Architectural drawing of the Gympie New Court House showing the. The first court proceedings in Gympie were held by the Gold Commissioner in a series of temporary structures shortly after the influx of miners to the area. In the late 1860s, a more permanent structure, in the form of a timber slab building was erected on what was known as Commissioner's Hill. In 1876 a substantial masonry court house building was erected in Channon Street on land reserved for police purposes. This building served the town until the mid 1890s when there was pressure for a new court house, primarily from local L
Architectural drawing of the Gympie New Court House showing the. The first court proceedings in Gympie were held by the Gold Commissioner in a series of temporary structures shortly after the influx of miners to the area. In the late 1860s, a more permanent structure, in the form of a timber slab building was erected on what was known as Commissioner's Hill. In 1876 a substantial masonry court house building was erected in Channon Street on land reserved for police purposes. This building served the town until the mid 1890s when there was pressure for a new court house, primarily from local Labour politician Andrew Fisher, later the first Queenslander to become Prime Minister of Australia. The 1876 court house building survived and became the Gympie Lands Office. Although the Queensland Colonial Architect was asked to prepare plans for a new court house in 1898, none were prepared until 1900. The delay may have been due to disputes over the site for the new court house, the site on the corner of King and Channon Street eventually being secured in preference to the original court house reserve on Duke Street. The site was selected by Colonial Architect, Alfred Barton Brady, and the government purchased the land from the Queensland National Bank and a private owner. The new court house was designed by John Smith Murdoch who, at the time was an architect in the Department of Public Works. Murdoch had arrived in Australia from Scotland, originally working in Melbourne. He began working for the Queensland Public Works Department in the mid 1880s, leaving temporarily to practice privately before returning in the mid 1890s. In 1901, he was appointed District Architect for the Central and Northern Division of Queensland, and in this capacity designed many government buildings north of Gympie. Tenders were called for the building in 1900. The first tenders exceeded the £5000 allocated for its construction, requiring the design to be altered. Rendered cement replaced st
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Photo credit: © QS Archive / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1900, 1900s, architecture, archival, archive, archives, australia, australian, collection, court, drawing, gympie, historic, historical, history, house, image, photo, plan, qsa, queensland, reference, state, vintage
