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Smithfield Chambers is a heritage-listed office building at 235 Mary Street, Gympie, Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Leslie Gordon Corrie and built in the 1890s by William Anthony. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 15 July 2011. == History == Smithfield Chambers, a two storey rendered brick building in Upper Mary Street Gympie, was built in 1895 for William Evan Thomas, mining secretary and sharebroker.〔 Gympie (initially called Nashville) was established after the discovery of gold in October 1867 by James Nash in the Upper Mary River district. The new goldfield put Queensland on the map as a significant gold producer, contributing much needed finances to the young colony. By Christmas of 1867, according to the Gold Commissioner, the Gympie field had a population of 4,000 (or over 15,000 according to James Nash). Alluvial deposits were quickly exhausted and from 1868 shallow reef mining occurred.〔 As it evolved from a hastily established mining settlement, Gympie developed a distinctive character with an irregular street pattern amid a series of valleys and ridges. Development of roads within the township followed the terrain rather than adopting the standard grid pattern that was applied to townships surveyed for settlement, and consequently many roads run along ridgelines with linking roads across valleys and hillsides. Existing buildings and mining homestead leases were accommodated in the first survey of the township in April 1868. By the mid 1870s, the vicinity of Upper Mary Street and Channon St was dominated by government and financial institutions. The early makeshift structures of Gympie gradually gave way to more permanent and substantial public and private buildings.〔 By the end of the 1870s, an intensive phase of underground reef mining was underway, facilitated by the injection of share-holding capital into mining companies for machinery and employees. During the early 1880s, mines began yielding large amounts of gold, marking a new era of wealth and prosperity for Gympie. The increase in production led to an upsurge in company formation on a massive scale. This growth led to the 1884 formation of the Gympie Stock Exchange, specialising completely in providing facilities for the transfer of shares of mining companies. The presence of sharebrokers engaged in share trading at the Gympie Stock Exchange and of mining secretaries involved in the administration of mines were the natural consequence.〔 Mining secretaries ensured that the mining company they represented complied with relevant legislation and regulation, and they kept board members informed of their legal responsibilities. Mining secretaries were the company's named representative on legal documents, and it was their responsibility to ensure that the company and its directors operated within the law. It was also their responsibility to register and communicate with shareholders, to ensure that dividends were paid and company records maintained, such as lists of directors and shareholders, and annual accounts.〔 During the 1880s and 1890s Gympie was Queensland's second and then third biggest gold producer (after Mount Morgan overtook it in 1887). During this period gold production contributed between 21.61 and 35.53 percent of Queensland export income. The influx of money and the resultant yield of gold at Gympie were reflected in the redevelopment of upper Mary Street during the 1880s and 1890s with substantial commercial buildings such as banks and company secretary and brokers' offices. Several fires - in 1877, 1881 and 1891 - razed most of the earlier timber buildings in upper Mary Street and accelerated this transformation.〔 While major floods and the economic depression affected the Gympie goldfield in the early 1890s, a rapid expansion in mining activity occurred during 1894. At the end of 1893, 58 leases embraced an area of 892 acres (361ha) and 78,978 ounces (2.24 tonnes) of gold bullion was produced. By the end of 1894 there were 80 leases covering 1,354 acres (548ha) and 111,168 ounces of gold bullion (3.15 tonnes) was produced, the biggest year of production of the 1890s.〔 It was within this context of growth and prosperity that Smithfield Chambers was built in 1895 by William Evan Thomas, mining secretary and sharebroker. Thomas was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales in 1854. A builder by trade, Thomas arrived in Brisbane in 1885, where he started business as a building contractor before eventually working for Hall's Mercantile Agency. After visiting Gympie in the early 1890s, Thomas moved to the township and commenced business as a mining secretary and sharebroker. Although Thomas had no experience in gold mining he soon became a very successful operator, floating a number of new mines in the eastern portion of the goldfield, attracting investors from Australia and abroad. By the end of 1895 WE Thomas and Co. acted as secretaries for 28 of the 100 mining companies of Gympie, the largest provider of these services.〔 In November 1894 Thomas purchased freehold land adjoining Gympie's Stock Exchange from Matthew Mellor for £1,000 cash. At this time the site featured timber buildings occupied by a chemist and fruiterer, and mining brokers. Thomas engaged Brisbane architect Leslie Gordon Corrie to design a block of offices and shops. Born in Hobart in 1859, Corrie trained as an architect in Tasmania and worked in private practice and for government. In 1886 he established a private practice in Brisbane and was appointed architect to the Queensland Deposit Bank and Building Society. In 1888-1892 he was in partnership with his former master Henry Hunter. From 1898 to 1905 he was in partnership with GHM Addison as Addison and Corrie. Corrie was a foundation member and long-time councillor of the Queensland Institute of Architects, elected a fellow in 1889 and President from 1906-08.〔 Before construction Thomas had already decided on the name of the building - "Smithfield Chambers", in honour of one of Gympie's most successful early mines, the Smithfield which began operating in 1867. Corrie advertised for tenders to erect the building during February 1895. By early March, William Anthony, of Brisbane (builder of the 1888 Smellie and Co Warehouse in Brisbane) was awarded the building contract for £2,500, exclusive of the strong room and doors, with a requirement to have the work completed by July.〔 Thomas' proposed internal layout for Smithfield Chambers was described in the Gympie Times in late 1894. On the ground floor there were two shops, one at either side, and the centre had a suite of offices facing the street on each side of the hall, with clerks' rooms and a boardroom at the rear. On the first floor there was a suite of three offices on the eastern side, accessed by a separate staircase. The other side of the first floor was divided into five offices and a large boardroom. Each suite of offices was provided with a strong room (of the four strongrooms, three are still extant).〔 When completed, Smithfield Chambers, a two storey rendered brick building designed in a classical idiom was one of the largest and most prominent buildings on upper Mary Street. Thomas reinforced his commercial presence on the streetscape by prominently wording the parapet with "Smithfield Chambers" and "W.E. Thomas & Co., mining secretary". The building also included a first floor verandah and street awning. Among the earliest occupiers of the building were Mr J Nicholson, who operated as a tobacconist and hairdresser in one of the shop spaces, consulting engineer Brunel Kay and mining secretaries and agents Maxey and Moodie.〔 In 1899 Thomas sold Smithfield Chambers to JB Charlton, a stockbroker and in 1902 ownership passed to John Donovan, a mining speculator. Gold production in Queensland peaked in 1903, due largely to a final burst of production at Gympie, which was followed by a 60 percent decrease in production between 1903 and 1913 as the three major Queensland goldfields (Charters Towers, Gympie and Mount Morgan) declined simultaneously. The Gympie field passed through its most profitable period from 1901 to 1906 and in 1903 produced its peak annual output of 146,000 fine ounces (surpassing Mount Morgan that year). After 1906 the decline that began in 1904 accelerated and by 1925 the last of the big mines had ceased production, ending a 50 year phase of deep reef mining in Gympie.〔 In 1930 Charles Bright became owner of Smithfield Chambers. The building's association with gold mining continued through its occupation by Gympie's Stock Exchange Club. The Club had moved into Smithfield Chambers from the Australian Joint Stock Bank building opposite in 1923, which had been used as the Stock Exchange from 1902-1922. The club initially used the ground floor, and their premises consisted of a bar, reading room, three card rooms and two offices in 1937. During the early 1930s the Gympie branch of the Country Women's Association held their meetings at the chambers. The top floor was occupied by spirit merchants in 1957, and in 1958 the Stock Exchange Club took over three rooms on the first floor for a library, reading room and dinette. The club closed in 1963, and in 1964 Jack Cartwright, of Power and Cartwright solicitors, purchased the building. Power and Power, the firm predating Power and Cartwright, may have operated from the building from the 1950s. A photo from 1973 shows that the verandah had been removed by this time and John McCarthy Real Estate occupied the shop space to the left of the building. The current office fit-out dates from the 1970s, when an internal light well at the centre of the building was enclosed, and an awning replaced the verandah (post-1973).〔 The rear yard of the building, which is level with the rear of first floor, contains the remains of a brick stable on the northwest side, and a rendered brick earth closet block, with eight cubicles and an access lane to the rear. While no documentary evidence has confirmed LG Corrie as the architect of the block, Corrie is known to have had a particular interest in sanitation, as Mayor of Brisbane in 1901 and as a lecturer in sanitary engineering in 1906.〔 The Gympie Municipal Council first introduced by-laws relating to the erection and maintenance of earth closets in 1883. Initially only certain areas of the municipality (including Mary Street) were required to conform to provisions. In areas where earth closets were made mandatory, pit systems were filled in and existing toilets were required to be rebuilt or altered. Each earth closet was fitted with a box or other vessel "for the reception of nightsoil or other filth" and placed conveniently for removal. Earth closets were also required to be furnished with "a suitable receptacle for the storage of a quantity of dry earth for deodorising purposes". People engaged in the removal of nightsoil were required to pay an annual license fee and could only operate between eleven at night to five in the morning. From 1885 the council operated its own nightsoil service. By 1894 the whole of the municipality was under the provisions of the by-laws. In 1895, the by-laws were further extended and every nightman was required to keep a register of all premises visited, to be submitted monthly to the council inspector. Nightsoil service charges at this time were one shilling and six pence for a single pan and one shilling and three pence for additional pans.〔 Smithfield Chambers is still used by Power and Cartwright. The ground floor, including the former shop spaces, is used as offices, and the first floor is only partially utilised. The two staircases from the street level to the first floor still exist, although only the northwest one is in use. A large space at the centre rear of the first floor has been partitioned. There are still two strong rooms on the ground floor, and one on the first floor.〔 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「Smithfield Chambers」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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