Woolloongabba Police Station (former)

General

Also known as

Woolloongabba Police Station; South Coast Police District headquarters

Classification

State Heritage

Register status

Entered

Date entered

25 November 1994

Type

Law/order, immigration, customs, quarantine: Police station

Themes

3.5 Developing secondary and tertiary industries: Struggling with remoteness, hardship and failure

4.1 Working: Organising workers and workplaces

7.1 Maintaining order: Policing and maintaining law and order

Architect

Queensland Department of Public Works

Construction periods

1913–1937, Woolloongabba Police Station (former) Main Building

1937, Service Annexe, Gangway, Garage, and External Stair to former Relief Workers' Assembly Yard

Historical period

1900–1914 Early 20th century

1919–1930s Interwar period

Style

Classicism

Location

Address

842-848 Main Street, Woolloongabba

LGA

Brisbane City Council

Coordinates

-27.48534015, 153.03622721

Request a boundary map

A printable boundary map report can be emailed to you.

1. Email *

Significance

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

The former Woolloongabba Police Station (1913, extended 1937) in its form, fabric, and layout, is important in demonstrating early 20th century policing in Queensland, and the evolution and modernisation of police policy and procedure in the 1930s in the state. Operating continuously from 1913 to 1993, the station was expanded in 1937 to become the South Coast Police District headquarters and included an unemployment relief office from 1937 to 1939. It provides important evidence of the evolving role of the Queensland Police Force and the advancements made in law and order services in Queensland from the early 20th century.

The former relief office (1937), assembly yard and stair from Main Street are a rare and important demonstration of the role the police played in administering the Queensland Government’s relief work programs during the Great Depression.

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

Highly intact, the former Woolloongabba Police Station is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of an early-20th century urban Queensland police station. Designed by the Department of Public Works, the principal characteristics the place retains include its:

• conspicuous location on a main thoroughfare, central to its policing district;
• prominent civic building design featuring dominant roof with ventilator, verandahs, and robust, high-quality materials;
• offices and day rooms on the ground floor;
• male only officers’ living quarters (bathroom, day and night dormitories) on the first floor;
• station kitchen, mess, and wash-house;
• prisoner cells with stockade; and
• attached private family quarters for the senior sergeant with sitting and dining rooms, kitchen, bedrooms, verandah bathroom, and private wash-house.

Remaining intact, the changes made to the building in 1937 are also important in demonstrating the growth and modernisation of police operations occurring at that time. The principal characteristics of this evolution include:

• conversion of the senior sergeant’s quarters into further offices and officer bedrooms;
• addition of a garage for police motor vehicles;
• conversion of dormitories into separate bedrooms; and
• addition of a large attached annexe for officer recreation, male only ablutions, large kitchen, and mess hall.

Criterion EThe place is important because of its aesthetic significance.

The former Woolloongabba Police Station is important for its aesthetic significance, as an intact civic building with beautiful attributes and a strong visual presence in its streetscape. Through its skilful, cohesive use of a Federation-era style, symmetry, robust materials, central gabled bay with flanking verandahs, and tall hip roof with fleche, the building is an attractive, well-composed design.

As the only building fronting Main Street on the block, it stands prominently, surrounded by open space with views to it obtained from Main, Stanley, and Vulture streets.

History

The former Woolloongabba Police Station, built in 1913, is a two-storey brick building with basement, constructed at a time when the Queensland Police Force was experiencing significant expansion and change. Designed by the Queensland Department of Public Works (DPW), it initially comprised a police station with barracks accommodation for unmarried officers and family quarters for the senior sergeant. In 1937 the Woolloongabba Police Station became the headquarters of the South Coast Police District, following extensive reforms to the Queensland Police Force. The station was expanded that year to accommodate the increased functions, with the construction of a three-storey service annexe to the rear, and a police vehicle garage. An unemployment relief office was also added in the basement of the main building at this time, where police officers could administer relief work and rations for the unemployed, affected by the Great Depression. In 1993 the police station closed.

The area now known as Woolloongabba is part of the traditional country of the Jagera and Turrbal People. Following European settlement, it was called One Mile Swamp due to a series of large waterholes stretching for a mile between what is now Stanley and Vulture streets. The roads from the Logan and Darling Downs districts converged there and in the 1850s bullock drays and livestock were rested at the waterholes. By the 1860s some of the waterholes had been drained and a fledgling commercial precinct emerged. The name, Woolloongabba, replaced One Mile Swamp in the 1870s.[1]

The population of Woolloongabba, which had grown steadily between the 1860s and 1880s, increased rapidly following the expansion of the railway line to the suburb in 1884, and the extension of the electric tramway to Woolloongabba/East Brisbane in 1897. During the 1880s and 1890s it developed as Brisbane's fourth major shopping centre, the others being central Brisbane, Fortitude Valley and Stanley Street at South Brisbane. By the turn of the century, most of the allotments facing Stanley Street, Logan Road and Ipswich Road at the Fiveways were fully developed commercial sites.[2]

The Woolloongabba Fiveways was arguably the city’s busiest and most dangerous intersection from the late 19th, and well into the 20th centuries. It was the confluence of several main roads, Main Street, Logan Road, Stanley Street, and Ipswich Road. There was also a railway-line and several tram-lines crossing through it, as well as pedestrians negotiating the intersection.[3]

In 1896 the first cricket match was held at the newly established Brisbane Cricket Ground at Woolloongabba, which would become a major centre for sport in Queensland, and bring thousands of spectators to the ground for matches over the years, heralding a Queensland sporting icon, ‘The ‘Gabba’.[4]

During the first years of settlement in what was later to become the State of Queensland, the police system was executed through the duties of a Police Magistrate. However, this proved to be inadequate and following the appointment of the first Governor of Queensland, Governor Bowen, in 1859, an organised force was established by appointing an Inspector General to take charge of both ordinary and Native Police. Established in 1848, the Native Mounted Police was an armed retaliatory force, distinct from the ordinary police force, engaged to displace and dispossess Aboriginal people of the land that European pastoralists intended to occupy.[5] 

In 1863 and 1864, the police system again changed form, following the appointment of the first Commissioner of Police, David Thompson Seymour. He introduced a new system based on the Victorian model comprising Inspectors, Sub-Inspectors, Sergeants, Constables, and a Detective Force. In ensuing years, the structure of the Force underwent several additional modifications and by 1924 Queensland had the highest ratio of policemen to residents in any Australian state, with one officer to every 725 persons.[6]

The first police station in Woolloongabba was established in a rented house on Stanley Street, near Boggo (later Annerley) Road. By 1888, the substantial population growth in Woolloongabba and surrounding suburbs meant the station facilities were no longer adequate, and the police station was removed to a rented house on Ipswich Road, near the Fiveways. A lock-up facility was built in the yard of the house, and two years later, the adjacent house was used for accommodation. By 1910, the needs of the station had again outgrown the building, and approval was given for the erection of a new police station in Woolloongabba.[7]

A portion (adjacent to a former Quarry Reserve) of the Woolloongabba Park Reserve facing Main Street was set apart as a Police Reserve, thereby avoiding the need for the Queensland Government to purchase land for the new station. The design for the new building was prepared in 1911, AB Brady being Government Architect at the time. The contract sum for the building, which was completed and occupied in 1913, was £4539.[8]

On completion, the new building was described as:

A large two-storey brick building, having wide verandas and balconies relieved with rough cast work on the upper storey. Provision is made on the ground floor for a large dayroom for constables, with kitchen, scullery, and cook’s room, in addition to the sitting and living rooms and kitchen of the quarters for the sergeant. On the first floor, dormitories of ample dimensions are arranged, as also three bedrooms, completing the sergeant’s quarters, whilst bathrooms are also included on the balcony adjoining. The basement is devoted to wash-houses [one for the police station and a separate one for the sergeant’s quarters] and four roomy cells.[9]

Woolloongabba Police Station was one of a series of substantial, masonry two-storeyed police stations erected during the early 20th century. In addition to Woolloongabba, these included stations at Warwick (1901) [QHR 600948], Maryborough (1907) (extant), Charters Towers (1911) [QHR 600401], Cairns (1912) (demolished), Townsville (1914) (demolished) and Kedron (1916) (demolished).[10]

The Woolloongabba station was divided vertically into quarters for the senior sergeant (north end of the building), and police station (south end) with day room and officers’ mess on the ground floor and officers’ barracks above. The dayroom was generally the base for station operations. This design reflected the contemporary mode of policing, where duty for constables generally involved patrolling the beat on foot and pursuing inquiries. Patrols were undertaken throughout 24 hours, divided into three eight-hour shifts, and one of the main functions of the station was therefore to provide accommodation for police officers. Four cells were also provided in the basement of Woolloongabba police station.[11]

Barracks accommodation in these large police stations was provided for unmarried men, with married men given a rental allowance for accommodation close to the station for themselves and their families. Of those living on site, only the senior sergeant living in the family quarters was permitted to be married. By the early 1920s there were eleven unmarried men accommodated at the station and six married men living elsewhere.[12]

No accommodation for stables was included in the design of the Woolloongabba Police Station, as foot patrol of the district was preferred over mounted patrols. There was initially one bicycle for the officers to use, which ensured faster response times for policing inner-city areas. Bicycles had been slowly introduced into the Queensland Police Force from the late 19th century, with twelve in use by 1899.[13]

Electric lights were installed at the station in 1925, and the property connected to sewage in 1926. In 1928, a small, timber-framed, single-room addition was made to the rear verandah on the ground floor to accommodate a dining room for constables.[14]

In 1934 Cecil James Carroll was appointed the new Commissioner of Police and carried out a reorganisation of the force. The population of Queensland had increased rapidly in the interwar years; however, the police force had not been expanded to keep up with this. Sweeping changes were made by Carroll, and in 1935 it was reported that ‘practically every section has been turned over, inspected, and chopped about. Promotions and retirements have been many; new districts have been created to dovetail into a set plan; mechanisation is partly accomplished; and a host of other changes, all calculated to benefit the service, have been made’.[15]

In 1934 the Woolloongabba Police Station was named part of the broader South Brisbane Police District, which encompassed a vast area stretching south to the New South Wales border, west to Beaudesert and east to Wynnum. Headquarters were located at South Brisbane in a two-storey masonry police station building on Grey Street, close to the Vulture Street corner (demolished). To better reflect the area it encompassed, the district was renamed the South Coast Police District in early 1935, ‘it is felt that the district is more truly a South Coast district than a portion of the city.’ The South Coast Police District covered approximately 2060 square miles (5335 km²).[16]

Amidst these changes a new headquarters for the South Coast Police District was needed. In 1935 approval was given for the district headquarters to be moved from the South Brisbane Police Station on Grey Street to the Woolloongabba Police Station, as it was ‘ideally situated to be headquarters of the South Coast district. Main roads from Southport, Ipswich, Wynnum, and Manly, and Cleveland converged at the Woolloongabba Fiveways within a few yards of the station’.[17] Additionally, the site had vacant land available for future development. With the newly constructed Story Bridge nearing completion at Kangaroo Point, the position of the new headquarters was deemed advantageous.[18]

The conversion of the Woolloongabba station into the district headquarters demanded additional office accommodation, and it was considered that the rooms occupied by the senior sergeant’s quarters could provide suitable additional office accommodation. The senior sergeant vacated his quarters at the station in October 1934.[19]

Major additions to the station were undertaken in 1936, designed by the DPW, drawn by GR Beveridge and passed by HJ Parr.[20] Completed the following year at an authorised cost of £9555, this work comprised additions to the north and south ends of the existing building designed to match the earlier building in style and materials. The interior of the main building was changed to include smaller individual offices on the ground floor. The large, first floor dormitories were converted to smaller bedrooms by the insertion of new partitions. Also at this time, an additional three-storey brick ‘service annexe’ was built in the rear yard behind the main building, connected to it via a raised, enclosed two-storey ‘gangway’.

The additions and remodelling of the station was outlined in the Department of Public Works’ Annual Report:

Additions to the north and south ends of the existing building, an additional three story brick building at the rear of the existing one, also brick garage building … The three storey addition at the back will be connected to the existing building by gangways at each floor level. The basement will comprise recreation room, buffet and staff lavatories; on the ground floor will be the kitchen, pantry, and constables mess room … and on the first floor bathrooms, showers, bootroom and lavatories.[21]

One of the requirements of the new headquarters was the inclusion of a room for police to administer relief work, a government program instituted under the Income (Unemployment Relief) Act (1930) to reduce unemployment during the Great Depression. Relief labour was used throughout Queensland during the 1930s, to carry out projects such as construction of retaining walls and roads, and improvements to school grounds. Police, as relief agents, were responsible for issuing rations and travelling cards to the unemployed, as well as finding them relief work.[22]

On completion of the additions in 1937, rooms were provided in the basement for a relief office, records, and public counter, ‘the basement will give room for relief office, records, and public space approached by steps from the street level’.[23] With the inclusion of the relief office, ‘which had been kept entirely apart from the police section of the building’[24], the construction of a separate set of stairs from Main Street to the relief office in the basement of the original building separated the relief workers from the main police station. The work also included the formation of an assembly yard and toilets for relief workers at the northern end of the station grounds, adjacent to the relief office.[25]

Under Commissioner Carroll’s reforms, the Queensland Police Force became increasingly mechanised in this period, and by 1938 there were 28 cars, 33 motorcycles, and several other vehicles such as trucks being used throughout the state. A motor garage had been established at the Petrie Terrace Police Depot for servicing and repairs. At Woolloongabba, it was necessary for a garage to be constructed to accommodate police cars and motorcycles; it was completed in 1937. It was face brick with a timber-framed roof and concrete floor, and was open on its west side. The large interior measured 58ft by 18ft (17m x 5.5m), with six car bays, and stood in the southeast (rear) corner of the site. It included an external wash down concreted area immediately in front, and was reached by a driveway sloping down from Main Street.[26] By 1940 the station had two cars and one motorcycle.[27]

Concreting of the station yard and other similar projects were undertaken in the late 1930s by relief workers.[28] The Police Reserve was extended to the north, to include a former Quarry Reserve at the corner of Main and Vulture streets.[29]

In September 1937, the South Coast District Headquarters was moved from South Brisbane to the Woolloongabba station; newspapers reported ‘the headquarters of the South Coast police district will be at the Woolloongabba police station, which has been remodelled and enlarged to accommodate the staff of nearly 60 men and non-commissioned officers under the direction of Sub-inspector F.M. O’Driscoll. Many of the records and furnishings of the South Brisbane police station … were transferred by motor truck and police car yesterday’.[30] The new headquarters were officially opened by the Minister for Health and Home Affairs, Edward Michael (Ned) Hanlon, in early October 1937, attended by several dignitaries, including Commissioner Carroll. The Woolloongabba station was to be headquarters to 29 district stations that were staffed by 116 men.[31]

A park and playground were completed in 1938 on land adjacent to the police station, at the corner of Main and Vulture streets. The concept for the park and playground, which covered approximately two and a half acres (1ha), was attributed to the Police Welfare Club and included three tennis courts, dressing rooms, grandstands, umpires' stands, and a playground or "children's sanctuary" where children would be able to play in safety under the eyes of the police. A basketball court was constructed there in 1939.[32]

By the late 1930s, the relief work was progressively being phased out. The relief office at the station was vacated during 1939, and the room taken over for records.[33]

The building ceased to be used as a barracks in early 1951, the year the Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) moved into the building. Rooms previously used as bedrooms on the first floor of the building were occupied as offices by members of the CIB and the uniform inquiry staff. In 1964 the Kangaroo Point and East Brisbane police stations were closed, and these former police divisions were absorbed into the Woolloongabba Police Division.

Further alterations were made to the building c1967 to provide more office accommodation. The few remaining open verandahs were enclosed. A single-storey brick extension was made to the south end of the main building on the ground floor to accommodate a large ‘Traffic Office’ and its understorey was open. Behind this, a large, raised, two-storey, steel- and timber-framed extension was built, infilling the space between the main building and the service annexe on the gangway’s southern side. It accommodated further office space and was open in the understorey. The constables’ dining room extension (1926) was demolished, and rear verandah stairs were repositioned to make room for the extension. Changes were made to the gangway, and its understorey brick piers were demolished and replaced with steel I-beam portal frames.[34]

At the same time, the service annexe was altered to accommodate different uses, as there was limited need for ablutions and mess hall now that there were no living/sleeping quarters on site. On the ground floor, the mess hall, kitchen, and cook’s rooms were converted to records rooms, store, and sergeant’s room, by removing all internal partitions and inserting new lightweight ones. The cook’s entrance was bricked over and the small corridor between the kitchen and the mess hall, east of the internal stair, was blocked off. On the first floor, the ablutions block was converted to a staff lunch room with all internal partitions demolished. Openings were made in the western wall of the service annexe’s ground and first floors, to connect into the new extension adjacent. The basement remained unaltered.[35]

Changes occurred to the police station grounds between 1977 and 1981 when a driveway was constructed through the site, beginning at the northern boundary, cutting through the former relief workers’ assembly yard, then passing beneath the gangway to connect with the southern driveway and parking area. Only the western part of the former assembly yard remained grassed after this time. The 1930s toilet block in the northeast corner of the assembly yard was demolished in the mid-1990s and the area was concreted and turned into walled storage bays by 1996.[36]

The playground and basketball court are no longer extant. The tennis courts were removed in early 1993, and replaced by cricket practice nets. The station was vacated by the police in July 1993 when a new station was constructed at Dutton Park.[37]

In 2000-01 the former police station underwent a two-stage major conservation and refurbishment project, by its then owners, the Department of Public Works, to restore lost original features and adapt the building for use as lettable office space. The building works were undertaken by QBuild, with Project Services as the project manager and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) providing detailed building conservation advice.[38]

Stage one works included: replacement of the roof sheeting and rainwater goods; demolition of a 1967 addition at the southern end of the building; removal of cladding to the verandahs; reconstruction of joinery including verandah balustrades and screens, windows, and batten screens; and repainting the building in an historic colour scheme.

Stage two works comprised internal refurbishment, including: upgrading facilities such as toilets and kitchens; installation of air-conditioning, insulation and acoustic modifications; and installation of a lift and ramp for disabled access. The roof sheeting of the garage was also replaced. Works to the grounds were undertaken, including: reconstruction of the timber stair from Main Street to the former relief workers’ assembly yard; replacement of the concrete path to the former relief office; new gardens and lawn; conversion of the storage bays into car parks; new carpark in the location of the demolished 1967 addition, and; new perimeter fences and gates.[39]

In 2022 the Woolloongabba Police Station (former) remains a prominent building on Main Street. Reflecting the evolving policies adopted by the Queensland Police Force in the early twentieth century, the station retains aspects of its 1913 establishment phase and its later alterations and additions carried out in the 1930s as part of a modernisation drive, as well as the brief, but important, use as an unemployment relief office during the Great Depression.

Description

The Woolloongabba Police Station (former) is located in Woolloongabba, approximately 2km southeast of the Brisbane CBD. It comprises a three-storey, brick main building (1913/1937) fronting directly west onto Main Street, and a rear three-storey, brick service wing (Service Annexe, 1937), connected via a two-storey enclosed bridge (Gangway, 1937). The site slopes steeply down from Main Street in the west to the east so that the rear yard is a full storey lower. Standing in the rear southeast corner of the site is a single-storey, brick police vehicle Garage (1937) and in the north is an external timber stair (Relief Workers’ Stair, 1937, reconstructed by 2001) connecting the Main Street footpath down to an open outdoor area (Former Relief Workers’ Assembly Yard, 1937) beside the Main Building.

The place has been extensively refurbished (by 2001) to partially recreate an earlier appearance with the addition of modern services. In 2022, the building is vacant.

Features of the Woolloongabba Police Station (former) of State-level cultural heritage significance include:

• Main Building (1913/1937)
• Gangway (1937)
• Service Annexe (1937)
• Garage (1937)
• Former Relief Workers’ Assembly Yard and Stair (1937)
• Landscape Features (c1937)
• Views & Streetscape Contribution.

Main Building (1913/1937)

The Main Building is rectangular in plan and symmetrical, comprising a 1913 central section of two storeys with a basement and 1937 extensions on either end, also two storeys with basement. It is in a Federation-era style and the extensions have been designed to match the earlier section, integrating with the original design.

Originally divided internally into two three-storey parts separated by a party wall (accommodating a police station and snr sergeant’s residence), the building is largely in its 1937 configuration when the police station use occupied all rooms.

The building layout generally comprises police station operations rooms and offices on the ground floor, officer bedrooms on the first floor, and prisoner cells, laundry, and Relief Office in the basement, separate from the rest of the building in function and circulation.

The building retains a considerable amount of interwoven original (1913 and 1937) fabric and room configurations. The fabric and configurations from both eras are of State-level cultural heritage significance.

The building has been comprehensively renovated (by 2001) to largely revert it to its 1937 configuration, involving reconstruction of 1913/1937 fabric, primarily timber joinery.

All fabric post-1937, including reconstructed fabric, is not of State-level cultural heritage significance.

Features of the Main Building of State-level cultural heritage significance include:

• location and primary address fronting directly to the Main Street footpath;
• symmetrical building form of two-storeys with basement and symmetrical elevation compositions;
• exterior brick walls: yellow face brick with contrasting, red face brick lintels, dark brown face brick base sections, and smooth-rendered upper sections;
• terracotta grille wall vents;
• timber-framed front and rear verandahs on ground and first levels with timber posts, and slat balustrades and valances, timber board floors, and v-joint board (VJ)-lined ceilings (first floor);
• verandah enclosures (1913 and 1937), including rough-cast rendered brick walls and timber-framed, single-skin walls lined externally with weatherboards (some 1913 enclosures relocated and/or reconfigured in 1937);
• 1937 alterations to rear verandah comprising weatherboard cladding and timber-framed casement windows and fanlights either side of Gangway;
• roof: steeply-pitched, timber-framed hip roof with projecting front hip and gable; bell-cast eaves and verandah roof; v-jointed board (VJ)-lined eaves soffits with exposed timber rafters; rib-and-pan metal sheet cladding; central metal ventilating fleche (1913) and associated duct remnants in roof space; metal quad gutters with spike and strap fixings; large square metal rainheads (front); and square metal downpipes with metal straps;
• brick chimney (one of original two), part rendered, with three terracotta pots;
• 1913 and 1937 windows: timber-framed, double-hung windows with multi-paned upper sash and two-paned lower sash (1913 and 1937); banks of timber-framed, multi-pane casement windows and their textured glass (1937);
• 1937 window hoods: timber-framed, shingle tile-clad window hoods with timber battened cheeks;
• central metal ventilation grille in front gable;
• function-driven layout of rooms and circulation reflecting:
  • 1913 dual function with police station (southern part of the building) and separate snr sergeant’s residence (northern part), such as: two separate front entrances from Main Street via the ground floor verandahs; two internal staircases (ground to first floor); and brick party wall separation on all three levels;
  • aspects of early-20th century police operations, such as: day rooms (general duty office work); spacious, well-provisioned kitchen with on-site cook’s room, pantry, and scullery; separate day and night officer dormitories (reflecting 24-hour operation) cells; and spacious wash-house facility;
  • aspects of the later evolution and expansion of police operations in the Interwar period, such as: increased day room area (reflecting increase in general duty work and staff); duty-specific and role-specific rooms; the provision of rooms to support more modern police techniques (interrogation room) and increase in record keeping (large records room); and provision of smaller, individual bedrooms for officers;
  • aspects of police personnel hierarchy, such as a provision of generous family residence for snr sergeant and private ‘retiring room’ (toilet and shower) for the Inspector in comparison to communal dormitories and bathrooms for more junior officers;
  • unmarried, male-only staff, such as provision of male-only bathing, toilet, and dormitories; and
  • security measures, such as separate entry and circulation for prisoners (rear entrance only, basement level only, cell stockade, and separate, doorless toilet in stockade) and high security spaces (cells);
• ground and first levels:
  • original internal brick partitions, plaster finish, and internal metal grille vents between some rooms;
  • original single-skin, timber-framed partitions and moulded belt rails and timber cornice beads;
  • timber board lined floors;
  • original timber-framed glass fanlights in walls (1913, some removed from original location above doors to new, high level between rooms in 1937);
  • moulded timber skirtings, architraves, and cornices, including more elaborate detailing in ground floor and simpler detailing in first floor;
  • VJ ceiling linings and evidence of removed original ceiling ventilation grilles (square, centre of rooms);
  • timber internal stairs including timber treads, newel posts, balustrade, clear-finished moulded handrail;
  • openings cut into 1913 walls in 1937 (such as the door from the former front living room into the former day room, the large opening made in the centre of the ground floor to form a larger day room, and the verandah doors on the first floor, which reflect the 1937 changes and expansion); and
  • brick chimney and fireplaces;
• basement:
  • face brick perimeter piers, and large openings between them to the exterior; location of perimeter enclosure for cell stockade (originally the building had a lattice perimeter enclosure at the cell stockade only, which does not survive);
  • concrete floors, face brick walls, and exposed timber floor framing of ground floor as ceiling;
  • four prisoner cells (1913) with heavy metal doors with original hatches and locks, and highset windows with metal bars and metal mesh;
  • two brick toilet enclosures (1937) (one toilet accessed from cell stockade); and
  • brick copper boiler hob and chimney breast in former station wash-house (1913);
• basement Relief Office (1937):
  • arrangement of spaces comprising relief office, adjacent records room, and public reception area with reception desk into office;
  • original (1937) enclosures of Relief Office between brick arched (1913), comprising brick spandrel panels, and timber-framed, multi-paned windows and doors;
  • timber-framed reception desk (extent of original vs reconstructed fabric is not known); and
  • plaster walls, timber skirtings and cornices, and sheets-and-batten lined ceilings;
  • original door, window, and fanlight hardware (brass); and
  • concrete spoon drains (1937) around building base exterior.

Features of the Main Building not of State-level cultural heritage significance include:

• all fabric introduced after 1939, including reconstructed fabric;
• basement:
  • all slat perimeter enclosures and ceilings (non-original);
  • all floor tiles (non-original); and
  • timber high-waisted door with rimlock on prisoner toilet (post-1937 – not original);
• two small masonry stairs at the front entrances from Main Street (non-original fabric, reconstructed not to original detail);
• store cupboard enclosures under internal stairs, ground floor (non-original);
• non-original fabric of verandah enclosures including lattice;
• non-original partitions, ceilings, and glazed screens;
• all openings made or closed over in walls after 1939 that were not reinstating original openings;
• carpets, tiles and all other non-original floor coverings;
• all reconstructed windows, internal doors, and verandah doors;
• non-original window security bars; and
• all electrical services and fittings including lights and air conditioning.

Gangway (1937)

The Gangway is a narrow, raised, two-storey bridge connecting the centre of the Police Building and the Service Annexe behind at their ground and first floor levels. It has an open understorey and stands on non-original steel I-beam portal frames (c1966), which replaced the original face brick piers.

It has timber-framed floors and walls and is lined on its exterior with weatherboards. The interior comprises a long corridor on both levels.

The Gangway has been renovated (by 2001), involving the addition of a lightweight floor ramps the length of the Gangway, added over the original timber floor and short flight of timber steps at the Service Annexe end.

A large, raised, two-storey, steel- and timber-framed extension has been added on its southern side (c1966).

All fabric post-1937, including reconstructed fabric, is not of State-level cultural heritage significance.

Features of the Gangway of State-level cultural heritage significance include:

• timber-framed walls and floors;
• original VJ wall linings, timber architraves, picture rail, and cornice;
• if surviving under later ramps: timber floor boards, skirting board, and steps;
• flat sheet-lined ceiling with timber battens (ground floor only);
• 1937 timber-framed, multi-pane casement windows, matching awning-hung fanlight, and original textured glass; and
• original door, window, and fanlight hardware (brass).

Features of the Gangway not of State-level cultural heritage significance include:

• all fabric introduced after 1937, including reconstructed fabric;
• basement level – steel I-beam framing, tile floor, battened ceiling lining, and battened door;
• non-original ramps and handrail;
• non-original roof and ceiling of first floor;
• c1966 extension on southern side of Gangway;
• carpets;
• fire door and its architrave; and
• all electrical services and fittings including lights.

Service Annexe (1937)

The Service Annexe is a three-storey rectangular building with face brick walls and a hipped roof. Built as an ablutions, recreation, kitchen, and mess block to service the adjacent station building, it has undergone changes since construction including a major renovation completed by 2002.

Entered at the centre of the western side (at the ground and first floors via the Gangway), the building comprises a central stair hall with stair connecting all three levels. At the eastern end of the stair hall is a narrow passageway with small hatch to an incinerator chute, leading to a brick incinerator attached to the centre of the eastern wall.

The building and its layout are largely intact. The basement retains its staff toilets and large recreation room. The ground floor retains its constables’ mess room and kitchen, although the small rooms forming the cook’s lavatory and pantry have been combined into the kitchen by removing the partitions, and the cook’s stair has been demolished and the cook’s entrance bricked over. The first floor toilets and ablutions block are somewhat intact, although later partitions have been added to form female toilets, and the small bath, shower, and boot rooms of the ablutions is now one large space with the demolition of all partitions.  

All fabric post-1937, including reconstructed fabric, is not of State-level cultural heritage significance.

Features of the Service Annexe of State-level cultural heritage significance include:

• symmetrical building form of two-storeys with basement;
• exterior brick walls: red face brick walls, and rendered base, lintels, and banding;
• terracotta grille wall vents;
• original roof: timber-framed hip roof with eaves lined with flat sheets and timber cover strips; rib-and-pan metal sheet cladding; metal quad gutters with spike and strap fixings; and square metal downpipes with metal straps;
• brick incinerator and chute, and its original metal chute hatches;
• 1937 timber-framed windows: large double-hung windows with multi-paned upper sash and single-paned lower sash, small high-set multi-pane windows, small high-set fixed glass louvres, and original textured glass;
• original door opening for cook’s entrance (later bricked over);
• 1937 cast iron plumbing pipes mounted on the exterior face of wall;
• 1937 internal layout;
• timber-framed and timber-board lined floors, and suspended concrete slab floors
• original brick partitions;
• plaster wall linings with scribed picture rail and no architraves to doors and windows, moulded skirtings coved to floor in places, and moulded timber cornices;
• plaster flat sheet-lined ceilings square timber cover strips in a geometric pattern reflecting original room size;
• concrete stair with iron balustrade and clear-finished timber handrail;
• 1937 timber-framed multi-pane fanlights;
• original ceramic urinals and original toilet cubicle partitions; and
• evidence of demolished original partitions.

Features of the Service Annexe not of State-level cultural heritage significance include:

• all fabric introduced after 1937, including reconstructed fabric;
• non-original window security bars;
• non-original doors, including those reconstructed as low-waisted doors (originals in this building were high waisted);
• non-original toilet fitout including ceramicware and cubicle doors;
• non-original floor and wall coverings including tiles in toilets;
• non-original kitchen and other joinery fitouts; and
• modern services including electrical and plumbing, and services risers in corners of rooms.

Garage (1937)

The Garage is a face brick single-storey building with a timber-framed skillion roof clad with metal sheets. It is long and narrow with its western side open for vehicle entry and its other sides are blank. It stands in the southeast corner of the site and accommodates a single open space for six vehicles.

Features of the Garage of State-level cultural heritage significance include:

• concrete floor;
• face brick walls with concrete parapet coping and terracotta grille wall vents;
• concrete encased steel beams over entrance openings;
• vehicle entrance openings on western side (no enclosing doors);
• timber-framed skillion roof of timber trusses lined on top with timber boards, rib-and-pan metal roof sheets, metal quad gutter with strap and spike fixings to a timber fascia board; and curved, square metal downpipes with wide metal strap fixings; and
• concrete surface drain immediately west of entrance openings.

Features of the Garage not of State-level cultural heritage significance include:

• non-original concrete wash down apron immediately west of building (original concrete wash down area has been replaced) and all other concrete ground surfaces;
• non-original concrete skim coat over original concrete floor;
• metal grate over surface drain; and
• all electrical services and fittings including lights.

Former Relief Workers’ Assembly Yard and Stair (1937)

The Former Relief Workers’ Assembly Yard is a large open area (approximately 380m2) occupying the northern part of the site. It is accessed by a timber stair (1937, reconstructed by 2001) down from Main Street. Originally a flat area surrounded and defined by mature trees and a perimeter fence and containing a small lavatory block for relief workers, these features have been demolished and the yard has been sloped and partially concreted to form a small car park and access driveway leading under the Gangway.

Features of the Former Relief Workers’ Assembly Yard and Stair of State-level cultural heritage significance include:

• open space of former yard; and
• timber stair, built 1937 reconstructed to match original detail by 2001 and its concrete posts, timber two rail balustrade and timber board landings and timber treads.

Features of the Former Relief Workers’ Assembly Yard and Stair not of State-level cultural heritage significance include:

• all vegetation, boulders, and garden beds (non-original);
• modern concrete surfaces and paths, car park, boom gate, and all structures;
• modern sculptures;
• fences including Main Street gates (metal pipe and chainwire with wrought metal scrollwork, reconstructed by 2001), modern timber post and chainwire fences, and modern car barriers; andall electrical services and fittings including lights.

Landscape Features (c1937)

Landscape features of State-level cultural heritage significance include:

• all 1930s concrete within yard (some relief work concrete c1937), limited to: concrete retaining wall and flower bed along rear (east) boundary; adjacent concrete path and its concrete spoon drain; and short stair beside Garage.

Landscape features not of State-level cultural heritage significance include:

• all post-1940 concrete such as: concrete driveway/ramp to Main Street at the south of the yard; all other concrete ground surfaces not previously mentioned;
• all other retaining walls not previously mentioned;
• all vegetation;
• all fences and gates (not original);
• signs;
• furniture; and
• all services, street/footpath surfaces/infrastructure.

Views & Streetscape Contribution

The former Woolloongabba Police Station stands prominently, surrounded by open space, the only building on its block fronting Main Street. Important views to the building are had from surrounding streets.

Views of State-level cultural heritage significance include:

• view to the Main Building from along Main Street between Stanley Street and Vulture Street.

References

[1] Brisbane City Council, ‘Discover the ‘Gabba’s Hidden Gems’, Brisbane Heritage Trails, Accessed 10 September 2021; Queensland Government, Map 1: South East Queensland Traditional Owner Groups, 2017.

[2] This paragraph is reproduced from Queensland Heritage Register Entry, Woolloongabba Post Office (former) (QHR 600357).
[3] Brisbane City Council, Heritage Trail, ‘Discover the ‘Gabba’s Hidden Gems; Woolloongabba Fiveways’.
[4] Brisbane City Council, Heritage Trail, ‘Discover the ‘Gabba’s Hidden Gems; The ‘Gabba’.
[5] This paragraph is reproduced from Queensland Heritage Register Entry, Bedourie Pise House and Aboriginal Tracker’s Hut (QHR 650098).
[6] This paragraph is reproduced from Queensland Heritage Register Entry, Police Station and former Courthouse and Cell Block, St Lawrence (QHR 601152).
[7] M Chalmers, ‘Goodbye Woolloongabba Hello Dutton Park’, The Queensland Police Union Journal, September 1993, p.29; Ivan McDonald Architects, Woolloongabba Police Station Conservation Study, Prepared for the Queensland Administrative Services Department, July 1994, p.9.
[8] Department of Public Works Annual Report for year ended 30 June 1911-12, Queensland Government Printing Office, p.6.
[9] Ibid., p.6.
[10] Margaret Cook and Margaret Puller, Police and Justice Study, A Report for the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM), 2011, p.17.
[11] Department of Public Works Annual Report for year ended 30 June 1911-12, p.6.
[12] Margaret Valma Kowald, The Queensland Police Force, 1895-1910, Thesis, University of Queensland, 1989, p.142; M Chalmers, ‘Goodbye Woolloongabba Hello Dutton Park’, The Queensland Police Union Journal, September 1993, p.34.
[13] Margaret Valma Kowald, The Queensland Police Force, 1895-1910, Thesis, University of Queensland, 1989, p.263; Johnson, The Long Blue Line: A History of the Queensland Police, Boolarong Publications, Brisbane, 1992, p.235; M Chalmers, ‘Goodbye Woolloongabba Hello Dutton Park’, The Queensland Police Union Journal, September 1993, p.34.
[14] Ivan McDonald Architects, Woolloongabba Police Station Conservation Study, p.12.
[15] Truth, 12 May 1935, p.25; Johnson, The Long Blue Line: A History of the Queensland Police, p. 210.
[16] Courier Mail, 1 February 1935, p.12; Courier Mail, 27 July 1934, p.1.
[17] Courier Mail, 26 July 1937, p.13; Courier Mail, 1 February 1935, p.12.
[18] Ivan McDonald Architects, Woolloongabba Police Station Conservation Study, p.14.
[19] Queensland Police Museum Files, Letter from Sub-Inspector Office to Police Commissioner, 11 September 1934.
[20] Woolloongabba Police Station Additions & Alterations, 1935.
[21] Department of Public Works Annual Report, Year Ended 30 June 1937, Queensland Government Printing Office, p.15.
[22] Johnson, The Long Blue Line: A History of the Queensland Police, p.263; Brian Costar, Labor, Politics and Unemployment: Queensland During the Great Depression, Phd Thesis, University of Queensland, 1981, pp.190-192; Brian Costar, ‘Controlling the Victims: The Authorities and the Unemployed in Queensland During the Great Depression’, Labour History, No.56, 1989, p.12.
[23] Department of Public Works Annual Report, Year Ended 30 June 1937, p.15.
[24] Telegraph, 26 July 1937, p.13; Telegraph, 21 June 1932, p.8.
[25] Margaret Cook and Margaret Puller, Police and Justice Study, pp.41-42.
[26] Department of Public Works ePlan, Woolloongabba Police Station Additions & Alterations, Basement Plan & Drainage, Sheet 2, 1935.
[27] Johnson, The Long Blue Line: A History of the Queensland Police, p.235; Department of Public Works Annual Report, Year Ended 30 June 1937, p.15; Margaret Valma Kowald, The Queensland Police Force, 1895-1910, p.35.
[28] Department of Public Works ePlan, ‘Woolloongabba Police Stn Concreting to Yard’, August 1937, item ID 16198138.
[29] Ivan McDonald Architects, Woolloongabba Police Station Conservation Study, p.14; Margaret Cook and Margaret Puller, Police and Justice Study, pp.41-42.
[30] Courier Mail, 29 September 1937, p.17; Ivan McDonald Architects, Woolloongabba Police Station Conservation Study, p.14.
[31] QSA A/41535, ‘Letter from Police Commissioner to Home Secretary’, 24 September 1934; Telegraph, 2 October 1937, p.27; Courier Mail, 2 October 1937, p.11; the Grey Street Police Station was demolished when Grey Street was widened.
[32] Ivan McDonald Architects, Woolloongabba Police Station Conservation Study, pp.14-15; Telegraph, 8 November 1938, p.15.
[33] Queensland State Archives, Item No. A/41536; Queensland Administrative Services Department, Heritage Buildings Section, Woolloongabba Police Station: An Interim Report to Identify the Cultural Significance of the Place, May 1994, p.54.
[34] ‘Woolloongabba Police Station Alterations and Additions’, DPW ePlan no C66-932-1 to 6, Nov 1966.
[35] ‘Woolloongabba Police Station Alterations and Additions’, DPW ePlan no C66-932-1 to 6, Nov 1966.
[36] Queensland Government, aerial photos QAP34155527, 23 September 1977; QAP3833009, 22 February 1981; and QAP52761174, 29 June 1996, accessed through QImagery.
[37] M Chalmers, ‘Goodbye Woolloongabba Hello Dutton Park’, The Queensland Police Union Journal, September 1993, p.35; Ivan McDonald Architects, Woolloongabba Police Station Conservation Study, p.16.
[38] Project Services, ‘Woolloongabba Police Station – Refurbishment’, all plans for project 25639/23111, 1999-2000, accessed through ePlan Room; Project Description, prepared by Margaret Lawrence-Drew and Anthony Job, in BNE922 Vol1, ‘601382 Police Station Woolloongabba’.
[39] Project Services, ‘Woolloongabba Police Station – Refurbishment’, all plans for project 25639/23111, 1999-2000, accessed through ePlan Room; Project Description, prepared by Margaret Lawrence-Drew and Anthony Job, in BNE922 Vol1, ‘601382 Police Station Woolloongabba’.

Image gallery