In my previous post, I wrote about St Mary’s Anglican Church on top of Kangaroo Point Cliffs. It was a naval chapel in Queensland and was once connected by stairs with the Naval Stores below the quarry face.
Kangaroo Point Boardwalk is a very popular place for people who like sports like cycling, running, walking, climbing or just relaxing by the river with city views. I was passing by the Naval Stores buildings many times and found out they have a very long and interesting story. The complex was entered to Queensland Heritage Register as an important part of colonial history.
The Naval Stores.
The tender of Mr. W. P. Clarke, £3,578, has been recommended to be accepted for naval stores at Kangaroo Point.
Below is a fragment of the entry in the QHR.
The original Naval Stores comprised a pair of two-storeyed iron-clad stud-framed buildings and a wharf, which were constructed between 1886 and 1888. The complex has been used throughout its naval and army history for two main purposes, as a storage depot and for training.
The former Naval Stores provide evidence of the Queensland Marine Defence Force which was an integral part of the Queensland colonial defences. They are also are significant as part of the historic cityscape at Kangaroo Point which includes the former Kangaroo Point quarry, St Mary’s Church group and the linking cliff face stairs. [Queensland Heritage Register 600239]
In the second half of 19th Century governments of Australian colonies were afraid of a war with Russia especially when Russian ships were visiting Australian waters. In 1884 the government of Queensland purchased 2 gunboats the Gayundah and Paluma and a naval depot for storage, repairs and training became necessary. Naval Stores in Brisbane were constructed between 1886 and 1888.
During one of the Brisbane Living Heritage Network‘s walks “They went by ship to foreign shores” I heard an interesting story about “Paluma”. During 1893 floods she was thrown by rising river into the Botanic Gardens. The recovery works were delayed due to the high price that was quoted. Luckily after few days of additional rainfall, the Brisbane River began flooding again and the ship returned to the river and government saved the money.
Clem Llewellyn Lack in 1968 in his work “Russian Ambition in the Pacific – Australian War Scares of the Nineteenth Century” presented the background of forming Australian Navy. Below is a short excerpt about situation in Queensland.
(…)Queensland shared with other Australian Colonies in the Russian war scares. By 1862, Queensland had mounted rifles, infantry, and artillery to the number of 248 men. British garrison troops were withdrawn from the Australian Colonies in 1870. (…) In 1884, at the beginning of the Jervois-Scratchley reorganisation, Queensland had a volunteer force of 755 infantry, 250 artillery, 60 engineers (including torpedo force), or a total of 1,065 men.
Till 1959 the site belonged to The Royal Australian Navy Reserve and then until 1984 it was occupied by the Army. Brisbane City Council purchased the property in 1987 and was looking for its development. In 1985, the Store No 1 was destroyed by fire.
The Naval Stores were partially under water during three great floods of 1893, 1974 and 2011. On a phot below photo I marked the levels of floods of 1893 (green), 1974 (red) and 2011 blue basing on the flood markers from exterior walls of Naval Stores.
Since 2005 the site is a home of Riverlife which is an event and reacreational venue.
