THE STOCK EXCHANGE ARCADE CHARTERS TOWERS
The Stock Exchange Arcade A conservation management plan for the Charters Towers City Council
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THE STOCK EXCHANGE
CONTENTS i
1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 BACKGROUND 1
1.2 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 2
2 UNDERSTANDING THE PLACE 4
2.1 THE TOWN THEY CALLED “THE WORLD” 4
THE FIRST GOLDFIELDS 4
2.2 THE ROYAL ARCADE 9
2.3 THE CHARTERS TOWERS STOCK EXCHANGE 13
AFTER THE STOCK EXCHANGE 17 THE NATIONAL TRUST 19
3 UNDERSTANDING THE SIGNIFICANCE 24
3.1 ABOUT CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE 24
3.2 ARCADES 24
3.3 THE STOCK EXCHANGE 26
IN QUEENSLAND 26
3.4 ARCHITECTURAL QUALITIES 28
3.5 TOWNSCAPE QUALITIES 29
3.6 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE 30
THE STOCK EXCHANGE
CONTENTS ii
4 A VISION 32
4.1 USE 32
4.2 CONSERVATION 33
4.3 THE BUILDING AS A PART OF THE CITY 34
4.4 INTERPRETATION 34
4.5 MANAGEMENT 34
5 CONSERVATION POLICY 36
5.1 MANAGEMENT 36
SINGLE ENTITY IN CONTROL 36 APPROPRIATE SKILLS 37
5.2 AN APPROACH TO CONSERVATION 37
BURRA CHARTER 37 ACTION INFORMED BY SIGNIFICANCE 38
5.3 COMPATIBLE USE 38
5.4 THE SITE 39
VIEWS TO THE BUILDING 39 VIEW FROM THE BUILDING 40 EXPANSION OF THE SITE 40 NEW STRUCTURES 40 ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS 40
5.5 THE BUILDING 41
MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR 41 PATINATION 41 RECONSTRUCTION 42 INTRUSIVE ELEMENTS 42
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CONTENTS iii
ADAPTATION 43 TENANCY FITOUTS 43 COLOURS AND SIGNAGE 43 A HOUSEKEEPING MANUAL 44
5.6 VISITORS 45
VISITOR TYPES 45 ACCESS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES 45 VISITOR EXPECTATION 46
6 IMPLEMENTATION 47
PREPARE INTERPRETATION PLAN 47 TENANCIES 47 PREPARE SCHEMATIC DESIGNS FOR THE ADAPTATION OF THE BUILDING 47 NEGOTIATE WITH TENANTS 47 DOCUMENT CONSERVATION AND ADAPTATION WORKS 47 DOCUMENT INTERPRETATION WORKS 48 CONSTRUCTION WORKS 48 INTERPRETATION WORKS 48 PREPARE HOUSEKEEPING MANUAL 48 CTCC TO REMOVE GARDENS FROM GEORGE FOY PARK 48
7 APPENDIX 49
7.1 CONDITION 49
ROOFING AND RAINWATER GOODS 49 WALLS 49 WINDOWS AND GLASS 50 EXTERNAL TIMBERWORK 50 ASSAY ROOM CHIMNEY 50 CEILINGS 50 FLOORS 51 DOORS 51
7.2 CONSERVATION WORKS 55
ROOFING AND RAINWATER GOODS 55 WALLS 55 WINDOWS AND GLASS 55 ASSAY ROOM CHIMNEY 55 EXTERNAL REPAINTING 56
7.3 ESTIMATES OF COST 56
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CONTENTS iv
7.4 NOTES 68
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 1 INTRODUCTION 1
1 INTRODUCTION
he Stock Exchange Arcade stands in the famous Queensland gold T mining town of Charters Towers. Constructed in 1888 as the Royal Arcade, the building was used for nearly 40 years as the Charters Towers Stock Exchange. As a result of that use the building has since become known as the Stock Exchange Arcade. It is perhaps one of the buildings of Charters Towers where myth and reality meet. More than any other building in the city it represents the city of Charters Towers and has become a symbol of what was once and in part remains a mythical place of wealth and golden opportunity.
1 . 1 B ACKGROUND
The Queensland Heritage Trails Network is a major initiative of the Queensland government to promote cultural tourism in Queensland, with the development of a number of tourism-related projects across the state.
As part of this program the Charters Towers City Council has received funding from the Queensland Heritage Trails Network for the development of a number of projects in the town related to cultural tourism. The Stock Exchange Arcade is one of four studies being prepared for sites in Charters Towers. Conservation management plans are being prepared for the Venus Battery at Millchester and for Towers Hill to the south of the town. A report is also being prepared for the “One Square Mile” area in the town which examines the original town area designated in 1877 and the buildings within that one square mile area.
Situated on land described as L108 on CT1824, parish of Charters Towers, 1 County of Davenport, the Stock Exchange Arcade was one of the first A current view of the front of the Stock buildings to be listed by the National Trust of Queensland in the early Exchange facing Mosman Street and a locality 1970s. The building is owned by the National Trust of Queensland. The plan for the Mosman and Gill Street intersection. [Allom Lovell] building has since been entered in the Register of the National Estate of the Australian Heritage Commission, a statutory authority of the Commonwealth government, and in the Queensland Heritage Register under the legislative provisions of the Queensland Heritage Act 1992.
The arcade is also within the Charters Towers Conservation Area, an area of the main business district of the town listed in the National Trust of Queensland Register and the Register of the National Estate of the Australian Heritage Commission and identified in local planning instruments as a place of particular significance.
While some of these registers merely recognise the cultural significance of the building and have no statutory authority the entry of the Stock Exchange Arcade in the Queensland Heritage Register places certain
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 1 INTRODUCTION 2
restrictions on its future development. Any development of the building or its site requires the approval of the Queensland Heritage Council.
This conservation plan is part of the process of understanding the cultural significance of the arcade and in developing policies to guide future use and development of the place. It has been carried out following the general principles of the Burra Charter of Australia ICOMOS and the guidelines to that document. Historical information about the construction of the building has been gathered and analysed in order to arrive at an understanding of the cultural significance of the building and the wider site. This process has been informed by an analysis of the physical fabric of the site and the building. Conservation policies have been drafted to provide guidance so that the cultural significance of the building can be conserved in any new proposals for work to the building. A condition survey of the building was undertaken and from this survey a scope of works and estimates of cost prepared.
During the course of this study the National Trust of Queensland files were made available. Discussions were held with the former National Trust Architect Jinx Miles and with Gordon Landsberg of the Charters Towers Branch of the National Trust.
1 . 2 S UMMARY OF FINDINGS
The Stock Exchange Arcade is a place that has substantial cultural significance architecturally, historically and socially. An elegant arcade building perhaps of national importance architecturally it also has value in aesthetic terms for its contribution to the townscape of Charters Towers.
Beyond its physical fabric however the Charters Towers Stock Exchange is both the literal and figurative heart of the city. It represents the story of growth and decline of this place, of the extraordinary wealth generated by gold, of the personal and community optimism and buoyancy of its economy and later the decline of fortunes and gradual crumbling of the place of Charters Towers historically and of the building itself.
At a wider scale the Stock Exchange Arcade represents the central role of Charters Towers in Queensland’s history. Its survival, while other places in Charters Towers were burned or demolished and more recently its conservation by the National Trust of Queensland is part of its history and significance.
It deserves continuing conservation of the highest order as a place of major importance. Any program of works should however look to the revitalisation of the building practically and economically.
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 1 INTRODUCTION 3
The present proposal which sees this building as part of a wider visitor experience within the city is entirely appropriate provided that any adaptation of the place recognises its overwhelming cultural significance in the broader sense.
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2 UNDERSTANDING THE PLACE
his elegant building, constructed as the Royal Arcade, is better T known as the Stock Exchange Arcade. Charters Towers was one of only a few places in which stock exchanges were established outside Brisbane in the nineteenth century because of the importance of gold mining in the region and the consequent wealth generated in the local community.
2 . 1 T HE TOWN THEY CALLED “ T H E W O R L D ”
For a short time in the late nineteenth century, the gold field town of Charters Towers was the second largest city in the colony of Queensland. With a population of more than 25,000 at its peak the city was central to the mining and pastoral activities in the region, and was known by locals and others as, “The World”.
T HE FIRST GOLDFIELDS
The goldfields at Charters Towers in the late nineteenth century were the richest fields in north Queensland. They provided excellent returns of gold, from 1872 when gold was first discovered in the region, until the early twentieth century.
In 1872 four men, George Clarke, Hugh Mosman, ‘John’ Fraser, and an Aborigine Jupiter Mosman first found gold in the area at the base of Towers Hill.
Almost immediately a rush set in and several hundred miners converged on the field in a few weeks.
The goldfield held great promise that was not to disappoint. In early 1872, a month after the proclamation of the goldfield the Ravenswood Miner wrote the following:
It is situated about 15 miles from the Broughton township and is certainly the most remarkable and promising goldfield ever opened in Queensland. It is the general opinion that the whole country from Jessop’s and Dumaresq’s camp on the Broughton to 4 miles beyond the main camp on the Fifteen mile will be auriferous and already some 60 or 70 prospecting areas have been pegged out. Mr Mossman the prospector of the field has certainly a name of wealth on his claim, and deserves the prospects before him for his perseverance in opening up such a promising field, and by his gentlemanly conduct in giving all his information and assistance to miners and parties visiting the place, has gained good prospect and respect of the whole community. He has three distinct payable reefs running through the ground, with outcrops showing an average width of four feet, but in many places they are much wider, and
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 2 UNDERSTANDING THE PLACE 5
there must be hundreds of tons of surface stone that will pay splendidly to put through the mill.1
The news quickly travelled around the colonies. A few days after the Ravenswood Miner wrote the above story the Sydney Morning Herald reported that the field was very rich. A rush of miners from Ravenswood had taken place:
…Lumps of quartz richly impregnated with gold have been lodged in the bank at Ravenswood. More than one hundred claims are taken up at a place called Charters Towers.2
Signs of settlement emerged in Mosman Street, a low ridge north of Mosman’s camp, but the first buildings and importantly the first mills were established at Millchester, some distance to the east of the town and near the main mills. A provisional school, churches and a school of arts were quickly established at Millchester, along with a number of hotels. Offices for the government were located there for some time and a site for a court house was reserved.
Within a few years however the colonial government removed its officials from Millchester when it was or became apparent that Charters Towers would be the more permanent settlement.3 Other institutions followed and by the mid 1870s Charters Towers was a recognisable and growing settlement.
By the end of 1872 3,000 people were living in tents in the town area. There was one alluvial rush in August to September 1872. This was an exception to the field being hard rock mining. Towers ore could only be extracted from crushing and after a few years a more permanent population and more permanent buildings replaced the fields of calico tents and bark huts. The area was proclaimed a town in 1877 and a survey of streets and allotments was carried out. The municipality was laid out as one square mile, centred on the intersection of Mosman and Gill Streets. The population of the two settlements of Charters Towers and the neighbouring Millchester was by then close to 7,000. Most businesses and industries were established in the town such as engineering works, soap works, newspapers and sawmills.
In 1877 the construction of a rail line was approved from Townsville at the coast to the goldfields at the Towers, finally reaching the town in 1882.4 This line improved communication and access from the fields to the coast and assisted in the future population growth of the town.5 The Charters Towers railway station was not constructed in the town itself but in a small locality to the east called Queenton Reef.
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2 The original survey of Gill and Mosman Streets in 1874. [Department of Minerals and Energy]
While Charters Towers held great promise, it was evident to many that for the really rich reefs to be exploited the mining companies needed more capital than could be provided locally in the town. The Mining Warden Philip Sellheim was aware of this, noting in his annual report in 1880 that:
It has been proved now beyond any doubt that the quality of stone does not deteriorate here at the deeper levels…but to develop the ground efficiently and economically more capital than can be well spared from other local enterprises will be required. I trust the time will not be far distant when Charters Towers will receive more attention from Southern Capitalists.6
The number of gold mining companies more than tripled from 41 to 123 between 1884 and 1886. Production in gold more than doubled in this same period from 55,264 ounces to 112,166 ounces.7
The discovery of gold in much deeper reefs, led to the establishment of large gold mining companies. While the individual miners and their
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families were still trying their luck on the fields in Charters Towers, there were also many of wealth and means who had been instrumental in establishing the large companies involved in reef mining. While share trading in these companies was initially subdued in 1886 a Colonial and Indian Exhibition was held in London. The Queensland government, keen to attract British capital to the colony bought over a hundred tons of golden stone from Charters Towers mining companies, which was shipped to London and crushed in a small mill constructed within the exhibition hall.
Five million people visited the Colonial and Indian Exhibition and the gold on show the Queensland exhibit was well attended, in spite of the deafening noise of the stampers. The Queensland display, and in particular the Charters Towers gold, worked its magic and British investors lined up to invest in Charters Towers gold mining companies, and in the town.8 The Day Dawn Block and Wyndham Gold Mining Company was floated on the London Stock Exchange in August 1886, at fantastic terms. Charters Towers promoters took leases to London and sold shares in worthless mines for large sums.9
By 1887 the population of the town was some 11,500 people. Over 2,000 men worked as miners, while others were employed in trade or commerce or in quartz mills, the sawmills, the engineering works, or in secondary industries that developed to support the population base. The population continued to grow and was by 1889 14,200.10 The result of the continued growth and the wealth generated and held by the local community resulted in the town transforming itself yet again. First generation timber buildings gave way to larger masonry structures often expressing the wealth and optimism of their owners or developers with ornament and decoration.
The boom of the mid 1880s in the share prices of gold mining companies could not be sustained. In 1888 there was a reversal of fortune in the town when the boom peaked and prices corrected. However at about that time the Brilliant reef was discovered, a major find which paid a dividend of 100% in its first year.
“The Towers” was the most successful gold town in Queensland by the mid 1880s, and by the 1890s it was Australia's largest gold field. The effects of the economic depression of the early 1890s were felt less on the Towers than in other places. Although values dropped as the market was flooded with excess shares in companies, and the number of working fields decreased from 113 in 1891 to 90 in 1893, the town continued to prosper. The population rate rose by about 1,000 a year as people came from the coast looking for work.
At its peak late in 1900 the population of the town was about 27,000 and Charters Towers was the second largest city in the colony of Queensland behind Brisbane and the residents and those in the surrounding districts
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 2 UNDERSTANDING THE PLACE 8
came to call Charters Towers “The World”, both in conversation and in print.11
Charters Towers was indeed a self contained and self sufficient community in an otherwise depressed economy.
Business goes on as usual under gaslights in the street and in the stores. On the footpaths and on the road the endless throng streams to and fro. There is a fervour of activity in the pubs and in the squash shops. Shots are coming from the shooting gallery and a bell has just rung, so someone has just scored a bullseye. In Mosman Street along by the Stock Exchange and the Brokers’ offices the miners are hanging about in groups – in their moleskin pants and flannel shirts and bowler hats. The brokers are hard at it,…the miners are speculating and everyone is talking of gold.12
The notion of Charters Towers as a special place, and importantly as an idea isolated, independent, wealthy and a world within a world, was established very early on in its history and development. It has been perpetuated in the years following its initial development and consolidation. In his history of mining in Australia Geoffrey Blainey makes the following observations about the city:
Charters Towers was flushed with the money that British companies were spending in the town and British investors were paying to its pioneers. After breathing optimism into British investors their own pride and optimism swelled. They built offices and shops and banks and stock exchange that seemed palatial in a remote provincial town. Their sharpest stockbrokers employed thirty or more clerks and touted business in distant cities, calling on investors to send money for shares they didn’t even bother to name.13
It was not however entirely mythical. Until the late 1890s when Kalgoorlie in Western Australia passed the Towers as the leading goldfield in the nation.14 Charters Towers was indeed a special place.
Gas had been supplied to light the city streets while arrangements were made for the supply of electricity. The streets in the town were well looked after. Omnibuses and taxis travelled to all parts of the city and suburbs. At its peak Charters Towers contained a large number of hotels in total to cater for the population of the town and the surrounding region and banks, not unnaturally, were everywhere.
It was in the built environment that the growth of the town in this 1880s and early 1890s period was most evident. A publication about the Charters Towers goldfields of 1892 described the town in the following manner:
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…most of the buildings are still built of wood, although brick and cement have been recently adopted in all public and some private buildings – of the public buildings the court houses, police court and warden’s court, the hospital and the various bank buildings are most prominent, some of them being amongst the best specimens of their kind in Queensland.15
By 1895, a journalist from the newspaper the Sydney mail observed that in the intervening years there had been a shift in the town to replace the early wooden buildings with masonry structures, and:
…consequently the town is gradually assuming a more stable appearance. The bank buildings, of which there are eight, add considerably to the architectural grace of the town, while the Stock Exchange, in Mosman Street, is a commanding and elegant structure.16
In the early twentieth century gold production began to decrease on the fields of the Towers, and the population of the city declined as a result. By the end of the First World War the population of Charters had declined to about 16,000. In 1925 the population had decreased to 11,021, in 1930 to 9,135, and in 1935 to just fewer than 7,000.
Some miners remained on the fields in the Towers and in 1930 there were still more than 200 goldminers working the fields. They averaged however less than £30 of gold each for the whole year.17
Gold mining is still carried out in the region. What remains of Charters Towers heyday is not only in the evidence of the buildings and infrastructure but in something of an attitude that legitimately saw itself at that time as “The World”.
2 . 2 T HE ROYAL ARCADE
From the first settlement of Charters Towers, Mosman and Gill Streets became the main streets of the town and remain so in the present day. Banks, hotels and shops were established along Mosman Street from very early in the town’s settlement. In about 1876, only a few years after the discovery of gold a Scottish miner named Alexander Malcolm arrived in town. He acquired an allotment of land in Mosman Street, the main business area of the town described as Allotment 8, Section 1 of the town area.
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3 The first generation of timber buildings in Mosman Street in the 1870s was taken by WJ Allom. The first Malcolm shops have a triple gabled roof. [Charters Towers and its Stock Exchange, Roderick]
Records indicate that a building existed apparently consisting of a series of shops including a boot and shoe shop, refreshment rooms and booksellers. Early photographs of Mosman Street indicate that this building was single storey with a triple gabled front and constructed of timber. It is not clear whether Malcolm commissioned the building or whether he purchased an existing structure.
Following a share bonanza in 1886 Malcolm demolished his store with the aim of building a much grander structure. By this time the population of Charters Towers had reached close to 7,000 and would within the next twelve months dramatically increase again to 11,500. Opportunities for merchants to support this booming population abounded and Malcolm commissioned Sydney architect Mark Day to design for his site an arcade of shops that would capitalise on the growth, and wealth, of Charters Towers population.
Day prepared plans for a glass roofed shopping arcade of a form that Charters Towers had not seen before and indeed was still unusual even in the capital cities.
There is no evidence as to why Malcolm sought the services of a Sydney architect. There were more than twenty architects practicing in Charters Towers at the time and indeed Malcolm engaged one Constantin Mathea to supervise construction of the new arcade. The fact that the contractor for the building, Sandbrook Bros was also from Sydney suggests perhaps that Malcolm was familiar with or at least had travelled to Sydney and perhaps seen similar buildings. Day certainly had some connection with North Queensland. He also designed the North Queensland Insurance Company offices in Flinders Street East in Townsville in 1889-91. No other Queensland buildings are known to have been designed by him. He designed a number of buildings in Sydney including a residence named Gowan Brae for James Burns, the North Queensland businessman who founded Burns, Philp and Co.18
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The building was still not complete by 1888 but was described in some detail in the local newspaper the Charters Towers times, in the following manner:
One of the best indications of the growing importance of Charters Towers is the erection of such handsome and substantial buildings as are now in course of construction in the various principal streets in the town, viz… Mr Malcolm’s new arcade… (We) now give a few particulars of what promises to be one of the most handsome buildings in the town…The site of the building is in Mosman Street, where for many years past have stood a number of small wooden shops, which, however, are now demolished, and will shortly be forgotten by all but the old inhabitants. No doubt they have seen good service, but Mr Malcolm very rightly thought that something more substantial and sightly was needed, and with that view entrusted Mr Day, of Sydney (the architect) with the preparation of plans for a new building, to cost about £7,000. The tender of Messrs Sandbrook Bros, of Sydney, has since been accepted for the 4 erection of the building, and under the able supervision of Mr Mathea The 1887 survey of the centre of town showing an outline of the Royal Arcade shaded. (the local architect) the work of preparing the foundations, etc is now [Charters Towers City Council] well in hand….Mr Mathea expresses himself as well satisfied with the business-like manner in which the contractors are pushing on the work, and in a short time the townspeople will have a first-rate promenade in wherein to stroll, to the benefit, let us hope, of the enterprising tradesmen who are going in for the shops.
…The building will have a frontage to Mosman Street of 64 feet, rising to a height of 50 feet,and will run back toward King Street a distance of 110 feet. The style adopted by the architect is the Italian renaissance, and the façade in Mosman Street will have a very pleasing appearance when finished, the arch over the entrance being decorated with frieze and panel work, giving it a very bold appearance. The entrance steps are to be of polished Cecilian (sic) marble, over which there will be an awning, supported on iron columns. The ground floor will contain twelve shops, two of which will front on Mosman Street having a main entrance there from, and corner entrances from the vestibule, while the remaining ten run down either side of the arcade. These shops average 18ft x 13ft in size, and have a height of 13ft. The fronts are to be glazed with British polished plate glass, and the upper squares with cathedral tinted glass, all the marginal bar lights being blue, with a running design in white cut stars, with claret corners. The vestibule is 12ft x 30ft, and will be paved with encaustic tiles of handsome patterns, and the arcade, which is 24ft x 80ft, will be paved with red and buff tiles, laid diamond-wise, and the entrances to the shops with encaustic tiles. The second (first) floor will consist of a suite of six offices with two landings connected by a bridge over the vestibule, and will be reached by a staircase from the rear of one of the front shops. The same care as to details is shown in connection with the offices as with other parts of the building, and all the partitions and ceilings are to be plastered and ornamented with cornices and centre flowers. The roof will be of glass, supported by six iron principals,
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ornamented with neat scroll work and all the outer walls brick. Special attention has been paid to ventilation, and the supply of water, and Mr Malcolm intends having a pipe laid to the centre of the arcade, where he proposes shortly having a fountain erected. This, though an after thought, is a most happy one, and will add much to the attractiveness of the arcade.19
The building was to be called the Royal Arcade.
In mid February 1889 however a small note in the Charters Towers times stated that the arcade had been taken over from the contractor by the supervising architect, Constantin Mathea, on behalf of the owner Alexander Malcolm.20 Work must have progressed for later that month another report in this paper noted that two large “sunlights” (gas powered lights) had been installed in the arcade by a CJ Fraser to the order of the Charters Towers Gas Company:
…They were lit up on Saturday evening for the first time, and were universally admired. The shades are 7 feet in diameter and carry sixteen burners. They are lined with opal glass, and have a reflecting cone in the centre. Mr Fraser informs us that they are the largest sunlights in North Queensland, and if appearance goes for anything, we are safe that they are the most handsome lights of the kind to be seen in the north.21
Records suggest that the early tenants of the Royal Arcade were largely comprised of professionals such as lawyers, architects and surveyors. While some early photographs indicate a tailor and barber in the front shops there is some evidence that the Royal Arcade was not the financial success envisaged. The reasons for this are unclear. It may have been that there was a reversal of fortune in 1888 when the boom corrected and that Malcolm, caught in the cycle, was unable to fund the completion of the arcade as planned. Certainly the dismissal of the original contractor and the appointment of the supervising architect as contractor suggests financial problems. Malcolm reputedly left Queensland not long after the building was completed owing large amounts of money to stockbrokers and to the Union Bank. He died in 1891 of “alcoholism mania” and “heart failure” and the bank took possession of the building in lieu of payment.22 The Northern Miner of May 27 1901 reports the outcome of a court case between the Union Bank and Malcolm’s wife and beneficiary in which the land was to be sold by the Northern Sheriff and the bank paid £1,000.23
The suggestion that the building was “unfinished” in 1889 is not borne out by contemporary articles in the press that accurately describe the Royal Arcade in its present form and importantly in its dimensions. The 5 rear of the arcade is certainly wide open with no evidence of any The conjectural plan of the building showing enclosure of that elevation ever existing. There is however no physical the later extensions shaded. [Allom Lovell] evidence of any planned extension (or deferred construction) in footings or in toothing of the brickwork.
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Later additions and extensions, the first carried out within a few years of the buildings completion, were functional buildings associated with the use of the place as a stock exchange.
2 . 3 T HE CHARTERS TOWERS STOCK EXCHANG E
The arcade was only open a few months when its major tenant, the Charters Towers Stock Exchange, took offices in the building.
In April 1889 Charters Towers sharebroker JF Hinsch inserted the following announcement in the local press:
Induced by numerous applications made to me by holders of scrip to conduct a Free Mining Exchange, I have secured offices in the Royal Arcade, Mosman Street, and intend holding a Call there every evening at 7.30 pm, commencing on Saturday next, 20th April inst. The public are respectfully invited to attend, and learn the true value of their scrip.24
While some have suggested that the stock exchange moved into the building in May 1890 it is clear from the local newspapers that the exchange was present in the arcade more than one year before this date. 25The presence of the stock exchange in the arcade worked like a magnet and sharebrokers, commission agents and surveyors dominated the tenancies of the building from that time until the early twentieth century.
As an institution, the Charters Towers Stock Exchange was a direct result of the enormous growth in gold mining and mining companies on the field in the early 1880s period. Other gold mining towns in Australia had stock exchanges, as did those towns that mined other minerals.26
The large numbers of mining companies based on the goldfields in Charters Towers were initially owned and financed locally but later capital from other places, particularly overseas, flooded into the town. The Day Dawn Gold Mining Company was one of the first gold mining companies in Charters Towers to be floated, in 1878. Others followed soon after.
Between 1884 and 1886 the number of mining companies in Charters Towers tripled from 41 to 123.27 Many needed a more sophisticated system of financing than was available locally and looked to overseas capital to fund the cost of accessing the gold in the relatively deep reefs:28
…the ground properly developed so far is insignificant in extent when compared with what lies at present neglected, and is only wanting for enterprise, capital and intelligence to convert it into numerous sources of wealth.29
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Fortunately, this was a time when British investors were looking for companies and ventures in Australia in which to invest:
…the desire of outsiders to participate in mining ventures necessitated a change so as to make the acquisition and disposition of interests more easy and hence during recent years it has come about that the more important mines have been owned and worked by companies incorporated under the Company Act of the colony, with either limited liability or no liability. This has led to great operations in share dealings, and the establishment of a stock exchange.30
With the growth in companies on the fields and great interest in the transfer of shares of these companies commission agents, mining agents and stockbrokers found themselves in high demand. By the mid 1880s there were a number of mining agents in the town who traded shares on behalf of clients, including Messrs Beraup, Hunter, Harte, Wilson and others.
The arrival of the electric telegraph in Charters Towers in 1874 allowed information about gold discoveries in Charters Towers to be available to a wider audience and with an immediacy that was previously unavailable.31
In 1886 ore from the Charters Towers goldfields was sent to London for 6 display at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition and attracted the attention On the left is a view of the Stock Exchange in of English investors. A single gold mine, the Day Dawn Block and 1891 with crowds at the front of the building and on Mosman Street. On the right is the Wyndham, was sold to an English syndicate for £419,500, a staggering Stock and Mining Exchange located further figure. More companies were formed to sell shares on the English down and the opposite side of Mosman Street. markets but local sharebrokers were also instrumental in forming [Charters Towers and its Stock Exchange, Roderick] companies and trading shares.
The Brilliant Reef turned out to be a major find funded by those who had made money through English investors. An offer of £200,000 from an
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English syndicate was refused and the Brilliant Mine paid a dividend of 100% in its first year.
Since 1885 individuals within the town had organised themselves into a mining exchange to allow for trading stock. Trading took place in the offices of the mining agents that were located in Mosman, Gill and Bow Streets in the town. It was felt however that there was a need to centralise these activities in one location. A number of localities in the town were tried until in 1889 the exchange leased space in the Royal Arcade.
The Charters Towers Stock Exchange was dissolved and reformed in 1890 under revised rules. For the first time it appointed a permanent secretary to work for the benefit of the public who will be admitted to a free call every evening …in the Royal Arcade.32 The operation of the exchange within the Royal Arcade was clearly successful.
At the second meeting of the exchange in May 1890 it was resolved to write a letter to agents of the arcade asking for a three year lease of the premises for the exchange office and use of the courtyard for the evening call. A rush of speculation between May and June of 1890 saw more than 2 million shares change hands in the arcade.33
7 The Stock Exchange building in 1891. The barber’s pole is painted on one of the tenancies and the upper windows sho occupancy by a solicitor. [John Oxley Library, Neg No 16995]
By November 1891 the Stock Exchange brokers offered agents of the building £2 a week ground rent for the space at the rear of the arcade where it was planned to construct a “portable building”. The exchange accepted a tender of £278 for its construction and on completion the exchange was run from this galvanised iron clad building at the rear of the original building.
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Originally there were two calls a day at the Stock Exchange, later 8 The use of the building by the Stock Exchange extended to three calls a day. One call was privately held for the involved the leasing of a part of the courtyard members themselves to exchange shares. The public was allowed to for evening calls and the erection of a attend the evening call only and they crowded into the courtyard to “portable” building in the rear yard. [Charters Towers and its Stock Exchange and National follow the fortunes of the town’s mines. Trust of Queensland file]
In 1895 a major article in the newspaper the Sydney Mail devoted a great deal of space to the town of Charters Towers. By this time the Royal Arcade had clearly been transformed into the Stock Exchange:
…The Stock Exchange is a handsome building in Mosman Street, and the great rendezvous of all classes. The brokers’ “call” is held daily, Sundays excepted, while the public call is held every evening…A large volume of business is transacted annually. The officers for 1895 are as follows: President, Mr Sydney H Thorp; vice-presidents, Mr Michael Dee and Mr Robert Russell; treasurer Mr Angus McCallum; committee, Messrs WD Casey, J Millican, Alan B Bright, while Mr RC Goodyear is the energetic and upright secretary.34
Although constructed as a shopping arcade the building was now used predominantly as an office building. It provided accommodation for a number of professionals.
No doubt the presence of the Stock Exchange in the building attracted stockbrokers, agents and others to rent rooms in the arcade. In 1899 commission agents Gordon Watson and Co had rooms in the Royal Arcade, together with JF Hirsch, auctioneer, and WFR Boyce, a solicitor. In 1903 the arcade still accommodated the professional offices of three sharebrokers as well as four solicitors, a barrister, two surveyors, an
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 2 UNDERSTANDING THE PLACE 17
insurance agent and an engraver. In 1905 a dentist had rooms in the building, along with the sharebrokers, lawyers and surveyors.35
9 This view of Mosman Street ca 1899 shows both sides of the street lined with masonry or second generation buildings. [JOL, Neg No 41142]
Postal directories of Charters Towers indicate that an assayer called GE Bray, an associate of the Otago School of Mines, was present in the Stock Exchange Arcade from 1907. Advertisements of Bray’s business indicated that he assayed and analysed all classes of ores by the latest methods, and charged the lowest rates. His premises were described as the “laboratory”, in the Arcade in Mosman Street.36
Normally associated with batteries private assayers were also a common feature of mining settlements. Assaying is the process by which the quality of a metal or ore is tested. It is performed at the end of the extraction process of gold and by highly qualified persons.
A small brick building attached to the southern rear wall of the building is believed to be purpose built as an assay room probably for Bray. There is no documentary evidence that identifies the construction of the assay room at this time. Physical evidence however suggests a likely period of construction around the turn of the century.
A FTER THE STOCK EXCHA NGE
Popular history suggests that the Stock Exchange closed in 1913, or 1916. While this date appears reasonable given the decline in the goldfields around the time of the First World War a perusal of postal directories for Charters Towers suggests that the Stock Exchange was present in the building until 1925. It was not until 1926 that it relocated to offices in
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 2 UNDERSTANDING THE PLACE 18
Bow Street, not far from the intersection of Gill Street and remained in this location until the early 1940s.37
No records of the Charters Towers Stock Exchange are known to survive that confirm exactly what happened to the institution at that time.
Postal directories indicate that the building remained occupied in the late 1920s and early 1930s as offices for a number of mining and oil companies, and insurance agents. Gordon Wilson, an assayer, had rooms in the arcade and may have occupied the assay room at the rear of the building. A café was included in the list of tenants.
10 This aerial view down Gill Street in the 1930s shows the Stock Exchange, the former Union Bank and the Queensland National Bank. Both banks were design by architect FDG Stanley. [JOL] By the mid 1930s the number of tenants was well down on previous years and only Gordon Wilson, assayer, and Grace Hams, a dressmaker, were recorded with rooms in the arcade. Gordon Wilson remained in the building until his death in 1944. His nephew continued the assaying rooms for a short time after his death.38
By the late 1960s the arcade was underutilised, and pensioners were living in former broker’s offices. Maintenance had not been carried out for some time and the building was in a poor condition. White ants had damaged much of the timber and the glazed roof had all but disappeared.39
Its fortunes however were soon to change again. The building was seen by many as an important building in the history of Charters Towers. It was considered to be the only building that could tell the story of Charters Towers adequately40 and its retention and protection was advocated.
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 2 UNDERSTANDING THE PLACE 19
11 The Stock Exchange in 1966 was in a dilapidated condition. [Richard Stringer]
T HE NATIONAL TRUST
The National Trust of Queensland Act 1963 states, inter alia, that the Trust is:
…to provide for the preservation of and maintenance of chattels, lands and buildings of beauty or of national, historic, artistic, architectural or scientific interest.41
From the early 1970s there was a growing interest in the conservation of historic places. Reflecting community aspirations the labor government of the day established the concept of the National Estate. The Stock Exchange Arcade was one of the first places in Queensland to benefit.
Work done to repair and restore the Charters Towers Stock Exchange building in the 1970s was a community effort with many people taking part. Funds for the refurbishment work were raised locally with a 12 The restoration works in the 1970s under donation of $10,000 given by the Dalrymple Shire Council, while the construction. In the photograph are honorary Commonwealth government gave the fund a grant of $100,000. The total architect Don Roderick, Secretary of the cost of the work was $186,000.42 The work was undertaken by architect National Trust Peter Forrest and National Trust architect Richard Allom. [Roderick] Don Roderick, of Ian Black and Co Architects, who were appointed honorary architects to the National Trust for this project. Roderick had a long interest in the goldfields of Ravenswood and Charters Towers and had written extensively and argued persuasively for their conservation.
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 2 UNDERSTANDING THE PLACE 20
The first stage of the refurbishment of the Stock Exchange opened in November 1972. The Charters Towers branch of the National Trust was formed at the same time, in November 1972. The Charters Towers City Council had purchased the building but then transferred it to the Charters Towers branch of the National Trust.
The first stage of work involved rebuilding of the front awning and carrying out repairs to the façade. Later the glazed roof was reconstructed and works carried out to repair the various tenancies. The building remains in the Trust’s ownership.
The arcade is currently occupied by a café and politician’s office at the street frontage, with a series of small tenancies in the shops at the rear of 13 the building. These include a National Trust gift shop, ice creamery, Measured drawings of the building prepared by draftsman’s office, beauty therapist and lawyer. The former assay room honorary architect Don Roderick of Ian Black is open to visitors as a small mining museum. Parts of the upper and Co. [Roderick] tenancies have been converted to small art gallery called the ‘Don Roderick Gallery’ but they are presently used by the café for evening dining.
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 2 UNDERSTANDING THE PLACE 21
14 The existing ground floor plan of the building and overall views of the front and rear and interior of the arcade. [Allom Lovell]
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 2 UNDERSTANDING THE PLACE 22
15 The existing first floor plan and details of the building including the arched entry and the elaborate encaustic tiled floor. [Allom Lovell]
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 2 UNDERSTANDING THE PLACE 23
16 The existing roof plan and views of the Assay building constructed some years after the arcade was completed. [Allom Lovell]
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 3 UNDERSTANDING THE SIGNIFICANCE 24
3 UNDERSTANDING THE SIGNIFICANCE
he Stock Exchange Arcade is a visible and well loved part of T Charters Towers. Its cultural significance lies in this but also in more subtle aspects some of which come from an understanding of its place in a wider Australian context.
3 . 1 A B O U T C ULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
Cultural significance is the term used to embrace the range of qualities that make some places especially important to the community, over and above their basic utilitarian function. These places are usually those that help understand the past, enrich the present, and that will be of value to future generations.
The Burra Charter of Australia ICOMOS defines cultural significance as aesthetic, historic, scientific or social value for past, present, and future generations.43
It is a simple concept, helping to identify and assess the attributes which make a place of value to people and society. An understanding of it is therefore basic to any planning process with historic buildings or places. Once the significance of a place is understood, informed policy decisions can be made which will enable that significance to be retained, revealed, or at least impaired as little as possible. A clear understanding of the nature and level of the significance of a place not only suggests constraints on future action, it also introduces flexibility into the process by identifying areas which can be adapted or developed with greater freedom.44
3 . 2 A RCADES
The Stock Exchange building in Charters Towers was originally constructed as a shopping arcade.
Shopping arcades were a prominent development in the business districts of the major Australian cities in the second half of the nineteenth century. While small arcades of glass roofed shops had been common in France in the eighteenth century, they were an identifiable feature of the Victorian period associated with the rise of shopping and the middle classes.
To accommodate the increasing numbers of these middle class shoppers in the nineteenth century shopping arcades linking streets together were constructed. The first of these was the Burlington Arcade of 1819 in London. While the arcades provided a space protected from the elements they were also an efficient way of developing commercial space in a
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 3 UNDERSTANDING THE SIGNIFICANCE 25
built-up area. Quite often arcades contained exclusive and up-market shops that specialised in choice and expensive merchandise.45
The most outstanding and perhaps best known is the Galleria 1865-7 to the design of Mengoni and was shopping centre, meeting place and pedestrian route linking the cathedral of Milan with La Scala. It too was a celebration of new bourgeois freedom in Italy.46
Arcades were usually more exclusive places than the normal stores and shops and sold specialist merchandise. As a result they were buildings with relatively grand finishes and fittings suitable for a more upmarket clientele than the standard store.
The first shopping arcade to be constructed in Australia was the Queen’s Arcade in Melbourne, constructed in 1853. This arcade was followed by many others in this period of “marvellous Melbourne”, fuelled by the wealth brought into the town through gold mining. These include the 17 Block Arcade and the Royal Arcade. Shopping arcades were not The Galleria in Milan is the most outstanding constructed in Sydney until 1881 with the establishment of the Sydney shopping arcade constructed in the 1860s. The Royal Arcade also used the arch to define the Arcade. The Strand Arcade was constructed in that city in the 1890s. entrance. [Modern Architecture and Design, While Brisbane’s most famous arcade, the Brisbane Arcade, was not Risebero] constructed until the 1920s there were others in the city in the 1880s. The Grand Arcade (its location is not known) was one of these.
Few nineteenth century shopping arcades survive in Australian cities. 18 The Royal Arcade in Melbourne constructed Most of those that do are located in Sydney and Melbourne and include some twenty years before the Royal Arcade in the famous Strand Arcade in Sydney and the Block Arcade in Melbourne. Charters Towers exhibits many similarities The Royal Arcade in Melbourne, constructed in 1869, is the earliest including the classical front with the arched entrance, the glazed roof and the name. surviving example of an arcade in the country. [Victoria Heritage website]
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 3 UNDERSTANDING THE SIGNIFICANCE 26
Together they demonstrate a period of economic and social history of opulence and the growth of shopping as a specialised activity. Apart from the Charters Towers Stock Exchange Arcade, no other arcades in country towns are known to have been built and to survive and has significance for this reason.
3 . 3 T HE STOCK EXCHANGE
Charters Towers is one of the few country towns in Australia to have had a stock exchange operating in its midst.
A stock exchange is essentially a market where shares in companies were traded, with a regular time and place for dealing. A central location for trading was important – the more potential buyers and sellers that could be brought together the more business would be transacted. That was the idea behind the free and open market exemplified by the modern stock exchange. Rules were established to cover dealing in order to avoid misunderstandings about the trade, to ensure rapid dealings and prompt settlements, and prevent the development of artificial prices.47
In most cases stock exchanges were found in capital cities. The first association of Melbourne stockbrokers was formed in 1861, while in Sydney the first meetings to coordinate activities were held in 1872. Official stock exchanges in those cities were formed by the 1880s.
I N QUEENSLAND
In Queensland the Companies Act was passed in 1863 introducing the concept of limited liability companies. Before then promoters required a special Act of Parliament in order to float shares. Cotton, sugar and land companies were registered by 1865 but in 1868 there was a marked shift of 20 companies registered in that year; 17 of these were gold mining or quartz crushing companies based in Gympie or Rockhampton. Between 1875 and 1883, the number of gold mining companies registered in Queensland increased from 21 to 170, the amount of (nominal) capital invested in these companies increased from £538,800 to £2,608,790. Many of these were based in Gympie but many were also based in Charters Towers. 48
Sharebroking activities, the purchase and sale of shares in these early companies, were initially carried out by commission agents, auctioneers and others and there was a growing market for stockbrokers to deal in the sale and purchase of shares. In 1867 one stock and sharebroker was recorded in Brisbane directories. In 1868 this had jumped to five and numbers increased steadily in the 1870s. The number of available shares in operating gold mining companies boomed in the early 1880s, leading to calls for the establishment of a formal stock exchange in the colony’s capital. A central exchange it was argued would provide information to
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 3 UNDERSTANDING THE SIGNIFICANCE 27
shareholders on the progress of companies and allow for the formalisation of share quotations and transactions.49
The Brisbane Stock Exchange was officially established in July 1884 formed out of the remnants of two similar associations, the Brisbane Exchange and an association of share brokers. By the end of 1884 the Brisbane Stock Exchange was the only institution in the capital to offer share transactions. It was however not the only institution in the colony. In the same year a stock exchange was formed in Gympie some 200 kilometres north of Brisbane.
The Gympie Stock Exchange was officially opened in July 1884, just prior 19 On the left is the Brisbane Stock Exchange to the Brisbane institution. The stock exchange premises for many years opened in 1884 and on the right the Gympie was a building originally constructed in 1888 as the Australian Joint Stock Exchange which opened in the same month. [JOL Neg No 107345, The Brisbane Stock Bank, and purchased by the stock exchange in 1894 after the bank Stock Exchange 1884-1984, Lougheed] closed its doors. The offices and club were located in the building itself while the call room was located in a timber building at the rear of the site.
Located in Upper Mary Street in the main business area of the town, it is thought that the former stock exchange building in Gympie still survives.50
There are records in contemporary newspapers of a Townsville Stock Exchange operating in the late nineteenth century in that city. Little is known about the institution nor its premises – it is likely that its establishment was predicated on the development of gold mining in Charters Towers.
Other major gold mining centres of the nineteenth century such as Bendigo and Ballarat in Victoria, and Coolgardie in Western Australia also had stock exchanges.51
The fate of stock exchanges away from the capital city was somewhat inevitable. When gold mining ceased or became unprofitable the large
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 3 UNDERSTANDING THE SIGNIFICANCE 28
mining companies also began to decline. When there were fewer companies operating on the field, there were fewer shares to buy and sell and less need for sharebrokers or a stock exchange. The major stock exchanges in the capital cities had a wider base of companies in whose shares they traded which ensured a long future for the brokers and for the institution.52
3 . 4 A RCHITECTURAL QUALITI ES
In any terms the Charters Towers Stock Exchange is a dramatic building. Even in Charters Towers the arcade stands out as a building in which little expense was spared in creating an arcade of scale, substance and ornament. Indeed contemporary reports reflect the admiration for this place even before it was constructed. There was nothing like it anywhere in Queensland.
Little is known of its architect Mark Day. His other known work in Queensland the North Queensland Insurance Building has nothing of the exuberance and flair of the Stock Exchange Arcade and is, by comparison, a conventional even ordinary late nineteenth century composition.
Interestingly the Stock Exchange Arcade has closer architectural ties to the Milan Galleria and to Royal Arcade in Melbourne erected in 1869 to the design of architect Charles Webb. It is the oldest surviving arcade in Melbourne and remains a landmark in that city. While twenty years separate the two buildings in its elevation to Bourke Street and in its double height arcade it has remarkable similarities to Day’s work in Charters Towers. Its arched verandah, also similar to the Stock Exchange 20 Arcade, interestingly was later. The North Queensland Insurance Office is the only other building in Queensland known to be designed by architect Mark Day. [Townsville In this architectural anachronism the building has significance. While CBD Heritage Study, Thom Blake] other second generation buildings in Charters Towers are elaborate they are by and large more restrained. The Stock Exchange Arcade is more free in its classical expression and in its use of space.
21 The two bank buildings in the Mosman Street were both designed by FDG Stanley and are more conservative in their expression than the Stock Exchange. [Allom Lovell]
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 3 UNDERSTANDING THE SIGNIFICANCE 29
While changes were made to the building after the Stock Exchange became its tenant those changes were largely superficial. There is no evidence to suggest that the architecture of the building was a primary reason for the choice of this place as a Stock Exchange. Public calls appear to have been made from the arcade floor itself and not from the balcony as some claim. No doubt however the large crowds which attended evening calls were well accommodated in such a commodious volume. The purpose built “portable building” no longer survives.
The Brisbane Stock Exchange operated in a purpose made building. While offices were officially rented specialist premises were constructed for the Exchange in Queen Street Brisbane in 1888 to a design by architects Hunter and Corrie. The building does not survive.
The Gympie Stock Exchange operated in a former bank building. The extent and nature of any changes that may have been made to that building to enable it to operate as a Stock Exchange are not known but the building which does survive has nothing of the aura that surrounds its equivalent in Charters Towers.
3 . 5 T OWNSCAPE QUALITIES
Photographs of Mosman Street in the late 1870s show a town of conventional appearance. Timber shops and hotels mostly of single storied construction line the street.
By the late 1880s these had all been replaced with buildings which reflect the expansive wealth and optimism of the new decade. Now two storied masonry buildings with architectural pretensions are the norm. The town has been transformed.
The Stock Exchange was a central part of this transformation. Together with the Queensland National Bank (now the City Hall), the former Australian Joint Stock Bank (now the World Theatre) and the more modest Union Bank (now the Tourist Information Centre) and others the Arcade demonstrated the faith of Charters Towers in its own future.
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 3 UNDERSTANDING THE SIGNIFICANCE 30
22 Today those buildings are an evocative reminder of that period of the The view of Mosman Street has changed little city’s history and contribute to the appreciation of Charters Towers as a since its nineteenth century appearance. city in which townscape values are of a high order. Despite some losses [Roderick, Allom Lovell] few other cities in Queensland have such an intact and important collection of late nineteenth century buildings and certainly not on the scale that is evident here. Quay Street, Rockhampton is perhaps a more intact and cohesive streetscape of a slightly later period and Maryborough, too, has a fine townscape.
At Charters Towers the townscape, of which the Stock Exchange Arcade is the centrepiece, represents a special part of Queensland’s history and has particular significance for that reason.
3 . 6 S TATEMENT OF SIGNIFIC ANCE
The Charters Towers Stock Exchange Arcade is a rare example of a nineteenth century shopping arcade. Its significance is enhanced by the fact that it was constructed in a provincial city that saw itself as equal to the capital and indeed, in its extraordinary wealth and optimism as “The World”.
It became the Charters Towers Stock Exchange in 1890, one of only a few such to operate outside Australia’s capital cities and was one of the largest serving in this role – remaining in operation at this site for nearly 40 years.
Its use as a stock exchange had the result in making the building an icon within the city and beyond, representing all that Charters Towers stands for in historic terms.
It is an elegant building designed by a Sydney architect, Mark Day, an unusual occurrence in country Queensland in the 1880s and makes a major contribution to the understanding of Charters Towers through its architecture. In townscape terms it is equally significant and together
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 3 UNDERSTANDING THE SIGNIFICANCE 31
with other buildings of its time including the former Queensland National Bank, the former Australian Joint Stock Bank and the former Union Bank helps to mark the intersection of Mosman and Gill Street, the figurative and literal centre of the city.
Its cultural significance was deservedly recognised nearly thirty years ago and it was one of the first places in Queensland to be conserved by the newly formed National Trust of Queensland.
Its long history in this aspect, as in others, makes the Charters Towers Stock Exchange one of the more significant places in Queensland.
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 4 A VISION 32
4 A VISION
he Stock Exchange Arcade is a remarkable building. Constructed as a T purpose built shopping arcade and following the fashion for that type of building which began in France in the 1820s and spread to Sydney and Melbourne, it represents the enormous optimism for the future of Charters Towers by its early speculators.
Although constructed and used briefly as a shopping arcade the building is best known for its use as the Stock Exchange for the city for a period of some 30 years. While the stock exchange activity was thought to have occupied only a small office in the building and a purpose built “portable” building for the meetings of the Board the building became the symbol of Charters Towers and remains today an icon within the city and Queensland itself.
The Stock Exchange has been transformed in the past several decades from a derelict building to one of the finest buildings in the city.
The site has been identified by the Queensland Heritage Trails Network project as one of central importance in understanding the place of Charters Towers in Queensland’s history and is to provide the key orientation and focussing point for tourism in the city. This project will provide an opportunity to understand not only the significance of the place but will set a new vision for the use, conservation and interpretation of the building.
4 . 1 U SE
The building today is fully occupied by a mixture of tenants including the local member of parliament, a coffee shop, a beauty therapist, an ice cream shop, a drafting office, a solicitor’s office and the National Trust gift shop. The sense of the place as a vital part of the Charters Towers commercial life is important and the mix of tenants should be reviewed with the objective of removing professional offices from the lower floor and having retail tenants who will set up window displays in the windows. The present practice of covering windows with curtains is making the arcade uninviting for “window shoppers”. It may be possible to relocate some of the professional offices to the upper floor of the building into the spaces originally divided into 6 separate single offices. Although this section of the building does not have access by a lift it is likely to provide a good quality of accommodation for architects, draftsmen and other professional people. This space is not appropriate for more public uses which will require the installation of a lift.
The new uses required by the Queensland Heritage Trails Network include a tourist information centre and “interpretive” display. There is also a need for a gathering point for visitors to direct them to the cinema
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 4 A VISION 33
in the World Theatre. It is proposed that at least one of the front tenancies be used for the Tourist Information Centre.
As a part of that arrangement it is proposed to move the coffee shop to the location of the National Trust shop. This will do two things. It will remove the chairs and tables from the entrance to the building and will also draw both tourists and residents through to the rear of the arcade so that they walk past the other shops in the arcade.
The remaining shops in the arcade may have a mix of retail and tourist retail use. It is important to recognise that tourism in Charters Towers has tended to be seasonal and while this may change in the long term it is important the use of the Stock Exchange does not become seasonal with some shops being closed for 6 months of the year.
4 . 2 C ONSERVATION
The approach to the conservation of the fabric should continue the philosophy and standards established by the National Trust of Queensland. The fabric should be repaired where it is deteriorating rather than a wholesale replacement of materials. The recent conservation work to the encaustic tiled floor is a good example of this in which patination of age and use remains.
The building may be adapted in so far as recent lightweight partitions, basins and kitchens may be removed or rearranged. The external building form or the arcade form should however not be changed or altered and the building should not be extended.
The reconstruction of some missing elements may assist in understanding the significance of the place. These include the wrought iron gates at the rear of the arcade, the “sunlight” gas light fittings which hung in the arcade and allowed it to be used for late night shopping and the lectern for Stock Exchange calls to the rear of the arcade. A portion of the “portable” building to the rear of the arcade might be reconstructed to demonstrate its location and scale.
Some elements which are currently stored or displayed in the building are not associated with the building confuse the history of the place and should be removed. They include the baptismal font and the large freestanding light fitting.
Some daily practices are causing damage to the significant fabric. They include the watering of pot plants throughout the arcade which are damaging the encaustic tile floors. The watering of the grass at the rear of the arcade is also having a detrimental impact on the tiled floor and the brickwork of the assay building. The grass should be removed adjacent to the buildings and replaced with a material which does not require watering. The watering of the adjacent gardens of the former
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 4 A VISION 34
Union Bank by the City Council is also causing the adjacent masonry walls to deteriorate.
Controls should be developed to manage pot plants, signage, loose furniture and other elements which impact on visitor appreciation of the space. These elements should be chosen to cause no damage to the fabric of the building.
4 . 3 T HE BUILDING AS A PAR T OF THE CITY
The Stock Exchange building makes an important contribution to the Mosman Street streetscape. Any changes to this part of the city should recognise the significance of this building. Views to the building from Mosman and Gill Streets should not be blocked by new structures. Equally important is the framed view from the rear of the arcade to the quintessential Charters Towers house and mango tree. Some attempt should be made to ensure that the view of the house and tree are maintained.
4 . 4 I NTERPRETATION
The interpretation of the significance of the building as a nineteenth century shopping arcade is occurring and will be enhanced by adjusting the mix of tenants to make the building more “active”.
It is important that any interpretation seek to explain the extraordinary optimism demonstrated by speculators in the city in the nineteenth century. That story should include the discovery of gold which lead to the construction of the second generation of grand masonry buildings in the centre of town of which this building was one.
The story of the stock exchange and assay office in the building should also be explained. There is an opportunity for the re-enactment of the daily calls of the stock exchange at a reconstructed lectern by an appropriately dressed actor or by the use of an audio device. The role of the assay office and building and its connection to gold and the stock exchange is worthy of explanation. The present display while interesting to some visitors would benefit by further explanation and illustration.
4 . 5 M ANAGEMEN T
The Queensland Heritage Trails Network together with a local Steering Committee has proposed a management structure for the Stock Exchange Arcade in which it remains a property of the National Trust of Queensland and is managed for the benefit of the city by a committee (Charters Towers Inc) representing the Trust, the city of Charters Towers, the Shire of Dalrymple and the Charters Towers Tourism and Development Association.
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 4 A VISION 35
Any new management structure will need to carefully define the roles of the building owner and Charters Towers Inc to ensure that adequate funding is available to ensure the long term care and conservation of the building.
The management of the building should, in future, be responsive to the commercial expectations of the buildings owners and to the broader aspirations of the community to see the buildings as the centre piece of the visitor experience in the city.
23 The vision for the building is summarised in these sketches. [Allom Lovell]
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 5 CONSERVATION POLICY 36
5 CONSERVATION POLICY
he purpose of the conservation policies set out in this section is to T provide a guide to the development and care of the Stock Exchange in ways that retain its significance. The policies aim to:
retain the integrity of the site; provide an approach to the conservation of architectural fabric; provide an approach to the daily management of the architectural fabric; permit adaptation and new works which will make the place more effective in its principal role as a shopping arcade; outline procedures by which these objectives may be achieved.
The policies have been developed taking into account factors including the resources of the owner, the aspiration of the present Queensland Heritage Trails project, the condition of the fabric and the capacity of the place to accommodate and change or new use.
In this chapter the various policies are set out under a number of headings, starting at the most general and working toward more specific issues and matters. In each case the argument and material on which its police is included with the statement of policy.
5 . 1 M ANAGEMENT
Management of the Stock Exchange will require a single vision, commitment of resources and an agreed and close relationship between all stakeholders. The place is an important one in Queensland’s history and has the potential to be a substantial resource within the district given appropriate management.
S INGLE ENTITY IN CONT ROL
The proposed situation in which the National Trust of Queensland is the building owner and the building is managed by Charters Towers Inc is an appropriate one. Responsibilities will however need to be clarified particularly in the light of the present initiative to develop this place.
Policy 1: Regardless of the ownership and management the ultimate decision making and control should be the responsibility of a single group or committee. The significance of the Stock Exchange and the value of the place as a resource requires a management structure that is focussed and in which decision making is centralised. The National Trust has been exemplary in its care of the building to date. Any new management structure must ensure that this reputation is not compromised.
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 5 CONSERVATION POLICY 37
A PPROPRIATE SKILLS
The composition of any committee or group of management should reflect not only the various stakeholders in the broader management of this place but experts in the care and the management of the resource.
Policy 2: Members of any entity appointed to manage the place should be selected primarily to provide a range of skills and experience relevant to the conservation, development and use of the site. The management of any historic place will require skills across a wide spectrum including those associated with the conservation of the various elements, marketing, management and community interests. The composition of any management committee at the Stock Exchange should be structured in a way in which these skills are represented.
5 . 2 A N APPROACH TO CONSER VATION
The significance of the Stock Exchange Arcade is primarily in its symbolism of the wealth and optimism which existed in the city in the late nineteenth century. That significance is expressed in the form and detail of the building arranged as a series of small shops around a glazed arcade. Of significance also was the unusual location of the Stock Exchange within the shopping arcade which resulted in the building being extended to include an assay room and a building for meetings of the Board which does not survive.
The building was one of the first buildings to be conserved by the National Trust of Queensland in the 1970s. At that time it was taken from a derelict and largely vacant building and conserved and given a new use.
The conservation approach established by the National Trust since the major restoration program has served the building well and has been considered in the preparation of these policies. A gentle conservation approach is therefore called for in which existing material is conserved and maintained rather than being replaced. Neither is there a need for major restoration or reconstruction. Indeed the sense of patination and gentle deterioration is part of the significance and should be conserved.
B U R R A C HARTER
It is essential that work at the Stock Exchange Arcade be of a standard that reflects and is influenced by the cultural significance of the place and of its various parts.
Policy 3: All work at the Stock Exchange, whether planning or capital works should be carried out in accordance with accepted standards and procedures for the conservation and management of cultural material.
THE STOCK EXCHANGE 5 CONSERVATION POLICY 38
The Stock Exchange is a building of substantial cultural significance and any work at the place should be of a standard that reflects that significance. The various charters, guidelines and standards of organisations such as the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) should be followed to enable a consistent and professional approach and to serve as a useful bench mark or reference point for work to be carried out.
A CTION INFORMED BY SI GNIFICANCE
The significance of the Stock Exchange is set out in earlier sections of this report. All of the action which occurs at the place should be informed by an understanding of the significance of the relative parts.
Policy 4: The building should be conserved, presented and used by the wider public in a manner which recognises its special significance. That significance lies in its symbolism of the wealth and optimism of the nineteenth century in Charters Towers. The more significant a concept, fabric, relationship, space or vista, the more should care be exercised in preparing proposals that may affect the place – the objective being to ensure that the work will not reduce, and may reinforce, the identified significance.
This understanding of the levels of significance helps introduce the flexibility necessary for the management of change.
5 . 3 C OMPATIBLE USE
Since the 1970s restoration the building has been used for a variety of retail tenancies and professional offices. It has also housed the National Trust office and gift shop. Those uses are compatible with the significance of the place and its original intended use.
Policy 5: The building should continue to be used for a combination of retail and professional offices. The retail tenancies should be located on the ground floor in the glass fronted shops and the professional offices on the upper floor.
On a more detailed level the location of those uses within the building can impact on an understanding of the significance of the place. It is more appropriate for the retail uses to be in the glass fronted shops on the ground floor and for the professional offices to be located on the first floor. The glass shop fronts should be used for window displays and the doors should provide access to the various shops. The present tendency for a single tenant to occupy two or more tenancies may result in the arcade being less activated by pedestrians.
The assay building is the only assay room in the centre of the city which can explain this aspect of the city’s history. Its use as an interpretive
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display is appropriate. It has been used as a museum or historic display since the 1970s restoration. It was used as an operating assay room until well into the 20th century.
Policy 6: The assay building should continue to be used as an interpretive display area with more emphasis on the assay process.
The interior of the assay building survives largely unchanged from when it was an active assay room. Some more emphasis on the assay process might be appropriate but in any event care should be taken not to impact on its significance in any new interpretation placed in this space.
The arcade has been used in recent times as a sitting area for the coffee shop and as a place for visitors to browse at the shops. It is also used from time to time for special functions. All of these uses are acceptable provided that they do not interfere with the use of the building by the general community and providing they do not damage the fabric including the tiled floor.
Policy 7: The arcade space should continue to be used for activities accessible to the public providing such activities do not damage the fabric including the tiled floor.
5 . 4 T H E S I T E
A large part of the significance of the stock exchange is in its contribution to the streetscape of the Mosman and Gill Streets intersection. The building forms a group together with two other two storey banks which contain the World Theatre and the Council Chambers and with the former single storey Lawsons Restaurant and the Tourist Information.
V IEWS TO THE BUILDING
As the building is constructed up to the front and side alignments very little can happen within its own site to impact on its setting. Both adjacent sites are however underutilised and may be considered for redevelopment in the future.
Policy 8: The immediate views of the building should be considered in any redevelopment of the adjacent sites.
Care should be taken in any redevelopment of the adjacent sites of the Country Women’s Association and the park in the front of the former Union Bank so that new developments acknowledge the significance of this place. Historically, the Stock Exchange had buildings on both sides which sat on the front alignment. Any new development should be informed by this historical context.
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V IEW FROM THE BUILDIN G
A significant view from the building is through the arcade to the house and mango tree at 104 King Street. This view should be maintained and no structures should be constructed on this site or in the park at the rear which will interfere with that view.
Policy 9: The significant view from the building to the house and mango tree at 104 King Street should be retained.
An opportunity exists to ensure the protection of this view by the purchase of the house and its adaptation as accommodation for visitors to Charters Towers experience. At the very east its listing as part of the Stock Exchange site should be considered.
E XPANSION OF THE SITE 24 The view from the arcade through the park to This site is significant as a site on its own allotment. Any expansion of the house and Mango tree in King Street should be conserved. [Allom Lovell] and connection to adjacent sites in Mosman Street has the potential to impact on the significance of this place. While expansion is acceptable care should be taken to ensure that this site is visually separate from the adjacent sites.
Policy 10: Expansion of this site is acceptable providing the building is visually separated from the adjacent sites so that its historic subdivision pattern is legible.
Opportunity may exist in the future to provide additional floor area on the site of the CWA Hall or the Tourist Information Centre.
N EW STRUCTURES
Given the outstanding significance of this site, new structures should not be contemplated in the rear yard.
Policy 11: No new structures should be contemplated in the rear yard of the site. Additional space outside of the existing floor area may be required to assist in any future use of the building. Alternative options outside of this site should be sought to expand the existing space. They may include the use of neighbouring toilets in the park and at the World Theatre for the general public and in the use of existing storage facilities housed on the adjacent Council site.
A RCHAEOLOGI CAL REMAINS
Given the little information that is presently known about the rear of the site and the lack of disturbance of this area there may well be archaeological remans on this part of the site which will prove useful in
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understanding the use of the place. These should not be disturbed other than by an experienced archaeologist.
Policy 12: The rear yard should not be disturbed without the involvement of an experienced archaeologist.
Archaeological work should only take place where it is considered that the resulting information will assist in understanding the significance of the place.
5 . 5 T HE BUILDING
The building is largely in its form of 1906 when the assay building was constructed. Changes from the early plan form are limited to tenancy fitouts and the construction of a new toilet block in the garden. The architectural value of the building is high and warrants the highest conservation standards.
M AINTENANCE AND REPAI R
The key to the care of the Stock Exchange lies not in major restoration but in constant and regular maintenance of the existing fabric of the building and the grounds. The elements will require an approach that repairs deterioration or damage as it occurs.
Policy 13: Adequate and intelligent cyclical maintenance and timely major 25 repair should be accepted as a vital part of the conservation program. The patination of the building is most clearly demonstrated in the encaustic tiled floor and in There is sometimes a tendency to believe that elements have reached the the all parts of the assay building including the end of their useful life or are beyond repair. At a place such as the Stock roof sheeting. [Allom Lovell] Exchange where the early fabric contains evidence of the history of the place this approach can be destructive and adversely affect the cultural significance. The approach established in the recent repairs of the encaustic tiled floor where the damaged tiles are repaired or replaced in small quantities is a good example of this policy in action.
P ATINATION
A part of the significance and pleasure of the Stock Exchange Arcade is the evidence of wear and patination expressed in the historic fabric. This is particularly evident in the assay building and in the encaustic tiled floor. Policy 14: Any conservation work should retain the evidence of wear and patination of age. While much of the building has been painted using modern paints the assay building has been painted using a traditional limewash on the red brick walls and this distinction to retain the patination of the rear building is important. The roof sheeting of that building is also early and showing signs of patination. This sheeting should not be painted or
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replaced but should be preserved. The encaustic tiled floor which covers the arcade of the building is similarly showing the signs of wear and patination. It is in itself a very significant part of the building and should be gently preserved.
R ECONSTRUCTION
The Stock Exchange building has changed very little from its form at the beginning of the 20th century. The major restoration program in the 1970s included reconstruction of many of the missing elements of the building. More recent reconstruction has included the exterior colour scheme. Reconstruction of missing elements should only be carried out where it will assist in an understanding of the significance of the place and where sufficient physical and documentary evidence survives. Policy 15: Reconstruction should be limited to elements which will assist in an understanding of the cultural significance. Some elements have been identified during the preparation of this study which would be useful to reconstruct. They include the wrought iron gates which closed the rear of the arcade off from the back yard. These were modified and relocated to the front of the arcade in recent years and it is considered more straightforward to reconstruct new gates for the rear of the arcade. Other elements worthy of reconstruction include the “sunlight” gas fittings which were approximately 7 feet in diameter and hung in the arcade and the lectern used for the evening public calls of the Stock Exchange. The upper floor of the building was used for professional offices and the room arrangement may be reconstructed. However insufficient evidence survives of the detail of those walls. Insufficient evidence is presently available for the reconstruction of the “portable” building. Interpretation of the location and scale of this element on the ground may be warranted.
I NTRUSIVE ELEMENTS
The building has been managed well so that very few elements intrude on its significance. There has been a tendency to use the building as a general museum and in the future no artefacts should be brought to the site which are not connected with its history. Policy16: Intrusive elements identified in this document should be removed from the site. The artefacts which presently confuse the history of the place include the baptismal font and the standard light fitting both of which are displayed 26 in the rear yard. Other elements which are intrusive include the planters The reconstruction of some missing elements which are clearly seen in this interior view may with the golden cane palms and the recent landscaping at the rear of the be worthwhile and the removal of some yard. intrusive elements would assist in the understanding of the site. [Allom Lovell]
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A DAPTATION
Adaptation of the building for a new use should not involve any change in the façade, the glass fronted shopfronts or in the arcade itself. A limited opportunity exists to create new openings in the masonry dividing walls between the shops. However where possible uses should be sought which match the existing volumes and spaces of the building. Policy 17: Adaptation of the building should limit any changes to the significant fabric of the building and should not change to overall sense of the building as a series of shops arranged around an arcade. The spaces in the building are small by current standards and changes have been made in the past to remove walls and construct new openings between the shops. Adaptation should not change the overall sense of the building as a series of shops arranged around an arcade. Adaptation should also include the installation of fire and intruder detection systems to ensure that the building is monitored at all time of the day and night
T ENANCY FITOUTS
The use of the building by a range of changing tenants has meant that the tenancy fitouts are changed on a fairly regular basis. Fitouts include lightweight partitions, joinery items, sinks, basins and air conditioners fitted in the side service areas. None of these elements are culturally significant and they may be removed or continue to be altered provided they do not have long term impact on the significant fabric of the place. Policy 18: Non-significant elements in the tenancy fitouts may continue to be altered providing they do not impact on the significant fabric. Care should be taken that all fitouts for tenancies are reversible and do not cause any damage to significant fabric. For example wet areas should be installed so as not to damage brickwork. The style and detail of any new fitout should be contemporary and clearly recognisable from the historic fabric.
C OLOURS AND SIGNAGE
A part of the experience of visiting the building is the idea of a building which is not fixed in time. It is the fine details which have contributed to that experience such as the modest and appropriate signage and the use of accurate earlier colour schemes in the building. Policy 19: Signage should be limited to the hanging “shingles” above the doors and the painted signage on the street awning. The colour and style 27 should be based on nineteenth century models. This element should not The disciplined system of signage established at the building should be continued. Signage dominate any part of the building. should not dominate the architecture of the building. [Allom Lovell]
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Policy 20: The use of early historic colours is appropriate as it allows an understanding of the intent of the early owners and architects of the building and should be maintained. It is in the matters of colour and signage that the building can be enhanced. A disciplined approach will be needed by the building’s managers to ensure that tenants work within the existing model. The recent sign for the MLA office which is mounted on the awning has not conformed to the location, colour or style of lettering and is an example of how quickly the appearance of the building can be damaged.
A HOUSEKEEPING MANUAL
This building is effectively a small shopping centre and for this reason it requires the preparation of a housekeeping manual which sets out the elements of the building requiring special care. It also provides an opportunity to set out guidelines for elements such as loose furniture, pot plants and signage. Policy 21: A housekeeping manual should be prepared for the building which sets out clearly instructions for the daily and regular care of the architectural fabric and which sets in place guidelines for loose items such as furniture, pot plants and signage. Significant damage to the building can take place over a long period of time through the hosing of the tiled floor, the sprinkling of grass in the rear yard, the watering of pot plants or the scraping of loose furniture across the floor. This manual should assist to manage those potential problems.
28 The housekeeping manual will assist to manage potentially damaging elements such as pot plants and loose items. [Allom Lovell]
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5 . 6 V ISITORS
The Stock Exchange is the most visited building in the city by visiting tourists and it is one of the most loved by the local residents.
Visitors should have an important part in the future of the building. Every effort should be made to ensure that visitors understand the significance of the Stock Exchange, learn from it and leave with a positive attitude that may encourage their return.
V ISITOR TYPES
The visitors to the building will come for a variety of reasons and opportunity exists to develop the arcade as the place for both local visitors and travelling visitors to enjoy. Visitors to the place may make use of the resource at four levels:
1. Use of the retail and professional offices to provide service; 2. As the orientation point for the Charters Towers experience; 3. As a place to learn about the history of the stock exchange ; 4. As a place for special functions.
Policy 22: Management strategies should be implemented to facilitate visitor needs at each of these four levels.
Care should be taken to balance the approach across a range of visitor types so that the building does not come alive only during the tourist season in the year and so that it is enjoyed by the local community throughout the year.
A CCE SS FOR PEOPLE WITH D ISABILITIES
In any publicly accessible facility there will need to be provision for the disabled. These issues are sometimes difficult to resolve in historic properties where the provision of ramps, higher levels of lighting, and the like sometimes can compromise the integrity of the place. However, the Stock Exchange is relatively straightforward in providing access to the ground floor. Access to the first floor is more difficult.
Policy 23: The provision of facilities for the disabled should be considered in any plans for the conservation or future development of the Stock Exchange. Within the historic fabric this work should be carried out in a manner which respects the integrity of the place. Dealing with disabled access in historic places can sometimes cause major modifications which are not always in the best interest of the property. At the Stock Exchange accessibility to the ground floor is not a major issue and access can be provided from Mosman Street with some modification of the footpath levels at the southern end of the entrance. No modification should occur to the marble nosing or tiled floor. There
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is little opportunity for the installation of a lift to the first floor without major modification to the stairwell or the arcade space of the building and potential adverse impact on significance.
V ISITOR EXPECTATION
An important part of the experience of visiting the Stock Exchange is the feeling of being in a nineteenth century building. That experience is largely due to the impressive architecture of the interior but it has been carefully enhanced by the use of accurate early colour schemes, the use of standard signage systems which are appropriate for the nineteenth century and in limiting any intrusions from colour, signs, or other elements which can damage the experience.
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6 IMPLEMENTATION
ollowing the completion of the conservation and management plan, F the steering committee for Charters Towers Queensland Heritage Trails Project will be faced with the question of which action is more urgent in order to bring the Stock Exchange to a working state envisaged in the conservation and management plan. There may be some temptation to begin with actions that are visible but some restraint will be necessary in order to put in place the necessary management systems and infrastructure to accommodate these initiatives.
Policy implementation in the short to medium term should therefore include the following actions:
P REPARE INTERPRETATIO N P L A N
An interpretation plan should be prepared for the site which explores the stories to be told and the most appropriate means of telling them given the cultural significance of the place.
T ENANCIES
Review the leases for all existing tenants to understand their present commitment and the options to change the mix and location of tenants within the arcade in both the short and medium term.
P REPARE SCHEMA T IC DESIGNS FOR THE A DAPTATION OF THE BUILDING
Prepare sketch plans for the adaptation and use of the building based on the business plan, the conservation plan and the tenancy obligations.
N EGOTIATE WITH TENANT S
Negotiations should take place with tenants in accordance with the schematic designs for the place.
D OCUMENT CONSERVATION AND ADAPTATION WORKS
Working drawings and specifications should be prepared setting out the necessary works required to the building and for the design of adaptation work in accordance with the policies. It should also include the removal of intrusive elements.
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D OCUMENT INTERPRETATI O N W O R K S
The interpretation works for the site should be documented. They may also include the preparation of brochures and material other than building fitout.
C ONSTRUCTION WORKS
The construction of the conservation work and adaptation of the existing buildings should then be carried out.
I NTERPRETATION WORKS
The physical aspects of the interpretation of the site should then be carried out. Co-ordination will be required as some of the works may be carried out as a part of the earlier construction works stage. For example for the wiring of specialist lighting or sound to highlight the various parts of the site.
P REPARE HOUSEKEEPING MANUAL
The housekeeping manual will be an important tool for the daily management of the building. It should be produced ready for the completion of the construction works.
CTCC TO REMOVE GARDENS FR O M G E O R G E F O Y P ARK
The removal of the adjacent garden beds will assist in reducing the rate of deterioration of the masonry northern wall of the building.
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7 APPENDIX
his section addresses the condition of the Stock Exchange Arcade. T The building was inspected in August 2001. A cherry picker was used to view the roofs to the front section from Mosman Street. Particular defects are noted on the drawings in this section.
7 . 1 C ONDITION
The building is generally in good condition. No major defects are evident and those noted are in the main maintenance type issues. Most relate to management of rainwater and ground water, and resultant effects.
R OOFING AND R A I N W A T E R G OODS
The existing galvanised roofing, except for that of the Assay Room, appears to date from the 1970’s restoration. The roofs and associated cappings and flashings are sound and rust-free, except for several minor patches. The galvanised cappings over the projecting inter-shop walls have some surface rust.
The Assay Rooms roof is early and although outwardly of rusty appearance appears to be relatively watertight. As the space below has no ceiling, the condition of the roof can be readily monitored from below.
Rainwater goods are generally sound, although there are missing sections of downpipes to the Assay Room, a situation which may be contributing to the damp problems in adjacent walls. The ogee fascia gutters are showing signs of rusting at many of the joints and some fixing straps are loose.
Evidence of box gutter overflow to the western wall of the northern second storey can be seen with water stains below the cornice. This problem was inspected by a local plumber in 1998, a solution was recommended and the problem apparently fixed by insertion of an overflow.
W ALLS
External walls of brickwork are rendered and painted to the front, Mossman Street, elevation and to the arcades, and painted only to the sides and rear. Evidence of earlier repairs to the front wall above the arch can be seen but the previous cracking problem appears to have been solved.
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Pointing to the joints in the painted external walls is in many places deeply recessed and the paint film is likely to be providing some protection from water entry into the joints.
Rising damp can be seen externally in several locations on the main building, with face spalling of brickwork occurring in some locations. In places this damp has been manifested internally. The damp may be due to adjacent watering of gardens and poor drainage adjacent to the building.
More severe rising damp and spalling are occurring to the Assay Room, with a clear line of decay evident up to sill height on the northern wall. This occurs to a lesser extent to the western and southern walls. Watering of the adjacent grass is no doubt contributing to this problem as are missing sections of downpipes to the western end.
Internal painted brick walls generally appear sound with several areas of damp effecting finishes within two of the tenancies. Damp to the Assay Rooms is evident to the western wall and there appears to be cement based mortar pointing used to the northern wall. This may accelerate deterioration of the bricks themselves if the current extent of adjacent watering is maintained.
Paintwork to the masonry walls is sound. The lime wash finish to the Assay Room is affected by the rising damp.
W INDOWS AND GLASS
Several panes of broken window glass were noted. At least five panes of the coloured glass to the front vault are cracked. Upper level windows have broken or missing sash cords and do not close properly.
E XTERNAL TIMBERWORK
The paintwork particularly to the most exposed areas of the awning and timber barges is decaying to varying extents.
Upper level windows facing Moss St have decayed putty and the sills and lower sashes to the north of the Assay Room are heavily weathered.
A S S A Y R O O M C HIMNEY
The chimney has some bricks missing and dislodged and large voids in the pointing.
C EILINGS
The ceilings, generally V-jointed timber, appear to date from the 1970’s restoration and are in good condition.
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F LOORS
Floors within the shops are covered with carpet or vinyl. No subsidence or similar problems are evident.
The arcade tiling has recently been conserved and appears sound. Cracked and damaged tiles have been stabilized.
D OORS
Most doors appear to be reconstructed and are in good condition.
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29 The ground floor plan showing the condition of the building. [Allom Lovell]
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30 The first floor plan showing the condition of the building. [Allom Lovell]
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31 The roof plan showing the condition of the building. [Allom Lovell]
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7 . 2 C ONSERVATION WORKS
The following works will address areas where decay is evident and will assist in preventing further deterioration.
R OOFING AND RAINWATER GOODS
. Treat rust and paint effected sections of tie rods and brackets. Clean or treat and paint resultant stains on roofing and cappings. . Treat rust and touch-up rust around lead capping, north-east corner. . Treat and paint rusting wall cappings. . Replace missing section of downpipe and complete downpipe to Assay Room. . Clean out all gutters, refix loose straps. . Treat and paint gutter joints. Solder up as necessary. . Treat and touch-up rusting bolts to awning vault. . Replace missing galvanised corner strips to lantern (2 off). Refix loose strip. . Fabricate two new galvanised louvre blades and install in lantern. Straighten and refix bent blades. . Refix loose sheeting to end of lantern. . Replace missing downpipe ends (2 off) and damaged end. . Check that all downpipes and drains are clear and clear out as necessary.
W ALLS
. Check and clean out southern spoon drain adjacent to CWA building. . Fill voids in pointing to southern wall of Assay Room with lime mortar.
W INDOWS AND G LASS
. Replace broken clear glass . Replace missing and broken sash cords to first floor windows. Ease these windows and adjust to properly close and latch. . Investigate repair options for broken glass to awning vault (not replacement).
A S S A Y R O O M C HIMNEY
. Replace missing bricks and re-mortar dislodged bricks. Re-point with lime mortar.
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E X T E R N A L R EPAINTING
. Repaint all external timberwork to the awning (excluding the soffit), repaint the first floor windows, and repaint the barges to the west end of the arcade and to the toilet block. Repaint new and repaired gutters and downpipes. . Paint the barges and fascias to the Assay Room lantern with clear preservative. . Lime wash the Assay Room walls. . Repaint the windows and sills to the Assay Room.
7 . 3 E STIMATES OF COST
Estimates of cost for the works have been prepared by Napier Blakely quantity surveyors. The costs have been divided into conservation works identified in the previous section and ‘the vision’ works identified in the vision and policy chapter.
In summary the estimated cost for the stabilisation works is $23,020, the estimated costs for ‘the vision’ is $136,981 and an allowance of $24,000 has been made for preliminaries and the locality.
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7 . 4 N OTES
1 17 February 1872, quoted in Michael Brumby, Charters Towers new century new nation 1901, p. 8. 2 21 February 1872, quoted in Diane Menghetti, ‘The gold mines of Charters Towers’, in KH Kennedy (ed), Readings in north Queensland mining history (Townsville: James Cook University 1982) p. 51. 3 Sydney Mail, 17 August 1895, p. 332. 4 John Kerr, ‘Queensland rail heritage report’, 1993, Volume 1, p. 3- 55. 5 Elena Springer (ed), Charters Towers centenary 1872-1972, p. 17. 6 Quoted in Michael Brumby, Charters Towers new century new nation 1901, p. 9. 7 Margaret Pullar and Robert Riddel, ‘Australian Bank of Commerce, Charters Towers: A conservation plan prepared for Dalrymple Shire Council’, 1993, p. 5. 8 Geoffrey Blainey, The rush that never ended: a history of Australian mining (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1993) p. 98. 9 Geoffrey Blainey, The rush that never ended, p. 98. 10 Diane Menghetti, ‘The gold mines of Charters Towers’, in KH Kennedy (ed), Readings in north Queensland mining history, pp. 81-3. 11 See Diane Menghetti, I remember: memories of Charters Towers, p. 5. 12 “Charters Towers: old timers recall its great gold era”, Mimag, May 1961, p. 16, quoted in Ross Fitzgerald, From the dreaming to 1915: a history of Queensland (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1982) p. 167. 13 Geoffrey Blainey, The rush that never ended, pp. 97-9. 14 Geoffrey Blainey, The rush that never ended, p. 194. 15 LW Marsland (comp), The Charters Towers gold mines: a descriptive and historical account of the town and goldfield of Charters Towers, Queensland (London: Waterlow Bros, 1892) p. 3. 16 Sydney Mail, 17 August 1895. 17 Geoffrey Blainey, The rush that never ended, p. 279. 18 Don Watson and Judith McKay, Queensland architects of the nineteenth century: a biographical dictionary (Brisbane: Queensland Museum, 1994) p. 53. 19 Charters Towers Times, 7 July 1888, p. 2 20 Charters Towers Times, 14 February 1889, p. 2. 21 Charters Towers Times, 26 February 1889, p. 2. 22 Don Roderick, Charters Towers and its stock exchange (Brisbane: National Trust of Queensland, 1977) p. 14 23 Information provided by Michael Brumby. 24 Charters Towers Times, 18 April 1889, p. 2. This same advertisement also was placed in the 20 April 1889 edition of the paper. 25 Northern Mining Register, 20 December 1889.
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26 See Geoffrey Blainey, The rush that never ended, passim. 27 Geoffrey Bolton, A thousand miles away: history of North Queensland to 1920 (Brisbane: Jacaranda Press, 1963) p. 125. 28 AL Lougheed, The Brisbane Stock Exchange 1884-1984 (Brisbane: Brisbane Stock Exchange, 1984) p. 11. 29 Don Roderick, Charters Towers and its stock exchange, p. 10. 30 LW Marsland (comp), The Charters Towers gold mines, pp. 18-9. 31 Information from the DH Johnson Collection, Charters Towers and Dalrymple Archives Centre. 32 Don Roderick, Charters Towers and its stock exchange, p. 14. 33 Diane Menghetti, I remember: Memories of Charters Towers, p. 75. 34 Sydney Mail, 17 August 1895, p. 332. 35 Queensland post office directories, country directory entry for Charters Towers, various years. 36 Queensland post office directories, country directory entry for Charters Towers, 1907. 37 Queensland post office directories, country directory entry for Charters Towers, various years including 1930, 1935 and 1940. 38 From a discussion with Gordon Landsberg, the grandson of Wilson. 39 Don Roderick, Charters Towers and its stock exchange, pp. 22-3. 40 Don Roderick, Charters Towers and its stock exchange, p. 24. 41 National Trust of Queensland Act 1963, preamble. 42 Fred Bagnall, A brief history of Charters Towers and some of its people (Charters Towers: F Bagnall, 1983) p. 85. 43 ‘The Australia ICOMOS Charter for the conservation of places of cultural significance (the Burra Charter)’, reprinted in Peter Marquis-Kyle and Meredith Walker, The illustrated Burra Charter: making good decisions about the care of important places (Sydney: Australia ICOMOS, 1994) p. 69. 44 James Semple Kerr, The conservation plan: a guide to the preparation of conservation plans for places of European cultural significance (Sydney: National Trust of Australia (NSW), 1996) p. 4. 45 Beverley Kingston, Basket, bag and trolley: a history of shopping in Australia (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1994) p. 27. 46 Bill Risebero, Modern architecture and design: an alternate history (London: The Herbert Press, 1982) p. 88. 47 Gordon Bruns, The stock exchange (Melbourne: Jenkin, Buxton and Co, 1961) p. 8. Norman Bede Rydge, The Australian stock exchange: being an explanation of the functions of the Australian stock exchanges, a consideration of the principles involved in speculation and investment and a commentary upon the essential features involved in the selection of sound investments (Sydney: Rydge's Business Journal, 1939) p. 12. 48 AL Lougheed, The Brisbane Stock Exchange 1884-1984, p. 14. 49 AL Lougheed, The Brisbane Stock Exchange 1884-1984, pp. 14-7.
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50 The National Trust of Queensland, Gympie branch, The town that saved Queensland (Brisbane: The National Trust of Queensland, 1983) p. 12. 51 See Geoffrey Blainey, The rush that never ended, passim. 52 AL Lougheed, The Brisbane Stock Exchange 1884-1984, p. 27.