Townsville School of Arts

The Townsville School of Arts, on the corner of Walker and Stanley Streets, was built in 1891 by James Smith. Schools of Arts were aimed at the educational advancement of the community. A School of Arts committee was inaugurated in Townsville in 1866, and a School of Arts built on Melton Hill in 1877. However, this proved to be too far from town and it was sold to the government for conversion to a court building and a new site was purchased. A design competition was held, won by architects Eyre and Munro, and tenders called. The hall opened in May 1891. The building included meeting and lecture rooms on the ground floor, with a library above and an adjacent 600 seat theatre. Cyclones Sigma in 1896 and Leonta in 1903 both caused damage. Major repairs were undertaken in 1904. The theatre was enlarged in 1913. In 1938 the property was transferred to the Townsville City Council that established Australia’s first free lending library on site. Defence authorities requisitioned the building in 1941, and it became the main RAAF postal office. The Townsville Regional Electricity Board used the building post-war. Major renovations occurred in 1976 and in the 1990s.