Longreach Ambulance Centre is a heritage-listed

ambulance station An ambulance station is a structure or other area set aside for storage of ambulance vehicles and their medical equipment, as well as working and living space for their staff. Ambulance stations have facilities for maintaining ambulance vehicles ...

at 111 Ibis Street,

Longreach Longreach is a town and a locality in the Longreach Region, Queensland, Australia. It is the administrative centre of the Longreach Regional Council, which was established in 2008 as a merger of the former Longreach, Ilfracombe, and Isisford s ...

Longreach Region The Longreach Region is a local government area in Central West Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, it superseded three previous local government areas that had existed for more than a century. It has an estimated operating budget of A ...

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 George Meacham and Archibald Solway and built in 1921 by Edwards, Martin Ltd. It is also known as Queensland Ambulance Transport Brigade Centre, QATB Centre, and Longreach Arts & Crafts Centre. 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. As a ...

on 21 October 1992.

History

The former

Queensland Ambulance Transport Brigade The Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) is the state emergency ambulance and patient transport provider in Queensland, Australia. QAS is part of the Queensland Government under the Queensland Health portfolio and is one of the largest ambula ...

(QATB) centre in Longreach is a two-storey timber building purpose built for the Brigade in 1921 and in use as an Arts and Crafts centre since 1973. The Queensland Ambulance Transport Brigade began in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

in 1892. It was formed by Seymour Warrian of the

Army Medical Corps A medical corps is generally a military branch or officer corps responsible for medical care for serving military personnel. Such officers are typically military physicians. List of medical corps The following organizations are examples of medica ...

after seeing an accident victim suffer considerable aggravation of his injuries through inexpert transport to hospital. The Brigade aimed to provide first aid and skilled transport to hospital for the sick and injured. In the first years the Brigade was wholly funded by subscription, but met such an important need that from 1895 they were subsidised by the

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 fr ...

, both directly and by involving the Department of Works in the construction of ambulance buildings. In the late 1890s and 1900s they expanded into regional centres. By 1921, a specific layout for ambulance buildings had been formalised into policy. This incorporated a space for vehicles with easy street access, a casualty room, meeting room and sleeping room for ambulance bearers on a ground floor level and residential quarters for the superintendent above. The Longreach branch of the Queensland Ambulance Transport Brigade was formed on 24 June 1919. A modified

Buick Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General ...

car was purchased from Brisbane, and the ambulance began operations from the Commercial Hotel, before moving to premises in Galah Street, and then Crane Street. In 1920, the Ambulance Brigade committee petitioned the Queensland Government for a dedicated reserve for ambulance offices at Longreach, and this was granted at 111 Ibis Street. After a year of highly successful fundraising, the committee was able to commission the construction of a purpose-designed ambulance building. Plans were submitted by Mr George Meacham and the Brigade superintendent, Mr Archibald Solway, and the contract let in 1921 to Messrs Edwards, Martin Ltd of Longreach, with a price of . The building was opened free of debt in May 1921, by the Longreach Shire Chairman, Mr Edward Rowland Huey Edkins. The new building was a two-storeyed timber structure, following the now standard layout for QATB centres. The ground floor contained the casualty room, office, store, and accommodation for the bearers (consisting of 2 bedrooms, an enclosed verandah which served as the living room, kitchen and toilet, shower and bathroom) and a cement floored area for housing the ambulance vehicles. On the upper floor was the superintendent's quarters, comprising 3 bedrooms, a study, kitchen, bathroom, shower and toilet and a large verandah, where all meals were taken. The Ambulance Service was transferred to the Longreach Hospital in 1958, after which the upper floor of the ambulance station was occupied for some years as a residence, but the ground floor remained vacant. The building began to fall into disrepair and in 1971, Longreach citizens formed an Arts and Craft group and petitioned to make use of the disused ambulance building. In 1973, the ambulance reserve was transferred from the

Health Department A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their ow ...

to local trustees as a Reserve for Cultural Purposes and the Longreach Cultural Association undertook to restore the former ambulance building as an arts and crafts centre. Assistance came from local Rotarians and from the Queensland and Australian governments in the form of grants for restoration work and various Arts grants. The building now functions as an Arts and Crafts Centre and accommodates various art and craft classes, an art gallery, potters' workshop, Flying Arts activities, a theatre group, and community group meetings. The upper level currently comprises the Gallery, a flat rented on a semi-permanent basis, a Tutor's Room for visiting arts tutors, a store room, a craft display room, and a QATB memorabilia room. The Gallery was officially opened in November 1979. An adjoining structure that houses the potters' group and the theatre group was constructed in 1988 as a bi-centennial project.

Description

The former QATB centre is a two-storey timber-framed building with a

corrugated iron Corrugated galvanised iron or steel, colloquially corrugated iron (near universal), wriggly tin (taken from UK military slang), pailing (in Caribbean English), corrugated sheet metal (in North America) and occasionally abbreviated CGI is a bu ...

roof. and has wide surrounding

veranda A veranda or verandah is a roofed, open-air gallery or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front and sides of the structure. Although the form ''veran ...

hs to both levels. The front of the building is clad with pressed metal sheeting which simulates bricks and stone

quoins Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...

. This effect is heightened by appropriate painting. The sheeting is continued up into a

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'). Whe ...

which conceals the roof from the street and carries the QATB

Maltese cross The Maltese cross is a cross symbol, consisting of four " V" or arrowhead shaped concave quadrilaterals converging at a central vertex at right angles, two tips pointing outward symmetrically. It is a heraldic cross variant which developed f ...

insignia and the date 1921. The remainder of the building has exposed studs and a timber lining. The verandah to the upper floor has dowel

balustrading 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 cons ...

and panels of

lattice Lattice may refer to: Arts and design * Latticework, an ornamental criss-crossed framework, an arrangement of crossing laths or other thin strips of material * Lattice (music), an organized grid model of pitch ratios * Lattice (pastry), an ornam ...

at the front corners and at the rear. There is a timber valance of vertical boards cut to form shallow arches between the timber post which support the verandah. The building has been changed little to accommodate its new use and the extension building is connected only by a light

pergola A pergola is most commonly an outdoor garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are trained. The ...

supporting vines.

Heritage listing

The former QATB Centrewas listed on the

on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria. The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history. The former QATB centre demonstrates the way in which the Queensland Ambulance Transport Brigade spread through Queensland and the importance of Longreach as a regional centre The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places. It is a good example of a regional QATB centre which uses the standard ambulance station plan comprising garage space, casualty room and bearer's room on the ground floor and accommodation for a superintendent above. The place is important because of its aesthetic significance. The former ambulance station, due to its prominent position in the main street of Longreach and its use of scale, form and materials, makes a major contribution to the townscape and is a well designed and proportioned building adapting a vernacular style well suited to the climate. The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. The building has a strong association with the people of the Longreach area as a community facility and with the work of the Queensland Ambulance Transport Brigade.

References

Attribution

External links

{{Commons category-inline, Longreach Ambulance Centre Queensland Heritage Register Longreach, Queensland Ambulance stations in Queensland Articles incorporating text from the Queensland Heritage Register Government buildings completed in 1921