Johnstone Shire Hall is a heritage-listed

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually house ...

at 70 Rankin Street, Innisfail,

Cassowary Coast Region The Cassowary Coast Region is a local government area in the Far North Queensland region of Queensland, Australia, south of Cairns and centred on the towns of Innisfail, Cardwell and Tully. It was created in 2008 from a merger of the Shir ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. It was designed by Hill & Taylor and built from 1935 to 1938 by Van Leeuwen Brothers. It was added to the

Queensland Heritage Register The Queensland Heritage Register is a heritage register, a statutory list of places in Queensland, Australia that are protected by Queensland legislation, the Queensland Heritage Act 1992. It is maintained by the Queensland Heritage Council. A ...

on 13 January 1995.

History

The Johnstone Shire Hall was constructed for the Johnstone Shire Council in Innisfail from 1935-8, by the Van Leeuwen brothers to the design of Messrs Hill and Taylor at a cost of about . The Innisfail area was settled by cedar-cutters, with the first major planting of

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stal ...

occurring in 1880. The town was laid out at the junction of the South Johnstone and North Johnstone Rivers in 1881, and was known as Junction Point. The name of the town was changed to Geraldton in 1883, and to Innisfail in 1910. Innisfail was devastated first by a record flood in 1913, then by a cyclone in 1918, which destroyed many of the town's timber buildings. Despite these setbacks, the town prospered and opened its third sugar mill in 1916. By the 1920s, the Innisfail sugar industry was producing vast quantities of sugar cane and record yields of sugar. The prosperity of the town was reflected in the many buildings erected in the 1920s and 1930s, including many concrete buildings such as the first wing of the hospital, the Roman Catholic Church, the Commonwealth Bank and many other commercial premises. Also important in the town's development was the opening of the Jubilee Bridge in 1923, linking the town with

East Innisfail East Innisfail is a suburban locality in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the East Innisfail had a population of 1,855 people. Geography The locality is bounded by the Johnstone River to the north, by its tributary the ...

and

Mourilyan Mourilyan is a town and locality in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It was established around the Mourilyan sugar mill which provided much of the employment in the area until it was destroyed by Cyclone Larry on 20 March 20 ...

, and the

Daradgee Daradgee is a rural town and locality in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Daradgee had a population of 74 people. Geography The locality is bounded in the south-east by the Johnstone River. Victory Creek flows thro ...

Railway Bridge in 1924. The Johnstone Shire Hall was constructed when the previous building was destroyed by fire in December 1932. This previous building had been used for theatrical productions and therefore the community were anxious to see a replacement constructed promptly. However council disagreements,

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended f ...

interference and a change of shire council mean that it was many years before plans for the new Hall were presented and accepted. Messrs Hill and Taylor were commissioned for the design of the building in 1935. They were prominent local architects working in

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

between

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Other public buildings by this firm include the

Cairns City Council The City of Cairns was a local government area centred on the Far North Queensland city of Cairns. Established in 1885, for most of its existence it consisted of approximately around Cairns itself, with much of the metropolitan area being lo ...

(1929), Cairns Post Office () and Proserpine Hospital (1939–40) and the Barron Valley Hotel (1940). The supervising contractors were the Van Leeuwen brothers, who had arrived in Innisfail from Holland in 1918, they were responsible for most of the major construction work in the town from this date, including the

Water Tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towers often operate in conjun ...

, the National Bank, Hotel Grand Central, Queens Hotel, Bank of New South Wales and the Commonwealth Bank.Hill and Taylor and the Van Leeuwen brothers proposed the cost of the building was to be . However, over the next few years the cost of the building was to rise to over , to the considerable alarm of the community and the Treasury Department who were partially funding the venture. A provision of the Treasury's involvement was the use of the unemployed on either day or contract labour, therefore none of the contractors' own staff were employed on the project. The building was ready for occupation in 1938, and after five years in temporary accommodation the Johnstone Shire Council were able to operate from their own offices.

Description

The Johnstone Shire Hall is a two storeyed re-inforced concrete building with semi-basement containing shire offices, a hall and two shops. The main facade has a stepped

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

with four banded

pilasters In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wall ...

defining bays featuring moulded decorative panels representing sugar cane. There is a cantilevered

awning An awning or overhang is a secondary covering attached to the exterior wall of a building. It is typically composed of canvas woven of Acrylic fiber, acrylic, cotton or polyester yarn, or vinyl laminated to polyester fabric that is stretched tig ...

over the street with a

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony is ...

above, access to the balcony is via French doors. The balcony has a

wrought-iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" t ...

balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its ...

. The main entrance has three arched doorways through which is the ceramic tiled entrance

foyer A lobby is a room in a building used for entry from the outside. Sometimes referred to as a foyer, reception area or an entrance hall, it is often a large room or complex of rooms (in a theatre, opera house, concert hall, showroom, cinema, etc ...

. The upper storey features a panelled foyer and

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, communit ...

, with a stage and

fly tower A fly system, or theatrical rigging system, is a system of rope lines, blocks (pulleys), counterweights and related devices within a theater (structure), theater that enables a stage crew to fly (hoist) quickly, quietly and safely components suc ...

. The hall has an elliptical arched fibrous cement ceiling, supported on piers panelled with walnut and decorated with plaster fluting and volutes. The

lighting Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing dayli ...

system is a combination of many copper framed pendant fixtures with

opal glass Milk glass is an opaque or translucent, milk white or colored glass that can be blown or pressed into a wide variety of shapes. First made in Venice in the 16th century, colors include blue, pink, yellow, brown, black, and white. Principle M ...

, and a system of concealed trough lighting providing indirect illumination.

Heritage listing

Johnstone Shire Hall was listed on the

on 13 January 1995 having satisfied the following criteria. The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history. The Johnstone Shire Hall is a substantial inter-war building which illustrates the unprecedented era of prosperity accompanying the expansion of the sugar industry in the Burdekin region. The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places. The Johnstone Shire Hall, constructed 1935-38, is significant as a good and intact example of regional public buildings with

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

detailing, featuring locally inspired motifs. The Shire Hall is significant as a building designed by the architectural partnership of Hill and Taylor, prominent local architects in North Queensland between the first and second World Wars. The place is important because of its aesthetic significance. The building is an important element of the Rankin Street streetscape. The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. It has significance to the local community as the civic centre of Innisfail.

References

Attribution

External links