Rooney Brothers

Rooney Brothers was an architecture and constructions business operated by brothers John, Jacob and Matthew Rooney in Queensland, Australia. They dominated the North Queensland building industry until the early years of the 20th century.

History

In the late 1860s, Irish immigrants John and Jacob Rooney had established a building and timber-milling business at

By controlling every stage of the building process - logging, milling, prefabrication, design, construction, hardware supply, and later furniture manufacture and paint sales -and by adopting highly mechanised production techniques and large volume turnovers, Rooneys' dominated the North Queensland building industry until the early years of the 20th century.^[1]

Matthew Rooney was a prominent Townsville citizen, first chairman of the Townsville Harbour Board, 1896–97, and a strong supporter of the Catholic Church. On 23 March 1911 he, his wife and his youngest daughter were drowned in the wreck of the SS Yongala, south of Townsville. The Rooney firms were already losing their pre-eminence in the North Queensland building industry, and after Matthew's death, declined rapidly. The heirs reconstructed as Rooneys Limited, concentrating on building prefabrication initially, then furniture manufacture and retail trading, until winding up the firm in 1946.^[1]

Significant works

• balustrading and the remnant timber moulding of the lower verandah frieze - and was one of few two-storeyed, timber residences erected in Townsville before the turn-of-the-century.^[1]
• St Mary's Church & Convent, Townsville

References

Attribution

This Wikipedia article was originally based on "The Queensland heritage register" published by the