George David Payne (1899) Townsville Custom House Plans. [Image]
Townsville Custom House Sheet No. 8, Longitudinal sections through Custom House building's offices, 30 December, 1899. Photograph by Michael Marzik.
Townsville Custom House Sheet No. 9, Elevations (looking west, south and north), 30 December, 1899. Photograph by Michael Marzik.
Townsville Custom House Plan Elevations & Sections of Roof (undated). Photograph by Michael Marzik.
Townsville Custom House Detail Sheet No. 1, 20 December, 1899. Photograph by Michael Marzik.
Townsville Custom House Sheet No. 2, Foundation Plan, 20 December, 1899. Photograph by Michael Marzik.
Townsville Custom House Sheet No. 3, Ground Plan, 20 December, 1899. Photograph by Michael Marzik.
Townsville Custom House Sheet No. 4, Upper Floor Plan, 20 December, 1899. Photograph by Michael Marzik.
Townsville Custom House Sheet No. 5, Roof Plan, 20 December, 1899. Photograph by Michael Marzik.
Townsville Custom House Sheet No. 6, Elevation to The Strand (including cross-section details), 30 December, 1899. Photograph by Michael Marzik.
Townsville Custom House Sheet No. 7, Elevation to Wickham Street (including cross-section details), 30 December, 1899. Photograph by Michael Marzik.
- Work By
- Architect: George David Payne
- Item Type
- Image
- Collection
- Library Archives
- Exhibition
- 50 Treasures
- Location
- Townsville Campus Library
- Item Code
- Special Collections North Queensland Map Cabinet (Drawer No. 12)
- Related Links
- NQH: Townsville Custom House and Quarantine Station Plans Archive
- Quarantine Station, Magnetic Island Plans
- JCU Library News Blog Post: 50 Treasures
- Subjects
- Townsville Customs House; Townsville; building plans; architectural plans; 50 Treasures
Summary
This item is one of our 50 Treasures: Celebrating 50 years of James Cook University.
Trisha Fielding answers the question 'Why is this significant?'
Townsville's former Customs House is located on the corner of Wickham Street and The Strand. Completed in 1902, the building was designed by George David Payne, of the Government Architect's Office in the Queensland Department of Public Works. Payne was a London-trained architect who had emigrated to Australia around 1887.
Payne designed an impressive Romanesque-style building with a semi-circular corner entrance and low tower for shipping observation. The two-storey, L-shaped building was designed to suit the tropical climate with high ceilings and fanlights to maximise airflow and broad, colonnaded verandahs to provide shade for the interior rooms.
The building was constructed of local bricks from the North Queensland Brick and Pottery Company and faced with granite quarried at Cockle Bay, Magnetic Island. The roof tiles were manufactured locally, and timbers sourced from throughout north Queensland, such as cedar and silky oak, were used internally.
The ground floor plan included a circular entrance hall, a Long Room with a public counter and work area, general offices, storerooms, two safes, two small strong rooms, and a large office for the Sub-Collector of Customs. The upper floor was designed to house offices for the Deputy Registrar, Harbour Master, and Stamps and Titles offices. A large strong room with a fireproof door was located at the end of the Titles office. The Strand frontage contained two entrances for access by the public, while the Wickham Street elevation contained two private entrances. One private entrance was for the exclusive use of the Sub-Collector of Customs, while the other was for the use of boarding officers and tide waiters.¹
Although intended as functional plans, Payne's hand-coloured drawings are also visually very beautiful. Subtly different colours have been used to represent the different external building materials of granite, brick and stone. Interestingly, Payne's signature does not appear on the plans. The only signature discernible on the Townsville Custom House plans are that of A.B. Brady, the Queensland Government Architect. Though Payne was obviously a talented architect, at this time he was just one of a number of draftsmen who worked for the Department of Public Works, so his drawings were signed by the senior officer, Brady.
The plans for Townsville's Customs House reflect an era of significant government spending on constructing buildings that made a statement about Queensland's prosperity, all in anticipation of the formation of the new Commonwealth of Australia.
Additional Information
Trisha Fielding is an historian and writer whose published works include the books Neither Mischievous nor Meddlesome: The Remarkable Lives of North Queensland's Independent Midwives 1890-1940, Queen City of the North: A History of Townsville, and the history blogs North Queensland History and Women of the North. In 2019 Trisha was commissioned to write a commemorative volume for JCU's 50th anniversary in 2020. She holds a Master of History degree from the University of New England and a Bachelor of Arts with Distinction majoring in History and Journalism from the University of Southern Queensland. Trisha also works part time in JCU Library's Special Collections.
Collection access: Special Collection items may be used on the Library premises by visiting the appropriate Reading Rooms during opening hours. Digital copies of selected items from the special collections will be made available through the repository as copyright or other restrictions allow.
Copyright Information
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References
1. Boarding officers and tide waiters were customs officers who boarded ships on their arrival in port in order to examine their papers and to prevent smuggling.