Naval Offices, Brisbane, Heritage-listed former naval office building in Brisbane City, Australia
The Naval Offices is a brick building at 3 Edward Street, designed by the Department of Public Works and built in 1900–01 by J Mason as the first purpose-built headquarters of the Queensland Marine Defence Force. It stands midway along the Town Reach of the Brisbane River, in a block bounded by Margaret, Edward and Alice streets and the river.
The Queensland Marine Defence Force was gazetted on 3 March 1885, prompted by fears of Russian warships after Colonel Sir William Jervois and Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Scratchley toured the colonies in 1877. Its first headquarters was the 1862 Port Office on this site, which was settling after the 1893 floods. The Department of Public Works built this brick offices in 1900–01, and the building passed to Commonwealth ownership in 1911 for the Royal Australian Navy.
The building's name and use track Queensland's naval identity: it was the first purpose-built headquarters of the Queensland Marine Defence Force, gazetted on 3 March 1885, and was soon taken over by the Australian Commonwealth Navy before passing to Commonwealth ownership in 1911 for the Royal Australian Navy. The QMDF itself was raised amid fears of Russian warships, and its gunboats carried Aboriginal names such as Gayundah (Thunder) and Paluma (Lightning).
The building stands at 3 Edward Street, midway along the Town Reach of the Brisbane River, in a block bounded by Margaret, Edward and Alice streets and the river. Approaching from the river side or along Alice Street, the brick facade and tall chimneys can be seen from the surrounding footpaths.
The site was first surveyed in 1862 as a 1 rood 30 perch reserve for the Harbour Master's Department, and a stone and brick building went up that year. Known as the first Port Office, it had offices on the ground floor with store rooms and a boatshed underneath. The QMDF moved in around 1886, and by 1896 the foundations, flooded in 1893, were settling and cracking the walls.
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