National Bank of Australasia Building is a heritage-listed former
bank
A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...
Shire of Douglas
The Shire of Douglas is a Local government in Australia, local government area in Far North Queensland. It is located on the coast north of the city of Cairns, Queensland, Cairns. The shire, administered from the town of Mossman, Queensland, Mos ...
,
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
, Australia. It was designed by Lange Leopold Powell and built from 1935 to 1936 by Arthur E Zillfleisch and Tom Booth. 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 ...
on 6 August 2010.
History
The former
National Bank of Australasia
The National Bank of Australasia was a bank based in Melbourne. It was established in 1857, and in 1982 merged with the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney to form National Australia Bank.
History
In 1857, Alexander Gibb, a Melbourne gentleman ...
at Mossman is a single storey masonry and timber building designed by notable Queensland architect, Lange Leopold Powell (1884–1938). Constructed from 1935 to 1936, this prominent building illustrates the economic growth experienced by regional towns in Queensland sugar producing districts during the 1920s and 1930s.
Mossman lies inland from
Port Douglas
Port Douglas is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Douglas, Queensland, Australia, approximately north of Cairns.
In the , the locality of Port Douglas had a population of 3,650 people. The town's population can often double, however, ...
, on the flood-plain of the
Mossman River
The Mossman River is a river in lower Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia.
Geography
The headwaters of the river rise under Devils Thumb on the Mount Carbine Tableland in the Great Dividing Range. The river flows through a deeply in ...
between the
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills. It runs roughl ...
and the coast, about north of
Cairns
Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people.
The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...
.
George Elphinstone Dalrymple
George Augustus Frederick Elphinstone Dalrymple (6 May 1826 – 22 January 1876) was a colonist, explorer, public servant and politician, member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. He founded the towns of Bowen and Cardwell, and pionee ...
's North-East Coast Exploring Expedition of late 1873 brought attention to the resources around the
Mulgrave, Russell, Daintree and Mossman rivers and from 1874 cedar stands on the latter were being logged extensively. Behind the coastal river plain the
Hodgkinson goldfield
The Hodgkinson Mineral Area was a mining area near the Hodgkinson River about west of Cairns, in the present-day Shire of Mareeba in Queensland, Australia. It was the site of a gold rush in the 1870s.
History
Prospector James Venture Mulliga ...
was proclaimed on 15 June 1876. Initially accessed via Cairns, in 1877 a new route between the coast and the goldfields was found and Port Douglas was established as the new service port about four miles south of the mouth of the Mossman River. With the construction of the Cairns–Kuranda railway line between 1882 and 1891, however, the importance of Port Douglas as a town and port declined, while the town of Mossman emerged in the early twentieth century as the administrative centre of a thriving sugar-growing district.
By 1878 the most readily accessible cedar stands in the Mossman River district had been exhausted, although logging in more difficult to reach areas continued into the 1880s. Agricultural settlers followed the timber getters from the late 1870s. Initially they supplied fodder, maize, rice and tropical fruits to the goldfields. Excessive rain and poor soil productivity, however, resulted in much of this land being converted to sugar-growing, with Brie Brie Sugar Plantation and mill being established in Mossman in 1883 (although the mill soon became inoperative). The impetus for more extensive sugar cropping in the district came with the establishment of the
Mossman Central Co-operative Mill
Mossman may refer to:
Places
* Mossman, Queensland, Australia
** Mossman Central Mill
* Mossman Gorge, Queensland
* Mossman River, Queensland
* Mossman Inlet, Antarctica
* Mossman Peninsula, Antarctica
People
* Mossman (surname)
Other uses
...
in the mid-1890s under the provisions of the 1893 Sugar Works Guarantee Act.
The township of Mossman was created from private subdivisions made in 1885 and following the establishment of the Mossman Central Mill. Despite the rapid expansion of sugar growing in the district from the mid-1890s, in 1910 the township of Mossman comprised little more than the Exchange Hotel, a store, butcher's shop, hall and timber church, clustered along Mill Street leading to the sugar mill. These buildings and most of nearby Port Douglas were severely damaged by a cyclone on 16 March 1911. In the aftermath, and with the continued rise in transient and permanent workers in the sugar industry, businesses at Port Douglas gradually gravitated to Mossman. In the 1920s the Court House and banking facilities moved from Port Douglas to Mossman, and by the end of the decade many of the district's services, including the Post Office, were located in Mill Street. In the 1930s town activity was further increased with the opening of a new hospital in 1930, the completion of the Cook Highway between Cairns and Mossman in 1933, and the opening of the new Shire Hall and Offices in 1937. Mossman was now the administrative centre of the shire. During this period of exceptional growth in north Queensland's sugar towns, the National Bank of Australasia Ltd built its branch in Mill Street, Mossman.
The National Bank of Australasia began business in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
in 1858. The bank expanded into rural and regional
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India
* Victoria (state), a state of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital
* Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
,
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
and later into
Western Australia
Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
. Branches were opened in
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
and
Tasmania
Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
in the mid-1880s. The bank was restructured in 1893 after the economic crisis of the early 1890s and it became a public listed company as the National Bank of Australasia Limited (NBA).
In 1920 the NBA opened a branch in
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
– its first in Queensland. In 1922 the NBA absorbed the
Bank of Queensland
The Bank of Queensland (BOQ), formerly known as the Brisbane Permanent Benefit Building and Investment Society (BPBBIS) between 1874–1970, is an Australian retail bank with headquarters in Brisbane, Queensland. The bank is one of the oldest fi ...
, which had been formed in 1917 following the merger of the
Royal Bank of Queensland
The Royal Bank of Queensland was a bank in Queensland, Australia.
History
The Royal Bank of Queensland commenced operation in Brisbane in February 1886.
In 1917, it merged with the Bank of North Queensland creating the Bank of Queensland (19 ...
(formed in 1886) and the
Bank of North Queensland
The Bank of North Queensland was formed in 1887 in Townsville with branches in Sydney and London.
In 1893 there were branches in: Ayr, Cairns, Charters Towers, Cooktown, Herberton, Normanton, Rockhampton and Thursday Island and agencies at Mar ...
(established in 1888), providing the NBA with branches throughout Queensland.
The NBA's principal competition in Mossman was the
Queensland National Bank
The Queensland National Bank is a former bank in Queensland, Australia.
History
In 1872, the bank was established in Brisbane.
In December 1914, the bank had its head office in Brisbane with branches throughout Queensland at Allora, Queensland, ...
(QNB), established in Brisbane in 1872. From 1895 the Port Douglas branch of the QNB had served as the bank to the Mossman Central Mill Company and on 28 December 1900 a QNB agency opened in Mossman. In the 1920s a Mossman branch of the QNB, with attached residence, was constructed in Mill Street. This building survives, but has been altered.
The NBA first opened a branch in Mossman on 28 June 1929 in premises rented from the Exchange Hotel. Banks often rented premises prior to committing themselves to a region to test its viability. The bank's decision to acquire land in Mill Street in 1934 is a strong indication that the Mossman district, buoyed by the expansion of the sugar industry, was economically stable during this period. On 21 March 1935 builders Arthur E Zillfleisch and Tom Booth signed a contract for the construction of purpose-built banking premises, which were completed in 1936 for the contract price of .
The new building was designed by Brisbane-based architect Lange Leopold Powell, who undertook a variety of commissions for the NBA between 1922 and 1938. Powell was articled to architects
Addison and Corrie
Addison & Corrie was an architectural partnership of George Henry Male Addison and Leslie Corrie, based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Together they designed many prominent Queensland buildings, including:
* addition of schoolroom and gues ...
from 1900 to 1905, and later worked as a draftsman in the
Queensland Public Works Department
The Department of Housing and Public Works is a ministerial department within the Queensland Government, tasked with providing housing, sport, digital technology, and urban design and architecture services Both Smart Service Queensland (SSQ) and ...
. In 1908 he went to London, returning to Brisbane in 1911. From this time until his death in October 1938, Powell worked in private practice either on his own or in partnerships with other architects. He designed, remodelled or altered 26 other branch buildings for the NBA; was involved in the design for the NBA's Brisbane headquarters; and designed business premises for the Commercial Bank of Australia Ltd. Apart from his work in Mossman, his work on NBA buildings in regional Queensland included the branches in
Ayr
Ayr ( ; ; , meaning "confluence of the River Àir"), is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. A former royal burgh, today it is the administrative centre of South Ayrshire Council, and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With ...
(which has a grand, classically styled front facade),
Bundaberg
Bundaberg () is the major regional city in the Wide Bay-Burnett region of the state of Queensland, Australia. It is the List of cities in Australia by population, ninth largest city in the state. The Bundaberg central business district is situa ...
Wynnum
Wynnum is a coastal suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The suburb is a popular destination in Brisbane due to its coastline, jetty and tidal wading pool. In the , Wynnum had a population of 14,036 people. Wynnum and the adjo ...
,
Mareeba
Mareeba is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Mareeba in Far North Queensland, Australia. Between 2008 and 2013, it was within the Tablelands Region. The town's name is derived from an Aboriginal word meaning ''meeting of the water ...
, Tully, Atherton.
Powell designed other notable buildings in Brisbane that are entered in the Queensland Heritage Register, including: St Martin's War Memorial Hospital (1922, now
St Martin's House
St Martin's House is a heritage-listed former private hospital and now administration building within the grounds of St John's Cathedral at 373 Ann Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Lange Le ...
),
Ballow Chambers
Ballow Chambers is a heritage-listed office building at 121 Wickham Terrace, Spring Hill, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Lange Leopold Powell and built from 1924 to 1926 by John Hutchinson. It was added to the Queen ...
(1924 and 1926) and the Brisbane Masonic Temple (1930). In addition to this portfolio of work, Powell was a key figure in the development of the
Royal Australian Institute of Architects
The Australian Institute of Architects, officially the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (abbreviated as RAIA), is Australia's professional body for architects. Its members use the post-nominals FRAIA (Fellow), ARAIA (Associate Member) an ...
, co-drafting the constitution in 1930 and serving as the institute's fourth president between 1932 and 1933. The architectural firm he started continues today as Powell, Dods and Thorpe Architects, with offices in Brisbane and
Townsville
The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...
.
One of the most distinctive qualities of the building was the impressive temple-like street facade. The use of classically derived stylistic elements was a recurring theme in banking architecture in Queensland, and Australia generally, from the nineteenth century well into the middle of the twentieth century and was very popular during the 1920s and 1930s. Imposing, well-balanced designs symbolised all that banking institutions hoped to convey about the reliability and dependability of their businesses.
Mill Street was still unsealed when the bank was built in the middle of the decade. However, by the end of the decade, the
Douglas Shire Council
The Shire of Douglas is a local government area in Far North Queensland. It is located on the coast north of the city of Cairns. The shire, administered from the town of Mossman, covers an area of , and existed as a local government entity from ...
Offices as well as the Town Hall, Post Office, School of Arts, Queensland National Bank, Post Office Hotel, Jack and Newell's General Store, Exchange Hotel and the National Bank of Australasia all occupied a place on Mill Street and were part of a regional commercial precinct.
From 1943 to 1948 the Mossman branch of the NBA closed its business due to the war time rationalisation of manpower. During this period the building was used as a residence. In 1948 the NBA absorbed the QNB, closing the former QNB branch at Mossman.
In 1981 the National Bank of Australasia Limited merged with The Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Limited to form the National Commercial Banking Corporation of Australia Limited and subsequently changed its name to National Australia Bank Limited (NAB). On 7 April 1986, the Mossman branch of the NAB moved into new, larger premises in Front Street, which had become the main street of the town, being the thoroughfare from Cairns and Port Douglas in the south through Mossman and north towards the Daintree River. Mill Street, by comparison, became less important as the town's commercial activities were no longer centred solely on the mill.
The former NAB building was purchased by Douglas Shire Council in 1987 to house its Engineering Department. The following year the roof was replaced with profiled metal decking. In 1997 the council, including its Engineering Department, occupied new purpose-built premises in Front Street, and the former bank building was then leased by
Centrelink
The Centrelink Master Program, or more commonly known as Centrelink, is a Services Australia master program of the Australian Government. It delivers a range of government payments and services for retirees, the unemployed, families, carer ...
until 2001. It stood vacant until 2002 when it was leased by Douglas Arts Inc., a community arts group. It continues to be used as a community arts centre in 2010.
In June 2008 the entire Douglas Shire, which had been amalgamated into the Cairns Region earlier that year during a statewide local government reform program, was declared an iconic place under the Iconic Queensland Places Act 2008. In the gazetted declaration (No. 52, 20 June 2008) of this iconic place, the built environment values listed as being notable and worthy of preservation include those related to Mossman being the administrative centre of the Shire. Following a referendum in 2013, the Shire of Douglas was re-established on 1 January 2014.
Description
The former National Bank of Australasia at Mossman is one of several historic buildings located in Mill Street, along which a tramline runs linking the Mossman Central Mill to cane farms west of the town. Other buildings along Mill Street include the Mossman Shire Hall and former Douglas Shire Council Building, Jack and Newell's General Store, the former Exchange Hotel and a refurbished picture theatre. The surrounding landscape is generally flat, sloping slightly towards the Mossman River and its tributaries. The distant views from the steps at the front of the bank are to Mount Demi and the Great Dividing Range to the west and to Mount Beaufort to the east.
The former bank building is sited facing north on a long, narrow allotment and is a simple timber-framed building with gabled roof, given a prominent street presence through the use of a masonry facade and
portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...
. The facade is temple-like in its symmetrical composition comprising a number of elements of classical origin including widely spaced Doric
columns
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...
between plain
pilasters
In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...
supporting a simplified
entablature
An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...
and
cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...
. The columns and surrounding
architrave
In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns.
The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...
have a terrazzo finish as does the exterior and portico walls to approximately one metre above ground floor level.
From the street level, four steps finished in terrazzo lead up between the columns to a small portico with the riser of the third step engraved with the words "Douglas Shire Council" in uppercase lettering. The floor to the portico, inlaid with the words "National Bank", and the architrave,
corbel
In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...
s and
lintel
A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented/structural item. In the case ...
surrounding the main entrance are also finished in terrazzo. The original front door has been replaced with an aluminium framed door with a side light. The tall windows either side of the front door comprise two pairs of six- pane steel framed casement windows vertically aligned and separated by a fixed light between the upper and lower sashes. Above the door, the fixed window has 12 panes and decorative
wrought iron
Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...
grille
Grill or grille may refer to:
Food
* Barbecue grill, a device or surface used for cooking food, usually fuelled by gas or charcoal, or the part of a cooker that performs this function
* Flattop grill, a cooking device often used in restaurants, ...
s are fixed to all windows on this elevation.
Behind the portico, the remainder of the main building is long and narrow, timber-framed and clad in weatherboards with a gabled roof. The northern
gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
end is hidden behind the facade which forms a parapet and the southern end of the roof is hipped. The roof of the main building is clad with ribbed-profile metal sheeting and the low pitched skillion roofs to the rear additions are clad in corrugated metal sheeting.
On the eastern elevation are four tall hooded windows each comprising two pairs of vertically aligned, six-pane timber framed casements. The west elevation is similar except the bottom pair of casements of the southernmost window have been replaced by a door which is accessed by a ramp.
Beyond the portico is the banking chamber, a large room approximately long and seven metres wide with ceilings. It occupies the entire enclosed space of the building for most of its length. The walls are lined with vertically jointed pine boards and there is a profiled picture rail in line with the head of the windows. Ceilings are of plaster with
cornices
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
and decorative ceiling roses that remain. Skirtings,
architraves
In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns.
The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, of ...
and cornices in the chamber have multiple stepped profiles. To the rear of the chamber a full height wall of perforated fibreboard, is a later addition, built in line with the front of the strong room, which remains with its original door in place. While the walls and ceiling of the banking chamber are relatively intact, the fittings belonging to the bank have been otherwise removed and the floor covered with carpet. The original
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 daylight. ...
has been replaced by hanging fluorescent fittings.
There are two weatherboard-clad additions built against the southern wall of the main bank building. A passageway leads past the strong room to these additions, which include toilets and a kitchen and are not considered to be of cultural heritage significance. The toilets are accessed by doors in the southern wall. Adjacent to this is the kitchen which appears to have been constructed after the toilets.
There is a garden bed along the western side of the allotment and behind the building is a long garage building clad in steel sheeting. This is recently built and is not of cultural heritage significance.
Heritage listing
The former National Bank of Australasia Building was listed on 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 ...
on 6 August 2010 having satisfied the following criteria.
The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history.
The former National Bank of Australasia building at Mossman was constructed in 1935–1936 and makes an important contribution to our understanding of the era of prosperity experienced by many north Queensland towns during the expansion of the sugar industry in the 1920s and 1930s. It is a small but prominent building in the main commercial precinct of Mossman, with a facade designed to impress and reassure patrons of the banking institution's financial stability and probity. The building was constructed at a time when Mossman was emerging as the administrative heart of the Douglas Shire, a successful sugar-growing and -milling district of Queensland. Mossman's identity in this Shire was confirmed in the Iconic Queensland Place of Douglas declaration made in June 2008 regarding the Shire.
The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.
The former National Bank of Australasia building at Mossman is an excellent example of a small bank building designed to meet the needs of a small rural town and the agricultural district it serviced, while at the same time reaffirming the banking institution's financial credentials by incorporating a conspicuous and substantial masonry facade to the building. Displaying a hierarchy of functions and materials – an impressive, classically styled masonry facade with entrance portico and columns masking a utilitarian, weatherboard-clad building behind – and retaining its early banking chamber, strong room and fenestration, the building has a high degree of integrity and is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of its type.
The building also contributes to our understanding of the work of notable architect Lange Leopold Powell who made an important contribution to Queensland's built environment, and was a key figure in the development of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects. Powell designed or modified numerous buildings for the National Bank of Australasia in Queensland, of which this is a fine example of those he completed in regional towns – characteristically a strong classically influenced street facade to an otherwise simple building. He also designed many other significant buildings, such as the Brisbane Masonic Temple, arguably one of his finest works.
The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.
The former National Bank of Australasia building at Mossman is of aesthetic significance for the valuable and prominent contribution it makes – through scale, form, materials and design – to the distinctive visual character of the town. This is characterised by a patterning of spaces and buildings comprising one to two storeys, built to the footpath with a formal street facade in contrast to a simpler structure behind. The impressive, classically designed facade of this building is of particular aesthetic merit. The use of classical architectural elements in the facades of banks and other commercial buildings, town halls and institutional buildings was popular in the 1920s and 1930s and has made a noticeable contribution to Queensland's built environment.