Category: Queensland State Archives’ Photostream About Fortitude Valley

Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

A silo is a structure for storing bulk materials. Silos are used in agriculture to store grain but are also used for bulk storage of coal, cement, carbon black, woodchips, food products and sawdust. Three types of silo are in widespread use today: tower silos, bunker silos, and bag silos.

Tower silos are cylindrical structures typically 3 to 27 m in diameter and 10 to 90 m in height. They can be made of many materials; wood staves, concrete staves, cast concrete, and steel panels have all been used, and have varying cost, durability, and airtightness tradeoffs. Silos storing grain, cement and woodchips are typically unloaded with air slides or augers.

In Canada, Australia and the United States, many country towns or the larger farmers in grain-growing areas have groups of wooden or concrete tower silos, known as grain elevators, to collect grain from the surrounding

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Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

Bolsover Street Government Office Building (Block E, 1950-55)

The office block replaced an earlier scheme for a second stage of building intended for the Labour Bureau. The first stage had been the adjacent 1934-36 Labour Bureau building. The Government Office building was constructed as the first wing of a proposed U-shaped building, with frontages to Bolsover, Fitzroy and East Streets, which would have established a courtyard around the Supreme Court House while maintaining the axial vistas to Bolsover and East Streets.

In 1950 work commenced on the three-storeyed building, which was constructed of reinforced concrete with brick and stone facings. Estimated cost of the building was to be £170,000. Due to site conditions, reinforced concrete piers were driven to the basalt bed, and reinforced concrete perimeter beams were laid and detailed to read as a plinth to the building.

The architect was not able to supervise the works,

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Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

Bolsover Street Government Office Building (Block E, 1950-55)

For the Bolsover Street site, John Hitch obtained through chief engineer Mr Kindler site survey information including flood level projections used for the construction of the nearby Fitzroy River Bridge.

Hitch designed three schemes for submission to Cabinet, the first being a ten-storey tower fronting Fitzroy Street, the second being two four to five-storey blocks facing East and Bolsover Streets, and the third being a three-storey U-shaped development fronting the three streets. The first and second schemes emphasised the State Government presence on the approach to the new Fitzroy River Bridge.

Cabinet opted for the larger site coverage of the third smaller scaled alternative, and approval was given to proceed with one wing to the Bolsover Street frontage. A model of the U-shaped development was constructed, which John Hitch believes was the first architectural model in the State.

Description source:
Queensland Heritage

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Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

Bolsover Street Government Office Building (Block E, 1950-55)

After working with well-known firms in the United Kingdom and service with the R.A.F. John Hitch (b. 26 June 1915), and his Danish wife emigrated to Australia to take up a position with the Architectural Branch of the Queensland Public Works Department in Brisbane on 6 February 1958.

Hitch had qualified in London in 1938, and after the war in 1946 had spent approximately 12 weeks in Denmark and Sweden, and had seen some of what he considered the best pre-war Scandinavian architecture which would have a strong influence on his architectural aesthetic and design philosophy.

John Hitch was one of approximately six British architects, appointed by the Queensland Government for a 3-year contract, who arrived with their families during 1947-48. The Queensland Government paid for passage and relocation costs, and initially accommodation was provided at the Yungaba Immigration Depot,

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Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

Bolsover Street Government Office Building (Block E, 1950-55)

Construction of the Bolsover Street Government Office building was necessitated by the increased accommodation requirements of various Government Departments in Rockhampton after the Second World War, partly as a result of a policy of decentralisation.

Previously, accommodation was supplied by a two-storeyed former fire station on the Government Reserve. However, it was felt that this accommodation was not appropriate or in keeping with the remainder of public buildings on the Supreme Court site.

Shortages of building materials, as well as architects and technical officers to design and supervise building works, were experienced in the post-war years. The Bolsover Street Government Office building was designed in 1949 by English architect Harold John Hitch (known as John Hitch), and the building was constructed from 1950-55.

Description source:
Queensland Heritage Register

View the original image at Queensland State Archives:
Digital Image ID 4272

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The Rockhampton Court and Administrative Complex comprises the Supreme Court building (Block D 1886-87), Magistrate’s Court building (Block B, former Police Court building 1934-36), District Court building (Block C, former State Government Savings Bank and Commonwealth Bank, 1915-16 and 1932-33), Family Services’ building (Block F, former Labour Bureau 1934-36), and the Bolsover Street Government Office building (block E, 1950-55), which all form part of a significant group of buildings on the Government Reserve bounded by Fitzroy, East and Bolsover Streets, Rockhampton. The buildings all reflect the involvement of the Queensland Government in the development of the City of Rockhampton from the colonial period until the present day, in various areas such as the administration of justice, and the provision of government services within Rockhampton.

Description source:
Queensland Heritage Register

View the original image at Queensland State Archives:
Digital Image ID 4271

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Bolsover Street Government Office Building (Block E, 1950-55)

The building was constructed with a curtain wall of metal framed glazing with stone spandrel panels divided by regularly spaced vertical concrete aggregate fins framed by brickwork to the main street frontage. The aggregate fins were designed to have horizontal metal sunhoods which were not installed.

Satisfactory progress on the work was reported in the period 1951-53. It was anticipated that the buildings would be in partial occupation from the beginning of 1954, and the entire project completed by the middle of 1954. The Department of Public Works reports in its Annual Report 1955, that early in the year the new block of offices in Rockhampton was completed and relieved the accommodation problem in the city.

When completed, the building was much admired by the architectural student community, providing a local example of the architectural aesthetic promoted by journals such

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Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

Little Nerang Dam’s hidden beauty revealed

One of the most beautiful dams in South East Queensland is also one of the most secret. Hidden deep in the Gold Coast hinterland, Little Nerang Dam, when full covers an area of about 50 hectares.

The site used to be a popular recreation destination, with the surroundings making for a perfect picture-postcard scene. When the un-gated dam reaches 100 percent capacity, sheets of water flow over the spillway, providing quite the spectacle.

Following the Australia Day weekend rainfall event in January 2013, the access road to the recreation area at Little Nerang Dam was closed to the public due to safety and stability concerns. An independent site assessment was conducted and as a result, Seqwater opted to permanently close the road and restrict access to its employees and residents on Little Nerang Dam Road only.

Seqwater employees with operational responsibilities visit the

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The Little Nerang Dam is a concrete gravity dam with an un-gated spillway across the Little Nerang Creek that is located in the South East region of Queensland. The main purpose of the dam is for potable water supply of the Gold Coast region. The impounded reservoir is also called Little Nerang Dam.

The dam is located 9 km west of Tugun and 25 km driving distance from Mudgeeraba, and is located directly upstream from the Hinze Dam. Prior to the completion of the Hinze Dam, the Little Nerang Creek Gravity Scheme supplied the water requirements of the Gold Coast area. Water flows by gravity pipeline to the Mudgeeraba Water Treatment Plant. The plant, completed in 1969, has the capacity to treat 110 megalitres a day. The water then flows by gravity to the city’s storage reservoirs.

Description source:
Wikipedia

View the original image at Queensland State Archives:
Digital Image

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Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

Tinaroo Falls Dam is a mass concrete gravity structure located on the Barron River above a series of rapids known locally as “Tinaroo Falls” and about 100 kilometres upstream of where the river discharges into the Coral Sea near Cairns.

Construction of the Tinaroo Falls Dam allowed conservation of the waters of the Barron River and the utilization of this water to irrigate some 9000 ha annually in portion of the basins of the Barron, Walsh and Mitchell Rivers at the northern end of the Atherton Tableland. Some 800 farms are supplied with water from the channel system or by private diversion from streams supplemented by Tinaroo Falls Dam.

The decision to build the dam was made in 1952 and construction began in 1953 and was completed in 1958. The capacity of the storage is 407,000 megalitres, which under normal conditions of operation is approximately two years

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