Commissariat Store, Brisbane

About

The Commissariat Store is a heritage-listed storehouse at 115–127 William Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is bordered by William Street, Queen's Wharf Road and the Brisbane River, and is the birthplace of Queensland. It was designed by William John Dumaresq and built from 1828 to 1829 by convict labour under the direction of Captain Logan as a permanent Commissariat Store for the Moreton Bay penal settlement. It is also known as Government Stores, State Stores Building, and Colonial Store. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. The building is one of only two surviving buildings from the convict period in Queensland, and is one of only four surviving commissariat buildings in Australia. It is the second oldest building in Queensland, dated to 1829, the oldest building being the Windmill at Wickham Park, dated to 1828. However, the Commissariat Store is the oldest currently occupied building in Queensland, as it is currently occupied by the RHSQ, housing a museum, the Welsby Library, and function spaces.

The Commissariat Store was constructed of local stone in 1828–1829 by Moreton Bay penal settlement convicts as a two-storey provisions store near the Brisbane River and what was to become Queen's Wharf. A third storey of rendered brick was added in 1913 to accommodate its continuing use as a government store and providing an address to William Street.

In 1823 Moreton Bay was chosen as a penal settlement for New South Wales convicts who were secondary offenders or those who had re-offended while serving their sentence of transportation in Botany Bay. It was intended to better control the convicts and affect a reform in them through isolation, hard labor, strict discipline and harsh living conditions. In 1824 Lieutenant Henry Miller arrived at Redcliffe with thirty convicts. As this location proved unsuitable, the settlement was moved in 1825 inland to a ridge overlooking and bounded on three sides by the Brisbane River, and simple buildings were constructed to serve it.

Penal colonies were run on a military system and so a commissariat directed the procurement, supply and distribution of essential goods, as well as serving as a custom house and bank. The first building used for this purpose in what would become Brisbane Town at Moreton Bay was a slab structure in the vicinity of the current intersection of Albert and Elizabeth streets. There were two other store structures at Amity Point and Dunwich on Stradbroke Island. In 1826 Captain Patrick Logan arrived as Commandant and began a works program that replaced key buildings with more substantial structures made of stone and brick. One of these was the Commissariat Store. Along with houses for the Commandant, Commissariat officer and chaplain, it was erected on the ridge running parallel to William and George Street that remains the focus of government buildings to the present day.

A position near the river bank was selected for the new store, following recommended procedure, to allow goods to be conveniently loaded and unloaded from a wharf. This also provided a single point for the entry and distribution of tools, weapons, clothing and food rations to permit secure control of such vital supplies.

In common with the settlement's other new buildings, the Commissariat Store followed a simple design suitable for everyday use in a penal colony and was well constructed from local materials. The design was by William John Dumaresq (Acting Civil Engineer for New South Wales ) whose plans arrived from Sydney in April 1828. Dumaresq was also responsible for the design of the store at Dunwich completed in 1828.

The original river bank in this area was quite steep and the underlying rock was quarried to create a relatively level building platform. The excavation work was heavy and carried out by the Gaol Gang of convicts as a specific punishment, but the masonry and other construction work required skilled labour and was most likely supervised by Lieutenant Thomas Bainbrigge, sent especially from Sydney with skilled stonemasons and quarrymen in 1827 and made Superintendent of Works for the colony the following year. Some time after retaining walls were constructed around three sides of the store building; the one to William Street appearing in an 1838 cross-section and the two at each side in Petrie 's front elevation of the building also dated to that year.

The first outpost of the convict colony in Australia had been established in New South Wales in 1788, the settlement being almost immediately extended to Norfolk Island (abandoned in 1814 and re-established 1825), and then to Tasmania, to Newcastle (later to Port Macquarie ), Moreton Bay and then to Western Australia. Apart from the Commissariat Store in Brisbane, there are seven other convict-built Commissariat Stores that survive today at:

- Darlington Probation Station on Maria Island, Tasmania (1825)

- Paterson Barracks Commissariat Store, Launceston, Tasmania (1828)

- Kingston and Arthur's Vale Historic Area, Norfolk Island (1835)

- Guildford, Western Australia (1853–1854) Two of the earliest store buildings in New South Wales at Sydney Cove (1812) and Parramatta, have been demolished. Only three of the surviving buildings, all of which have been quite changed over time, are older than the store in Brisbane. All built during a similar period and for the same purpose, the surviving store buildings exhibit a number of similar characteristics, which include proximity to both a point of entry for goods and the settlement served, robust and utilitarian form communicating authority, and incorporating aspects of Georgian and Regency architectural styles such as symmetrical elevations with windows decreasing in size from lower to upper levels, and restrained, Classically inspired decoration.

The importance of the Brisbane store and its river frontage as a portal to the colony was emphasised by the addition of the royal cypher of King George IV and the date to the front, river-facing gable ; features retained when the third storey was added later. The clear orientation towards the river (and what is now Queens Wharf Road) is also reflected in the stonework itself, which is evenly coursed at the front, but more random at the rear (William Street) and sides (Miller Park to the north-west). The Commissariat Store was built of Brisbane tuff from the quarry at the Kangaroo Point Cliffs with sandstone from Oxley Creek used for footings, the base course, quoins, sills and lintels. Lime for mortar was then obtained from burning oyster shells from Amity Point on Stradbroke Island or from the newly established lime kiln at Limestone Hill in Ipswich. The windows were small, unglazed and barred for security and the roof was clad with ironbark shingles. The Commissarat Store was completed in 1829.

Features of the building included a brick drainage system throughout the foundation, as well as an 18 feet (5.5 m) retaining wall at the rear with a wall and gate at the front facing the river. The Commissariat Store procured, stored, and distributed goods and rations, such as food, clothing, and tools, for the penal colony.

The only entry point into the penal settlement was via the adjacent wharf on the Brisbane River. Initially known as the King's Wharf or Jetty, it was constructed by 1827 when the boat crew's hut and boat builder's shed were first occupied. A crane was constructed on the end of the wharf to transfer goods from the arriving ships to the shore. The main roadway into the settlement was up along the steep river bank following the present day alignment of Queens Wharf Road. A pedestrian path developed along the slope from the wharf to the ridge of present-day William Street passing to the north-west of the Commissariat Store, through what is now Miller Park. A retaining wall along the Queens Wharf Road frontage of Miller Park had been constructed by convicts before 1831. A wall, with an opening leading to stairs in a position corresponding to this path, appears in an 1838 plan. A pencil sketch by Henry Boucher Bowerman dated c. 1835 shows a wall here with an arched opening a few metres up the hill from the store yard wall.

The penal colony closed in 1839 and Moreton Bay was declared open for free settlement in 1842. Other government buildings were soon sold or demolished but the Commissariat Store was retained for continued government use as a store. This did not require all the space available and allowed the upper floor to serve the government in a number of other capacities, being used for land sales in 1848 and intermittently to house immigrants during the 1850s. During this time a door was cut through to the first floor on the north-western side of the building. This enabled immigrants to enter the building through what is now Miller Park without the need to access the ground floor store. Proximity to the immigration barracks of the time (on the site of the Treasury Building ), the former military barracks and guard house fitted out to receive immigrants in 1848, made the store a convenient place to accommodate overflow numbers. This use continued even after a purpose-built immigration barracks was constructed on land immediately to the south-east of the store in 1865–1866 (95 William Street) and is likely to have only stopped when the new Yungaba Immigration Centre opened at Kangaroo Point in 1887.

In 1860, following the creation of the colony of Queensland, the store was renamed the Colonial Store. It was repaired and the upper floor was converted for use as police barracks. Eighteen new hardwood sash windows were added. Internally, six pine batten doors and a partition were constructed to provide married men's quarters and single men's barracks on the first floor. At this time a fireplace, new ironbark shingle roof, wall, window and door were added to the kitchen building in the yard (constructed there c. 1857 ). On the ground floor of the store, a raised timber floor was installed and the windows enlarged and glazed.

The storekeeper and a staff of twelve handled everything from oil for lighthouses to blankets for distribution to the Aborigines. A cottage for the storekeeper was constructed in the southern corner of the yard between 1861 and 1872, with a gabled extension to it completed in 1873. During the "Bread and Blood" riots of 1866 an attempt was made to force entry to the store, possibly because it was seen as a symbol of government and its control of essentials.

Further north-west along William Street, the first purpose-built home of the Queensland Museum was constructed between 1876 and 1879 to a design by Francis Drummond Grenville Stanley in what is now known as the Old State Library. Over three storeys, it was intended this building comprise later stages. It created an area of open ground between its south-eastern side and the store that continued to be used as a pathway from the wharf area on the river and centre of town, and to provide access to the store's side door.

The Colonial Store was repaired and added to as the colony grew. In 1886 a single-storey brick wing was added at right angles to the original building on its southern corner running out to the boundary of the yard to the Queens Wharf Road. The wing was used as a stationery annexe, and received an extra storey in 1900. It is unclear what changes to other structures in the yard were occasioned by the erection of this annexe. It is possible the c. 1857 kitchen building was moved to the adjacent land (now Miller Park) at this time and the storekeepers cottage moved or demolished.