Category: Queensland State Archives’ Photostream About Fortitude Valley

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Fort Lytton was built in 1880-1882 in response to a fear that a foreign colonial power might launch a naval attack on Brisbane or its port, both of which were located along the banks of the Brisbane River. The fort was designed by Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Scratchley. It was located at the mouth of the Brisbane River, and was designed to deny enemy vessels access to the river.

This was initially achieved by a remote-controlled minefield across the mouth of the river and four muzzle-loading heavy guns. The minefield was closed in 1908, but the guns continued in operation until 1938.

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Item ID 2692229

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The fort is a typical nineteenth-century garrison – a pentagonal fortress concealed behind grassy embankments – surrounded for greater protection by a water-filled moat. Approval for construction of the fort at Lytton was given by the Parliament of Queensland in 1878. A field force of field artillery, engineers and infantry were also established to defend against a land attack by enemy forces. The government did not favour cavalry, as mounted soldiers could be recruited from the police force in an emergency. A small marine defence force was also developed, consisting of the two gunboats Gayundah and Paluma, the torpedo boat Mosquito and a number of armed barges.

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Item ID 2692229

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Lytton is an outer riverside suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. A pilot station and a village were established at Lytton in 1859. It would be two years before a road was surveyed from Norman Creek. A telegraph line was run from Brisbane to Lytton in 1862. During the years 1876-1908 a local post office was open.

Due to Lytton’s location on the south-east bank of the Brisbane River at its seaward end Fort Lytton was built in 1881 to guard the mouth of the Brisbane River. The fort had a moat and was a pentagonal structure concealed behind an embankment. It was fortified with two six inch disappearing guns.

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Item ID 2692229

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Fort Lytton is a heritage-listed 10th-century coastal fort in the suburb of Lytton in Brisbane, Queensland. The name “Fort Lytton” is also used to describe the one square mile military base that surrounded the fort. Fort Lytton was built in 1880-1882 and operated until 1965.

The fort consists of almost a hectare of buildings, gun pits, tunnels and other structures embedded in a pentagonal earth mound wall, surrounded by a water-filled moat.

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Item ID 2692229

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The Australian colonies were part of the British Empire, which had made many enemies by the nineteenth century when other colonial powers were rapidly expanding their empires. At the time the fort was built, Brisbane had fewer than 100,000 people, with an annual trade worth more than four million pounds.

Brisbane was more vulnerable to naval attack than Sydney or Melbourne as it was just three days’ sail from the French naval garrison at Noumea. Local defences were essential as Moreton Bay had numerous islands on which the enemy could establish a base.

Based on the recommendations of the illustrious British soldiers and military tacticians Colonel Sir William Jervois and Scratchely, Queensland opted to rely heavily on Fort Lytton as a fixed defence position for its capital and wealthiest port, Brisbane.

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Item ID 2692229

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Opened in 1941, the Brisbane Dental Hospital and College is an imposing two-storey, rendered masonry, neo-Georgian building looming above the corner to Turbot and Albert Streets and surrounded by terraced gardens. The Brisbane Dental Hospital and College was designed to be an integral component of an urban design proposal, The Turbot Street Development Scheme, for the city block bounded by Albert and Turbot Streets, Jacob’s Ladder and Wickham Terrace. The Scheme, designed by Raymond Clare Nowland, senior architect in the Queensland Department of Public Works, included a Public Art Gallery, Public Library, the Dental Hospital and College and a beautifying of Wickham Park. The Brisbane Dental Hospital and College was the only part of the scheme to be realised. The site was part of an earlier Brisbane City Council reserve within Wickham Park which was exchanged in the 1930s for State owned land in Adelaide

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The Law Courts Complex was constructed on the site of the original Supreme Court building, which had been largely destroyed by arson on 1 September, 1968. The remains of this building were demolished in October, 1976, and construction of the first stage of the complex commenced on the western end of the site. Once completed, this first stage held only the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court was relocated to the second, and larger stage of the complex upon its completion in the early 1980s, while the District Court began to occupy the now vacant first stage soon after.

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Queensland State Archives, Digital Image ID 14146

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Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

The Law Courts Complex was constructed on the site of the original Supreme Court building, which had been largely destroyed by arson on 1 September, 1968. The remains of this building were demolished in October, 1976, and construction of the first stage of the complex commenced on the western end of the site. Once completed, this first stage held only the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court was relocated to the second, and larger stage of the complex upon its completion in the early 1980s, while the District Court began to occupy the now vacant first stage soon after.

Description source:
Wikipedia

View the original image at the Queensland State Archives:
Queensland State Archives, Digital Image ID 14156

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The Brisbane Public Library was established by the government of the Colony of Queensland in 1896, and was renamed the Public Library of Queensland in 1898. The library was opened to the public in 1902.

In 1934, the Oxley Memorial Library (now the John Oxley Library),[3] and named for the explorer John Oxley, opened as a centre for research and study relating specifically to Queensland. The Libraries Act of 1943 established the Library Board of Queensland to manage the Public Library of Queensland; three years later, under the terms of The Oxley Memorial Library of Queensland Act, it took over management of the Oxley Memorial Library as well.
The old State Library with extension, built in the late 1950s

A year after that, James L. Stapleton was appointed Queensland’s first State Librarian. He remains the longest-serving CEO, and has been followed by four others, including Sydney Lawrence (Lawrie)

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ANZAC Square is a heritage-listed town square and war memorial located between Ann Street and Adelaide Street (opposite Post Office Square), in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is a state memorial to the men and women who participated in overseas armed service and is named in honour of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. ANZAC Square is adjacent to ANZAC Square Arcade.

ANZAC Square was opened on Armistice Day, 1930. It is also known as 9th Battalion Memorial and Queensland Women’s War Memorial. ANZAC Square was registered on the (now inactive) Register of the National Estate in 1980 and added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.

ANZAC Square contains the Shrine of Remembrance and the ‘Eternal Flame of Remembrance’ held in a continuously lit bronze urn, dedicated on Tuesday, 11 November 1930.

There is also the World War II Shrine of Memories. Daphne Mayo sculptured

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