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Customs House and Residence (former)

Richmond Street, Maryborough

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Customs House and Residence 2016; Heritage Branch staff

Customs House and Residence 2016

Customs House at Maryborough 1930; Waser Family album SLQ

Customs House at Maryborough 1930

Customs House 2016; Heritage Branch staff

Customs House 2016

Customs House Residence view to Browns Warehouse and Criterion Hotel 2016; Heritage Branch staff

Customs House Residence view to Browns Warehouse and Criterion Hotel 2016

Customs House 2016; Heritage Branch staff

Customs House 2016

The attractive Customs House and residence on the corner of Richmond and Wharf Streets are now part of the Maryborough’s Portside Heritage Gateway. The Portside Passport will give you access to these buildings and the nearby Bond Store and military museum. Customs House and residence, which now houses a café, were built in 1899. Designed by the Queensland Department of Public Works architect, John Smith Murdoch, they replaced structures built in the 1860s. Murdoch’s innovative design reflects a fusion of Australian Federation architecture, with English Queen Anne style and Edwardian Baroque. The Royal Arms feature above the central opening to Richmond Street, conveying authority, tradition and a link to the empire. Fretwork panels in the ceilings feature the entwined letters ‘VR’ for Victoria Regina, Queen at the time of construction. Local builders Henry Neale and Son completed the buildings of locally made bricks within twelve months at a cost of almost 6000 pounds. The inclusion of a residence for the sub-collector of customs into the overall design was unusual for Queensland. The buildings were transferred to the Commonwealth after Federation in 1901 and operated in this capacity through to 1994. They were later purchased by the Fraser Coast Regional Council.

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Coordinates: -25.53839659, 152.70555122

Full details of this heritage-registered place are in the Heritage register.

Licence
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Last reviewed
1 July 2022
Last updated
28 February 2023