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Gympie Court House is a heritage-listed courthouse at Channon Street, Gympie, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by John Smith Murdoch and built from 1900 to 1902. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. == History == The Gympie Court House is the third court house constructed in Gympie and is located in a prominent location on a ridge at the corner of Channon and King Streets. It was constructed between 1900 and 1902 and is a brick structure with a clock tower on the southern side of the front entrance.〔 The town of Gympie was established after the discovery of gold in the area by James Nash in 1867. At this stage, the new colony of Queensland was in dire financial trouble, and a reward was offered to anyone who discovered gold. Nash received the reward of £3000, and the rush to the Gympie gold field began. By 1869, the town now known as Gympie had a population of many thousands. It was established so rapidly that by the time the official surveyors arrived in 1868, a substantial amount of the town had already been laid out. This resulted in the town being laid out in an irregular pattern, following the topography of the land and the mining sites, rather than the orthogonal grid pattern familiar to most Queensland towns. The 1868 survey of the town included reserves for public buildings, including the court house reserve.〔 The first court proceedings in Gympie were held by the Gold Commissioner in a series of temporary structures shortly after the influx of miners to the area. In the late 1860s, a more permanent structure, in the form of a timber slab building was erected on what was known as Commissioner's Hill.〔 In 1876 a substantial masonry court house building was erected in Channon Street on land reserved for police purposes. This building served the town until the mid 1890s when there was pressure for a new court house, primarily from local Labour politician Andrew Fisher, later the first Queenslander to become Prime Minister of Australia. The 1876 court house building survived and became the Gympie Lands Office.〔 Although the Queensland Colonial Architect was asked to prepare plans for a new court house in 1898, none were prepared until 1900. The delay may have been due to disputes over the site for the new court house, the site on the corner of King and Channon Street eventually being secured in preference to the original court house reserve on Duke Street. The site was selected by Colonial Architect, Alfred Barton Brady, and the government purchased the land from the Queensland National Bank and a private owner.〔 The new court house was designed by John Smith Murdoch who, at the time was an architect in the Department of Public Works. Murdoch had arrived in Australia from Scotland, originally working in Melbourne. He began working for the Queensland Public Works Department in the mid 1880s, leaving temporarily to practice privately before returning in the mid 1890s.〔 In 1901, he was appointed District Architect for the Central and Northern Division of Queensland, and in this capacity designed many government buildings north of Gympie.〔 Tenders were called for the building in 1900. The first tenders exceeded the £5000 allocated for its construction, requiring the design to be altered. Rendered cement replaced stonework detailing and fencing and landscaping were omitted altogether. Tenders were once again called and Bundaberg builder Edward Boyle won the contract. Boyle commenced work immediately, supervised by Bundaberg architect, Anton Hettrich, temporarily employed by the Works Department specifically for the purpose. The building was completed in March 1902.〔 The Gympie Court House was designed to suit the site and was intended to be viewed from all four elevations. The dominant clock tower became a landmark in the town. Murdoch designed the building in keeping with the new style of architecture, using a more refined style of embellishment. As it neared completion in 1901, it was described in the Gympie Times as "not possess() any architectural beauty".〔 The clock tower became a dominant landmark and a popular place from which to view and take photographs of the town.〔 Due to deductions which were made as a result of Boyle using inferior mortar, fencing was able to be erected. However this was not the originally designed brick and iron fence, but a simpler timber version with steps and a path leading from the corner of King and Channon Street.〔 In 1907 the roof was reconstructed to the designs of District Architect, Thomas Pye. This was due to the continual problem of a leaking roof, which was thought to be the result of the design.〔 However, this did not rectify the problem, which continued until the 1940s when the entire roof was replaced with a simple gabled structure.〔 Future alterations included the installation of a septic system, the addition of public toilets, minor room alterations, and the replacement of the original fence with a low height concrete one.〔 Work carried out in the 1960s and 70s included division of the court room space and the installation of air conditioning. Later work included an access ramp for the disabled and replacement of the original cedar doors at the front of the building.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gympie Court House」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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