School of Mines returned to former glory

Paintwork and external repairs to the 140-year-old School of Mines Building in Charters Towers have been completed as part of a $250,000 facelift.

Public Works Minister Robert Schwarten said the restoration project would fittingly by completed in times for Queensland’s 150^th celebrations.

“External repairs, painting and site clean up to the rear building have been completed and a scope of compliance works is currently underway to meet building safety regulations,” Mr Schwarten said.

“The School of Mines Building was constructed at the turn of the 20^th century and is an historically significant building for Queensland.

“It was established on the site of one of the most significant gold fields in Australia in 1899 at a time when it was necessary to dig deeper shafts to extract the ore.

“It was taken over by the Queensland Government in 1900 and transformed into a highly-regarded technical institution.”

Mr Schwarten said building was formerly leased by the National Trust of Queensland, but had been returned to the Department of Public Works for restoration work.

“The School of Mines Building is a single-story structure which is timber framed and clad on concrete stumps with a corrugated iron roof,” he said.

“Although many of the internal partitions have been moved over the last century, the building still has most of its original foundations, including the memorial stone laid in the 1890s.

Mr Schwarten said the Department of Public Works would continue to preserve the fundamental structure throughout the renovations under the guidance of the Conservation Management Plan.

“Additional funding to support an ongoing three-year maintenance program is currently also under consideration,” he said.

After renovations are complete, the building will be available for lease by the Charters Towers community.

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