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One Square Mile Charters Towers ONE SQUARE MILE CHARTERS TOWERS VOLUME ONE: HISTORY Draft printed 8 October 2014 O NE SQUARE MILE VOLUME ONE: HISTORY A study for the Charters Towers City Council © COPYRIGHT Allom Lovell Pty Ltd, October 01 \\NTServer\public\Projects\01052 ChartersQHTN\Reports\One square mile\r01.doc Draft printed 8 October 2014 ONE SQUARE MILE CONTENTS i 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 BACKGROUND 1 2 A THEMATIC HISTORY OF THE ONE SQUARE MILE AT CHARTERS TOWERS 4 2.1 PART ONE: BACKGROUND 4 FIRST INTERESTS 4 THE RUNS 4 REWARDS AND FINDS 5 DISCOVERY 5 CHARTERS TOWERS 7 OTHER CAMPS AND TOWNSHIPS 8 MILLCHESTER 8 THE RISE OF GOVERNMENT 10 2.2 PART TWO: THE MUNICIPALITY 10 SHIFTING TOWNSHIPS 11 THE RISE OF CHARTERS TOWERS 11 ONE SQUARE MILE 12 MOSMAN AND GILL STREETS 1877 13 EARLY RESIDENCES 14 EARLY BUILDERS 15 2.3 PART THREE: THE SELLHEIM YEARS 15 DALRYMPLE DIVISIONAL BOARD 16 HOTELS 17 CHURCHES 17 COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS 18 W. G. SMITH AND SONS 19 THE COLONIAL AND INDIAN EXHIBITION 20 2.4 PART FOUR: THE POST SELLHEIM YEARS 21 BEN TOLL 21 THE ARCHITECTS 23 THE ROYAL ARCADE 25 2.5 PART FIVE: TO THE PEAK 26 Draft printed 8 October 2014 ONE SQUARE MILE CONTENTS ii RETICULATION AND VISION 27 MINING 28 COMMERCIAL LIFE 31 IN THE SUBURBS 32 2.6 PART SIX: BEYOND THE PEAK 34 MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENTS 35 MOVING ON 37 STAYING ON 39 2.7 PART SEVEN: THE DWINDLING YEARS 39 ADAPTATION 41 WORLD WAR TWO 41 SOUL SEARCHING 43 2.8 PART EIGHT:FINDING THE HERITAGE 45 2.9 BIBLIOGRAPHY 46 2.10 MAPS 49 3 THE GOLD MINES OF CHARTERS TOWERS 56 3.1 AN OVERVIEW OF MINING AND MILLING ON CHARTERS TOWERS 56 INTRODUCTION 56 1872-79: NORTH AUSTRALIA TO BRYAN O’LYNN 56 1879-89: DAY DAWN 61 1889-1902: BRILLIANT 65 1902-05: QUEEN CROSS 68 3.2 EPILOGUE 69 3.3 APPENDIX 1: APPROXIMATE LOCATION OF THE MAIN MINES IN THE SQUARE MILE CIRCA 1900 71 DAY DAWN LINE 71 BRILLIANT LINE 71 3.4 APPENDIX 1A: SKETCH MAP OF THE SQUARE MILE 72 Draft printed 8 October 2014 ONE SQUARE MILE CONTENTS iii 3.5 APPENDIX 2: BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SQUARE MILE LEASES 72 MILLS DAY DAWN UNITED 72 PFEIFFER’S DAY DAWN 73 DAY DAWN BLOCK AND WYNDHAM 73 DAY DAWN PC 73 NEW BRILLIANT FREEHOLDS (OR BRILLIANT FREEHOLDS) 74 BRILLIANT PC 74 BRILLIANT BLOCK 74 BRILLIANT DEEPS 74 EAST MEXICAN 75 3.6 APPENDIX 2A: LEASES ON THE SQUARE MILE 76 3.7 APPENDIX 3: GOLD PRODUCTION ON CHARTERS TOWERS 1872-1945 76 3.8 B I B L I O G R A P H Y 82 NORTHERN MINER 84 4 HOUSING IN CHARTERS TOWERS 86 4.1 CHARTERS TOWERS: REFERENCES 93 5 APPENDIX: BIBLIOGRAPHY 96 Draft printed 8 October 2014 ONE SQUARE MILE 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1 INTRODUCTION Harters Towers is one of a handful of places in Queensland in which C the history is not only reflected in surviving physical evidence but which, because of that history, has developed almost a mythical status. The reasons for this are manifold but relate primarily to the wide range of historical themes and influences which shaped the city. The ‘one square mile’, an area set out as part of the earliest municipality in 1877 contains within its boundary evidence of many of these themes and its special care and management is seen as central to the continuing conservation and promotion of Charters Towers as an historical asset and a visitor destination. 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 One Square Mile is one of four studies being prepared for sites in Charters Towers. Conservation management plans are being prepared for the Stock Exchange Arcade, the Venus Battery at Millchester and for Towers Hill to the south of the town. This, the first study, examines that area known as the ‘one square mile’ which, since 1877 was the genesis of the town. It contains within its boundaries evidence of the early growth and later development of the city not only in historic places but importantly in a series of less visible attributes or historical themes of history. Draft printed 8 October 2014 ONE SQUARE MILE 1 INTRODUCTION 2 1 A map of Charters Towers in 1905 showing the one square mile shaded and the setout point as a black dot. [Queensland State Archives modified by Allom Lovell] T HIS DOCUMENT The study area consists of a square with sides of one mile set out from the allotment on the corner of Mosman and Gill Streets. This area includes the central business centre of the city, government precincts including courthouse, post office, hospital a school reserve and residential areas. Part of this area is included in the Register of the National Estate of the Australian Heritage Commission. Individual sites within the area are included in the registers of the National Trust of Queensland and the Queensland Heritage Register under the legislative provisions of the Queensland Heritage Act 1992. A large number of sites are also identified in the draft Charters Towers Heritage Register of the Charters Towers City Council. This study has been undertaken in two parts. The first part (Volume 1) is the preparation of a thematic history of the city with an emphasis on the One Square Mile. It includes a summary understanding of the 2 importance of the one square mile in the history of the city and includes The 1905 map showing the one square mile and contributions from three experts on particular aspects of the history of the RNE listing for the town. [Queensland State the city. Historian Mike Brumby has prepared a chronological history of Archives modified by Allom Lovell] the city, Diane Menghetti has prepared a history of mining in the city and Peter Bell has prepared an essay on the timber housing in the city. This volume includes a detailed bibliography in the Appendix. The second part of the study (Volume 2) develops an approach to the conservation of the special values of the city. This study includes a Draft printed 8 October 2014 ONE SQUARE MILE 1 INTRODUCTION 3 summary of places included in the various heritage registers, together with controls, incentives and opportunities for the conservation of this area. This study draws together the work done by the heritage advisory service at the city over the last number of years and makes recommendations for further work to ensure the appropriate conservation of this asset. 1 . 2 S UMMARY OF FINDINGS This study finds that the area of Charters Towers known as the One Square Mile is not only central to an understanding of the history of the city but contains within it evidence of the early settlement and its development in a range of sites and structures. The history of Charters Towers is unusual in Queensland where the * of development outstripped the more normal process of survey and settlement. The result was not however one of impermanence in the manner of some mining settlements and the wealth and optimism of the Charters Towers community at that time clearly saw a long term future for the town and perhaps even more remarkably, one of substance and style. It was nevertheless superimposed upon a mining landscape. The One Square Mile represents the city’s history and aspirations at that time and contains, still, in evidence of early buildings and civic form * that set it a part from other places in Queensland. The One Square Mile is literally and figuratively the essential care of the city and its conservation as part of the city’s heritage is warranted. A great deal of work has already been done in identifying the heritage values of this place and in setting out mechanisms to conserve the values. The resent study identifies many of these studies and develops a number of themes of history represented in the One Square Mile that might usefully be part of further understanding of this place. While it is not proposed that One Square Mile be isolated or quarantined from the continuing and * growth of the city it is clearly an area that requires special understanding and particular attention to ensure a balance that will allow these essential, even unique, historical characteristics to be maintained. Opportunities to manage change are identified and an outline of a management plan established which will see this important historical asset conserved. Draft printed 8 October 2014 ONE SQUARE MILE 2 A THEMATIC HISTORY OF THE ONE SQUARE MILE 4 2 A THEMATIC HISTORY OF THE ONE SQUARE MILE AT CHARTERS TOWERS his essay has been prepared by Michael Brumby, who is a Charters T Towers based historian. Mike has spent the recent year in researching many different aspects of the history of the city. 2 . 1 PART ONE: BACKGROUND The Europeanisation of North Queensland began officially in January 1861when the Kennedy Land District, from Cape Palmerston north to Rockingham Bay and west to the Great Dividing Range, was declared open for settlement. Thousands of years of occupation by groups of Aborigines preceded this overture including that by the Kudjala people. They were compelled to accommodate this intrusion to the detriment of their life and culture.
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