Crawford and Co. Building (former)

This commercial building in Mary Street, Gympie, was built in two stages during the Victorian Era’s 1880s. The building represents the third stage of Gympie’s mining fortunes when the methodology moved from shallow to deep reef mining. Mining secretary James Crawford purchased a small masonry building here in 1885 and commissioned local architect Hugo Du Rietz to design the second storey. The façade is unusual in that it features a kangaroo and emu, both with shields on the parapet, a centrally placed monumental pediment with the British lion, and a carved Scottish thistle at its peak. Above the arched entrance door and window are casts of the heads of Robbie Burns and Sir Walter Scott on the key stones. James Crawford, in partnership with Ernest Rohda, conducted his mining, commission agent and share broking business here until 1889. Crawford was accused of forgery and fled to South Africa to escape his trial. Thereafter, a series of mining secretaries occupied the building until 1924, when the Gympie mining industry was in serious decline. The building was subsequently occupied by optometrists, starting with William John Hodson who purchased the building in 1924. The building continues this use to the present day.