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Crawford and Co Building is a heritage-listed commercial building at 216 Mary Street, Gympie, Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Hugo Durietz and built from 1881 to 1885. It is also known as Goldsworthy Building, Caston and Davidson Building, and Sym and Jackson Building. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 15 July 2011. == History == The former Crawford and Co Building located at 216 Mary Street, Gympie is a two storey, masonry building with basement that was erected in two stages during the 1880s. The second storey was designed by Hugo Durietz in 1885 for James Crawford, who in partnership with Ernest Rohda, conducted his mining, commission agent and share broking business from this building until 1889. Thereafter, the building continued to be occupied by mining secretaries until when the mining industry in Gympie was in serious decline.〔 Gympie was settled after the discovery of gold in the Mary River district in October 1867. The new goldfield established Queensland as a significant gold producer, contributing much needed finances to the young colony. Thousands of people arrived at the Gympie goldfield in the months after the discovery and a fledgling settlement emerged. In a year the alluvial gold had been exhausted and shallow reef mining commenced. Deep reef mining commenced in 1875 requiring extensive capital investment achieved through the formation of companies. During 1881, mines began yielding large amounts of gold, marking a new era of wealth and prosperity for Gympie as an intensive phase of underground reef mining began, facilitated by the injection of capital into mining companies for machinery and employees.〔 As Gympie evolved from a hastily established mining settlement, the early makeshift structures of the 1860s gradually gave way to more permanent and substantial public and private buildings from the mid 1870s. The success of deep reef mining from 1875 was reflected in the redevelopment of upper Mary Street during the 1880s and 1890s with substantial commercial buildings such as banks and company secretary and brokers' offices. Several fires - in 1877, 1881 and 1891 - razed the earlier timber buildings and accelerated this transformation.〔 A fire in August 1881 destroyed all of the buildings between Patterson's brick store and the Bank of New South Wales (242 Mary Street) on the south-western side of Mary Street, Gympie. This included the timber building that had stood on the site of the present-day Crawford and Co Building and which may have been occupied by Samuel Caston, sharebroker, mining secretary and commission agent. Sometime between August 1881 and 1885 a one-storey masonry building was erected.〔 In October 1885 the property was purchased for £650 by James Crawford, mining secretary, who commissioned architect Hugo Durietz to make additions to the building. The resultant two storey facade is in a Victorian classical style. On 2 March 1889 The Queenslander's Travelling Correspondent described the building of Messrs James Crawford and Co as "most conspicuous, not merely on account of its height, but principally owing to its very elegant and attractive proportions". To him it was: "the most handsome building on the field. Two stories () high with stone front, and tastily ornamented ... the keystones of the main door and window are ornamented with splendidly executed casts of two of Scotland's most popular bards, Burns and Scott; between the lower and upper windows there is a beautifully-worked scroll, the tracery of which interlaces representations of Scotch thistles; and the whole is surmounted by a parapet of bold and attractive designs. On each side of the parapet the British lion, rampant-while rising from the top are models of the emu and kangaroo with shields showing Australia's coat of arms."〔 This exterior decoration of the Crawford and Co Building represented several cultural influences - the British Empire (lions), Scotland (thistle), the nascent movement towards federation of the Australian colonies which was gaining momentum during the 1880s (kangaroo and emu) and the literary tastes of the owner (Burns and Scott).〔 The same Queenslander correspondent also described the interior of the building as well planned with ample room for Messrs J Crawford and Co's large broking business.〔 Extensive deep reef mining in Gympie during the 1880s and 1890s made Gympie Queensland's second and then third biggest gold producer (after Mount Morgan gold production overtook it in 1887). During this period gold production contributed between 21.61 and 35.53 percent of Queensland's export income.〔 However, the development of deep reef mining required enormous capital. The gold mining industry was the major capital-using sector of the colonial economy. This necessitated company formation to raise capital through sale of shares. The increase in production led to an upsurge in company formation on a massive scale. This growth in gold-mining shares led to the formation of the Gympie Stock Exchange, which specialised completely in trading mining shares.〔 The presence of sharebrokers engaged in share trading at the Gympie Stock Exchange and of mining secretaries involved in the administration of mines were the natural consequence. Mining secretaries, like company secretaries, ensured that the mining company they represented complied with relevant legislation and regulation, and they kept board members informed of their legal responsibilities. Mining secretaries were the company's named representative on legal documents, and it was their responsibility to ensure that the company and its directors operated within the law. It was also their responsibility to register and communicate with shareholders, to ensure that dividends were paid and company records maintained, such as lists of directors and shareholders, and annual accounts. Sharebrokers were necessary for every transaction on the Gympie Stock Exchange as transactions must be made between two members of the exchange.〔 James Crawford, mining secretary and sharebroker, arrived in Gympie in 1879 and quickly won the confidence and respect of investors. He was elected to the Gympie Municipal Council in 1887 and held a number of other public positions such as membership of the Gympie Hospital Committee.〔 However, in August 1889 James Crawford was arrested on a charge of forgery brought by William Davies, who was the director of several mining companies, and to whom Crawford was related by marriage. A Welshman, William Davies was one of the most successful investors on the Gympie goldfield. He arrived in Gympie in the early 1870s and invested in the Lady Mary line of reef, which proved successful. Thereafter he was involved in almost every mine of importance, with his chief interests being in 1 North Glanmire, 4 North Phoenix, Great Eastern and North Smithfield mines. He served on many directorates, was a member of the Widgee Divisional Board, was one of the first directors of the Gympie Gas Company and was also one of the founders of the Royal Bank of Queensland. After James Crawford fled to South Africa in 1889 to escape his trial the building at 216 Mary Street passed to William Davies to whom Crawford had mortgaged it in 1887. Thereafter, the building was rented to other mining secretaries and stockbrokers viz Caston and Davidson (circa1890-circa1914) and then Sym and Jackson (circa1914-circa1919).〔 Substantial changes in the Queensland mining sector occurred between 1900 and 1913. Gold production in Queensland peaked in 1903, due largely to a final burst of production at Gympie, which was followed by a 60 percent decrease in production between 1903 and 1913 as Gympie (and the other two major Queensland goldfields Charters Towers and Mount Morgan) declined simultaneously. The Gympie field passed through its most profitable period from 1901 to 1906 and in 1903 it recorded an output of 146,000 fine ounces (surpassing Mount Morgan that year). After 1906 the decline that had set in at Gympie in 1904 accelerated.〔 This downturn in gold production forced the closure of the Stock Exchange . Sharebrokers and mining secretaries declined in number as gold mining companies ceased operations. Thomas H Sym whose name, with that of his partner, Jackson, appeared on the parapet of the building was a mining secretary and sharebroker who died during 1925. Thereafter, the building was occupied by optometrists, commencing with William John Hodson who purchased the building in 1924, then Joseph Tilley, followed by Arthur Carvosso (from 1933) and then Peter Goldsworthy who purchased the property in 1973. It continues in this usage.〔 Additions to the rear were constructed in the 1930s and the upper storey was converted from offices to living space. Also during the 1930s a partition wall between the two rear offices of the 1880s building was removed and some partition walls installed. These partitions were removed in the mid-1970s. In the late 1970s the upper storey reverted to office space with the removal of its kitchen and it has since been used for storage. In 1985 posts were added under the floor as the joists that spanned the full width of the building had sagged. During 1986-87 rotten floorboards on the ground level were replaced and loose plasterwork was repaired or replaced. Other repairs have included: reinstatement of the partition wall between the two offices; replacement of a window in the original rear wall with a reproduction; replacement of step treads in the cedar staircase; replacement of damaged and missing plaster cornice with replica cornice and replacement of the iron roof with zincalume. The building's address to Reef Street, which gave the only means of accessing the rear of the building, has been retained.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Crawford and Co Building」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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