Cook Shire Council Chambers
Cook Shire Council Chambers | |
---|---|
Location | 121 Charlotte Street, Cooktown, Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia |
Coordinates | 15°27′57″S 145°14′57″E / 15.4659°S 145.2493°E |
Design period | 1870s–1890s (late 19th century) |
Built | 1876–1877 |
Architectural style(s) | Classicism |
Official name | Cook Shire Council Chambers, Cooktown Post and Telegraph Office |
Type | state heritage (built) |
Designated | 8 April 1997 |
Reference no. | 601535 |
Significant period | 1876–1890s (historical) |
Significant components | views to, office/s, council chamber/meeting room |
Builders | Henry J Meldrum and John Sullivan |
Cook Shire Council Chambers is a heritage-listed former town hall and now museum at 121 Charlotte Street, Cooktown, Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1876 to 1877 by Henry J Meldrum and John Sullivan. It was also known as Cooktown Post and Telegraph Office and is now known as Cooktown History Centre. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 8 April 1997.[1]
Cooktown History Centre
Operated by the Cooktown and District Historical Society, the Cooktown History Centre features photographs and displays about the area's history and culture. Exhibits include the railway, early roads, cyclones and other disasters, early pioneer families and local indigenous people. The Centre also houses archives of local history.
History
The former Cook Shire Council Chambers was constructed in 1876-77 as Cooktown's first purpose-built Post and Telegraph Office. Its function changed to that of municipal council offices in 1893, and it has retained this function for over a century.[1]
The building is one of the earliest surviving in Cooktown, which was founded in October 1873 as the
An unofficial post office was established in Cooktown from 1 January 1874, and became official later in the year. A line for the telegraph from Cooktown to Maytown, 150 miles (240 km) west on the Palmer goldfields, was opened on 25 April 1876.[1]
Tenders for the Cooktown Post and Telegraph Office were called in the last quarter of 1875, but difficulties in letting the contract necessitated the tenders being re-advertised in March 1876. Finally the contract was let in July 1876 to Cooktown contractor Henry J Meldrum, who tendered with a price of £1,940. Meldrum disappeared later in the year, believed drowned, and the work was completed by Cooktown builder John Sullivan in June 1877.[1][2]
At this period, Queensland post and telegraph offices were designed in the office of the colonial architect, FDG Stanley. As colonial architect, Stanley also designed the
If Cooktown had "mushroomed" in the mid-1870s, it positively "boomed" in the 1880s. The Cooktown railway was constructed from Cooktown to
In 1887, a new post and telegraph office was constructed adjacent to the 1876-1877 building, and the office sections of the first building were modified in 1888 as additions to the telegraph master's and postmaster's residences. At this time some of the windows in the front (formerly public) rooms of the building were replaced with French doors, and a lattice screen was erected along the front verandah. However, the building remained in use as residences only another four years. Constructed on a former mangrove swamp on land at the base of the ridge running south from Grassy Hill, the site was inundated with water during the wet season and lacked proper drainage. The place was considered unhealthy, and the residences were vacated in 1892.[1]
In late December 1892, the 1876-77 post and telegraph building was occupied as the temporary Chambers of the
In 2016, the building is used as the Cooktown History Centre.[4]
Description
Cook Shire Council Chambers is located on the west side of Charlotte Street, the principal street in Cooktown, on a site that slopes down towards the Endeavour River at the rear. It contributes to the streetscape and forms a visual grouping with the adjacent 1887 Post and Telegraph Office to the north. It is located within a group of culturally significant buildings and civic works, including the adjacent post office and north of this the former
The building is single-storeyed and constructed in timber supported by round steel
A low pitched hipped roof runs along the front of the building which projects over the verandahs and is supported on timber posts. The verandahs have been enclosed on all but the street elevation. A gable roof, that accentuates the entrance to the building, projects from the centre of the front verandah. Early French doors and double hung windows open onto the front and side verandahs of this section of the building.[1]
Running at right angles to the front section of the building is the rear wing which has a hipped roof sitting above the ridge line of the front section of the building. There are enclosed verandahs on the north and south sides of this section. The west elevation consists of a truncated gable running up to the hipped section of the roof.[1]
The interior has been adapted for use as the offices of the Council of the Shire of Cook, presently housing the Council's Administration and Engineering Departments. A number of walls have been removed to create larger spaces but the original layout remains legible. Some walls have been covered in sheet lining material.[1]
Heritage listing
Cook Shire Council Chambers was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 8 April 1997 having satisfied the following criteria.[1]
The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history.
Cook Shire Council Chambers, constructed in 1876-77 as Cooktown's first purpose-built Post and Telegraph Office, is associated with the early settlement of Cooktown as the port for the Palmer River goldfields, and as such is important in illustrating the pattern of development of Queensland's history. In particular, it survives as an important illustration of colonial government support accorded to the establishment of Cooktown in the 1870s.[1]
The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage.
Cook Shire Council Chambers, one of the earliest buildings in Cooktown and one of the few early government buildings to survive, is significant for its rarity value. The only other surviving government buildings of Cooktown's establishment phase are the Powder Magazine (1875-1876) and the former Cooktown hospital (1879).[1]
The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.
The place is important for its aesthetic contribution to the streetscape along central Charlotte Street, forming a visual grouping with the adjacent 1887 Post and Telegraph Office to the north and other culturally significant buildings and civic works nearby.[1]
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 significant for its close association with the work of the Cooktown Municipal Council (later the Cooktown Town Council) and with the Cook Shire Council, for over a century.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Cook Shire Council Chambers (entry 601535)". Queensland Heritage Register. Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
- ^ "Northern News". The Capricornian. Vol. 2, no. 49. Queensland, Australia. 9 December 1876. p. 786. Archived from the original on 7 August 2022. Retrieved 3 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- Cooktown Shire Council. Archivedfrom the original on 7 August 2022. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
- ^ "About us". Cooktown History Centre. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2016.