is surrounded by a formal setting of kerbed paths and grassed areas. Encircling it is a semi-circle of nine pine trees which are allegedly grown from seeds collected from the Lone Pine at Gallipoli.
","history":"The Roma War Memorial was completed in two stages; the avenues of trees followed by the cenotaph.
The Heroes Avenue of 93 bottle trees (Brachychiton rupestre) was planted by 1920 and was the initial memorial to those in the First World War. Each tree originally bore a brass plaque stating the name of one of the 93 local men who fell during the First World War. Only one of these plaques survives, now on a cairn which was dedicated by the Roma RSL sub-branch on Remembrance Day, 1983. The cairn is located outside the Post Office near the corner of McDowell and Wyndham Streets. It also provides information regarding the rows of bottle trees and lists the 93 names originally displayed on the trees. Some of the original trees have been replaced and some have been removed to allow for increases in traffic.
The impetus for the Heroes Avenue began with the Mayor of Roma, Alderman Miscamble who had been impressed by avenues of memorial trees in southern states. The bottle tree was selected as it was a species commonly associated with Roma and it is thought that the first was planted in 1918 to commemorate the death of local soldier Lt Cpl Norman Saunders who was killed in France in 1916. This is the tree located outside the Post Office and known locally as the Tree of Knowledge. Trees were planted to commemorate subsequent deaths and although the plaques have disappeared each tree still retains its association with a particular soldier.
The Cenotaph is located in Queen's Park and was commissioned by the Local Repatriation Committee. It was unveiled on Anzac Day, 1938 by Colonel Sir Donald Cameron and honours the 93 local men who fell in the First World War (the same names that were originally recorded on the trees) and the 39 who fell in the Second World War. The erection of the cenotaph was delayed as the Committee's first priority was to provide for the welfare of returned soldiers. A memorial honour board had already been erected by the committee in the Town Hall.
Planted behind the monument are nine pine trees which were grown from seeds allegedly collected at Lone Pine, Gallipoli.
The traditional ANZAC Day march moved from the Railway station to the cenotaph in Queen's Park.
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.
","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 Roma avenue of trees was planted by 1920, and the 'cenotaph' was erected in 1938.
|Avenues of trees as memorials, and particularly those where each tree is attributed to a particular fallen serviceman are uncommon in Queensland. Most memorials erected during or after the First World War were of the monumental type.
|The monuments manifest a unique documentary record and are demonstrative of popular taste in the inter-war period.
It 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
|The war memorial planting is arguably one of the most impressive in Queensland and is of aesthetic significance as a dominant landmark in the town.
|It has a strong and continuing association with the community as evidence of the impact of a major historic event and as the focal point for the remembrance of that event.
","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":15851,"place_ref":601077,"name":"Mitchell Railway Station","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Oxford Street (passenger station), Alice Street (goods shed) and Sheffield Street (station master's","suburb":"MITCHELL","lga":"MARANOA REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2005-09-08","description":"Mitchell Railway Station is located on Oxford Street, on the western edge of Mitchell township. The buildings and structures of cultural heritage significance include the passenger station (c1910 moved to the station c1933) the goods shed (1884-85 with substantial later modifications) and the station master's house (1884). The passenger station is located on the southern side of the railway tracks and faces Oxford Street. The goods shed is immediately opposite the passenger station on the northern side of the tracks. Over 100 metres away from these structures towards the north, is the station master's house located on a separate allotment accessed from Ann Road.
Passenger Station
The passenger station is a narrow building, timber-framed and clad in weatherboards, set on concrete stumps. It has a gabled roof of corrugated iron. A small extension to the south west of the building has a skillion roof. .
The south eastern elevation of the building faces the road. A set of double, framed and boarded doors provide the only access through this elevation. These open out onto a small loading platform and give access into the store room at the south western end of the building. Four timber framed, vertical sliding windows are distributed along the elevation to the east of the doors. A fifth window opening into the lavatory at the north eastern end is louvred.
The ends of the building are each provided with a single window. A vertical sliding window is located roughly in the centre of the north eastern end and a small louvered window is fitted in the middle of the other end near the top.
The platform extends along the length of the north western elevation. A series of doors and openings give access onto the platform. The waiting room is enclosed on three sides only. The fourth side is open to the platform and this forms the largest opening on the platform elevation. Single doors provide access to the records room and the male lavatory, two single doors open into the station office and a double door opens into the store. With the exception of the door into the male lavatory, the single doors are paneled, with the top panels of the doors into the office glassed. The double doors into the store are framed and boarded. Two vertical sliding windows open into the office. Access into the women's lavatory is via a single door from the waiting shed.
The roof of the building extends over the platform. A series of horizontal timber members extend from the wall out to the rafters over the platform. The space between the members and the rafters is in-filled with vertical slats. Short straight timber brackets extend from the mid-point of the horizontal member down to the wall at an angle of approximately 45o.
With the exception of the store room and men's lavatory, the internal rooms of the station are all lined. The women's lavatory, store room and waiting shed at the north eastern end are lined with vertical boards and the office with fibro or plaster board. Timber benches are fixed to two of the walls in the waiting shed.
Goods shed
The goods shed is a large timber framed structure, clad in corrugated iron. It has a gabled roof with wide eaves. On the north western elevation, two large ledge and brace sliding doors provide road transport access to an internal loading bay. A raised timber platform fills most of the interior of the shed. The concrete floored loading bay is the only section of the floor which is at ground level. Outside the shed on the south eastern side, a raised timber platform runs along the rail tracks almost the full length of the elevation. Two large ledge and brace timber sliding doors open onto this platform.
Station Master's House
The station master's house is a timber-framed building clad with weatherboards, sitting on short concrete stumps. It comprises an L-shaped, five-roomed core with a central hallway; a separately roofed, semi-detached kitchen; and a later skillion-roofed laundry along the southwest side, between the kitchen and the main house, resting on a concrete slab. All the roofs are clad with corrugated galvanised iron.
The core of the house has a gabled roof over the front four rooms with a hipped roof extending at the back of the house along the northeast side, to accommodate a fifth room and a passage leading to the kitchen. There are separately roofed verandahs to the front and sides of the core. These have a two-rail balustrade and simple timber brackets to the verandah posts. The verandah along the southwest side has been enclosed at a later date to accommodate a bathroom and toilet.
The north western elevation is the front of the house. Access is gained to the verandah via a short, centrally positioned staircase opposite a four-paneled front door. On either side of the front door is a double-hung sash window with four lights.
The northeastern verandah roof is extended by a skillion, approximately one metre wide, running the full length of the elevation. The extended roof is supported by a series of horizontal members extending from the verandah posts out to the rafters. Short straight timber brackets extend from the mid-point of each horizontal member down to the posts at an angle of approximately 45o. The space between the members and the rafters are in-filled with vertical slats. Two double-hung sash windows and a set of French doors (which open into the rear bedroom) are spaced evenly along the elevation.
The kitchen at the rear of the house has a projecting stove recess, clad with curved corrugated iron, in the south west elevation. Rear access to the house is gained through a door in the centre of the south east elevation of the kitchen building. The approach to the door is via a short staircase running parallel to the wall and ending on a small landing covered by a skillion roof. There is a double-hung sash window with four lights to the right of the door and a single set of later louvres to the left of the door. A corrugated iron tank on a tank-stand is located adjacent to the north eastern end of the kitchen.
The interior linings and fittings of the house appear to be of fairly recent origin. In the laundry, the north eastern interior wall (formerly an external wall of the house) is clad in weatherboards. The kitchen is fitted with built-in cupboards, sink and stove of fairly recent origin, but there is also an early wood stove in the iron stove recess.
The house is located on a separate allotment to the rest of the station buildings. A weld-mesh fence encloses the block. The allotment is almost bare of vegetation except for an assortment of small shrubs and trees growing mostly at the rear of the block. A steel carport and garden shed of recent origin are located to the south west of the house. These are not considered to be of cultural heritage significance.
","history":"Mitchell railway station was opened on 17 January 1885 as part of a rail link to service western Queensland. Buildings of heritage significance on the site include the passenger station, goods shed and station master's house. The station complex reflects the historic role of Mitchell as a regional centre in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It provides good examples of typical railway architecture from this period in south western Queensland.
In Australia, government fostered the development of railways as a means of developing the country and providing social benefits. It was argued that rail would reduce freight costs and save travel time for passengers. An added incentive for rail development in Queensland was the very poor state of the roads. In wet weather especially, this hampered the transport of freight. Railway development became the province of government because of the doubtful economics of building and operating a rail service for the widely distributed, sparse population of rural Queensland. In most cases the capital costs were high in relation to the potential revenue likely to be raised from passengers and freight. These economies imposed a natural limit on the expansion of railways into remote areas.
The government initially gave priority to developing a railway west of Brisbane. As well as providing graziers and farmers with a more efficient transport link to the coast, railways were seen as a key to encouraging closer settlement west of the Great Dividing Range. The first section of rail, opened on 31 July 1865, was between Ipswich and Bigg's Camp, 34 kilometres west of Ipswich. By February 1868 the rail was extended to Dalby in the Darling Downs. With a railhead provided for the squatters in this region, extensions further west ceased while the railway was developed elsewhere. A line south to Warwick was opened in 1871 and in August 1872, approval was granted to extend the railway in Central Queensland and to start an Ipswich to Brisbane rail link. It was 1876 before construction of the railway westward from Dalby recommenced. The rail was opened to Roma in 1880 and to East Mitchell in 1883.
The region surrounding Mitchell was explored by Surveyor-General Sir Thomas Mitchell in the mid-1840s. The explorer spoke highly of the country's pastoral potential and within two years, squatters had occupied runs in the vicinity of Mount Abundance to the south of the present township of Mitchell. Eurella, Amby Downs, Mitchell Downs and Forest Vale, four pastoral runs in the vicinity of Mitchell, are believed have been taken up in 1861. The head station for Mitchell Downs was located on the site of the present town of Mitchell on the banks of the Maranoa River.
Mitchell Downs homestead was located on the western side of the Maranoa River, near the place where teamsters from Charleville, Bollon and St George crossed the river and was the logical site for a settlement to develop. One of the first settlers in the region recalls that after the Mitchell Downs homestead was damaged by flood waters in 1864 and had been moved to a nearby location, the remains of the original homestead were converted into the Maranoa Hotel. This was the township's first building. In 1876, Mitchell became a stage on the Cobb and Co. route from Roma to Charleville. Coach routes opened from Mitchell to Bollon in 1900 and to St George in 1905.
The rail reached the eastern bank of the Maranoa River across from the township of Mitchell in 1883. The river formed a natural barrier and until a bridge was constructed, a temporary terminus at East Mitchell was established. This was opened on 8 October 1883. A public holiday was proclaimed and a free 'excursion train' ran from Roma to the new terminus, but no formal ceremony was held owing to the lack of notice given of the opening (Western Star October 10 1883). With the opening of the East Mitchell terminus, the departure point of the Roma to Charleville Cobb and Co. route was moved to Mitchell. Coaches ran to Charleville three times weekly.
The Maranoa River bridge was completed on 10 September 1884 as part of the contract for the next rail extension. The bridge extends almost 210 metres and is made up of three spans on concrete piers with timber approaches. It is reputedly one of a small number of rail bridges built with continuous girders (Kerr: 1993, 4-107). Contracts were let in 1884 for a goods shed (still partly extant), engine and carriage sheds, booking offices, station master's house (still extant), cattle and sheep yards and three gate keeper's cottages at the site of the planned new terminus in Mitchell.
On 17 January 1885, the rail link between East Mitchell and Mitchell was opened by a ministerial party, which included Hon. W Miles (Minister for Works), Hon. CB Dutton (Minister for Lands), F Curnow (acting Commissioner for Railways), JF Thallon (Queensland Rail Traffic Manager), P McLean (Land Commissioner in Chief) and C Adam (Railway Traffic Inspector). At this time, the main station building and platform was almost complete and the goods shed, carriage shed and engine shed were in the process of construction.
The opening of the rail to Mitchell brought increased commerce to the township due to its role as the western rail terminus. Outward bound wool statistics for stations during the period when the western railway was being built shows that as the rail arrived at a township, that centre enjoyed a brief period of high goods traffic until the rail moved further west. Thus, in 1882, the year before the opening of the East Mitchell Station, Roma Railway Station recorded the highest quantity of outward bound wool on the Western Line at 6,687 bales. In 1884, this figure dropped to 1,308 bales with the new terminus at East Mitchell recording 9,545, the largest quantity on the western line. As the rail opened to points west of Mitchell, however, traffic through the station reduced. After the opening of Morven Station in March 1887, wool leaving Mitchell Station dwindled to 774 bales.
The extant passenger station is the third to occupy the site. The first building was destroyed by fire on the night of 13 December 1887. It was replaced by a shelter shed comprising a waiting area, office and lavatory. In about 1901, refreshment rooms (no longer extant) were erected comprising a bar, dining room and semi-detached kitchen. The second shelter shed burnt down on 29 June 1933. The present station was erected probably later that year utilising a shelter shed from Evanslea Station and a storeroom from Silverwood Station. The architectural style of the buildings suggests that probably they date to no earlier than 1910.
The core of the goods shed appears to date to 1884-85. Originally 101 feet (30.8 metres) long, the shed was quite large and this is indicative of the high goods traffic passing through the station initially. In February 1963, approval was given to reduce the length of the shed to 45 feet (13.7 metres). Material recovered was used for repairs to the building.
A contract for the station master's house, still extant on the site, was let on 19 July 1884 to Warren Brothers, the well-known building and architectural firm based in Roma and was likely completed by the time the Mitchell Station was opened in January 1885. Warren Brothers erected many government buildings in the Roma district including the Roads and Lands Office at Roma (1878), the Court House at Surat (1878-79) and the railway buildings at Roma (1880). The Mitchell station master's house may be a prototype for a later Queensland Rail standard design since its design is similar to Queensland Rail's architectural standard for first class station masters' houses in 1889. By as early as 1894 this standard had changed and in 1917 the Mitchell residence was recorded as a third class station master's house.
The architect responsible for the standard design for first class station master's houses was Henrik Hansen. Born in Denmark in 1843, Hansen had emigrated to Australia by 1877, when he was practising as an architect in Maryborough. Between October 1877 and 1904, he was employed in the Chief Engineers Branch of the Queensland Railway's Southern Division. In this position, he was responsible for the design of many standard railway buildings including station masters' residences.
Minor modifications to the station master's residence in the 20th century included the removal of the original brick chimney and replacement with an iron stove recess c1945 and extension of the awning over the northeastern side verandah in 1963.
After Charleville Station opened in 1888, the Carriage and Engine sheds at Mitchell Station were moved to Charleville. Of these two buildings, the engine shed remained intact until 2003 when it was blown down in a severe windstorm.
Since the station was first opened in 1885, accommodation for train and maintenance crews has been erected on the site. In the 1950s, train crews were quartered at Mitchell to relieve crews travelling from Roma and Charleville. A modified goods shed and two fettlers' cottages were moved to the site to accommodate crews. By 1961 there were 12 residential buildings on the site providing accommodation for maintenance and operations staff. Currently, there are only three residential buildings, comprising the station master's house and two more recent houses.
","criteria":"The Mitchell Railway Station, opened in 1885, is important in demonstrating the evolution of Queensland's history, providing physical evidence of Mitchell's role as a regional centre in the late 19th century. The station master's house and the core of the goods shed date to this period. The establishment of a railway station at Mitchell was consistent with the town's historic role as a node on southwestern Queensland's transport network, being located at the junction of roads to Roma, Charleville, Bollon and St George. As the western rail terminus for about two years after its opening, Mitchell was one of the busiest stations on the Western Line.
|The station master's house, constructed in 1884, is a substantially intact and now rare early example of a mid-1880s station master's residence. The earliest identified Queensland Rail standard drawing of this type of station master's residence dates to 1889, five years after the construction of the Mitchell house. The design was superseded by the beginning of the 20th century.
|The station complex is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of railway stations during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the importance of the rail link to the west was fundamental to the region's economic development. The station retains a number of principal elements from this period including the station master's house (1884), the goods shed (1884-1885) and the passenger station (c1910 moved to the station c1933). The station master's house is important in illustrating the varied work of Queensland Railway's architectural office during the tenure of Henrik Hansen, the Danish born architect who was responsible for the design of many standard Queensland Rail buildings of the nineteenth century. The passenger station is a composite of two buildings transported from Evanslea and Silverwood Stations in c1933 to replace the previous building which had burnt down. This is a good example of a Queensland Rail practice, common until the 1960s, of recycling railway buildings and structures.
|The station is a small, attractive railway landmark on the route of the 'Westlander'. The complex, including the station master's house, makes a strong aesthetic contribution to the townscape of Mitchell.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion D | Criterion E","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage | The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places | The place is important because of its aesthetic significance"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":16048,"place_ref":601285,"name":"Roma Court House and Police Buildings","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"McDowall Street","suburb":"ROMA","lga":"MARANOA REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1998-08-07","description":"Roma Court House:
Roma Court House is located on a triangular block bounded by McDowall and Queen Streets and the Police Reserve. The building faces south toward McDowall Street and is aligned to this street. It is a single-storeyed rendered masonry building designed in a style that is influenced by Federation Free Style. Together with the adjoining police buildings, it forms a precinct of justice administration.
The H shaped plan incorporates the entrance facade, the court room which dominates the form of the building and rear wings. The symmetrical form of the entrance facade incorporates a prominent central curved vestibule, with four approach steps. The vestibule has four columns, two pilasters and entablature of the ionic order. The main entrance is double doors with 4 panels and is crowned by a Queensland coat of arms. Ornate notice boards are located either side of the door. The vestibule is flanked on the east and west sides by rooms featuring double hung windows, with semi circular fanlights, facing McDowall street. The entablature is continued around the front facade of the building. The entablature, string courses and window heads are cement rendered with a ruled render surface continued throughout externally.
Three clerestory windows are situated above the arcades either side of the building. Each window has five panes and a timber louvred panel. Three air conditioning units are located on the western arcade roof. Paired narrow double hung windows face south from the wings. The rear verandah is partially enclosed with fibro cladding and louvred and aluminium frame windows. The verandah provides access to the office spaces.
Arcades provide additional entrance points to the court room, the front rooms and the symmetrical east and west wings. The east side wing comprises a lobby area, Jury room and crown solicitors office. The west side wing comprises a lobby area, and the offices of the court of petty sessions and the police magistrate. Behind the court room, the Judges chamber and the office of the Attorney General are located. No room is larger than the central courtroom. The 1973 remodelling of the court room space created a clerk of the court public office that occupies the front section of the building. The main court room has a suspened ceiling and all original furniture has been replaced. The interior retains original decorative architraves, and other original details such as joinery and fireplaces are evident in some areas.
The rolled galvanised iron roof has five tall chimneys and seven roof ventilators of varied size. The court room roof is raised above both the roof of the rear and front sections. The separate flat arcade roofing at the half elevation maintains access for light and ventilation through the clerestory windows. The roof is a gable hipped, with ventilator louvres in the gablets and corresponding smaller gablets cap the east and west wings. A small forward projecting gablet proclaims the arched entrance to the rear verandah.
A masonry toilet block is located at the rear of the building. Five bottle trees [Brachychiton rupestris], Kurrajong [Brachychiton populensis] and other indigenous trees are located in the court house grounds. A simple flagpole is centrally located in front of the main entrance to the building.
Police Buildings:
The Police Buildings are located in the Police Reserve on McDowall street adjacent to the west of the Roma Court House. The Police Buildings comprise a timber police station and a timber cell block/lock up. The police station is a combination of two separate single-storeyed timber buildings with corrugated iron roofing, connected by a covered way. The Police Station faces south and is aligned to McDowall Street. The cell block is located at the rear of the Police Station and the 1998 watch house.
A modified E shape plan incorporates two buildings connected by a covered way. The western building is weatherboard clad with a hipped corrugated iron roof. A verandah runs the breadth of the building and has been enclosed at each end creating two rooms which are entered from the verandah. The verandah has paired verandah posts and timber rail balustrade. Four timber approach steps are off centre and directly access the main entrance door to the police station. A faceted bay window protrudes onto the verandah space. An eyelid dormer window with four small fixed casements is located above the bay window. A decorative fleche is centred on the roof ridge, aligned with the dormer and bay windows.
The eastern, smaller building, is assymetrical. Seven timber approach steps, with a simple iron balustrade led to a forward projecting gabled porch. Paired aluminium doors provide entrance to the screened verandah. The front verandah has paired verandah posts rising from weatherboard piers. The main pyramidal roof is extended over the verandah. A decorative fleche matching the western building is centrally located on the roof.
Casement windows with simple timber supported hoods are located on the western and eastern faces of both buildings. The covered way has five timber approach steps, entered via the garden area between the two buildings. This entrance provides access to the rear of both buildings.
The cell block/lock up is a simple weatherboard clad building with corrugated iron roof. A verandah is located along the south eastern face of the building with paired verandah posts that match those of the police station. The building is raised on timber stumps and is entered via four timber steps located at the south western end of the building. Three sets of louvres are located in the front verandah enclosure. Four south western and 6 north western facing hopper windows indicate the internal office space at the south western end of the building. Six small high set windows, with iron bars, are located on the eastern face of the building indicating the former cells.
Located at the former gate entrance of the Police buildings, is a simple concrete monument mounted with a granite tablet and plaque. It reads 'This plaque commemorates the first meeting of the Roma Town Council , 10 August 1867, Thomas McEwan, Mayor'.
","history":"The Roma Court House is a rendered masonry building located on a triangular block facing McDowall Street. It was constructed between 1900 and 1901 and was designed by John Smith Murdoch, the Second Assistant Architect of the Queensland Works Department. The Police Buildings were completed in 1919 as the Roma police station, barracks, offices and cell block, servicing the Roma district. The Roma Police Buildings are simple single-storeyed timber buildings adjacent to the Roma Court House, also facing McDowall street.
Roma was the principal town of the Mount Abundance district, which was established as a pastoral and agricultural region after exploration by Thomas Mitchell, New South Wales Surveyor General in 1846. It was originally settled by squatters, who established it as primarily a sheep grazing area. The township of Roma was proclaimed in September 1862, the first town formed in Queensland after separation. Roma was named after Lady Bowen, wife of the first Governor of Queensland, Sir George Ferguson Bowen. She was the daughter of a Governor of the Ionian Islands and her maiden name was Countess Diamantina Georgina Roma. Surveyor McDowall laid out the town reserving a section for public buildings bounded by Bungil, Charles, McDowall and Gregory streets. The first land sales were held in September 1863. The town of Roma was declared a municipality in 1867. The growth in Roma's economy and population was matched by similar development in the administration of law and order in the town.
Court House Context:
Over 145 Court Houses were constructed in Queensland between separation in 1859 and 1900. There was considerable variation in the types and size of structures , ranging from the slab construction in Cunnamulla in 1869 to the (masonry?) Supreme Court in Rockhampton in 1887. In the first course of construction, between 1860 and 1874, the government established 40 court houses in the initial establishment phase of townships. Between 1875 and 1890 the growth in Queensland's economy and population continued and the corresponding construction of court houses proceeded in newly formed townships. The marked difference in this second phase in development was the significant improvement in the quality of the built form. This period also saw the replacement of the temporary constructions of the earlier period. The 1890s saw a decrease in the building of court houses; an average of two buildings per year were completed in the ten years to federation.
The Roma Court House:
In 1865, a reserve for court and police purposes was selected, on the hill west of the town centre. This reserve was bounded by McDowall, May (now Souter), Queen and Albert Streets. The latter street once connected Albert and Spencer Streets. It was on this site that the first Roma court house was completed in 1866. [From 1863 local magistrates had conducted court hearings in rented premises.] The first court house faced Albert Street, and was a small timber building, extended in 1884 to accommodate sittings of the Supreme Court in circuit.
This first court house was the site of the first meeting of the Roma Town Council on 10 August 1867. A simple concrete monument mounted with a granite tablet and plaque, commemorating this event, is located at the front of the Police Station in McDowall Street. It was erected during centenary celebrations in 1967 and was unveiled by Gwydir Laycock, former chairman of the Bungil Shire Council.
Roma flourished with the advent of the railway in the 1880s, ensuring the efficient transportation of stock and produce to the coastal ports. The vast artesian basin was tapped in Queensland in the late 1880s and early 1890s, securing an alternate water supply for cattle and sheep. Consistent with the growth of the Maronoa district was the increasing demand for justice administration. During this period cases heard in the various courts held at Roma increased from approximately 210 in 1892 to 280 in 1898.
Roma's 1866 court house was replaced in 1901 with a new building erected a little to the east, on a new reserve for court house purposes gazetted in 1900. The court house reserve was created by combining a market reserve, at the corner of McDowall and Queen Streets, with part of the Albert Street road reserve which had been incorporated with the police reserve in 1883.
The Roma Court House was designed by John Smith Murdoch who at the time was the Second Assistant Architect, responsible for the designing and drafting staff, of the Queensland Department of Public Works. Murdoch arrived in Australia from Scotland, originally working in Melbourne. He began working for the Queensland Department of Public Works in the mid 1880s, leaving temporarily to practice privately with John Hall and Sons, before returning in the mid 1890s. Murdoch later went on to become the first Commonwealth Government Architect in 1919.
The original 1899 design for the new Court House was to be of timber, based on a H shaped design. However, the township of Roma demanded a court house that reflected the Western Districts' growth in population, economic importance and political power. The community thought a grand architectural gesture more appropriate than the planned building. The plans were altered to accommodate brick, thought to be more substantial and lasting. The laying of the foundation stone was performed in a ceremony by the Mayor of Roma, Alderman J.M. Hunter on 4 September 1900. The building was completed in December 1901 for a cost of £5964.
The new court house was built along side the old, allowing the legal and police activities to continue during construction. After the 1866 building was vacated by the court in 1902, it was converted to constables quarters and was finally removed from the site in 1931.
The major consideration in the design and planning of the 1900-01 Court House was the allowance for the correct movement of people in the building and the separation of the different groups involved in the judicial process. The verandahs and arcades allowed for specific delineated entrances to the buildings. Jurors and barristers entered the court house by an alternative route to the public on their way to the public spaces. Judges and the Attorney General had a private entrance and lobby via the rear verandah. The Police Magistrate and barristers could also access their rooms from this verandah. The prisoners would be brought directly from the police cells to the court room through the side arcade door. The separate female and male witness rooms, were located at the front of the Court House to avoid hearing previous evidence before making their testimony.
With consideration for the harsh western climate a detailed and technical ventilation system was constructed in the Roma Court House. Conventional cast iron wall ventilators were combined with Tobin's Tubes to carry cool air from beneath the building into the court room. Boyles roof ventilation using an air pump ventilator, connected by an iron shaft to a bell mouth over a ceiling ventilator, extracted the hot air from the building. Fireplaces were incorporated to provide heating in the winter.
In May 1931 trees were planted to beautify the Roma Court House grounds as part of the Unemployment Relief Scheme. In January 1934 five bottle trees, Kurrajong and other indigenous trees were added to the grounds. The bottle trees at the front of the building replaced the original picket fence and match the trees planted as part of Heroes Avenue [600824] to serve as a memorial to the Roma residents who enlisted in the First World War. It is not clear whether these trees were planted to serve a commemorative function.
The interior of the court room was extensively altered in the 1960s with the addition of a false ceiling and updating of the fixtures and the furniture. The new ceiling effectively blocked the clerestory windows and covered the domed roof, altering the patterns of light and ventilation. It is probable that the original masonry parapets on the rear of the buildings were removed during the recladding of the roof during these alterations. In 1973, alterations to the main court room to accommodate the clerk of court in the front section of the building, including the former witness rooms, was carried out. Air conditioning was added in 1978.
The Police Buildings:
The Police Buildings, which are single-storeyed timber structures, were erected in 1919. They comprise offices and barracks, addressing McDowall Street, and a cell block at the rear of the Police Reserve.
A lock up was the first purpose built police building in Roma, completed during the construction of the first court house in 1866. In 1868, a gaol servicing the wider region, was located on a separate reserve at the corner of Souter and McDowall Streets, adjacent to the court house and lock up. The gaol was closed in 1923 and the site is now occupied by three police residences.
The first Roma police station was built in 1885 and was located to the north of the 1866 court house, facing Albert Street. The building provided both accommodation for police and office space for official duties. Prior to the completion of the station, police were accommodated in timber huts, private lodgings or a choice of Roma's many public establishments. The 1885 police station was replaced in 1919 with a new police station and barracks facing McDowall street, on the site of the 1866 court house. At this time, the first police station was converted to Senior Sergeants quarters and removed or demolished in 1957.
The 1919 Police Station was designed by the office of the Queensland Government Architect. It was a modified E shape, that incorporated climatic design considerations and classical architecture features. A single-storeyed structure, the design separates the official police duties from the residential accommodation. A covered way and garden acts to both link and separate the two buildings and their relative functions. The police barracks are housed in the western building with the offices of the senior sergeant and the sub inspector housed in the eastern building. The design of the barracks indicates the improvement of living conditions for members of the force in comparison with the rudimentary conditions of the late 19th century and early 20th century. It incorporates dormitory, a billiard room, kitchen and cook's room and a generous dining area on the rear verandah. The use of lattice work on the rear verandah ventilated the dining space. The preference for single men as constables is indicated by the dormitory style quarters.
During 1962 there were major additions, alterations and spatial reconfiguration of the Police Buildings. New concrete stumps and weatherboards were installed and a new store was added to the western back corner of the McDowall Street building. The conversion of the police barracks to act only as a police station occurred at this time, the new arrangement of the spaces in the building was associated with this change. New toilets were installed in 1970; a covered work bay was added in 1978; and a tea room in 1979.
A cell block consisting of four cells, each 12 ft by 8 ft facing a verandah, was constructed at the same time as the 1919 Police Station. This building was used for remand of prisoners before trial or awaiting transfer to larger correctional facilities. In 1962, two new cells were added to the building, providing an extra female cell and a female toilet. In the western section of the building, two cells were converted to a charge room and records room; and a male toilet. In 1998 this building was repositioned on the police reserve to accommodate the construction of a new watch house.
","criteria":"The Roma Court House was constructed in 1900-01 and the Police Buildings in 1919. The Roma Court House and Police Buildings reflect the development of Roma, a pastoral service town, and the establishment of government administration for the prosperous surrounding district, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The large masonry form of the Roma Court House is indicative of the relevant importance of Roma in relation to other towns in western Queensland. The Police Buildings reflect the multi-functional use of the police reserve to accommodate residences, official duties and remand facilities.
|The Roma Court House and Police Buildings are good examples of Queensland Public Works court house and police buildings design in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
|The Roma Court House and Police Buildings are of considerable aesthetic significance due to their landmark qualities and for their high degree of design and workmanship.
|The site of Roma Court House and Police Buildings is significant for a long association with law and order and the dispensing of justice in Roma since 1866. The Roma Court House and Police Buildings are an important community focus in the township of Roma, connecting the local and district community to governance in the Maronoa District of south western Queensland. The monument commemorating the first town council is evidence of the importance of this site to the community.
|Roma Court House has a strong association with important architect John Smith Murdoch, as an example of the development of his work.
","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":16299,"place_ref":601536,"name":"Roma Government Complex","alternate_name":"Roma State School","street_address":"42 Bungil Street","suburb":"ROMA","lga":"MARANOA REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1998-09-04","description":"Roma Government Complex is located on a rectangular block bounded by Wyndham, Bungil and Arthur Streets and two vacant allotments. It is a substantial stuccoed brickwork building, influenced by Interwar Mediterranean style. It faces north toward Bungil Street and is aligned with that street.
Roma Government Complex is a three storeyed building with a centrally located main entrance in a range that breaks forward one bay. The main entrance door is recessed into an arched opening, enriched with an archivolt and keystone, and flanked by two wrought iron bracketed lanterns. The contrasting colour of the basement level accentuates openings and entrance features on the ground and first floor. The split symmetrical stairwell finished with an open porch at main entrance level has simple wrought iron balaustrading. A large square opening provides the central entrance to the basement level and is located beneath the entrance porch. It has archivolt and keystone patterns to match the main entrance.
All three storeys have simple openings along the verandahs, facing the street. The ground floor, carries semi circular arches in contrast to the squared openings on the basement and first floor levels Stair halls at each end of the building maximise the size of the major elevation to Bungil Street. On the basement level, symmetrical projecting door cases crowned with plain shields provide entrance to the stair halls.
The roof, clad with asbestos cement tiles, is pitched and hipped except for the central range which terminates in a gable/pediment at both south and north elevations. The front gable is marked ROMA STATE SCHOOL with the date of construction, 1937, in the gable of the rear of the building.
The building has relatively understated decorative features and fenestration patterns The main entrance is flanked by two grouped banks of casement windows crowned with a semi circular fanlight window. The light gently textured surface contrasts with the dark coloured timber windows located in the central range, the stair halls and the southern elevation. At the rear of the building eleven banks of four casements with fanlights are symmetrically placed on the ground and first floor. Identical grouped casement windows are located on the east and western face of the building.
The verandahs are floored with polished concrete and double hung sash windows line this space. Each floor has three entrance doors to the office spaces. The offices are open plan, with fluorescent lights and a centrally located air conditioning duct. At the western end of the ground floor office area, are two offices which these located on a raised platform, separating them from the main office area.
Bottle trees with small cairns and plaques, part of the Roma Avenue of Heroes, are located on the Bungil and Wyndham Streets footpaths. The front lawn area has six mature palm trees which are sympathetic with the architectural style of the building.
","history":"Roma Government Complex is a three storey rendered brick building, influenced by Inter War Mediterranean style, facing Bungil Street. It was constructed in 1937 as the main building of Roma State School, providing primary education to children of Roma and district.
Roma was the principal town of the Mount Abundance district, which was established as a pastoral and agricultural region after exploration by Thomas Mitchell, New South Wales Surveyor General in 1846. It was originally settled by squatters, who established it as primarily a sheep grazing area. The township of Roma was proclaimed in September 1862, the first town formed in Queensland after separation. Roma was named after Lady Bowen, wife of the first Governor of Queensland, Sir George Ferguson Bowen. She was the daughter of a Governor of the Ionian Islands and her maiden name was Countess Diamantina Georgina Roma. Surveyor McDowall laid out the town reserving a section for public buildings bounded by Bungil, Charles, McDowall and Gregory streets. The first land sales were held in September 1863. The town of Roma was declared a municipality in 1867. Roma flourished with the advent of the railway in the 1880s, ensuring the efficient transportation of stock and produce to the coastal ports. The vast artesian basin was tapped in Queensland in the late 1880s and early 1890s, securing an alternative water supply for cattle and sheep.
In 1870 Roma State School, comprising simple timber school building and teachers residence, opened with an enrolment of 133 pupils. The Reserve for a National School, a two acre site bounded by Bungil, Wyndham and Arthur Streets and two residential allotments, was proclaimed in 1871. A second school building, facing Wyndham Street, was constructed in 1899, allowing the separation of male and female instruction. This school building was enlarged through addition and verandah enclosure, thereby creating a series of new classrooms. In 1912 a verandah was enclosed to create space for a high school, with a separate site established and opened on 2 August 1920. In 1939 the original school building was sold to the RSL and relocated to Queen Street.
In 1934, the Health Inspector Chas Clark, began to agitate for a new school builidng. He referred to the existing building environment as problematic in respect to the physical and educational development of the children. The Roma School Committee pressed for a new building, alluding to the established use of the Unemployment Relief Scheme for the construction of school buildings and departmental preference for provision of buildings for coastal urban centres. The plans were prepared by Maurice Guthrie, of the Architectural Branch of the Department of Public Works, in January 1935, however it took the School Committee a further two years to obtain an undertaking from the government on the construction of a new building. Brick was used as it was thought to be more substantial and cost effective, but perhaps more importantly, it provided employment for greater numbers of tradesmen, during the years of economic depression.
The building was occupied in July 1938 and officially opened on 25 February 1939, providing accommodation for 432 children. It comprised eleven classrooms; a head teacher, male and female teachers rooms; cloakrooms and play area facilities underneath at the basement level. Conforming to sectional design, covered verandahs were incorporated on both the ground and first floor, along all but the southern side of the building. Ten of the classrooms, five on each floor, were interconnected by the use of sliding partitions. A stage was created by the incorporation of a raised floor beneath the western class room on the ground floor, providing multi functional use of class room space. The design was comparable to other brick school buildings built during this period of economic depression and reflects educational methodology of the time. (Explain educational methodology)
A combination of inadequate size of the site for outdoor facilities, burgeoning attendance and movement to open plan teaching methods in the late 1960s and early 1970s saw major changes to Roma State School. The addition of a new library behind the main school building, in 1972, prevented the early suggested relocation of the school. However, in 1974, the school was divided into Roma Infants School for years 1-3, on a separate site in Quinton Street, and Roma Junior School for years 4-7, at the Bungil Street site. In 1986 the Education Department piloted a new prototype of school in the Roma Middle School incorporating grades 4-10 on the one larger 14 acre site at Cottel Street.
In 1987, the Bungil Street school buildings were remodelled as Roma Government Complex accommodating the regional offices of the Education Department, Water Resources, Boating and Fishing and Forestry. In 1997, the reserve was subdivided into three lots with builings on the front section. The rear section of the land, comprising two lots, was sold to the Bungil Shire Council and the Uniting Church in 1997.
","criteria":"Roma Government Complex, formerly Roma State School is significant as a substantial stuccoed brick building that reflects regional prosperity of Roma as a pastoral service town. The impressive form of the Roma Government Complex is indicative of the relevant importance of Roma in relation to other towns in south western Queensland.
|The Roma Government Complex is an excellent regional example of a late Interwar school building, built as a part of the state government's depression initiatives under the Unemployment Relief Scheme. It is a good example of Queensland Public Works school building design and as such demonstrates the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural place.
|The influence of Interwar Mediterranean style architecture and detailing creates an important aesthetic landmark in the town of Roma.
|As the former Roma State School, the building has a significant association with almost 50 years of primary school education for the Roma community since 1937.
","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":16504,"place_ref":601767,"name":"Romavilla Winery","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"77 Northern Road","suburb":"ROMA","lga":"MARANOA REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2008-08-14","description":"Approximately two kilometres north of the township of Roma in western Queensland, Romavilla Winery stands prominently to Northern Road, the main road north out of Roma travelling to the Carnarvon Gorge and beyond. The winery and vineyards are on the flood plain of Bungil Creek which runs down from the hills around Injune to the north. Bounded by Northern Road to the west, Bassett Lane to the north, a neighbouring property to the east and Edna Street and the adjacent caravan park to the south, the winery complex comprises a number of structures. Those considered to be of heritage significance are winery office, winery shed and distillery shed. A display vineyard occupies part of the front yard. A number of hoardings, including one for Bassett Romavilla Winery, stand along the front fence line.
Driveway and display vineyard
The winery shed is approached along a graveled driveway from the front entrance gate. A display vineyard stands to the south of the driveway adjacent to the small low-set timber-framed and clad winery office.
Winery Office
A small rectangular timber-framed building standing on low timber stumps and sheltered by a hipped roof clad with corrugated iron, the office building stands west of the winery shed. The projecting gable roofed entrance porch opens into a narrow room running the width of the building. Two offices with a connecting doorway open onto this space. The building is clad with chamferboards and lined with fibrous cement sheeting with batten cover strips. The narrow front room is lit by rectangular casements windows to all three sides and banks of casements windows light the offices.
Winery shed
The winery shed is a large, timber-framed building clad with timber and corrugated iron. Sheltered by a series of high gabled roofs supported by king post trusses, the winery building is constructed as linked buildings on three levels stepping down the gradient of a slightly sloping site. The small extension at the front of the building is used for sales and wine tasting and together with the adjacent barrel storage area is built over a cellar used for long term wine storage. The centre section accommodates racked barrels and the pressing equipment, storage vats and bottling machinery stand towards the rear of the building.
The front elevation is clad with corrugated metal sheeting and the former tall rectangular parapet is now truncated to follow the outer roof lines of the twin gables behind. The single storey extension running across the front of the building is sheltered by a skillion roof which is screened by a low corrugated iron parapet. The metal sheet cladding extends down into the soil that has been piled up against the front of the building. The extension accommodates two entrances, both housing pairs of ledged and braced timber doors. One opens into the front lobby, the other into the front barrel storage area. Romavilla Vineyards signage is fixed to the upper centre of the elevation, flanked by pairs of fixed timber louvred windows.
The north, east and south sides of the shed are clad with corrugated iron and a continuous band of fixed timber louvres runs along the upper north and south walls. The north side has a number of lean-to extensions - an open storage area to the west end, small lean-to enclosed sheds flanking the entrance in the rear end of the shed and a skillion roof open storage space to the east end. This wraps around to the eastern side where it terminates in an enclosed shed to the south end. A number of concrete slabs, drains and structures, including timber and corrugated iron sheds and concrete water tanks, stand south of the shed.
From the front entrance lobby, the sales office opens to the left, the tasting area to the right and the front portion of the shed is directly ahead. An unlined, high volume space with fixed timber louvres along the upper north and south walls, the front portion of the shed is wider than the other parts of the shed and has a timber floor supported by timber posts from the cellar below. It accommodates barrel storage, a small open office cubicle and the excise inspector's office. The office cubicle sits on a timber platform projecting into the middle shed area where it is supported by timber stumps. The office accommodates narrow timber benches with cupboards below, a small table and a bench seat. A number of framed certificates and awards are propped around the office. A timber framed podium clad with vertical tongue and groove boards, the elevated excise inspector's office, stands to the north and is approached by a set of timber stairs. It projects into the middle shed area and commands views across the whole shed.
The middle and rear portions of the shed have concrete floors and a number of drains run through these areas. The barrel storage area in the middle portion of the shed is organised around a grid of walkways and concrete upstands accommodating concrete plinths on which the barrels stand.
The rear of the shed accommodates a range of early and modern equipment. Early equipment including the crusher, pressing equipment, in-ground concrete blending and storage tanks are considered to be significant. Pairs of large timber doors open from this area of the shed to the east and south. Marks in the concrete floor indicate where earlier concrete fermentation tanks stood. A number of these tanks now stand inverted in the yard to the north of the shed. Drive wheels and other elements of the earlier power generation system remain to the south wall of the shed. Two small in-ground concrete blending tanks stand to the middle of this area of the shed. Each tank has a low, rounded, concrete upstand supporting concrete posts to each corner linked by hollow metal rails. A large three chamber concrete storage tank runs along the north side of the shed. The tank has deep in-ground chambers with concrete walls rising about 1.7 metres above shed floor level. The flat concrete top has a number of lidded access hatches. A cut-away portion in the side of the tank allows a view into the middle chamber. Modern equipment including stainless steel storage vats, bottling equipment and cold storage is not considered to be significant.
The cellar is dug into the ground below the front part of the shed and is accessed from the middle barrel storage area by a set of concrete stairs descending below the excise officer's podium. A narrow corrugated iron sheeted chute incorporating a timber ladder drops into the cellar on the south side of the projecting front office cubicle. Rows of rough unsawn posts support timber beams carrying the framing for the floor above. Barrels rest on timber racks standing on the part concrete, part dirt floor. Perimeter retaining walls to the north and south are timber framed and lined with corrugated iron and those to the east and west are constructed of concrete and timber. A set of timber stairs to east side climbs to the tasting area above.
Distillery
The distillery shed is a rectangular timber framed corrugated iron clad building sheltered by a corrugated iron clad gabled roof. To the south, a small rectangular roof sheltering the distillery apparatus projects above the main roof. Both gable ends of the shed are infilled with horizontal timber weatherboards and fixed timber louvres run around the upper parts of the walls. The timber frame is a combination of sawn studs, beams and battens and adzed and unsawn timber posts. A skillion roof projects from the south side of the building sheltering the firebox hatch.
The distillery shed accommodates a storage room over a cellar to the north and a distillery room to the south. A braced and ledged timber door in the middle of the north elevation opens into the unlined storage area which has a timber floor. Fixed timber louvers run around the upper west, north and east walls. A metal grate stands immediately inside the entrance. A door on the east side opens into the still room where from the northwest corner a set of steep timber stairs to the cellar. The cellar has timber framed walls clad with corrugated iron set into the earth surrounding it.
In the distillery room, two copper boilers - one higher than the other - are set into a stepped rectangular brick frame which houses a firebox and stands against the south wall onto the dirt floor. A brick chimney extends out of the firebox and through the roof at the southwest corner. The firebox is accessed through a metal hatch on the external south wall. The hatch bears the maker's nameplate - Harvey & Son Engineers Brisbane. Each boiler is fitted with a tall copper cylinder standing perpendicularly over it, the whole crowned by a horizontal chamber just below the ceiling. The boilers are connected by a copper inverted U-tube and a number of cocks and tubes are worked within the apparatus which is held within a timber frame. A small timber ladder provides access to the upper part. To the front of the apparatus a cock regulates tubes that connect to the cellar below, running within a timber frame in the middle of the dirt floor.
Equipment
Equipment associated with earlier wine making practices has been retained and is displayed for visitors. This includes basket presses in the tasting/sales area and concrete fermentation tanks in the yard.
","history":"Romavilla Vineyards, on the outskirts of Roma in the Maranoa district of south western Queensland, was established in the 1860s by Samuel Symons Bassett. It dominated wine-production in the Roma district and later in Queensland for many decades, and continues to manufacture commercial wines. The earliest section of the present winery buildings was constructed in 1877-1878.
Grapes were grown successfully on the head stations of pastoral properties in the area in the 1850s, during the first wave of non-indigenous settlement, but Romavilla produced the earliest commercial wine in the Maranoa in the 1860s and was among the earliest of Queensland's commercial wine producers. At the peak of viticulture in the Roma district in the late nineteenth century there were 50 local vineyards, the majority of which had been established in the 1870s and 1880s. Most of the grapes grown were for table fruit, but a small wine-producing industry also emerged at this time. The principal vignerons in the district included SS Bassett, John Robertson (manager of Mount Abundance Station), William Tune, James Spencer, Alexandre Robinson, and the Tardent brothers (Henri, Alexis and Emile, from the late 1880s). Grape growing and wine producing remained important local industries well into the twentieth century, with historian Matthew Fox describing Roma in about 1920 as being surrounded by "a magnificent fruit and wine growing district" (M Fox The History of Queensland, its People and Industries Vol.2 1921:162).
Bassett, born in Cornwall in 1840, arrived in Sydney in 1856 and worked on his uncle's Hunter Valley property for some years. From 1860 he managed Euthulla Station in the Maranoa for his uncle and cousin, until in 1866 he purchased from the Crown nearly 270 acres [109 hectares] of recently surveyed agricultural land just outside the town of Roma. Here he established Romavilla Vineyards, with vine cuttings brought in by bullock dray from Toowoomba. In 1869 he diversified his interests with the establishment in Roma of a general store and a depot for wines sales.
In about 1870 Bassett built a house at Romavilla and in 1871 married Isabella Cameron of Brisbane. At Romavilla they raised a large family, with three daughters and six sons surviving to adulthood.
Bassett had no formal training either in grape-growing or wine-making, and learnt largely by trial and error. By 1881 he was employing a manager to run the winery, while he (and later his sons also) travelled throughout Queensland to promote Romavilla wine. By 1888 Bassett had 55 acres under vines, from which he was producing 7,000 gallons of wine per annum, as well as table grapes for the local and Brisbane markets. The Romavilla cellar was capable of holding 30,000 gallons of wine, and Bassett usually kept 20,000 in stock.
Like many of Queensland's early wine producers, Bassett's first cellar at Romavilla was above ground. That structure no longer exists. The earliest section of the present large winery building at Romavilla was constructed in 1877-1878, reportedly of cypress and imported Oregon pine, and was extended several times in later years. It accommodated the whole process of wine making, from crushing, to fermentation in vats, to maturing in barrels, to bottling, and incorporated a large underground cellar. In late 1888 the cellar was described as being partly above and partly below ground, "built of corrugated iron in 7 feet 6 inch lengths, with a space of 18 inches filled in with battens to the wall-plate, and covered with corrugated iron" ("Viticulture and Wine-making in the Southern Districts" in Votes and Proceedings of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 1889 Vol.IV:26). The section of the cellar that lay partly underground measured 36 feet by 40 feet; attached to the end of this was a similarly constructed cellar building, all above ground, about 50 feet by 24 feet. There was no attempt to maintain a regular cellar temperature in this structure.
During the 1880s Bassett's reputation as a maker of good wines was established when Romavilla won its first prize for wine in 1886. The winery sustained a list of impressive prizes, including four first prizes out of eight at the 1900 Queensland Exhibition, nine first prizes out of ten at the 1901 Exhibition, and medals at international competitions in continental Europe. By the late 1960s, the winery had won over 650 certificates and medals in Australia and internationally.
Romavilla underwent considerable expansion during the last decade of the nineteenth century and in 1898 Samuel Bassett sent one of his sons, William Augustus, to learn wine-making from Leo Buring in South Australia.
By 1903 the property comprised 500 acres [202 hectares], mostly of light and dark sandy loam, with 170,000 vines planted. Much of this was under irrigation, with two recently-erected irrigation plants on the estate. The winery building included an immense cellar, which stored up to 50,000 gallons of wine at a time. Adjacent to the cellar was a "well-equipped plant, with the latest appliances for wine-making", including cooling coils on the vats to reduced heat during fermentation (Queensland Country Life November 1903:11). Romavilla was among the first wineries in Australia to use cooling during fermentation.
In August 1904 title to the property passed from Samuel Symons Bassett to The Romavilla Vineyards Limited (The Romavilla Vineyards Pty Limited from 1942). Following his death in late 1912, Bassett's sons expanded the enterprise into the largest wine-producing firm in Queensland. In 1916 the annual output was estimated at 31,000 gallons and the cellar holdings at 100,000 gallons. By 1923 Romavilla was supplying products to individuals and hotels (especially) all over Queensland. Romavilla fortified wines - such as port, sherry and madeira - were particularly popular and for a considerable period Romavilla distilled its own spirits for fortifying wine. By the 1930s the firm was supplying to wine saloons throughout the State; Queensland Government Railways stocked Romavilla port in its refreshment rooms; and Romavilla altar wine was popular in Catholic churches. By 1967 Romavilla Vineyards was the sole remaining commercial winery in Queensland, producing 20,000-30,000 gallons annually, until the emergence of a boutique wine-making industry in the Stanthorpe district of southern Queensland in the 1970s.
Following WA Bassett's death in the early 1970s the winery passed out of the Bassett family, but its historic involvement was perpetuated when the name of the enterprise was changed in 1977 to Bassetts Romavilla Winery Pty Ltd. New owners installed modern equipment within the nineteenth century structures but retained much of the earlier technology, which is now of considerable historical interest and a tourist attraction. Documentation has been preserved, including early award certificates and a letter from Prime Minister William Hughes, a former worker at Romavilla, who wrote recalling those days following a gift of wine from the vineyard.
The circa 1870 residence was destroyed by a severe storm in 1984.
","criteria":"Romavilla Winery demonstrates a continuity of use from the 1870s and is important for its association with early attempts to establish a Queensland wine-making industry. Immigrant agriculturalists experimented with grape-growing in Queensland wherever soil and climate were considered suitable, and for many decades in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the Roma area was one of the principal grape-producing districts in Queensland. Although wine production is no longer a significant industry in the Maranoa, viticulture was one of the earliest commercial agricultural activities in the Roma district and wine production one its earliest agriculture-based industries. The first commercial wine in this district was produced at Romavilla Vineyards in the 1860s.
|Romavilla Winery is the oldest still-operating winery in Queensland, and retains much fabric important in illustrating the principal characteristics of a late nineteenth and early twentieth century winery.
|As a rare surviving early winery in Queensland that has retained much of its building and some early equipment, the place is important in demonstrating aspects of Queensland's manufacturing history that are no longer common.
|With further investigation the surviving early fabric, Romavilla Winery, informed by the firm's early business records (held in the State Library of Queensland), has the potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland's early wine-producing industry.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion B | Criterion C","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 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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":16512,"place_ref":601775,"name":"Hunter's Emporium (former)","alternate_name":"Hunters Emporium","street_address":"86 McDowell Street","suburb":"ROMA","lga":"MARANOA REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2008-10-30","description":"The former Hunter's Emporium comprises a two-storeyed brick building with façades to McDowall and Arthur streets, and an attached single-storeyed brick building, fronting Arthur Street, at the rear. A painted and rendered parapet embellished with moulded scrollwork and crowned with ball finials screens two side skillion roofs and a central hipped roof which shelter the two-storey building.
The external walls to McDowall and Arthur streets are of red face-brick worked with darker bands of brick which also form the decorative quoining defining the door and window openings. These bands and decorative surrounds are painted white on parts of the Arthur Street elevation. A cantilevered awning surmounted by a row of glass louvres runs along McDowall Street and extends around the corner into Arthur Street. The form of the three street-level island display windows in the McDowall Street elevation remains, but the glazing is not original. The street-level shop windows along Arthur Street are modern.
A narrow timber awning supported by decorative timber brackets shades the first floor windows to each street elevation. The soffits are lined with decorative pressed metal.
The small rectangular building at the rear (former office and show room), is entered from the back of the shop. It has a hipped roof surmounted by a large roof lantern. The rear loading platform is enclosed with corrugated galvanized iron. The loading area is accessed from the narrow rear service lane.
The interior of the ground floor of the store retains fluted timber columns with corbels supporting the beams running the length of the space. The ceiling is lined with decorative pressed metal and the walls are finished in painted plaster.
The main staircase to the upper floor is accommodated in the south-east corner and is fitted with square-moulded balusters with a moulded oak handrail. A plainer staircase occupies the south-west corner.
The purpose-designed silky oak showcases, other purpose-made shop joinery, and the cash railway system, have been removed from the ground floor.
","history":"The former Hunter's Emporium at Roma, constructed in 1916, is a large, purpose-designed brick department store situated at a principal intersection (the corner of McDowall and Arthur streets) in the commercial heart of the town. It was the head store and signature building in a chain of western Queensland drapery stores established by John McEwan Hunter (1863-1940), businessman and politician, in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century.
The town of Roma was established in 1862 as a supply and government administrative centre servicing the Maranoa pastoral district. The extension of the railway to Roma and on to Charleville in the 1880s, linking western Queensland to the coastal ports, combined with the tapping of the vast artesian basin in the late 1880s and early 1890s, stimulated regional development. By the early 1900s Roma was a substantial town serving a wide and prosperous pastoral and agricultural district, the principal economic activities being sheep and cattle grazing, wheat growing, fruit growing, viticulture and wine making.
In 1889 JM Hunter, a young Scottish immigrant, took up the management of JP McLeish & Co.'s general store and drapery at 88 McDowall Street in Roma, adjacent to the Queen's Arms Hotel at the corner of McDowall and Arthur streets. In the early 1890s he acquired this business in partnership with EJ Harding, trading as Hunter and Harding drapers, grocers and general merchants. In March 1894 Hunter, in partnership with the manager of the Bank of New South Wales in Roma, Alexander Fairlie Whitehill, acquired title to both the store and the adjacent hotel. About this time the firm of Hunter and Harding became Hunter & Co., storekeepers. By 1896 a branch of Hunter & Co. had been opened at Yeulba, where the firm also operated a sawmill and planning establishment. Further branches were opened at Mitchell (c1900), Wallumbilla (c1906), Jackson (c1913), Miles (c1925) and Chinchilla (c1941). By 1930, the firm had become Hunter's Ltd.
In February 1916 JM Hunter gained sole title to 86 and 88 McDowall Street. A few months later, on 11 April, a fire destroyed Hunter & Co.'s store, O'Malley's tailor shop and the Queen's Arms Hotel. The fire had started in the rear of Hunter and Co.'s store and the entire building and contents (the latter estimated at £12,000) were destroyed.
Hunter rebuilt the general store (1916) and the hotel (1917) as substantial brick structures, but transposed their location, with Hunter & Co.'s new emporium now situated prominently at the corner of McDowall and Arthur streets, and the Queen's Arms Hotel adjacent at 88 McDowall Street.
Roma prospered during the first three decades of the twentieth century, despite the impact of World War I (1914-1918), and many of its buildings were reconstructed in brick at this period. Work on erecting Hunter's new emporium commenced in the first week of August 1916 and was completed in late December that year. It was an imposing, two-storeyed brick building, construction by local contractor John Hill. The street façades were 'tastefully worked in selected bands of salt glazed bricks, as also around all doors and window openings ... over the first floor windows has been fitted a plastered cornice about 20 inches and a coping mould about 10 inches with the top finished artistically in scrolls and ball finials' (Western Star 16 December 1916). The ground floors of both street façades had awnings supported on timber posts, and the McDowall Street elevation featured three island display windows. At the rear of the main structure a single-storeyed rectangular brick building, lit and ventilated by a large roof lantern, accommodated a large show-room and offices, which were accessed from the back of the main shop. A strong room, office and underground cold storage were provided.
Local labour and materials were used wherever possible, and the timber fittings, including shelving and pigeon holes, showcases and glass-topped counters, were crafted by Roma cabinet maker and furniture manufacturer John Crawford. The new emporium had electric light, a cash railway and everything needed to make it 'thoroughly modern'.
The ground floor accommodated the drapery, grocery and ironmongery departments, while the furniture department and bulk store were located on the first floor. Every need of customers from the surrounding district was anticipated, the opening sale advertising 'General Drapery, Clothing, Boots and Shoes, Linos, Carpets, Furnishings, Grocery, Crockery, Ironmongery and Produce'. As the local press noted, the high capital outlay needed for such an extensive enterprise reflected the proprietors' 'unbounded faith in the prospects of the district' (Western Star 16 December 1916).
JM Hunter was a prominent businessman in the Maranoa district and was actively involved in the public life of his community and in State politics. He served as an Alderman on the Roma Town Council in 1898 and 1899 and as Mayor of Roma in 1900. He was instrumental in establishing the Roma Co-operative Milling Co. Ltd, which in 1900 constructed the Roma Co-operative Flour Mill and produced Excelsior brand flour until acquired by the Dominion Flour Milling Co. in 1914. He was a President of the Western Queensland Pastoral and Agricultural Association, which held its annual show at Roma. He was closely associated with the formation of the Queensland Traders' Association, a leading wholesale trading co-operative with headquarters in Brisbane, of which he was chairman from its inception.
In May 1907 JM Hunter was elected MLA for Maranoa, retaining this seat until 22 October 1919. Affiliated with the Queensland Labor Party, he held the position of Secretary for Public Lands in the TJ Ryan government from 1 June 1915 to 30 April 1918, and then as Minister without office until his appointment in October 1919 as the Queensland Agent-General in London, serving in this position until 1922.
JM Hunter had married Ellen Guthrie Moffat in 1890, They had one daughter, Helen Roma Jean, born in 1897. In 1927 Roma Hunter married Vincent Lancelot Victor Bressow in Brisbane. After her father's death in 1940 she and her husband took control of Hunter's Ltd, which remained one of western Queensland's principal retail firms well into the second half of the twentieth century.
When the Warrego Highway was sealed in the 1950s the smaller branches (Wallumbilla, Yeulba, Jackson and Chinchilla) became unviable, and were either sold or closed. The Roma store was sold in 1977 to the Anderson family trading as Ace Drapers; the Miles branch was sold in 1984; and the Mitchell branch, managed by Bill McMullen for nearly 30 years, in 2004.
In early 2008 Ace Drapers closed the former Hunter's Emporium at 86 McDowall Street, Roma.
","criteria":"Hunter's Emporium (former), a two-storeyed brick department store constructed in 1916 for Roma businessman and MLA for Maranoa, John McEwan Hunter, is important in demonstrating the consolidation of Roma as a major regional centre during the first three decades of the twentieth century, when many of the principal buildings in the town were being rebuilt in brick, and provides evidence of the quality of design and manufacturing skills available in Roma at this period.
As the headquarters and signature building for a chain of western Queensland drapery and general stores established by Hunter and Co. (later Hunter's Ltd) in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the building is important in illustrating the provision and expansion of general retailing in regional Queensland, in particular reflecting the growth of western Queensland at this period.
|The place remains substantially intact and is significant as a rare surviving, early twentieth century masonry department store in a Queensland regional centre, one of a small group of similar establishments which includes: the former Daking-Smith & Co. Department Store (c1909, QHR 601259) in Charters Towers; the former Boland's Department Store (1912 with 1930s extensions, QHR 602536) in Cairns; and the former Piggot's Department Store (1909-10 with later additions, QHR 600861) in Toowoomba.
|Prominently situated on a corner allotment in the principal street of Roma's central business district, the building is significant for the contribution of its form, scale and detail to the historical character of this area and to the Roma townscape.
|Hunter's Emporium has a special association with the life and work of John McEwan Hunter, a self-made and successful Roma businessman, local and state politician, and former Agent-General for Queensland. From the mid-1890s Hunter & Co. (later Hunter's Ltd) developed a chain of general and drapery stores in south-west Queensland. The substantial edifice that JM Hunter erected in Roma in 1916 as Hunter's Emporium was the head office and signature building of this chain.
|In its size and intactness the place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a large regional department store of the early twentieth century, designed to impress. These characteristics include: the prominent location at the corner of two main streets in the heart of a principal regional centre; the substantial nature of the two-storeyed, brick structure; the decorative parapet and other detailing to the street elevations; the extensive use of pressed metal throughout the public areas of the store; the provision of natural lighting via the fenestration in the main elevations and a roof lantern to the rear store; and the store and loading dock facility at the rear of the premises.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion E | Criterion H | 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 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 | The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":16975,"place_ref":602155,"name":"State Butchers Shop (former)","alternate_name":"Ladbrook's Butchery | Dore & Donald Butchers | Bushell's Meats","street_address":"75 Arthur Street","suburb":"ROMA","lga":"MARANOA REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2001-04-27","description":"The Former Roma State Butcher's Shop is located in Arthur Street, Roma, in the town centre, south of the intersection with McDowall Street.
It a rectangular, single-storeyed brick building with a gabled roof to the front [east] elevation and hipped gablet roof to the rear [west] elevation. There is a hipped roof wing on the south side. All roofs are covered in corrugated iron. To the rear of the wing is a modern car/van port structure. The front [east] elevation has a decorative gable comprising evenly spaced vertical painted timbers on plaster. Centrally placed in the gable is a timber louvred ventilation panel. There is a cantilevered awning, with a cloth 'Dutch style' blind on the south side, beneath which is a modern aluminium shopfront.
To the south side there are two original high level windows, now blocked-in. The hipped roof wing, originally open, is now partly built in by a brick wall with a window, with the remainder enclosed in vertical metal sheeting. There is a decorative timber trellis screen fence to the street [east] elevation of the wing. The van/car port is a flat roof metal structure with vertical metal cladding to the south side. In the wall beneath this structure there is a timber door with a skylight over, either side of which are 4:4 pane timber vertical sash windows. To the rear [north] elevation there is a timber lean-to structure clad in weatherboarding, with a centrally placed opening. The rear brick wall of the building is painted with a centrally placed door. In the west side wall there are 3 closely spaced 4:4 pane timber vertical sash windows at the northern end, a door, and two original high level windows, now blocked in, at the southern end. The external brickwork is a combination of stretcher bond to the front and sides of the building, indicating cavity construction, and English bond to the rear, indicating solid wall construction.
Internally there is an L-shaped shop area with modern counters. There is a door from this area into a large cold room store on the north side and a door into the meat preparation area. Beyond the preparation area is a store/staff room area.
The c1920 stables do not survive. There is a small detached toilet block to the northeast corner of the building, but no other structures. The south side of the site has an access road leading to parking at the rear. There is a car width access way along the north side.
","history":"This single-storeyed brick shop was erected in 1919 for the Queensland Government as a purpose-designed State Butcher's Shop. From 1915 to 1929, 90 State butcher's shops operated in Queensland for various periods, mostly in leased or purchased premises. The peak number of shops operating at any one time was 72, in 1922-23. The Roma shop was one of Queensland's few purpose-designed State butcheries, and one of the more substantial of the regional State butcher's shops.
In 1915 TJ Ryan's Labor government won office in wartime Queensland on the strength of promises to improve living standards - principally by addressing the problems of high commodity prices, price-fixing and the emergence of monopolies. The Labor party in general and Ryan and his Treasurer, EG Theodore, in particular, advocated public ownership of key economic activities, in competition with private enterprise, but at fair prices. They argued that by operating at a reduced profit margin [the State butcher's shops average one-fifth of a penny profit on every pound of meat sold], the cost of goods and services provided by State-run enterprises would be reduced, and that the flow-on effect would be to reduce and stabilise prices for similar goods and services provided by the private sector. In the period 1915-1925 the Queensland Government instituted or acquired a diversity of business enterprises, including a State Insurance Office, a Public Curator's Office, the Golden Casket State Lottery, sawmills and joinery works, mining and fishing ventures [including a string of State Fish Shops], a hotel, a sugar mill, cold stores, plant nurseries, cattle stations and a network of butcher's shops, the process being formalised with the passing of the State Enterprises Act of 1918. These activities were part of a broader, pragmatic Labor platform which advocated State intervention in the private sector to protect individuals against capitalist exploitation, not as a means of involving workers in the control of production, or of raising wage levels. Labor politicians regarded State enterprise as 'State capitalism' rather than 'State socialism'.
In 1915 cattle raising was one of the principal economic activities of the State, and meat was considered a staple food. Believing that all Queenslanders should have access to meat at fair prices, and needing to maintain a regular supply of cheap meat to the Allied fighting forces, the Ryan government introduced a State-wide system of State-owned butcher's shops which proved to be among the more successful of the numerous State enterprises. The first State butcher's shop was opened in Roma Street, Brisbane, on 12 November 1915, and soon other shops were established in Brisbane suburbs and in regional centres such as Rockhampton, Gympie, Townsville, Charters Towers, and Mount Morgan, following the railway lines via which frozen meat was distributed to the State butcheries. During the life of the scheme 90 shops were opened throughout the State.
The town of Roma was established officially in 1862 to service the Maranoa pastoral district, and as a government administrative centre. With the extension of the railway to Roma and Charleville in the 1880s, linking Western Queensland to the coastal ports, Roma boomed, and emerged as an important regional centre. Roma was considered an important centre in the State-wide chain of butcher's shops established by the Labor government from 1915. It was a substantial town serving a wide pastoral and agricultural district, and functioned as an important distribution centre for meat slaughtered at the State-owned Charleville Meatworks, further west along the railway.
Toward the end of 1918 moves were made to open a State butcher's shop at Roma. In fairness to established butcheries, when the State intended to open a butcher's shop in a town or suburb, inspections were made of existing butcheries, to assess the possibility of State acquisition. At Roma, at least two butchers were keen to sell their business and/or premises, but inspection revealed that these shops were not sufficiently well-equipped, and recommendation was made to erect purpose-designed premises of the most up-to-date kind. The recommendation was accepted, but while an appropriate site for new premises was being sought, two State butcher's shops opened in Roma on 1 March 1919, in leased premises in Wyndham and Arthur Streets.
By May 1919 a vacant allotment in Arthur Street had been resumed, and an adjacent allotment was purchased subsequently from Henry Hoffman. A cottage on this second land parcel was removed to Charleville Meatworks to make room for the construction of the State butcher's shop. Plans were prepared in the office of the Queensland Government Architect. The new building was completed by late October, and opened on 18 September 1919, at which time the leased shops in Arthur and Wyndham Streets were closed. The new premises was of brick construction, and at a cost of £4,061/13/3, was one of the more expensive of the purpose-built State butcher's shops. It contained an office, shop, breaking-down room, salting-room, cold room, country order department, store, and engine-room. In 1920, just over £300 was spent on stables.
Only six purpose-designed butcher's shops were constructed in Queensland, each apparently built to an individual design: a retail butchery within the Central State Fish Market, South Brisbane [the markets were a substantial brick complex erected 1917-18 at a cost of over £45,500]; Booval State Butchery [erected c1919 at a cost of just over £600]; Roma State Butchery [brick, erected 1919 at a cost of just over £4,000 (this figure possibly includes plant)]; Ayr State Butchery [brick and wood, erected c1920 at a cost of just over £2,000]; Mackay State Butchery [fibrous-cement and wood, erected c1921 at a cost of just over £2,600]; and Walkerston State Butchery [erected 1922-23 at a cost of about £536]. Cold stores and additions were erected at various butcher's shops, but no other purpose-designed shop was constructed.
Initially the State butcher's shops were supplied with frozen meat from meatworks companies, but from 1921 they purchased their own stock which they killed at their own slaughter-yards, ensuring that the State butcher's shops were supplied always with fresh meat at very competitive prices. It has not been established whether the Roma shop continued to be supplied from Charleville Meatworks.
Despite benefits such as the provision of employment, assistance to small farmers and small business, and the provision of cheaper meat to thousands, the State Enterprises scheme proved an economic failure. Some State enterprises had been purchased at an inflated price; others were located in unsuitable areas or were badly managed; others suffered the effects of economic recession, or of the mid-1920s drought. Following the passing of the Profiteering Prevention Act of 1920, other mechanisms were in place for controlling prices. By 1926, Labor premier William McCormack had declared publicly his intention of disposing of unprofitable State Enterprises, although little action was taken at the time. Some of the State butcher shops were disposed of in the period 1926-1928 [including the Roma shop], and when Labor was defeated at the 1929 election, the in-coming Country/Progressive/Nationalist coalition government disposed of most of the remaining State Enterprises, including the 39 remaining State butcher's shops, which ceased trading as of 30 June 1929.
In their 14 years of operation, the State butcher's shops sold over £5 million worth of meat and had made an overall profit to the Treasury of £185,000, but when interest and other charges were factored in, they lost about £6,000. However, this pales by comparison with the combined £2 million loss sustained by the State stations and the State-acquired Chillagoe railway, mines and smelter.
The State butchery in Arthur Street, Roma, was sold in July 1928 to Roma butchers Dore and Donald Ltd. Edwin Arnold Donald, son of a Roma grazier, built up a successful butcher's business in Roma in the 1910s, and it appears to have been his two Roma shops which were leased briefly by the State Butcheries Department in 1919.
The former Roma State Butcher's Shop remains a privately owned butchery. The original street awning supported on timber posts has been replaced with a cantilevered awning, and the shop front has been modernised. A small office, where customers paid for their meat, was removed when the front section of the shop was refurbished c1999.
","criteria":"The Former State Butcher's Shop, Roma, erected in 1919, is important in illustrating the pattern of Queensland's history. In particular, the place is illustrative of the highly co-ordinated, state-wide system of State butcheries which provided cheaper meat to thousands of Queensland families in the years 1915-1929. During this period successive Queensland Labor governments established various State enterprises, with the network of State butcher's shops being among the more successful of these experiments.
The Roma State Butcher's Shop was considered an important distribution centre for meat supplied from the State-owned Charleville Meatworks, which is illustrated in the construction of a substantial brick building with state-of-the-art butchery equipment and facilities.
|The Roma shop was one of only six purpose-designed State butcher's shops constructed 1917-1923 - most of the State butcher's shops operated from leased or purchased premises - and was among the more substantial [full brick construction] of these.
|The place has remained a butcher's shop, and is important in illustrating the principal characteristics of a purpose-designed State butcher's shop of its era.
","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":17006,"place_ref":601689,"name":"Hibernian Hall","alternate_name":"HACBS Hall","street_address":"38-44 Hawthorne Street","suburb":"ROMA","lga":"MARANOA REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2001-04-27","description":"The Hibernian Hall is a large, predominantly timber framed building, rectangular in form, roofed in short-length corrugated iron sheeting. It has an entrance area with a bio-box over, a large auditorium and a stage area. There are later skillion-roofed extensions to the rear [east] end and a large shed structure attached via a covered walkway to the south-east corner of the building.
The front [west] elevation comprises a two-storeyed decorative gable structure with asymmetric single-storeyed wing walls to the side. The ground floor and wing walls are of rendered masonry construction, while the first storey decorative gable is formed in pressed metal sheeting over timber. The ground floor has a centrally placed open entrance, over which is a cantilevered awning with pressed metal detailing. There are two symmetrically placed windows with decorative architraves. The window on the south side is a 6:9 pane timber vertical sliding sash, the window on the north side is a 6:1 pane timber vertical sliding sash. The side wing walls are terminated by a pilaster with a decorative cap. The north wall which has a pair of vertical timber doors, acts purely as a screen wall with no building behind. The south wall has a 6:4 pane timber vertical sliding sash window and a timber door giving access to a store room.
The first storey façade, set between 2 pilasters with decorative caps, is based on the 'Dutch' gable style. There is a centrally placed oriel window with a pressed metal base and corrugated iron hipped roof. The side lights are single 4:1 pane timber vertical sliding sashes and the front light is a pair of 6:1 pane timber vertical sliding sashes. There is a single 4:1 pane vertical sliding sash window placed symmetrically either side of the oriel. These windows have a hood supported on decorative brackets. Above the oriel there are the initials 'H.A.C.B.S.' in raised lettering inside a curved boarder. There is a single shamrock on the face of the pilasters.
The side elevations are of a similar design, with the south side having a single-storeyed skillion-roofed awning over a promenade or verandah. The walls comprise 9 bays, which reflect the internal layout of the building, with the bay at the western end for the 2 storey entrance/store/bio-box area, 7 bays to the auditorium, and 1 bay at the eastern end for the stage area. The walls are constructed of timber framing. There are 7 external concrete buttresses along each wall, between which there are 5 pairs of timber bi-fold doors with skylight over. On either side, beneath the roof line, there are 7 high level panels of later metal vertical louvres providing cross-ventilation to the auditorium, with remnant panels of timber lattice above, which have been sheeted from the inside of the auditorium. Above the doors on the north side there is horizontal boarding [chamfers]. On the south side, beneath the verandah awning, there is exposed stud framing above the doors. The verandah has a store at the western end, is open for the length of the auditorium and has toilets at the eastern end. The walls to the stage area are clad in horizontal boarding.
The rear [eastern] elevation is of timber framing clad in vertical sheets of corrugated iron. There are 2 windows at the northern end of this rear wall - one to the rear of the stage and another to a supper room located beneath the stage. There is also a fire-escape door to the sub-floor supper room. There is a modern lean-to extension at the southern end of the rear wall, clad in vertical metal sheeting, containing changing rooms.
Internally, inside the entrance there is a centrally placed 3-sided ticket booth. To the south side is a store room, and to the north a staircase to the first floor bio-box [not inspected]. The auditorium is accessed through 2 pairs of bi-fold doors either side of the ticket booth. There are also 3 single doors in the western wall providing access to the ticket box, a store room and the staircase. The bio-box window has been in-filled.
The auditorium has a seven bay canted ceiling comprising alternative bays of decorative pressed metal and open timber lattice. The floor is timber and level, suitable for dancing. The walls are of vertical timber with a dado rail running around. At the northern end is a raised stage area which projects into the auditorium. The proscenium arch is formed from decorative pressed metal sheeting. There are doors either side of the stage. The door at the south side is blocked by a single flight of metal stairs. The rear stage area has open stud timber framed walls and an exposed roof framing. There is no fly tower, but the roof over the stage is probably of sufficient height to accommodate some raised scenery. There is a supper room beneath the stage area [not inspected].
The southern verandah opens onto a large courtyard, the site of the former open-air cinema, which is used now as a basketball court. At the rear of the courtyard is a substantial canteen and shelter shed, clad in vertical metal sheeting.
","history":"The Hibernian Hall in Roma is a large, timber-framed hall-cum-picture theatre erected in 1932 for the Roma branch of the Hibernian Australasian Catholic Benefit Society. It was designed by Perth and Brisbane architects Cavanagh & Cavanagh.
Roma was the principal town of the Mount Abundance district, which was developed as a pastoral and agricultural region following exploration by Thomas Mitchell, New South Wales Surveyor General in 1846. The township of Roma was proclaimed in September 1862, one of the earliest towns established in Queensland after separation in 1859, and was surveyed in 1863. It was named after Lady Bowen - Countess Diamantina Georgina Roma, daughter of a Governor of the Ionian Islands, and wife of the first Governor of Queensland, Sir George Ferguson Bowen. The town of Roma was declared a municipality in 1867 and grew slowly as a pastoral service centre and government administrative centre until the opening of the railway in the 1880s, connecting the Maranoa to the coastal ports, after which the town flourished. In addition, the vast Western Queensland artesian basin was tapped in the late 1880s and early 1890s, securing an alternative water supply for cattle and sheep.
With the expansion of Roma's population in the 1880s, a branch of the Hibernian Australasian Catholic Benefit Society was established in the town in April 1886. At its peak, the society attracted nearly 180 members. 'Hibernian' is defined as of or belonging to Ireland, or Irish. From the 1860s Irish immigration to Queensland was encouraged by the Catholic Church in Queensland. Thousands of Catholic Irish working class emigrants were attracted to the colony, and although they settled widely, they tended to form enclaves within towns and districts, defined by their religion and their societies. Hibernian Associations flourished in late 19th/early 20th century Queensland, strongly supported by the Catholic Church, and attracted widespread Irish Catholic membership. They could be considered the voluntary social welfare extension of official Catholicism.
Benefit societies were popular in 19th century Australia, where self-help was the dominant philosophy and liberalism a principal ideology, and where colonial governments made little provision for public welfare benefits. Modelled on similar mutual benefit societies established in Britain, the Australian societies provided contributing members with access to financial assistance such as sickness benefits, life insurance, provision of funeral costs, and benefits to members' widows and families. Some societies lent money to their members to finance home construction. Benefit societies also operated as social clubs, organising events such as dances and sports days which played an important role in the social life of the community, particularly in country districts. Roma Hibernians organised sports days, campdrafts and rodeos until 1946.
The Roma HACBS acquired the site of the present hall late in 1899, and erected their first hall on this property in 1900. Later an open-air cinema was established beside the Hibernian Hall, on the south side, which was the venue for the first moving picture show exhibited at Roma.
This first hall was enlarged in the mid-1920s, to plans prepared by popular Perth and Brisbane architects Cavanagh & Cavanagh, who had designed a number of churches, convents, schools and presbyteries for the Catholic Church in Queensland. The extensions had been completed by May 1926, at which time the hall was described as a two-storeyed timber building with a gallery; it could seat 750, and could be used for a variety of public entertainments. This building was destroyed by fire on 22 July 1931, but almost immediately the HACBS commissioned Cavanagh & Cavanagh to prepare plans for a replacement hall-cum-picture theatre [the present building]. The architects called tenders in October-November 1931, with the contract let to Roma contractor GP Williams. The building was erected at a cost of £3,120, and was officially opened on 28 June 1932.
The double-storeyed façade of the new Hibernian Hall, with its stepped parapet and curved pediment, oriel window to the projection room above an ungated opening to the foyer and ticket-box, read more as a picture theatre than a community hall. The building demonstrated many of the principal elements of 'tropical' picture theatre design of this era, including: panels of open timber lattice high along each side wall, just under the roofline and sheltered by the eaves, for cross-ventilation purposes; a row of large bi-fold doors along each side of the hall which could be opened in hot weather, those on the southern side opening to a covered promenade along the side of the building; pressed metal and fretwork panels in the auditorium ceiling, accommodating ventilation and acoustic requirements with decorative effect; a decorative pressed metal proscenium arch; a stage area which could accommodate live performance as well as film screenings; and the projection booth [or bio-box] located above the foyer and ticket box. Elements more characteristic of a hall than a picture theatre were the flat, sprung timber floor, the lack of a dress circle, the inclusion of a supper room beneath the stage, and the lack of a theatre café.
The Hibernian Hall screened films in competition with Roma's newly completed, 800 seat Capitol Theatre, likely designed by Brisbane cinema architect CE Humphreys. The Capitol, operated by RA Crawford, was erected c1932 and functioned as a cinema until destroyed by fire in 1989. That the town of Roma could support two picture theatres in the 1930s illustrates the popularity of film as family entertainment prior to the introduction of television.
The Hibernian Hall functioned as much more than a picture theatre. The scale and facilities of the new building guaranteed its popularity as the premier venue for community and social events in Roma, including balls, dances, fêtes, choral and school concerts, protest meetings, farewell functions, election meetings, political speeches, religious festivals, art shows, and touring entertainment [everything from ballet, opera and theatre to vaudeville and pantomime]. The Hibernian Hall also served as a temporary venue for services when the new Catholic Church was being built, and as the venue for sittings of the Supreme Court.
The hall was acquired by the Roma Town Council in 1976 and continues to be used for community and social activities, including regular roller-skating. It no longer functions as a picture theatre.
","criteria":"The Hibernian Hall, 38-44 Hawthorne Street, Roma is important in illustrating the pattern of Queensland's history, the scale of the hall illustrating the importance of Roma as a regional and recreational centre for the surrounding pastoral and agricultural district, and the importance of community groups in maintaining the social fabric of rural communities in the first half of the 20th century. The place has a strong association with the work of the Roma branch of the Hibernian Australasian Catholic Benefit Society from the turn of the 20th century through to the 1970s.
|The Hibernian Hall remains highly intact, and is an excellent example of a large, purpose-designed hall-cum-picture theatre of the interwar period. It is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of its type, including the 'picture theatre' façade; the projection booth above the foyer and ticket-box; the large auditorium with its use of decorative pressed metal and timber lattice in the ceiling; the use of timber lattice panelling high in the side walls for cross-ventilation purposes; the stage which could accommodate both live-performance and film screenings; the large, sprung timber dance floor opening onto an external verandah promenade; and the inclusion of a supper room.
|The place has aesthetic value, engendered by the two-storeyed, shaped-pediment façade with its pressed metal finish and oriel window above a central foyer opening and awning; and by the interior detailing, including the use of pressed metal and timber latticing. The Hibernian Hall is a substantial structure with a decorative front façade designed to impress, is prominently located on a major street, and in form, materials, scale and design, makes a strong contribution to the townscape of Roma.
|The place has social value, being the venue for a diversity of community, social and recreational events over many decades.
|The place has a strong association with the work of the Roma branch of the Hibernian Australasian Catholic Benefit Society from the turn of the 20th century through to the 1970s.
","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":19472,"place_ref":602352,"name":"Astor Theatre","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"77 Burrowes Street","suburb":"SURAT","lga":"MARANOA REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2002-09-27","description":"The Astor Theatre is situated in the commercial centre of Surat and is a simple rectangular timber building set on low stumps. The roof is gabled and clad in corrugated iron and is concealed from the front by a deep stepped parapet. There are louvred openings in the upper section of the parapet and a cantilevered awning over the entrance. There are exit doors in the side and rear of the building and well as the front entrance.
The front section of the building is divided into three and comprises a central foyer with a confectionary bar to the left and the ladies toilets to the right. The projection box is above the foyer and is reached by narrow timber stairs on the left hand side.
The auditorium is a simple rectangular space; the walls being lined with timber and fibrous plaster sheeting. The ceiling is unlined and laminated timber struts brace the walls. The floor is raked and there are several louvred timber windows along the walls to provide ventilation. Towards the rear of the building, there are sections of latticework under the eaves. The interior lining now covers this provision for ventilation.
There is a speaker area behind the screen and the men's toilets are at this end of the building also. Canvas stretcher chairs provide seating.
There is a small shed to the rear of the building and a modern brick footpath has been laid outside the front entrance.
","history":"The Astor Picture Theatre was built in 1925 as an open-air picture theatre in Surat, which is the administrative centre of the Warroo Shire and is situated on the Balonne River 80 kilometres south of Roma.
The Surveyor-General Thomas Mitchell mapped the area in 1846 and the District of Maranoa was proclaimed in November 1848. The new Commissioner of Lands arrived with several police in 1849 and set up camp on Yambougal station, moving slightly up river a few months later. This was the site selected in 1849 by surveyor James Burrowes for a service township on the Balonne River. He called the township Surat, after his former home in Madras, India. The main street, on which the theatre is situated, carries this surveyor's name.
A Court of Petty Sessions at Surat was gazetted in 1850 and a police building was erected. The Lands and Post Offices were soon represented and in 1859 a hotel was built. By the time that the town site was surveyed for land sales in 1863, a number of buildings had already been erected. Although Surat was superseded by St George as an administrative centre for the district in 1865, it continued to serve the surrounding area, which became Warroo Shire. Surat gained a school in 1874 and its first church in the late 1870s. In 1879 Cobb and Co set up a coach service from St George to Surat and on to Yuleba, constructing a staging post and store at Surat. This service was run until 1924, when it was the last coach route to be run in Australia.
Surat Pictures Limited was formed in 1925 when W Kitson sought building approval for the construction of a picture theatre in the main street of Surat. This was an open-air picture theatre comprising an earth-floored enclosure, a canvas screen at the rear and a shallow building along the street frontage containing a foyer with a projection booth above it. This type of structure was the cheapest and simplest kind of purpose built film venue and was not uncommon at the time in the warmer parts of Australia, though many of them were later roofed over.
The Lumiere Brothers had produced the first moving films in Paris in 1895, followed by Edison in America in 1896, although these early films were very short and simply captured events without a narrative. The first feature movie 'the Story of the Kelly Gang' was made in Australia in 1906 and it was the ability of film to tell a story that was the key to its popularity. At first, films were shown as part of variety shows in theatres or were screened in halls. In the 1900s purpose built picture theatres showing a program of films accompanied by music were built in America, Europe and Australia. Some of those catering to centres with large populations were huge and luxurious, though most were far more modest.
Films were much less expensive to show than live theatre and the equipment was easily transported, making them well suited as an entertainment in country areas, some films being displayed by travelling 'picture show men' in the early years. The growing popularity of films led to the construction of many open-air theatres or simple shed-like buildings as permanent venues for showing film. Although theatre chains usually owned the large 'picture palaces' in cities, most small picture theatres in Queensland were independently owned and Queensland eventually had more independently owned theatres than any other state in Australia. These small ventures, frequently family owned, did not have the capital to build lavish premises, nor did they have a large client base in country areas and might screen movies only once or twice a week. Having invested in expensive projection equipment, particularly after the advent of talkies, extensions and improvements to picture theatres were often made piecemeal as demand grew and money became available. The Astor Theatre, extended in stages, provides a good illustration of this process.
The first films shown at Surat were silent and had a piano accompaniment, a generator providing power for the projector. Bill McKay Senior was the first proprietor and ran the Astor until the 1930s, when it passed to Geoff Armstrong. Between 1938 and 1940 a Mrs. Crump leased it. It was operated during the Second World War by GO and RD Armstrong and was acquired in 1945 by E J and V M Aldridge who ran it as a family business, with their son acting as the projectionist.
Country picture theatres provided an important service to people in the surrounding area. Coming into town for a night at the pictures provided good family entertainment, a venue for courtship and an opportunity for people of all ages to meet. Picture theatres showed feature films, newsreels, and cartoons and were often also used for live shows and special events. They provided a stimulus for the imagination and a relief from isolation and anxiety, particularly in the difficult years of the Depression and of World War II. They were a link with the wider community in Australia and with contemporary American culture as presented by Hollywood. For all these reasons, picture going enjoyed widespread popularity throughout rural Queensland between the 1920s and 1950s.
Surat was connected to a reticulated water system in 1952 and electricity was laid on in 1953 when the Aldridge family sold the theatre to S Barry, who had run the Queen's Theatre in Toowoomba during World War Two. During Barry's ownership the Astor underwent major changes. In the 1950s it was converted into an indoor theatre and roofed over, although it retained an earth floor. Such conversions were commonly made to shelter patrons and improve sound quality. The Royal Theatre at Winton is now the only example of this early open form to survive as a cinema.
In the 1960s the Astor was extended substantially, toilets were added and a raked timber floor was installed. The theatre could become very cold in winter and gas heating replaced the chip heaters originally used. It is thought that the interior was also lined with fibrous cement sheeting during this period. Television came to Surat in the 1970s and reduced attendance, as it had elsewhere. Barry sold the theatre to Lawrence Cherry who owned a local service station. Between 1974 and 1981 Cherry, N & M Crain and L & D Waud ran the Astor, which was then purchased by Len and Doreen Waud. Mr Waud had been a projectionist in Sydney in 1936 and his wife an usherette at the Regent in Toowoomba. A new sound system was installed.
In common with many rural centres, Surat lost population in the 1980s and 90s as falling prices and severe drought reduced the town's income and businesses closed. In the mid 1990s a programme to revive the town was set in motion by the local shire council and community and the town is now experiencing an economic resurgence. The Cobb and Co staging station has been developed as a museum and tourist attraction. The Astor Theatre is still used and hosted the Movie Muster, a festival of Australian films, during the Centenary of Federation celebrations in 2001. Although extensions and additions took place in the mid 20th century, these were to improve function as a picture theatre rather than to create change and the building is still a good example of its type, which has become rare. It retains early carbon arc projectors.
","criteria":"The Astor Picture Theatre, Surat is important in demonstrating the development of picture theatres in Queensland and the part that picture going played in the life of Australia in the 20th century, before it began to be displaced by television. Picture theatres enjoyed widespread popularity, especially in rural areas, as they provided not only entertainment, but also a venue for social interaction and a means of reducing isolation by providing a window into the wider world. The Astor Theatre is evidence for the popularity of picture going throughout rural Queensland between the 1920s and 1950s.
|The Astor is rare as one of the very few early picture theatres remaining in Queensland that have not been adapted for other uses. Alterations have been made over the years to improve its function as a picture theatre, rather than to accommodate changed use. It retains two early projectors in the bio box.
|The Astor Theatre is a good example of its type, illustrating the way in which many small picture theatres were developed from modest early beginnings and retains characteristics of its type such as long sight lines, a raked floor, foyer, projection box and confectionary counter.
|The Astor Theatre is centrally located in Surat and makes an important contribution to the built character of the town.
|It has important associations with the community of the town and the surrounding area, as a venue for social interaction and popular entertainment, and for many members of which it is a focus for memories.
","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":19499,"place_ref":602378,"name":"Nostalgic Queen's Theatre","alternate_name":"Queens Theatre","street_address":"George Street","suburb":"WALLUMBILLA","lga":"MARANOA REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2002-10-25","description":"The Nostalgic Queen's Theatre is situated on the main highway through Wallumbilla.
It is a rectangular building with a timber frame. The roof is gabled and the main elevation has a plain rectangular façade clad in metal sheeting with a central doorway below a small window. The sides and rear of the building are clad in fibrous cement panels held in place by timber battens.
The interior forms a large rectangular auditorium with a ticket office to the right hand side of the entrance. Laminated timber arches support the roof and the level floor is timber. The walls are lined with vertical timber boards and hardboard sheeting.
Canvas layback seats at the rear of the theatre and canvas armchairs at the front provide seating for about 200. The building does not currently have toilets.
","history":"The Nostalgic Queen's Theatre is a modest purpose-built picture theatre built in 1939 in the town of Wallumbilla, 40 kilometres east of Roma.
Wallumbilla is the largest of three small service towns in the Bendemere shire, whose economy is based on primary production including cattle, grain and timber and on the natural gas industry. Europeans first settled the district in 1854 when Wallumbilla pastoral run was taken up. The township developed as a service town with the coming of the Western railway in 1880.
In the 1900s films were brought to Wallumbilla by a traveling projectionist and shown in Bishop's Hall using a hand-cranked projector. At an unknown date the local shopkeeper, Eddie Murphy, purchased the hall and relocated it to the site of the current news agency. He renamed it Murphy's Hall and used it as a picture theatre showing silent films accompanied by piano.
The Lumiere Brothers had produced the first moving films in Paris in 1895, followed by Edison in America in 1896, although these early films were very short and simply captured events without a narrative. The first feature movie 'the Story of the Kelly Gang' was made in Australia in 1906 and it was the ability of film to tell a story that was the key to its popularity. At first, films were shown as part of variety shows in theatres or were screened in halls. In the 1900s purpose built picture theatres showing a program of films accompanied by music were built in America, Europe and Australia. Some of those catering to centres with large populations were huge and luxurious, though most were far more modest.
Films were much less expensive to show than live theatre and the equipment was easily transported, making them well suited as an entertainment in country areas, some films being displayed by 'picture show men' such as the one who travelled to Wallumbilla. The growing popularity of films led to the construction of many open-air theatres or simple shed-like buildings as permanent venues for showing film. Although theatre chains usually owned the large 'picture palaces' in cities, most small picture theatres in Queensland were independently owned and Queensland eventually had more independently owned theatres than any other state in Australia. These small ventures, frequently family owned, did not have the capital to build lavish premises, nor did they have a large client base in country areas and might screen films only once or twice a week. The Queen's Theatre at Wallumbilla is such a picture theatre.
In 1930, Les Cadsow, a baker, bought the Wallumbilla hall and continued to use it as a picture theatre, naming it the De Luxe. It was renamed the Liberty Theatre, presumably when the Second World War broke out, but burned down in 1939. Cadsow bought new projectors with the thought of starting again but could not afford to do so and so he sold the projectors to the Giles brothers from Miles who constructed a new, purpose built picture theatre. Frank and Paddy Giles were saw millers and builders and also operated as Rex Touring Pictures. They showed films in Miles, Dulacca, Jackson, Yuleba and Wallumbilla over a weekly circuit. Wallumbilla had the Saturday night screening as it had the largest audience.
The Wallumbilla theatre was simple in form with a timber frame clad in fibrous cement sheeting held by timber battens. Laminated arches of cypress pine, which allowed good sightlines to the screen, supported the roof. Timber was also used for the floor and the walls, which were lined with Swedish hardboard for good acoustics, though the roof was unlined. Though simple, the picture theatre aspired to a touch of Hollywood glamour with Chinese lanterns over the lights and pictures of Warner Brothers and MGM stars on the walls.
A country picture theatre such as the Queen's provided an important service to people in the surrounding area. Coming into town for a night at the pictures provided good family entertainment, a venue for courtship and an opportunity for people of all ages to meet. Picture theatres showed feature films, newsreels, and cartoons and were often also used for live shows and special events. They provided a stimulus for the imagination and a relief from isolation, particularly in the difficult years of World War II. They were a link with the wider community in Australia and with contemporary American culture as presented by Hollywood. For all these reasons, picture going enjoyed widespread popularity throughout rural Queensland between the 1920s and the advent of competition from television.
In 1951 the Giles brothers sold the theatre to Hendrickas Johannes Payne and his wife Violet who ran it in conjunction with the Queen's Café across the road and hence the theatre became known as the Queen's Theatre. They upgraded the equipment and screened every Wednesday and Saturday night plus a Saturday matinee until 1962. In August 1962 Rodney and Shirley Houston leased the theatre from Payne. The sound system was modernized and new release movies were shown. To utilize the theatre when films were not being shown, roller-skating was introduced and proved very popular. In 1967 the Houstons bought the cinema and continued to show films even during the early 1970s when television began to displace going to the pictures as the most popular form of entertainment. The Queen's Theatre closed in 1975, but opened for 6 months over the summer of 1981. However, home videos then began to pose serious competition and the Queen's closed for 7 years.
It was kept in good repair, however, and in 1988 was able to screen The Man from Snowy River in celebration of Australia's Bicentennial year. Films were shown again in 1993 to celebrate the Wallumbilla School Centenary. Double features were then shown to full houses on two successive nights. This success encouraged the owners to reopen the theatre, renaming it the Nostalgic Queen's Theatre. The equipment was upgraded and a new wide screen installed. The theatre was also connected to mains electricity supply, instead of the generator that had previously provided electricity. The theatre opened again in January 1994 screening on one Saturday night a month during the summer. The Nostalgic Queen's Theatre is still used intermittently to screen films and hosted the Movie Muster, a festival of Australian films, during the Centenary of Federation celebrations in 2001.
The exterior cladding on the front of the building was replaced in the 1980s, when the confectionary counter opening onto the street on the right hand side of the entrance was sheeted over. The bottom panels of the fibrous cement sheeting on the side and rear walls has been renewed with equivalent modern sheeting. The interior of the building is still intact.
","criteria":"The Nostalgic Queen's Theatre, Wallumbilla is important in demonstrating the development of picture theatres in Queensland and the part that picture going played in the life of Australia in the early and mid 20th century, before it began to be displaced by television. Picture theatres enjoyed widespread popularity, especially in rural areas, as they provided not only entertainment, but also a venue for social interaction and a means of reducing isolation by providing a window into the wider world. The Queen's Theatre is evidence for the popularity of picture going throughout rural Queensland in the mid 20th century.
|The Queen's Theatre is a purpose built picture theatre that is still in use for its original purpose. It is now one of only a few early theatres remaining in Queensland that have not been adapted for other uses.
|It is a good example of the type of modest picture theatre once common in rural towns, being very simple in plan and having arches to support the roof to provide good sight lines.
|The Queen's Theatre has important associations with the community of Wallumbilla and the surrounding area, as a venue for social interaction and popular entertainment, and for many members of which it is a focus for memories.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion D | 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 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":22250,"place_ref":602612,"name":"Warroo Shire Hall","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"cnr Cordelia and William Streets","suburb":"SURAT","lga":"MARANOA REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2007-05-08","description":"The Warroo Shire hall is located prominently on the corner of two major streets in the centre of Surat. It is a rectangular timber building with its long axis at right angles to the street. It is set on low stumps and has a gabled roof clad with corrugated iron sheeting and ventilators along the roof ridge. There is an awning supported on plain timber posts to the pavement and recessed verandahs along both sides.
The front (eastern) elevation has a square central clock tower with clock faces to the north, south and eastern sides. Letters spelling out 'Alex J Simpson' have replaced the numerals. Below the clock is a square window and a small balcony jutting out over the street awning.
The windows form a distinctive decorative feature of the building, being square, circular or arched with unusual glazing patterns and decoratively placed glazing bars. A 1930 photograph of the shire offices shows the square windows opening on a central, horizontal pivot. They can no longer be opened, but the hall windows are still operational. The windows to the sides of the offices at the front have individual sun hoods.
The front entrance is recessed and opens onto a short hallway between two large square rooms. The projection room is over the hall and is accessed by a staircase inside the hall. The large hall is lined with fibrous cement sheeting and triangular brackets between high-level windows support the roof. The windows have round arched tops and open on central pivots. The floor is timber and there is a stage flanked by dressing rooms to the rear.
The separate supper room is a simple rectangular timber building with a gabled roof clad in corrugated iron. It runs parallel to the hall and is linked to it by a covered way and a courtyard area. It contains a dining area, kitchenette and a small bar to the rear.
There is a block of masonry toilets to the rear of the hall.
A high fence of tubular metal posts and metal mesh surrounds the site.
","history":"The Warroo Shire Hall was built in 1929 in Surat as an administrative and social centre. Surat is the administrative hub of the Warroo Shire and is situated on the Balonne River some 80 kilometres south of Roma.
The Surveyor-General Thomas Mitchell mapped the area in 1846 and the District of Maranoa was proclaimed in November 1848. The new Commissioner of Lands arrived with several police in 1849 and set up camp on Yambougal station, moving slightly up river a few months later. This was the site selected in 1849 by surveyor James Burrowes for a service township on the Balonne River. He called the township Surat, after his former home in Madras, India.
A Court of Petty Sessions at Surat was gazetted in 1850 and a police building was erected. The Lands and Post Offices were soon represented and in 1859 a hotel was built. By the time that the town site was surveyed for land sales in 1863, a number of buildings had already been erected. Although Surat was superseded by St George as an administrative centre for the district in 1865, it continued to serve the surrounding area, which became Warroo Shire. Surat gained a school in 1874 and its first church in the late 1870s. In 1879 Cobb and Co set up a coach service from St George to Surat and on to Yuleba, constructing a staging post and store at Surat. This service was run until 1924, when it was the last coach route to be run in Australia.
The site of the shire hall was acquired in 1882 by the Warroo Divisional board. Tenders were called for the construction of a simple building, which was extended over the years. In 1903, the Divisional Board became Warroo Shire Council. In 1920 a second small building was constructed on the site as council offices. This building was later removed. The current hall was constructed in 1929 by builders K O'Brien and C Turnbull to the design of Harry Marks of the firm of Harry J Marks & Son of Toowoomba.
James Marks, who arrived from England in 1866, founded the firm. He moved to Toowoomba in 1874, working as a contractor before setting up an architectural practice in 1880. In the late 1880s his eldest son, Henry James (Harry) joined the firm to train with his father. In 1892 the firm became James Marks & Son. The office designed a wide range of residential, institutional and commercial buildings. Harry's brother Reginald joined the practice in 1906 when James retired. Harry's son Charles also worked in the practice, though he joined the Defence Forces in 1915. In 1917 Reginald moved to Sydney. When Charles joined the practice in 1924, it became Harry J Marks and Son.
Harry Marks was an innovative and idiosyncratic designer who introduced a number of his inventions into buildings he designed, including the patented Austral window. On a number of occasions Marks designed windows especially for a commissioned building and the windows in the Warroo hall are a distinctive feature of the design. They pivot to improve ventilation, a particular interest of Marks'.
As a photograph published in November 1929 shows the hall almost complete, it is assumed to have been finished soon afterwards and was in use in 1930.
The new building combined offices and a meeting room for the Shire Council with a large open hall to be used for a variety of public and private functions and events and which contained a stage and projection booth.
Surat was connected to a reticulated water system in 1952 and electricity was laid on in 1953. The three clock faces in the tower are a memorial to Alex J Simpson who was Chairman of Warroo Shire from 1925 to 1946 and who was killed in a car accident in 1947. On each clock face, the letters of his name replace the usual numerals. The clocks appear to have been installed in the 1950s, possibly after electricity became available. It was decided to illuminate them in 1961.
The original hall was retained on site as a supper room, at first alongside the new hall, then to its rear, before being destroyed by a storm in 1962. A new civic centre was constructed in 1963 and the Shire Council has since used this venue for its meetings and offices. The hall continues in community use and has a new supper room, constructed in 1961, to its southern side. This building has no heritage significance, nor does the modern toilet block constructed to the rear of the hall.
The hall is very intact and appears to have been painted in a version of the existing colour scheme since at least 1955.
Part of the northern verandah has been enclosed and fitted with a small kitchenette, probably in the 1960s. This may be the 'Gentlemen's Dressing Room' referred to as being fitted with casement windows in 1957.
The former Council Meeting Room and Shire Offices are currently used for community craft activities.
","criteria":"The Warroo Shire Hall is a rare and intact surviving timber shire hall, of which many were constructed, but few now survive.
|The Warroo Shire Hall has a long connection with the people of Surat and the surrounding district as a focus for a range of important community services and social events. These have been as varied as wedding receptions and professional concerts by visiting performers.
|The Warroo Shire Hall is an important public building in a prominent location and in form, scale and materials makes a strong visual contribution to the townscape and character of Surat. Its central clock tower forms an important part of its landmark quality.
|The Warroo Shire hall was designed by H J (Harry) Marks and is associated with his life and work as a member of the important Toowoomba architectural practice which encompassed the work of three generations of the Marks family.
|The Warroo Shire Hall demonstrates the way in which much of western Queensland was settled by means of small service towns on supply routes. They provided a scattered population with essential goods and services, administrative facilities and the social structure to develop a sense of community. The Warroo hall provided a meeting place for the Shire Council and a venue for formal and informal social events and still serves the community.
|The Warroo Shire Hall is a fine and intact example of a timber shire hall of its era, catering for both administrative and social functions in its design. It has rooms for shire offices, with a large hall, stage, projection booth and small kitchen to the rear. Its toilets and separate supper room are now modern structures.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion B | Criterion G | Criterion E | Criterion H | Criterion A | Criterion D","criteria_definitions":"The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage | 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 has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history | 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"} ]}