Pine Rivers Shire Hall (former)

General

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Also known as

Pine Shire Hall; Pine Rivers Shire Hall; Pine Divisional Board Hall

Classification

State Heritage

Register status

Entered

Date entered

21 October 1992

Type

Government administration: Hall—town / city / shire / divisional board

Theme

7.4 Maintaining order: Local government

Builder

Micklewright, L

Construction period

1889–1935, Pine Rivers Shire Hall (former) (1889 - 1935)

Historical period

1870s–1890s Late 19th century

1900–1914 Early 20th century

1919–1930s Interwar period

Location

Address

238 Gympie Road, Strathpine

LGA

Moreton Bay Regional Council

Coordinates

-27.30953907, 152.99008391

Significance

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

The former Pine Rivers Shire Hall (1889-c1935) is important in demonstrating the origins and evolution of local government in Queensland from the 1880s to the 1930s. Built in 1889 as the Pine Divisional Board Hall and extended over time to increase office and hall space as its activities expanded, the place operated as the hub of its local government until 1960.

The second oldest known in-situ divisional board hall in Queensland, the place retains its original Divisional Board Hall (1889) and Front Verandah (1889), as early surviving evidence of this period of administration.

The place is important in demonstrating the evolution of rural local governments in Queensland into shire councils, as populations grew, and services expanded. This is illustrated by the retention of later alterations and extensions made to the earlier Divisional Board Hall to accommodate its evolution into a shire council hall and offices, including its Rear Extension (1905), enlargement of the hall (by 1932), Council Office Extension (1932), Enclosed Verandah (1932), and Strong Room (c1935).

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

The Pine Rivers Shire Hall (former) has maintained a special association with the Strathpine and district community since 1889. It was used for local government, an essential community purpose, for almost 90 years, and has included multiple other community uses. It was recognised as a place of enduring community attachment in the 1980s, when Pine Rivers Shire Council adapted the building for ongoing community use.

History

The former Pine Rivers Shire Hall (1889-c1935) is a timber building located in central Strathpine. It operated as the local government's centre of administration from its construction in 1889 until 1960, first as a divisional board hall then as a shire council hall and offices. The building has served the community since 1889, and in 2023 is used as a community theatre venue.

Strathpine is within the traditional lands of the Turrbal people.[1] Non-Indigenous occupation of the Pine Rivers area began during the 1860s, with European farmers producing sugar cane, potatoes, lucerne, and maize, plus citrus and stone fruit, before later turning to dairy farming. A rum distillery was operating on the South Pine River by the 1870s, and the North Coast Railway opened to Caboolture, with a station at Strathpine, in June 1888. Local government was centred on Strathpine after the Pine Division was established in January 1888, separating from the Caboolture Division (established 1879). In 1897 the Parishes of Samsonvale, Pine, and Whiteside were added to Pine Division, increasing its size from 172 square miles (445.5km2) to 200 square miles (518km2). The Pine Division became the Pine Shire in 1903.[2]

Pine Shire was later extended north of the North Pine River, and by 1960 it covered 299 square miles (774.4km2). It was renamed Pine Rivers Shire in 1959, and later amalgamated with the Shire of Caboolture and the City of Redcliffe to form Moreton Bay Regional Council in 2008.[3] Its location on the northern outskirts of Brisbane led to the development of commuter suburbs in the formerly rural shire after World War II (WWII).

Local government in Queensland evolved in three phases after Queensland’s separation from New South Wales. The first phase of local government, 1859-79, was a system of permissive municipal incorporation, where local residents could petition for the establishment of a local authority. By 1878, 18 towns and cities had been incorporated in Queensland.[4] Regional areas were serviced only in part by a system of Road Boards, which had been established under the Department of Works.[5]

The second phase of local government was shaped by the Local Government Act 1878 (1878 Act), and the Divisional Boards Act 1879 (1879 Act), following expansion of closer settlement in Queensland. The 1878 Act established towns, cities, and shires (the latter being closely settled areas close to towns or cities); while the 1879 Act created divisional boards to cover rural Queensland outside the towns, cities, and shires.[6] Each division was governed by a board of no less than three and no more than nine members.[7] Pugh’s Queensland Almanac for 1881 listed 77 divisional boards. The initial divisions often proved ineffective (largely due to size) and were progressively revised so that by 1902 there were 116 divisional boards throughout Queensland. Of these, at least 38 were listed as meeting in divisional board ‘halls’ in 1902. The rest met in divisional board ‘offices’, ‘chambers’, ‘rooms’, or in other rented premises.[8]

The third phase saw the abolition of divisional boards and the older form of shire by the Local Authorities Act 1902, which created a simpler system of towns, cities, and shires. The divisional boards became shire councils on 31 March 1903.[9] The former Pine Rivers Shire Hall demonstrates the latter two phases of local government – divisional boards and shire councils.

The Pine Divisional Board, which had its first general meeting on 7 March 1888 in the residence of Henry Ireland, the Board’s Chairman, and later met in rented premises in Bald Hills, soon decided to build a hall for their meetings. In July 1888 the Board resolved to apply for half an acre of land (2,023m2), for a reserve for office purposes, fronting Gympie Road, and on 30 January 1889, Ireland moved that the Board consider erecting a hall. subsequently, in March 1889 a half-acre of land between the Strathpine Railway Station and Gympie Road was gazetted as a ‘Reserve for Divisional Board’s Offices’ – the same month that Ireland’s plans for the hall were adopted.[10] The tender of L Micklewright, for £229, 18 shillings, and 6 pence was accepted at the 4 April 1889 meeting of the Board, with two months to complete the work from signing of the contract.[11]

The 1889 reserve was later gazetted as a ‘Reserve for Local Government Purposes’ in 1940, and was expanded to the west in 1971, to an area of 1 acre and 15.4 perches (4436m2), with the inclusion of land that had been gazetted as a Railway Reserve in 1919, and as a Pound Reserve in 1920.[12]

Purpose-built divisional board halls were typically modest in scale and material use, reflecting the tight financial budgets under which most Queensland divisional boards operated.[13] They stood prominently in their rural locations, typically fronting the main throughfare and were central within their local government areas. They were commonly built of timber, had pitched, corrugated metal sheet-clad roofs, a front verandah, and were elevated from the ground. Internally they accommodated offices (typically only two – one for a boardroom and another office for an engineer) and a meeting hall.[14]

The new Pine Divisional Board Hall was typical of these halls. It was described upon its completion in early July 1889 by the local newspaper as being 40ft by 25ft (12.2m by 7.6m), with ‘a portion at the further end being cut off and divided into offices for the use of the divisional clerk and the chairman of the board’ … [and including] five windows on either side and one on each side of the main doorway, which [was] protected by a large and commodious verandah. The interior [was] ceiled and there [was] a plentiful supply of benches … to the residents of the district, it will prove to be of great convenience, being so centrally situated, for meetings, concerts, and balls’.[15] Its opening was celebrated by a ball and supper, reported as ‘most enjoyable’ but ‘overcrowded’ due to the hall’s modest size.[16]

After the abolition of divisional boards in 1903, the Pine Divisional Board was renamed Pine Shire Council and the hall was renamed the Pine Shire Council Hall.[17] The building was extended over time to meet the needs of the growing shire, and its users, to include more council offices and a larger hall. In late 1905, a skillion-roofed, lean-to addition was made to the rear of the hall, likely accommodating new offices, with Ireland’s tender of £39 and 18 shillings being accepted in October 1905. The partitions forming the old offices were removed at this time, expanding the hall space. At that time, the building was also used by the Australian Department of Defence as a drill hall (c1904/5 to 1909).[18] At some time before 1932, the hall was expanded a second time by removing the hall’s front verandah and front wall, moving them towards Gympie Road (eastwards) by about 7m, and extending the hall to fill the space between.[19]

Although the hall had a ceiling, the interior walls were most likely unlined originally, as internal wall lining was added to its far end c1925 for displaying ‘war memorials’. A war memorial honour board was present in the hall by 1917; while another honour board was commissioned in 1921 by the Strathpine Patriotic League.[20]  

Through the 1920s and 1930s in Queensland, many new shire halls were constructed, or older divisional board or early shire council halls were expanded, to accommodate increased local government activities and administration due to increasing populations. In the late 1930s this building programme was encouraged by the Queensland Government through subsidies to councils.[21] Typically, new shire council halls built at the time accommodated: a front counter for transactions of public business; more offices, both individual and shared, for a shire clerk and other council staff members; a strong room; a council chambers – a room for council meetings similar to a board room; as well as a public hall (sometimes also referred to as a dance hall) with a stage and dressing rooms, and attached supper and/or card rooms, providing increased community facilities.[22] Some existing shire halls were extended to provide similar facilities, such as at Pine Shire.[23]

In 1932 the Pine Shire Council Hall was extended and altered for a third time to accommodate a larger council office area and increased community facilities. The Pine Shire’s population increased through the early twentieth century (nearly doubling from 2631 in 1911 to 4604 in 1933) and its old hall and small rear offices were inadequate.[24] The addition comprised a 20ft by 25ft (6.1m by 7.6m) block extending off the south side of the front of the building, built by M Tilley (tender of £77, construction only). It consisted of ‘an office for the Shire Clerk’ and a front verandah that aligned with the adjacent hall’s relocated 1889 front verandah, forming a continuous front verandah across the front of the old hall and new office. The verandah had two entrances from Gympie Road via lattice doors, one for the hall and one for the office. The additions were done with the assistance of the Strathpine Entertainment Committee, which had been formed to fundraise for local institutions and contributed £100 towards the cost. The committee also funded the full cost of the addition of a 36ft by 14ft (11m by 4.3m) enclosed verandah behind (west of) the new council office. The enclosed verandah opened off the hall and was later referred to as a ‘supper room’. The total cost of the 1932 additions was reported as £276, when they were officially opened at a ball in October that year.[25] After the additions, the building was renamed the ‘Pine Shire Hall Council Chambers’.[26]

The 1932 additions were followed c1935 by the construction of a poured-concrete strong room, off the southwest corner of the council office – probably prompted by the use of explosives to blow off the door of the council’s safe in December 1932, and the theft of more than £248.[27]

As well as its use for local government meetings, the hall was used for public meetings and fundraisers, and was rented out for functions, skating, balls, and church services. Users included the Albany Creek Ambulance Committee, Strathpine State School, Lawnton Cricket Club, the Salvation Army, and the Presbyterian Church.[28]

During WWII, the hall was requisitioned by the Commonwealth Military Authorities in January 1943 for use by the US Army.[29] Three unsealed airstrips had been established in the district for US aircraft in 1942 (A-1 in Lawnton, A-2 in Strathpine, and A-3 in Brendale), and these were later used by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force, in particular ‘A-2’, which was sealed in 1943.[30] In mid-1943, the US 1st Calvary Division occupied Camp Strathpine, a divisional-sized military camp to the west of the airstrips.[31] During late 1943, Lieutenant Dick Ryan of the 1st Cavalry proposed using the hall as a welfare centre and he also organized American-style public rodeo displays by US soldiers on Sundays, riding local livestock and kangaroos, in the recreation reserve south of the hall (the site of the Moreton Bay Regional Council complex in 2023). The US lease of the hall ended in February 1944.[32]

After WWII the hall continued to be used by both the shire council and the public. It was also used as a picture theatre from 1950 until an attempted arson at the hall on 10 December 1952, which occurred soon after a change of picture theatre lessee was approved by the council.[33] Repairs to the building in 1953 included replacing the outside wall of the supper room (the enclosed verandah), adding two new louvre windows (likely new sashes added into existing window openings) between the supper room and the hall, and shelves to the ‘back store room’.[34] The remaining single-skin sections of the hall walls were lined internally with flat sheets and cover strips by 1955.[35]

In the late 1940s, the area around Strathpine was still largely rural, although there were houses along either side of Gympie Road, both north and south of the hall.[36] Increased residential development is apparent in Strathpine in aerial photographs by 1959, especially west of Gympie Road to the north of Stanley Street.[37] The population of Strathpine, which had been 221 in 1911, rose to 1831 by 1966, and ballooned to 10,108 by 1986. The population of the shire as a whole also rapidly increased after WWII, rising from 4815 in 1947 to 7250 by 1960; to 13,309 by 1966; and 73,783 by 1986. By 2006 the shire had a population of 141,414.[38]

The shire’s growing population through the 1950s led to the council constructing a new, separate, brick council chambers building, immediately south of the hall. In June 1955, Brisbane architect Clifford Ernest Plant was directed to prepare plans and specifications for a new ‘Council Chambers and office’ at Strathpine, although problems in obtaining finance delayed the building’s construction.[39] The rationale for the new building was stated in 1958: ‘The building now used as an office is part of a Shire Hall building [the 1889 hall] … due to the growth and importance of the shire it is now found that there is absolutely no room for the staff to work and … very little privacy for the Council to meet … as they meet in a public hall’.[40] The contract for the new brick council chambers building was finally signed on 20 March 1959, and the building was officially opened by the Premier, GFR Nicklin, on Saturday 5 March 1960, with afternoon tea in the old hall.[41]

With the construction of a new building, the old building was once again renamed, this time as ‘Pine Rivers Shire Hall’, reflecting its change of use and the 1959 name change of the shire.[42] Public use of the old building was reduced during the 1960s-70s, when most of it was partitioned for offices for the Health, Building, and Engineering departments of the council, with an entrance door and stairs being added to the north elevation of the hall. [43] Another tenant was William H Bowden, who operated his real estate business from the building for five years during the 1960s.[44]

The rapid growth of the shire meant that, despite occupying both buildings, there was still insufficient office space. A prefabricated office building (not extant in 2022) was constructed on the former Pound Reserve, to the rear of the 1960 brick council chambers building, for the Engineering Department, in 1970; and a public toilet and garage (latter not extant 2022) were also present, to the rear of the old building, by 1972.[45] A new civic centre was constructed during the 1970s in the former recreation reserve to the south, across Hall Street. The first stage of the new civic centre (new council chambers and administration offices) opened in 1974, followed by a second stage, a new office building, in 1978. As a result, the old Pine Rivers Shire Hall was no longer required for council offices from 1978.[46]

The Pine Rivers Shire Hall was in a dilapidated state by the time it was inspected by the National Trust of Queensland in 1978, but that year the Pine Rivers Shire Council obtained an $8000 grant from the Department of Local Government for restoration work, and a committee formed to discuss the future of the building, with representatives from the council, Historical Society, National Estate, National Trust, and Pine Rivers Cultural Society. Removal of the building to the historic village at Petrie was considered.[47]

The National Trust added the building to its register in 1982, and in 1984 it guided the council’s renovation of the building on its current site, which proceeded in 1984-86. By this time, the building had been vacant for several years. Since its construction, the building had gradually lost earlier decorative detailing over time through deterioration, extensions, or modifications, or unknown reasons (such as the removal of the bolection mouldings from the front doors by the 1970s) and without these details to copy, the renovation inaccurately and inauthentically applied these details. The renovation included considerable demolition of dilapidated original features and 1960s changes. The building gained a considerable amount of new fabric disguised as original, rebuilt not based on original fabric, which had been long lost. Some areas were altered using inauthentic heritage details. The Front Verandah was almost entirely demolished and rebuilt, which added inaccurate 1880s decorative timber detailing, applied inappropriately (against the Trust’s guidance) across both the 1889 section and 1932 section, not reflecting the Front Verandah’s two eras of construction. The Rear Office Extension was also almost entirely demolished and replaced, employing inaccurate detailing, such as 1880s four-paned windows added where surviving evidence points to the originals being simpler, single- or two-pane windows. 

A photograph taken after the renovation shows the front of the building painted in two different, period-correct colour schemes, appropriate generally to the two different periods of construction (1889-1905 and 1932-c1935). The building was renamed the Pine Shire Hall Council Chambers after its restoration. It was leased to a local community theatre group in 1985, with its first performance in the hall on 1 July that year.[48] In 2002, an access ramp was added along the north side of the hall.[49]

Few divisional board halls are known to survive in Queensland, as most were simple timber buildings that were demolished or sold, as local government facilities were upgraded.[50] The former Pine Divisional Board Hall is the second oldest known in-situ example of its type. Three other surviving in-situ divisional board halls are located at Tinana (Tinana Divisional Board, built 1884), Nundah (Toombul Divisional Board, built 1891, QHR 600272), and Cardwell (Cardwell Divisional Board, built 1892 QHR 601768). The Caboolture Divisional Board Hall (1883) has been relocated (c1981) from its original central Caboolture site to the Caboolture Historical Village, Beerburrum Road, Caboolture.[51]

In 2023, the former Pine Rivers Shire Hall continues in use as a community theatre venue.[52]

Description

Pine Rivers Shire Hall (former) (1889-c1935) comprises a small, single-storey building fronting east to Gympie Road, the main arterial road, in central Strathpine. It stands back from the front boundary behind a narrow front yard and is surrounded by open space on all sides. It shares its flat site with an adjacent, later brick council chambers building (1960) and a later large public carpark at the rear (bitumened by the 1990s), which are not within the state heritage register boundary. The site is bounded on its north, west, and south by Hall Street, which is a loop road around the site.

The building is a modest, timber-framed and -clad building, elevated on short stumps, and has a corrugated metal sheet-clad roof. It comprises an original Divisional Board Hall that has had additions made in four later stages to accommodate the increased functions of the local government. The building is largely intact in its c1935 arrangement, and its different phases of construction are evident, with their original uses legible. In 2023 it is used as a community theatre venue, reflecting its significant ongoing community use.

Features of Pine Rivers Shire Hall (former) of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• Location – existing, original location and orientation on site, facing and prominently visible from Gympie Road; 
• Front Verandah (1889, extended 1932, substantially rebuilt 1984-86);
• Divisional Board Hall (1889, extended eastwards by 1932);
• Rear Extension (1905, substantially rebuilt 1984-86);
• Council Office Extension (1932);
• Enclosed Verandah Extension (1932); and
• Strong Room (c1935).

Front Verandah (1889, extended 1932, substantially rebuilt 1984-86)

Running along the east face of the building, the Front Verandah is timber-framed and has a skillion roof. It comprises two sections – an 1889 section across the front of the Divisional Board Hall and a 1932 extension across the front of the Council Office. The later section matches the earlier in form and most details. The Front Verandah has two short timber stairs, separating the entrances of the Divisional Board Hall and Council Office.

Features of the Front Verandah of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• original fabric (1889) and its extension (1932);
• timber-framed floor, posts (stop-chamfered 1889 posts, and square 1932 posts), and skillion roof; and timber stairs, floor boards, cross rail balustrade, and board valances at ends;
• corrugated metal sheet roof cladding; and metal ogee profile gutter across both sections;
• evidence of removed 1932 lattice doors and lattice panels above handrail height to both sections; and
• post mouldings and scrolled brackets (1889 section only).

Features of the Front Verandah not of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• post mouldings and scrolled brackets on 1932 section (these likely date from the 1980s renovation/rebuilding and were not originally present here); modern timber ramp at north side; and modern lights and services.

Divisional Board Hall (1889, extended eastwards by 1932)

Entrance from the Front Verandah into the Divisional Board Hall is via a central double door, which has been sheeted over internally and is no longer used. The Divisional Board Hall (1889, extended by 1932) comprises a rectangular, long and narrow structure with a steep, gable roof. It has been extended (eastwards by approximately 7m) using the same materials and detailing as the original section but is legible in the fabric. The Divisional Board Hall comprises a single large room with a high, coved ceiling and has been converted for use as a theatre. The interior walls have been lined with flat sheet material over all windows to create a black box, however, the openings and most of their sashes remain in-situ behind. Original partitions (1889) forming offices at the hall’s western end have been removed (by c1905), however, evidence of their locations may survive behind later linings.

Features of the Divisional Board Hall of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• original fabric (1889) and its extension (by 1932), and accurately reconstructed fabric (1984-86);
• timber-framed floors lined with timber boards;
• timber-framed walls lined externally with wide chamferboards; and c1925 internal VJ wall lining (rear wall only, interior walls were unlined originally);
• timber-framed steep gable roof clad with corrugated metal sheets; metal ogee-profile gutters; timber battens eaves lining; and metal roof ridge ventilators;
• timber, gothic arched louvred vent in gable end walls; and remnants of timber finials at gable apexes;
• original tall, narrow, timber-framed windows with multi-paned, horizontal centre pivot sashes; and original brass hardware;
• original timber double entrance doors with chamfered panels and bolection moulds; and multi-paned, timber-framed fanlight above;
• timber VJ board-lined coved ceiling; and timber fretwork rose vents in two patterns (from the two phases of construction); and
• evidence of the extension (by 1932) including butt joins of northern wall chamferboards, floor, and ceiling boards, and breaks in floor, wall, and roof structure.

Features of the Divisional Board Hall not of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• flat sheet wall linings (by 1955)
• fabric relating to theatre use including: grandstand seats; control box; modern lights and services; sets; and wings.

Rear Extension (1905, substantially rebuilt 1984-86)

Attached to the rear of the Divisional Board Hall is a second addition, the Rear Extension (1905), comprising a lean-to block with a skillion roof. It is a timber-framed, single-skin structure, clad externally with chamferboards with its studs exposed internally. It includes a small rear porch (built by 1905, possibly including earlier fabric) providing access into its southern side. Two doors connect through the rear wall of the Divisional Board Hall into the Rear Extension, which accommodates two rooms separated by a partition with a connecting doorway. In 2023 it is used as backstage dressing rooms.

Features of the Rear Extension of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• original fabric (1905 and reused earlier fabric), and accurately reconstructed fabric (1984-6);
• timber-framed floors lined with timber boards;
• timber-framed walls lined externally with wide chamferboards;
• timber-framed skillion roof clad with corrugated metal sheets; and metal ogee-profile gutter;
• original timber-framed, double-hung multi-paned windows; original/early timber-framed fixed window into Divisional Board Hall; tall, narrow, timber-framed windows with multi-paned sashes in north and south walls (likely 1889 windows removed from rear wall of Divisional Board Hall and reused here in 1905); and original brass hardware;
• timber-framed rear porch (by 1905, potentially incorporating 1889 fabric) including its timber stair, floor boards, handrails, and original posts (excludes non-original timber rail balustrade and non-original posts);
• original timber, low-waisted, panelled door (to porch);
• single-skin partition with moulded belt rail and VJ board lining; and
• VJ board-lined ceilings (reconstructions of originals).

Features of the Rear Extension not of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• modern door leaves into Divisional Board Hall; non-original timber rail balustrade and non-original posts of rear porch; fabric relating to theatre use including wall linings and built in cabinets; and modern lights and services.

Council Office Extension (1932)

Attached to the southern side of the Divisional Board Hall at its front is a third addition comprising the Council Office (1932). It is a square block with a steep gable roof perpendicular to that of the Divisional Board Hall. Accessed from the Front Verandah via a central door, the interior comprises one large room, which may be the original layout. A doorway (cut in 1932 for this extension) connects into the adjacent Divisional Board Hall. In 2023 the Council Office is used as the foyer for the theatre and a small enclosure has been made in one corner to form a box office.

Features of the Council Office Extension of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• original fabric (1932);
• timber-framed floors lined with timber boards;
• timber-framed walls lined externally with narrower chamferboard wall cladding;
• timber-framed, steep gable roof; corrugated metal roof sheets; metal ogee-profile gutters; and timber battens eaves lining;
• original timber-framed, multi-paned casement windows; original brass hardware; and sheet metal bullnose window hoods; and
• early timber, low-waisted, panelled doors (likely 1889 fabric stripped of bolection moulds and reused here).

It is not known how much of the existing interior wall linings of flat sheets-and-battens above a VJ board-lined dado with moulded dado rail is original. The original fabric is of state-level cultural heritage significance.

Features of the Council Office Extension not of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• non-original box office partitions and linings; modern doorway (post-1992) cut into rear wall to connect into the Enclosed Verandah; and modern lights, services, and floor coverings.

Enclosed Verandah Extension (1932)

The Enclosed Verandah Extension (part of the third addition in 1932) comprises a wide, rectangular lean-to block with a skillion roof, and is accessed from the rear porch and two doors cut into the southern wall of the adjacent Divisional Board Hall (cut in 1932 for this addition). The interior, originally single-skin with its studs exposed internally, has been lined with modern flat sheet material (likely c1955) and partitions have been added to enclose a costume store within the space. In 2023 it is used as a backstage kitchenette and prop store.

Features of the Enclosed Verandah Extension of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• original fabric (1932);
• timber-framed floors lined with timber boards;
• timber-framed walls clad externally with weatherboard and vertical VJ boards;
• timber-framed skillion roof; corrugated metal roof sheets; and metal quad-profile gutter;
• timber-framed, multi-paned casement windows; and original brass hardware;
• original/early timber-framed and VJ board-lined door to rear porch and its sliding peephole; and
• flat sheet-and battens ceiling lining.

Features of the Enclosed Verandah Extension not of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• non-original wall linings and modern cabinets; non-original partitions; modern floor coverings; and modern lights and services.

Strong Room Extension (c1935)

Attached to the southwestern corner of the Council Office Extension is a fourth addition, the Strong Room Extension (c1935). It comprises a small, off-form in-situ concrete strong room with a skillion roof. Accessed from the Council Office, it is a small windowless secure room with a thick metal safe door.

Features of the Strong Room Extension of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• original fabric (c1935);
• off-form concrete walls;
• timber-framed skillion roof; corrugated metal roof sheets; metal quad-profile gutter; and round metal downpipe; and 
• thick, metal safe door (Chubb brand).

Features of the Strong Room Extension not of state-level cultural heritage significance include: 

• modern floor coverings; and modern lights and services.

Features of the Pine Rivers Shire Hall (former) not of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• non-original understorey stumps and perimeter battening enclosures;
• all vegetation; non-original concrete garden edges; modern pavers and non-original paths; and signs, fences, lights, and furniture.

References

[1] Public Map, Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, Cultural Heritage Database and Register https://culturalheritage.datsip.qld.gov.au/achris/public/public-registry/home (accessed 16 January 2024). The language traditionally spoken in the area has been identified by different sources as its own language, Turrbal (‘AustLang, E86: Turrbal’, https://collection.aiatsis.gov.au/austlang/language/e86 (accessed 16 January 2023); ‘Turrbal: Our Story’, https://www.turrbal.com.au/our-story (accessed 16 January 2024)), or as part of the Yuggara aka Yugarabul language group (‘Austlang. E66: Yugarabul’, https://collection.aiatsis.gov.au/austlang/language/e66 (accessed 16.1.24); pers. comm. Katharine Wiltshire, 30 December 2023). Alternative spellings of Turrbal include Turrubul, Turubul, Turrabul, Toorbal, Tarabul, Jagera, Tarabul, and Thurawal (State Library of Queensland, Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages map, https://maps.slq.qld.gov.au/iyil/view/132 (accessed 17 January 2024)); and for Yuggara include Jagara, Yagara, and Yuggera (State Library of Queensland, Queensland, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages map, https://maps.slq.qld.gov.au/iyil/view/19 (accessed 17 January 2024)).
[2] LS Smith (ed), Tracks and times: a history of the Pine Rivers district, Strathpine, Pine Rivers Shire Council, 1988, pp.130, 246-8; ‘North Coast Railway. Celebration at Caboolture’, The Week (Brisbane), 23 June 1888, p.13; ‘Strathpine’, https://www.queenslandplaces.com.au/strathpine (accessed 6 October 2022); ‘Shire of Pine Rivers’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shire_of_Pine_Rivers (accessed 6 October 2022); Resources, Survey Plan M31114, 1863 (plan of 57 surveyed farm portions on the South Pine River, with the later site of the divisional board hall being located on a large road reserve to east of portion 108). Owen Gardner’s Normanby Sugar Mill existed on the ’Pine River’ by 1873 (‘Classified advertising’, The Brisbane Courier, 31 May 1873, p.1). In 1876 Gardner was operating both the mill and an attached distillery (‘The Normanby Sugar Mill’, The Queenslander, 9 December 1876, p.21). By 1888 Strathpine possessed a hotel (1874), a bakery (1882) and a grocery store (1886) (‘Pine Rivers Shire Hall (Former), Conservation Management Plan for Moreton Bay Regional Council’, Converge Heritage + Community, November 2020, p.5).
[3] JS Bray (Chairman of Pine Rivers Shire Council) to Contact Newspaper, 23 February 1960, in Queensland State Archives Item 305523, ‘New Shire council offices: official opening ceremony’ 1960 (size of Shire by 1960); ‘Shire of Pine Rivers’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shire_of_Pine_Rivers (accessed 6 October 2022). By 1974 Pine Rivers Shire included Albany Creek, Strathpine, Lawnton, Petrie, and Kallangur (but not Bald Hills) in the east, with part of the eastern boundary formed by the South Pine River and the North Pine River; Samford and Arana Hills in the southeast; and Mt Glorious and Dayboro in the west.
[4] T Blake, with supplementary material by H Bennett and H Davies, ‘Queensland Historical Thematic Framework, report for the EPA’, Brisbane, Environmental Protection Agency, 2007, reprinted for Department of Environment and Resource Management, 2011, p.135.
[5] AA Morrison, Local Government in Queensland. Brisbane, Smith and Paterson, 1952, p.17.
[6] Blake, Bennett and Davies, ‘Queensland Historical Thematic Framework’, pp. 135-136.
[7] CP Harris, Local government and regionalism in Queensland, 1859-1977, Canberra, Centre for Research on Federal Financial Relations, ANU, 1978, p.17.
[8] Pugh's Queensland Almanac, Brisbane, 1881, 1902.
[9] Queensland heritage Register Entry 601768 ‘Cardwell Divisional Board Hall (former) and Honour Board’.
[10] ‘Pine Divisional Board’, The Brisbane Courier, Friday 9 March 1888, p.6 (first meeting); QSA Item 3567735 ‘Minute Book - Pine Divisional Board’, 1888-1892 (meetings 5 July 1888, 30 January 1889, 7 March 1889); Resources, Survey Plan M331774, 1888 (‘Pine Div Board Reserve’ is shown located just northeast of the Strathpine Railway Station); Queensland Government Gazette 1889, p.1137 (30 March); Smith, Tracks and times: a history of the Pine Rivers district, pp.190, 247; ‘Shire of Pine Rivers’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shire_of_Pine_Rivers (accessed 6 October 2022).
[11] QSA Item 3567735 ‘Minute Book - Pine Divisional Board’, 1888-1892: (4 April 1889; contractor’s name spelt ‘ L Micklewright’); ‘Pine Divisional Board’, Moreton Mail, 12 April 1889, p.5 (contractor’s name spelt ‘E Mucklewright’). The name is spelt ‘Micklethwaite’, in ‘Current events. The Strathpine Hall’, Moreton Mail, 5 July 1889, p.9. Prior to the building of the hall, the Pine Divisional Board met in a rented premises at Bald Hills (Pugh’s Queensland Almanac 1889, p.141; Smith, Tracks and times: a history of the Pine Rivers district, p.247).
[12] The Pound Reserve and the 1940 Reserve for Local Government Purposes were both cancelled in 1971, although the enlarged ‘Reserve for Local Government’  (including the former Pound Reserve) was not gazetted until 1982 (Resources, Survey Plan M331774, 1888; Resources, Survey Plan SL803, 1920; Queensland Government Gazette (QGG) 1919, p.1487 (24 May), Reserve for Railway Purposes; QGG 1920, p.1094 (25 September), Reserve for a Pound; QGG 1940, p.1285 (2 November), (Reserve for Local Government Purposes); QGG 1971, p.2162 (28 August), reserves rescinded; Resources, Survey Plan SL6482, 1971; QGG 1982, p.2293 (17 July), (enlarged Reserve for Local Government)).
[13] QHR 600272 ‘Toombul Shire Hall (former)’.
[14] Principal characteristics derived from comparing images and written descriptions of Toombul, Cairns (Cairns Post, 22 January 1885, p.2), Cardwell, Dalrymple (The Evening Telegraph, 20 February 1903, p.2), Pine, Boulia, Hughenden, Antigua (Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 6 November 1886, p.3), and Caboolture divisional board halls.
[15] ‘Current events. The Strathpine Hall’, Moreton Mail, 5 July 1889, p.9.
[16] ‘Current events. The Strathpine Hall’, Moreton Mail, 5 July 1889, p.9.
[17] Postcard of the Pine Shire Council Hall Strathpine, c1920. Moreton Bay Regional Council image PRLPC-P1814/5, https://ourstory.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/ (accessed 27 October 2022).
[18] ‘Local Government. Pine Shire Council’, The Week (Brisbane) 22 July 1904, p.28 (letter from drill instructor, requesting use of hall and office accommodation); ‘Pine Shire Council. Additions to the Shire Hall’, The Telegraph (Brisbane), 17 August 1905, p.7 (plans prepared by Shire Clerk); ‘Pine Shire Council’, Brisbane Courier, 13 October 1905, p.7 (tender of Ireland accepted); R Oliver and T Conway, ‘The Old Shire Hall Strathpine: a report by the National Trust of Queensland’, 1978, National Trust of Queensland, pp.8, 14-15, in QSA item 305519 ‘Restoration of old town hall: specifications’, 1984 (Pine Shire Council minutes regarding use of an office and hall by the Department of Defence, the rear skillion extension to the hall and the removal of partitions in the hall). There is some ambiguity over whether the agreement to hire the hall to the Department of Defence began in 1904 or 1905.
[19] The exact date of the front extension of the hall has not been established. On 4 March 1891, the Divisional Board’s minutes refer to an offer by J Buchanan that the Board allow two rooms to be built at front of hall, and one at back, at his expense, but it is not known if this offer was accepted (Oliver and Conway, ‘The Old Shire Hall Strathpine’, p.11). A postcard of the ‘Pine Shire Council Hall’ Strathpine (c.1920, Moreton Bay Regional Council image PRLPC-P1814/5, https://ourstory.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/ (accessed 27 October 2022)) shows the 1905 skillion addition at the rear of the hall and the original part of the hall painted the same colour; while the front addition (apart from the moved front wall) is still unpainted – which would have been unlikely if the hall was extended in the 1890s.
[20] ‘Pine Shire Council’, The Telegraph (Brisbane), 13 September 1917, p.9 (motion to acquire a second honour board); Oliver and Conway, ‘The Old Shire Hall Strathpine’, p.12 (Shire Clerk was instructed on 7 April 1925 to have one end of hall lined ‘and war memorials erected on same’). The 1921 honour board was removed from the hall in 1980 (QHR 600766 ‘Strathpine Honour Board’).
[21] QHR 602812 ‘Murgon Civic Centre’ (government subsidies). New shire council halls/chambers built during the 1920s and 1930s include: Ayr, 1922 [Burdekin Shire Council Chambers QHR 601922]; Camooweal, 1923 [Community Hall, Camooweal QHR 600740]; Landsborough, 1924 [Landsborough Shire Council Chambers (former) QHR 601915]; Dirranbandi, 1924 (Balonne Beacon, 3 November 1927, p.2); Surat, 1929 [Warroo Shire Hall QHR 602612]; Mitchell, 1932 (The Brisbane Courier, 16 June, 1932, p.15); Gayndah, 1935 [Gayndah Shire Hall QHR 602124]; Mirani, 1935 (Daily Mercury, 21 September, 1935, p.13); Mackay, 1935 (Daily Mercury, 6 September, 1934, p.8); Thargomindah, 1936 (The Courier-Mail, 11 Feb 1936, p.10); Mossman, 1937 [Mossman Shire Hall and Douglas Shire Council Chambers (former) QHR 602758]; Herberton, 1937 (Cairns Post, 11 November, 1937, p.14); Cloncurry, 1938 (Cloncurry Advocate, 24 September 1938, p.2), and; Innisfail, 1938 [Johnstone Shire Hall QHR 601579].
[22] Examples of new shire council halls/chambers include: Mackay (Daily Mercury, 18 December 1934, p.5; Mirani (Daily Mercury, 14 October 1935, p.2); and Cloncurry (Cloncurry Advocate, 24 September 1938, p.2).
[23] Shire halls extended in this way through the period include: Mundubbera (Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 24 August 1935, p.8.); St George (Balonne Beacon, 8 December, 1938, p.7).
[24] ‘Pine Rivers Shire’ https://www.queenslandplaces.com.au/pine-rivers-shire (accessed 29 March 2023) (1911 population); ‘Shire of Pine Rivers’, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shire_of_Pine_Rivers (accessed 6 October 2022) (population in 1933).
[25] QSA Item 3567745 ‘Minute Book – Pine Shire Council, 1929-1938 (21 June 1932, 12 July 1932, 16 August 1932, 13 September 1932); ‘A “Live-wire” Committee’, Moreton Mail, 17 August 1934, p.4; ‘Pine Shire Council. Additions to Shire Hall’, The Telegraph (Brisbane), 23 August 1932, p.4; ‘Strathpine News’, Moreton Mail, Friday 14 October 1932, p.7 (this article refers to the addition of a ‘council chambers and closed-in verandah’ – but also stated that the additions consisted of an office for the Shire Clerk and a verandah). The 16 August 1932 council minutes refer to a ‘glassed-in’ verandah, but a c1935 photograph of the rear of the hall shows the new verandah behind the new office as enclosed by boards and casement windows (Bullock team behind the shire hall, Moreton Bay Regional Council image PRLPC-P1583/12, https://ourstory.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/ (accessed 1 November 2022). The extended front verandah matched the earlier front verandah in form, materials, and balustrade details but omitted some of the 1880s decorative treatments and was enclosed above its balustrade with lattice. The timber brackets and capital moulds of the 1889 verandah posts have been removed in photographs of the 1932 extension, likely to allow for the easier addition of the lattice in 1932 and to modernise the building’s front.
[26] Photograph of the hall in 1932, Moreton Bay Regional Council image PRLPC-P0252,  https://ourstory.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/ (accessed 26 October 2022).
[27] ‘Haul of £74. Thieves blow safe’, The Brisbane Courier, Saturday 10 December 1932, p.14 (the publicly reported size of the theft later grew); ‘He blew the safe while I remained outside’, Truth (Brisbane), 8 January 1933, p.18.
[28] ‘Current events. Strathpine skaters’, Moreton Mail, 12 July 1889, p.9; ‘Current events. Strathpine dancers’, Moreton Mail, 6 September 1889, p.9 (grand ball); ‘Central Dairy at Strathpine’, Queenslander, 10 June 1893, p.1079 (public meeting to discuss establishing a local butter factory); ‘Strathpine. Ambulance benefit’, The Brisbane Courier, 29 December 1930, p.13; Oliver and Conway, ‘The Old Shire Hall Strathpine’, pp.12-13, 16-18.
[29] Oliver and Conway, ‘The Old Shire Hall Strathpine’, p.19.
[30] B Sinclair, ‘A-1 (Petrie) and A-2 and A-3 (Strathpine) airstrip sites’, for Department of Public Works, 2010 (unpublished). The alignment of A-2 is now Spitfire Avenue in Strathpine. A-1 was located east of Gympie Road, north of Lawnton Pocket Road. A-3 was located east of South Pine Road, to the north of Linkfield Road.
[31] ‘Camp Strathpine’ Queensland WWII Historic Places, https://www.ww2places.qld.gov.au/place?id=474 (accessed 10 October 2022). After the 1st Cavalry moved overseas in early 1944, Camp Strathpine was occupied by units of the 7th Division, 2nd Australian Imperial Force.
[32] ‘Rodeo tomorrow at Strathpine’, The Telegraph (Brisbane), Saturday 20 November 1943, p.6; ‘Kangaroo riding rodeo feature’, The Telegraph (Brisbane), 4 December 1943, p.6; Oliver and Conway, ‘The Old Shire Hall Strathpine’ (p.19). The recreation reserve had been gazetted in 1919 (Resources, Survey Plan M331774, 1888).
[33] Oliver and Conway, ‘The Old Shire Hall Strathpine’, pp.20-22; ‘Says Clerk’s Evidence False. Witness stood down at hall fire inquest’, Courier Mail, 28 April 1953, p.6. Augustus Charles Spencer, a projectionist, had shown pictures in the hall 1-2 nights a week from November 1950, and had then leased the hall from June 1951, after the Shire Council had obtained a license from the Film Commission. On 11 November 1952, Spencer lost the tender to show films there to WG O’Hara, as from 12 December 1952.
[34] ‘Pine Shire Council. Shire Hall’, Dayboro Times and Moreton Mail, 24 October 1953, p.1; Louvred windows visible in Moreton Bay Regional Council Library photograph ID MBPS-0014-051, 1955.
[35] Later internal wall linings visible in Moreton Bay Regional Council Library photograph ID MBPS-0014-051, 1955.
[36] Resources, aerial photograph BCC000134835, 31 May 1946. There are no buildings on the Pound Reserve west of the hall at this time, and the land south of the hall (south of Hall Street), later used for Council offices in the 1970s, was still a recreation reserve.
[37] Resources aerial photograph QAP1052098, 29 September 1959.
[38] ‘Strathpine’, https://www.queenslandplaces.com.au/strathpine (accessed 6 October 2022); ‘Shire of Pine Rivers’, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shire_of_Pine_Rivers (accessed 6 October 2022); JS Bray to Contact Newspaper, 23 February 1960, in QSA Item 305523, ‘New Shire council offices: official opening ceremony’ 1960 (shire population in 1960).
[39] QSA Item 305520 ‘New Shire council offices: tenders’, 1955-1959. Plant’s 1955 site plan shows that at this time, the hall had a single office in its 1932 southern extension. A ‘supper room’ is shown west of office (the 1932 enclosed verandah), with two doorways into the main hall. A stage is present at the back of the hall, while the 1905 skillion addition at the rear consisted of a kitchen and store room. There was also an L-shaped ‘council shed’ joined to the rear of the hall (removed c1970), and two ECs were located in the centre of the western boundary of the council reserve. (QSA Item 305521, ‘New Shire council offices: specifications’, 1955.)
[40] Pine Shire Council, ‘Notes for Deputation to Minister regarding construction of Shire Hall’ (undated, c1958), in QSA Item 305520 ‘New Shire council offices: tenders’, 1955-1959.
[41] QSA Item 305522, ‘New Shire council offices: building contract’, 1959; QSA Item 305523, ‘New Shire council offices: official opening ceremony’ 1960.
[42] Photograph of the hall in 1976, Moreton Bay Regional Council image PRLPC-P0770, https://ourstory.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/ (accessed 26 October 2022).
[43] Smith, Tracks and times: a history of the Pine Rivers district, p.250; ‘Pine Rivers Shire Hall’, November 1978 plan by National Trust of Queensland, in Oliver and Conway, ‘The Old Shire Hall Strathpine’ (interior plan of the hall’s rooms, with office partitioning and door in north elevation); Eddie Hyland, former Shire Clerk, 14 July 1992 (partitions in 1960s; from notes in Site file for QHR 600768 Pine Rivers Shire Hall (former)). According to Hyland, parts of the hall were also used as a library, a part-time bank, and for doctor’s visits.
[44] Smith, Tracks and times: a history of the Pine Rivers district, pp.130, 190; ‘Starting own business good idea for Bowden’, The Courier Mail, 8 June 1968, p.11. Bowden sold residential lots in the area, promoting it as ‘Little Aspley’.
[45] Smith, Tracks and times: a history of the Pine Rivers district, p.250 (1970 engineer’s office); Resources, aerial photograph QAP23952298, 31 March 1972 (three new buildings on former pound reserve); ‘Pine Rivers Shire Hall’, November 1978 site plan by National Trust of Queensland, in Oliver and Conway, ‘The Old Shire Hall Strathpine’ (new buildings labelled ‘office’, ‘garage’ and ‘toilets). The former pound land was also used for carparking from the 1970s, with the carpark paved with bitumen by 1992 (Resources, aerial photographs QAP31044984, 30 April 1975 and QAP5122106, 12 August 1992).
[46] Smith, Tracks and times: a history of the Pine Rivers district, p.250; ‘$8000 to restore Pine Shire Hall’, Telegraph, 13 March 1978 (no page number, article from ‘Old Shire Hall’ National Trust of Australia (Queensland) Heritage Register, PNRV 2/2. Hall to be vacated by council staff in August 1978).
[47] ‘$8000 to restore Pine Shire Hall’, Telegraph, 13 March 1978.
[48] ‘Old Shire Hall’, National Trust file PNRV 2/2; ‘New life for Shire hall’, Bulletin, August 1984, and ‘Pine Rivers’, Courier Mail, 28 February 1985 (no page numbers, both articles from National Trust file PNRV 2/2); QSA Item 305519 ‘Restoration of old town hall: specifications’, 1984 (1982 NTQ citation text and Ray Oliver’s 1984 report); c1988 photograph of hall, Moreton Bay Regional Council image PRLPC-P0977, https://ourstory.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/ (accessed 1 November 2022, post renovation colour scheme); Heritage site file for QHR 600768 ‘Pine Rivers Shire Hall (former)’ (theatre lease July 1985).
[49] ‘Pine Rivers Shire Hall (Former), Conservation Management Plan for Moreton Bay Regional Council’, p.8.
[50] Although divisional board halls generally became shire halls in 1903, many were replaced by new shire halls during the first three decades of the 20th century (Trove newspaper searches, related to those divisional boards known to have met in divisional board halls).
[51] ‘Original Council Chambers after being relocated to the Caboolture Historical Village’, https://ourstory.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/nodes/view/29028 (accessed 14 March 2023); Resources, aerial photographs QAP31799635, 6 November 1976 and QAP4001030, 18 September 1981 (original site of hall in Caboolture), and QAP4001087, 20 September 1981 (Caboolture Historical Village site).
[52] c1988 photograph of hall, Moreton Bay Regional Council image PRLPC-P0977, https://ourstory.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/ (accessed 1 November 2022).

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