St Marys Roman Catholic Church Precinct

General

Also known as

St Marys Roman Catholic Church, Presbytery, Parish Hall and Convent, formerly; St Mary's Roman Catholic Church Precinct

Classification

State Heritage

Register status

Entered

Date entered

21 October 1992

Type

Religion/worship: Religious precinct

Themes

8.1 Creating social and cultural institutions: Worshipping and religious institutions

9.1 Educating Queenslanders: Providing primary schooling

Architects

Nugent, Patrick

Stanley, Francis Drummond Greville

Stombuco, Andrea Giovanni

Builders

Day labour

Nugent, Patrick

Construction periods

1874–1884, Convent

1874–1944, Larger Music Room (South) (c1874-1944)

1876, Presbytery

1884, Infant School

1887–1889, Boy's Primary School Building

1900–1901, Parish Hall

1900–1904, St Mary's Roman Catholic Church

1900–1926, Elizabeth Street Hitching Rail / Rings

1915, Convent Extensions

1915, Boy's Primary School Building (Building Raised)

1919, Church - Marble Altar

1948–1955, Music Room (North) (c1948-55)

1951–1978, Parish Hall Extensions

1954, Church - Elizabeth Street Entrance

Historical period

1870s–1890s Late 19th century

Style

Classicism

Gothic

Location

Address

Mary Street and Elizabeth Street, Woodend

LGA

Ipswich City Council

Coordinates

-27.61001939, 152.75603208

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Significance

Criterion AThe place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland’s history.

This extensive precinct was established in the late 1850s as the central site of the Roman Catholic Church in Ipswich. Development of St Mary's Catholic Church Complex reflects the principal phases of development and growth in Ipswich, particularly during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Criterion DThe place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.

The complex is a good and substantially intact example of a nineteenth and early twentieth century Roman Catholic Complex with a prominent church, presbytery, parish hall, school buildings and convent. The prominence of the site and architectural quality of the buildings make this a particularly good example of an ecclesiastical precinct in Queensland.

Criterion EThe place is important because of its aesthetic significance.

St Mary's Complex is a landmark in Ipswich and has, for this reason, considerable aesthetic and social value. The site has a number of significant buildings and elements which, individually, have aesthetic and architectural value. St Mary's Church is a good and substantial example of early twentieth century Gothic Revival churches. The presbytery is a fine example of building designed in the Italian villa style, appropriate to the sub tropical climate of Brisbane. Further this building is important as a good example of the work of the renowned Catholic architect, Andrea Giovanni Stombuco. The school buildings, parish hall and convent are also fine buildings of considerable architectural merit.

Criterion GThe place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.

St Mary's Catholic Church is significant for its association with Father Andrew Horan, Parish Priest of St Mary's from 1872-1924. Father Horan supervised construction of the church and is buried and commemorated inside the church.

Criterion HThe place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland’s history.

St Mary's Catholic Church is significant for its association with Father Andrew Horan, Parish Priest of St Mary's from 1872-1924. Father Horan supervised construction of the church and is buried and commemorated inside the church.

History

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church Complex is large precinct located in central Ipswich overlooking the central business area and adjacent to the Bremer River and was established from the late 1850s as the home of the Roman Catholic faith in Ipswich. The church has developed over time and now houses a large Gothic church from 1904; a rendered stone presbytery dating from 1876; a stone convent dating from 1874; a parish hall constructed in 1901 and a school building dating from 1884.

The development of Ipswich dates to free settlement in 1842, with the first free settlers in Queensland establishing at Ipswich and West Ipswich. A Roman Catholic presence was established in Ipswich by 1849 when the Ipswich Mission was declared. By 1854 much of the bushland in Woodend Pocket, where the St Mary's Complex was to be located, was cleared and during succeeding decades Woodend became the residential area of well to do early settlers. Established in this area were educational facilities including the Ipswich Grammar School and St Mary's Convent .

Following the separation of Queensland from New South Wales in 1859, a new Roman Catholic Diocese was created which separated the newly formed Diocese of Queensland from the Diocese of Newcastle. On 14 April 1859 James Quinn, who was residing in Ireland at the time, was appointed the first Bishop of Queensland and arrived in Brisbane on 12 March 1861. Between his appointment and his arrival, Quinn recruited desperately needed clergy and religious Sisters. He arrived in Brisbane with several priests and five Sisters of Mercy, under the guidance of the Mother Superior, Mother Mary Vincent Whitty. The Sisters of Mercy were principally a teaching order, founded in Dublin in 1831 by Catherine McAuley. The establishment of religious schools in the new colony was seen as critical to instilling and strengthening faith in the early community.

St Mary's Church

St Mary's Catholic Church was constructed in 1904 and was the third Catholic church to be built on the site. St Mary's Church was built during the pastorate of Father Andrew Horan, parish priest from 1872 to 1924 and was constructed according to the plan of St Joseph's Catholic Cathedral in Rockhampton, designed by FDG Stanley. The church was built on the same site as the second St Mary's Church which had replaced an earlier timber building located to the east.

The land on which the church was built was owned by the Roman Catholic Church by 1858, and during the next few decades the Church acquired adjacent blocks, including several acres north of the church and presbytery. The first rudimentary church building, designed as a temporary hall, was described by Reverend Alan Brown as a small timber slab building without glass in its windows and with wooden shutters for protection and light. This church was located about midway between the presbytery and the present church. This first church was demolished to build the second St Mary's Church within a year of its construction.

The foundation stone for the second church was laid by the Most Reverend John Bede Polding, OSB, Archbishop of Sydney on 24 October 1858. Father William McGinty, Ipswich's first parish priest, travelled throughout the sparsely populated parish ministering and raising funds for the construction of the church. The stone used in the construction of the second church was quarried near Ipswich and brought to the site on barges on the Bremer River. Gothic in design and cruciform in shape, this building had a slate-covered roof and could accommodate about 600 people. The church was designed by William Holloway Chambers and built by John Petrie, both of Brisbane at a cost of £7000. The building was open for worship in 1859.

At around the turn of the century, it became apparent that the second St Mary's Church was inadequate for the growing community. Father Andrew Horan and the Catholic community resolved to construct a new larger church. Work began on the present church soon after the foundation stone was laid on 28 October 1900, by Archbishop Dunne. When excavating the foundation stones of the second St Mary's Church, a sealed bottle was located which contained a copy of the North Australian dated Tuesday 19 October 1858 and two coins. The North Australian was a newspaper widely circulated in the Ipswich and West Moreton area. Work proceeded on a day-labour basis with Father Horan as general supervisor and Mr Patrick Nugent as building superintendent.

While the third St Mary's Church was under construction, St Mary's Parish Hall was built to serve both as a temporary place of worship and as a future meeting place for Catholic societies, especially the Catholic Young Men's Society. Although the superstructure of the present St Mary's Church is built from Helidon sandstone, stone from the previous church has been incorporated into some elements of the new building, reputedly the sacristy. The church was dedicated on Rosary Sunday, 2 October 1904 by His Eminence Patrick Francis Cardinal Moran, the third Archbishop of Sydney, and within seven years of the dedication day, the cost of the £40,000 church had been cleared.

The design of the church is said to be directly adapted from the design of St Joseph's Roman Catholic Cathedral in Rockhampton, which was designed by architectural partnership FDG Stanley and Son of Brisbane. St Joseph's was completed by 1899, only shortly before a design for the St Mary's Church was to be planned. The Gothic design of the church was very much in keeping with the nineteenth century English Gothic Revival, rather than the more Italian Renaissance leanings of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Celtic crosses on each of the spires were designed by Mr J McGee of Toowoomba and cast at the foundry of Messrs Evans, Anderson and Phelan of Brisbane. The roof is supported by steel principals made by Messrs Barbat and Co, iron founders of Ipswich. The timber used in the roof was Oregon pine imported by Messrs Saxon and Binns of Sydney. Internally, the balustrade, the tower stairs and the gallery fittings were supplied by Mr A Cole. Seating accommodation was for about 2200 people. The pews were made by Mr John Madden of Ipswich. The paintings of the Stations of the Cross were placed in 1905 and are the work of Italian artist, Giorgio de Pyro, from St Stanislaus' College, Bathurst. The paintings are said to be copies of similar designs in Rome. A bell, hung in the eastern tower of the façade, was cast in Dublin for Father Horan by the firm of Matthew O'Byme. Plumbing work on the church was done by Mr MJ Cuthbert and Messrs Madden and Sons did the carpentry.

Alterations and renovations have been carried out on the church over time. In 1919, the original timber altar and altar rails were replaced with marble. The new altar was designed by Brisbane architect Jack P Donoghue and was manufactured by F Williams and Co of Ipswich'. This new work was blessed by Archbishop Duhig on 30 March 1919. One of the larger projects carried out, to mark the golden jubilee of St Mary's, was the reconstruction of the church precinct's entrance approach from Elizabeth Street by Monsignor Molony in 1954 at cost of £7000. The entrance was blessed and officially opened in October 1954. Monsignor Timothy Molony was inducted in 1951.

Further renovations were carried out in 1979. The roof was repaired, the sanctuary was extended and the church was carpeted. In 1980, in keeping with changes mandated by the Second Vatican Council's decree on the liturgy, altar rails were removed and a plain altar facing the people was installed. The marble altar from 1919 is, however, still in place and sections of the marble rails now surround the grave of Father Andrew Horan who is buried inside the church.

St Mary's Presbytery

The first presbytery, a timber cottage, was built in 1860, but by the 1870s was in extremely poor condition and required replacement. It is reported that the Bishop of Brisbane exclaimed that he was, "heartily tired of looking at the dilapidated pine hut, which has been renewed three or four times, and as often consumed by the indefatigable white ant." The congregation of St Mary's and the parish priest at the time, Father Horan, agreed to build a more substantial building. The present presbytery, built in 1876, was designed by the Italian architect Andrea Stombuco who had moved to Brisbane in 1875. The presbytery is one of the oldest buildings in the St Mary's Complex.

The Neo-Classical style building was built of stone and plastered inside and out with Portland cement. The lime and cement was supplied by James Campbell of Brisbane and the carpenter and joiner was J Byrne of Ipswich. St Mary's Presbytery was constructed using day labour and was supervised by Father Horan. The building was constructed for a total cost of £2745/1/9.

St Mary's Convent

The present St Mary's Convent was constructed between 1874-1884 for the Sisters of Mercy, The building replaced the first convent which had been constructed in 1864 and demolished in 1900 when the third St Mary's Church was built on the site.

Within a week of the arrival of Bishop Quinn and his party of priests and Sisters of Mercy in Brisbane on 10 May 1861, Catholics of Ipswich had approached the Bishop to request the immediate foundation of a convent school in the Ipswich area. The Ipswich deputation had requested that the Sisters settle in their town initially, however the first convent was established in Brisbane where development was ahead of Ipswich.

Soon after their arrival, in 1863, the Sisters of Mercy arrived in Ipswich to establish a school and convent. To begin, the Sisters rented a cottage in East Street, from Dr Dorsey as their first convent. The land on which the convent would be built was granted to James Quinn in 1864. The land was bordered by Mary Street on the western side and River Street (later Roseberry Parade) on the eastern side. Part of the original land was transferred to John Connor Flannery on 5 October 1874. Title was later transferred to Emily Conlan, Catherine Flanagan, Bridget Murphy and Honoria Griffin as joint tenants on 14 February 1879. Title for further land was transferred to Robert Dunne, Emily Conlan, Ellen Whiny, Mary Potter, Mary Carney and Honoria Griffin on 10 May 1886. The title for the whole of the property was transferred to the Corporation of the Trustees of the Order of the Sisters of Mercy in Queensland on 5 November 1927.

The foundation stone of the first purpose built convent was laid by Bishop O'Quinn on 25 July, 1864 at a site located between the second St Mary's Church and the Christian Brothers School. This convent was designed by Benjamin Joseph Backhouse and was constructed by Messrs John Murphy and Peter Connell. The two-storeyed brick building with a gabled, slate roof was plastered both inside and out and opened in 1865 at a construction cost of cost £1100. This building provided accommodation for six sisters, a refectory and wooden dormitories for school boarders. The convent was extended by Charles Balding in 1866.

The first St Mary's Convent and the second St Mary's Church were demolished in 1900, to make way for the larger third church. Sandstone from the first convent were used to build Music Rooms, adjacent to the Bremer River. The Music Rooms building was designed by John Farrelly and is divided into three sections where the students were taught to play various instruments by the Sisters. These rooms are extant today.

Although the first convent was not demolished until 1900, plans to construct a new convent began in the early 1870s. In May 1874 the Most Reverend Roger Bede Vaughan, the Coadjutor Archbishop of Sydney was in Brisbane for the solemn dedication of the present St Stephen's Cathedral. Before he returned to Sydney he visited Ipswich at the invitation of Bishop O'Quinn and laid the foundation stone of a new convent. Another ten years was to elapse, however, before the building was completed. Located on the top of the hill behind the church, overlooking Ipswich, the Bremer River and the surrounding countryside, St Mary's Convent was dedicated to St Brigid on 17 June 1884 by Bishop Dunne and the Sisters took up residence.

Patrick Nugent did the majority of the masonry work and James Madden was responsible for the carpentry and joinery of the building.

An extension providing additional accommodation for the nuns and a chapel was added to the Mary Street end of the building in 1915. The architects of the chapel were Messrs Coutts and Sons, and the builder was Mr Sydney Ash. The foundation stone was laid on 9 May. 1914 and the completed extensions were dedicated on 15 February 1915. Both functions were performed by Archbishop Duhig, who was at the time Coadjutor Bishop to Archbishop Dunne.

The ground floor housed various reception room and offices and a chapel in the western wing. The chapel was converted into a library when the current chapel was constructed in 1915. With the 1915 extension a walkway on the first floor was constructed which connected the convent to the chape. Over the years, the numbers within the Order declined and the property was eventually sold to the St Mary's Parish in 1994. The Convent is currently unoccupied.

St Mary's Parish Hall

St Mary's Parish Hall was constructed in 1901 as a temporary place of worship while the third St Mary's Church was being constructed. The decision to build the St Mary's Parish Hall, initially as a church, is linked with the growth and development of the St Mary's Precinct during the late nineteenth centuries.

The land on which the Hall would be built was granted to James Quinn on 13 April 1864. Title of the land was transferred to Robert Dunne on 5 May 1899. Near the turn of the century, it became apparent that the second St Mary's Church was inadequate. Work began on the church soon after the foundation stone was laid on 28 October 1900, by Archbishop Dunne. Built at a cost £1726 Archbishop Robert Dunne opened and blessed the building on Sunday 4 August 1901, while the third St Mary's Church was being constructed. The brick building was designed and constructed by Patrick Nugent, the carpentry was completed by Messrs Madden and Sons and plumbing was done by Mr J Cuthbert. Following the completion of the St Mary's Church in 1904, the building became the centre for the social activity of the parish.

The Catholic Young Men's' Society held frequent debates in the Hall. Sir James William Blair, Chief Justice of Queensland, 1924-1940, was a member of one of the debating teams. Sir James was a politician, barrister and judge was born at Coalfalls, Ipswich on 16 October 1870. He was admitted to the Bar on 6 March 1894. Blair was friends with TJ Byrnes, the then attorney-general, and the two shared chambers until Byrne's death in 1898. Blair was considered a master of both written and spoken English.

The hall was extensively renovated and enlarged by Monsignor Timothy Molony, parish priest of Ipswich from 1951 to 1976. An extension, which comprises the foyer to the Hall, was added to the southern elevation in 1978. The Hall remains as a centre for the Parish's social activities.

Schools

Two schools on the St Mary's site, one erected for the Sisters of Mercy in 1884 and another erected in 1889 are significant elements of the educational facilities associated with Roman Catholic complexes.

Upon the arrival of Father Eugene Luckie in Ipswich to assist Father Manly in 1848, local subscriptions were taken for the erection of a Catholic school in Ipswich. The government agreed to subsidise the building work and a total sum of £125 was collected. A nearby cottage was used as a temporary school whilst this building was under construction. The new school was in use by 1849. In 1861 another school was constructed on the corner of Mary and Elizabeth Streets by Father McGinty.

A convent school was constructed on the St Mary's site in 1884, the same year that the Sisters of Mercy took up residence in their new convent. This building was constructed under the supervision of Mr P Nugent at a cost of £2213/613 and is located on the north eastern side of the site, adjacent to Roseberry Parade and overlooking the Bremer River. The school was operating by May 1885 and 300 students were initially enrolled. A description of the facilities and education available at the convent school were supplied in the 1904 Souvenir Booklet, commemorating the opening of the Church recording that the school provided training in drawing, painting, singing, fancy needlework and other fine arts including music.

On 30 May 1909, Archbishop Duhig blessed the foundation stone of rear Additons to the original convent school. The Brisbane Centenary Official Souvenir booklet of August 1924 described the school as having, 'grounds that were beautifully laid out and carefully kept. There were two tennis courts...a very spacious school building in which children may receive Primary and Secondary education which includes Languages, Higher Mathematics and other subjects required for the Queensland University Examinations. Candidates are also prepared for Music, Scholarship, Commercial Course and Pupil Teacher Examinations.'

As well as the Convent School, another school was erected in 1889 as a Boys' School. The first boys' school was constructed on the site of the present Music Rooms earlier. This became the first boys' boarding school in Queensland and was conducted by Father Brun and two fellows brothers from the French Assumptionist order. The Boys' School was relocated to the corner of Mary and Elizabeth Streets. The foundation stone of the new building was laid by Archbishop Dunne on 5 June 1887. This school was built with cut stone on concrete foundations for to cost of £3000 under the supervision of Mr P Nugent.

The School was opened in 1889 and in 1892 the management was turned over from lay teachers to the Christian Brothers, a teaching order. Another storey was added to this building in 1915 making it a two storeyed building. This addition cost £5000 and was blessed by Archbishop Duhig on 14 May, 1916. In 1953 further renovations were made. The place is now known as the St Mary's Primary Boys School and in 1999 was still administered by the Christian Brothers.

Description

The St Mary's Roman Catholic Complex is bounded by the wall along the southern side of Elizabeth Street, Mary Street and Roseberry Parade and is sited on a rise of overlooking the central area of Ipswich. The site comprises a number of large prominent buildings surrounded by established landscape features and plantings.

St Mary's Church

St Mary's Church is a substantial sandstone building with traditional cruciform plan, comprising a nave, side aisles, transepts and two towers flanking the eastern front of the building. The church is constructed from sandstone with details including coursing, mouldings, window and door surrounds and tracery.

The walls and towers are in sandstone ashlar with the main wall surfaces in strongly-coloured Helidon freestone with dressed margins. Much of the upper work is light coloured ashlar sandstone work, including pinnacles of simple profile above the nave and outer walls. The front wall features a large mullioned window incorporating a rose window in the upper section. There is an outside door in each aisle as well as the main entrance doors at the east flanked by aisle doors at the base of the two towers.

The body of the church is rectangular in plan with a nave, aisles and twin spires on the front facade. Like its predecessor, the church faces east, a reversal of the conventional church orientation, and addresses the city centre several blocks away. This principal facade of the building, the eastern elevation addressing Elizabeth Street, is symmetrically composed and comprises a central entrance, a large traceried window above, several smaller openings flanked by two large towers. The towers are surmounted by spires, constructed from ashlar sandstone. The principal entrance to the building is through a pointed arched opening recessed in a heavily moulded doorway set within a projecting porch element with steeply pitched gabled awning.

The rectangular sacristy annexe at the western end of the church is constructed of stone from the earlier (1859) church. It is constructed in a more coarse sandstone. The architectural detail is also slightly different including a group of three lancet windows, high in the west wall. The corrugated iron gable roof on this section also at a shallower pitch than the rest of the church.

Inside the entrance doors there is a narthex separated from the body of the church by a glazed partition in silky oak, with a choir loft above. The flat ceiling over the narthex and aisles has a diaper pattern with Gothic decorative detail. This pattern is repeated along the nave ceiling which consists of a pointed arched vault divided into bays by simple ribs. The same ceiling decoration is also found in the sacristy.

The interior contains carved wooden pews and marble fittings. The nave is separated from the aisles by an arcade of eight bays supported on light coloured sandstone columns. The majority of the paired metal-framed aisle windows contain stained glass on commemorative and devotional themes. Clerestory windows are located in the nave walls in each bay. Bays to the external aisle walls are defined by attached buttresses. The marble tomb of Father Andrew Horan, surrounded by a marble railing with lancet window balustrading, is located in the south eastern corner of the church.

The church grounds are separated from the rest of the St Mary's buildings by a wall in coarsely-textured dressed sandstone with coping, except on the eastern road frontage where it has been replaced by terraced, brick garden walls. A grotto is located in the north-eastern corner near the church. The area surrounding the church is paved in bitumen.

St Mary's Presbytery

St Mary's Presbytery is a two storeyed stone building constructed in 1876 in the manner of an Italian villa, to the design of the architect Andrea Stombuco. It is rectangular in plan with a stair hall leading to four rooms at each level. The restrained classical south facade consists of a double arcade, each of five semicircular arched openings supported on square columns of Tuscan detail and separated by Tuscan pilasters, doubled at the corners.

The upper storey has a balustrade within each arched opening. The hipped roof is sheeted with corrugated iron and has a minimal overhang forming a classical cornice moulding. Two chimney stacks punctuate the roofline. The arcaded facade design returns on the eastern and western ends with three arched openings on each level, with recent additions on the northern side. The architectural ornament is generally austere except for decorated keystones to the arches. Exterior walls are rendered and painted white.

St Mary's Convent

The earliest section, two-storeyed and L-shaped, is constructed from stone with brick surrounds around doorways and windows. Later extensions have been carried out with stuccoed brick and timber. The southern facade comprises stone towers with pyramid roofs, flanking a lower arcaded verandah and a first floor balcony. Most of the stone and brick of the early building has been rendered and painted. The eastern elevation overlooks the river, while the western elevation faces Mary Street. The verandah and balcony at the western end of the southern elevation, part of the 1915 extension, is less grand than that which is part of the original building. The brick extension has stuccoed columns and timber valances. The first floor balcony has timber balustrades with decorative details. The ground floor verandah has three elongated sashed windows with fanlights and round-headed arches. Each window has a rendered sill and label moulding. A staircase has been removed along the eastern elevation and a doorway has been added. The doorway has brick quoining and a shallow arched brick header. Three French doors with brick quoining and breezeway are located along the elevation.

The 1915 chapel extension, now used as a music room, is two-storeyed with a ground floor colonnade and first floor verandah. The verandah has been enclosed at the western end. The western façade is facebrick with parapet. Windows are located the ground and first floors. The former apse has elongated round arched windows and a projecting gabled roof with a timber bargeboard. Two sections are located beneath the projecting gabled roof. These two sections each have a double hung window with small square glass panes. The first floor section of the façade has three elongated double hung sash windows with decorative moulded detailing.

Three French doors with breezeways open from the southern verandah. The entrance foyer has a paired-panelled timber door leading into the convent. The doorway is surrounded by a breezeway and fanlight with coloured glass panels. The dado in the entrance is constructed from plaster and painted with a grain effect so that the plaster resembles stained timber.

A central hallway leads to a large room at the western end of the elevation. French doors open to the verandah. Two large double hung sash windows are located on either side of a marble fireplace located in the southern end of the room. A doorway leads to another room at the eastern end of the building. From this room, French doors open to the verandah along the eastern elevation. The first floor balcony has a timber floor boards

A circular bitumen driveway and garden is located outside the southern facade.

St Mary's Parish Hall

The Hall is a single storeyed brick building with stairs to a choir loft. The high-ridged roof has four ventilators spaced at regular intervals. The southern elevation faces Mary Street where a face brick extension projects beyond the brickwork of the earlier section. The original section of the southern elevation comprises of arched, small, square-paned windows incorporating polychromatic brickwork surrounds.

A extension was added to the eastern elevation of the Hall in February 1978. This extension partly covers the original gabled roofed elevation. The visible upper part of the elevation is made up of a polychrome brick window surrounds with projecting brick piers and dentils. The western and northern elevations are similar to the southern elevation comprising face brick divided into bays by brick pilasters with round arched window openings surrounding by polychromatic brickwork.. Dentils are located on both elevations. The round arched window openings in the western elevation are more elongated than the shorter, wider, round-arched window openings in the northern elevation.

Internally, the Parish Hall comprises a large open space with columns separating two smaller areas. A staircase is located in the north eastern corner of the Hall leading to a choir loft. A pipe organ is located in the choir loft. An elevated stage is located along the western facade.

The Schools

The Infant School, located at the north eastern side of the site adjacent to Roseberry Parade and overlooking the Bremer River is a partially one and two storeyed building. The original stone section at the eastern end is two storeyed and the more recent 1909 brick section is one storeyed. The building is approximately T shaped in plan with the stone section forming the stem of the T and the brick wing forming the transverse section.

The stone section has a steeply pitched gabled corrugated iron clad roof and is surrounded by verandahs on all sides except where the brick wing extends. The verandah is supported on paired timber posts with concrete columns on the ground floor. The verandah balustrade is a simple dowel pattern. The interior has been renovated.

The 1909 face brick extension has rendered detailing around door and window openings and more elaborate timber balustrade and valance treatment to the verandah which lines all sides of the building. Gabled pediments projecting from the verandah line emphasise the placement of entrances. The roof has pitched roof lanterns.

A small gabled weatherboard extension on the southern corner of the building may date from the earlier boys or girls schools.

The Music Rooms, located adjacent to the Infants' School, are housed in two small buildings, One of the buildings is a masonry structure with hipped corrugated iron clad roof The larger building, closer to the Infant's School, is a more elaborate building and is divided into three tuition rooms internally. The building has stone foundations and is of rendered masonry construction. the openings on this building are triangular headed and a decorative frieze of projecting brackets lines the eaves line of the building. The roof of the building is also clad with corrugated iron.

The Boys' Primary School, located at the corner of Mary and Elizabeth Streets, is a fine two storeyed building with stone ground floor and more recent brick upper storey. The hipped and gabled roof of the building is clad with Marseilles tiles and has a number of gables with battened timber gable ends, reflecting the strong Queen Anne influence of the upper floor. The interior of the upper floor has decorative pressed metal ceilings in neo-classical style.

The Hitching Rail

Lining the southern side of Elizabeth Street is a short concrete wall with a line of metal hooks which is believed to be an early hitching rail.

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