Brisbane's Old Town Hall - Tale of History Lost & Found! - Part 1.

Brisbane's original Town Hall situated on Queen St.was demolished in 1937. During it's demolition, the workers were on the look out for two items, the building's foundation stone and a two foot wooden ruler. Seems that no one recalled where the foundation stone had been laid and it was considered lost. The clipping below is from The Courier-Mail February 1938.

Finally, after a nine month search a workman made a chance discovery at the Burnett Lane end of the building, the opposite end of the building where they thought the stone was laid.

So what of the wooden rule? The rule had belonged to Mr G.W. Campbell-Wilson who had been the supervising architect when the Town Hall was built in 1865. Mr Campbell-Wilson's son wrote to the city architect asking that a search could be made for it during the building's demolition, apparently his father had left it in the roof section of the old hall during an inspection...seventy five years ago. The chances of finding the rule anywhere in the building seemed impossible but resurface it did, in an amazing, by chance, last second find.

Rule found! Location of Old Town Hall debris found. The debris of the old Town Hall sits in the foundations of a building at South Brisbane. The building still stands today so we commissioned a field trip and have photographed the site and will publish the full details in Part Two of "History Lost and Found" . In the mean time, if you can't help yourself and would like some more clues on what and where the building is, follow the citation for the above clipping at the end of the post.

Citations:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StateLibQld_1_48864_Brisbane_Town_Hall_in_Queen_Street,_ca._1868.jpg

1938 'OLD TOWN HALL MYSTERY.', The Courier-Mail(Brisbane, Qld. : 1933-1954), 15 February, p. 18, viewed 18 May, 2011, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39754016

"Old City Foundation Stone Unearthed at Last." The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933-1954) 26 May 1938: 1. Web. 18 May 2011.

1937 'RULE, FOUND AFTER 70 YEARS.', The Courier-Mail(Brisbane, Qld. : 1933-1954), 17 August, p. 16, viewed 18 May, 2011, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37040142