Central Station, 1926

Central Station, 1926
Entered on the Queensland Heritage Register 21 October, 1992, Central Railway Station was opened in 1889 as part of the connection of Roma Street through Central to Brunswick Street, Bowen Hills and Mayne. The extant building was erected in 1899 to replace the previous temporary timber and corrugated iron building. The complex demonstrates the evolution of the history of Queensland by being representative of the development of railway usage in Queensland.
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Location of Central Station, 1926

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Theme

Buildings Transport

Time

1980s

Place

Brisbane
Related to this photo
- Roma Street Station, c1936
- St Stephens Cathedral
Source
QSA Series ID 57, Photograph Albums
Contributor

Central Railway Station , Ann Street, Brisbane, October 1926

News of the day

Warwick Examiner and Times, Wednesday 31 May 1899, page 2

Correspondence

Stone for the Central Railway Station, Brisbane.

(to the Editor)

Sir, - I see by today's Gatton notes in the "Courier" that arrangements are being made to get the stone required for the Central Railway Station from the quarries near Gatton, the stone having to be hauled a distance of four miles to railway station. It has struck me that here we have something of interest to this district, and to the people of Yangan in particular. It is well known that the freestone from below the range is of a most inferior quality, the re-building of some parts of recent additions to Parliament House being a notable example.

Masons who have worked and built the stone at the new Post Office - and some of them had roamed the wide world over -declared that the Yangan stone in that building is " the very best stone in creation." It is not too hard to work, and takes an edge as fine as a razor; and gets very hard after exposure to the weather. On a recent visit to Yangan I walked over to the quarry. It lays within a few hundred yards from the railway station; the stone is easily got out, only one or two shots being needed to get out the whole of the stone for the new Post Office.

I beg to draw the attention of the Progress Association of Warwick and Yangan to the matter. Surely a few miles of railway is as nothing when the stone is to be used in building the colony's principal railway station. The contract prices for the new station building is something over £42,000.

Yours, &c.,

W. DOBSON.

Background

Central Station was constructed as the inner city link of the Queensland railway network, operational from 18 August 1889. The first Station building at Central was of timber and corrugated iron with pitched roof and segmental barrel vaulted roof over the platform serving Roma Street. On 12 May 1899, a contract was let for a permanent building. It is thought that the initial design was conceived in the architectural section of the Railway Department's Chief Engineer's Office, however the architect is unknown. The additions of the clock tower and awning were designed by former Colonial Architect, J J Clark. The initial complex comprised two through tracks and a dock with two tracks on either side. In 1909 the dock platforms were converted to provide two additional through tracks. No further substantial changes were made to the complex until 1914 when the Edward Street side wing was extended. Shortly after, a second storey was added to the side wing at the Creek Street end of the building. Work of a minor nature was then carried out until the 1970s, when substantial alterations to the complex took place. This included the construction of Railway Centre in the 1970s, followed by the construction of the Sheraton Hotel in the 1980s.

Courtesy of the Queensland Heritage Register

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