THE removal of the Rosewood police residence to its temporary site while it awaits permanent placement has drawn more attention than it did when it was first put to use in September 1907.
The first use of the Rosewood Courthouse, which was built at the same time, occupied many column centimetres of type in local and city newspapers.
A September 1907 article in the Queensland Times, marked the occasion of the first case heard before a police magistrate in the new courthouse.
“A crowd of spectators assembled in the Court to listen to the proceedings in connection to the case,” the report stated.
Admittedly, it was headlined as a sensational case, which indicates that the case rather than the new building was the drawcard. That case involved six local young men and a brawl outside the Grandchester railway station.
But before Police Magistrate Morris began the proceedings he congratulated the Rosewood residents on the completion of their “fine new courthouse”.
“The building is a great improvement on the old one,” he said, and lightened the mood in the room when he laughingly added … “I hope that you will not require to use it very often.”
The reporter agreed with the magistrate on the quality of the new courthouse.
“It may be mentioned that the edifice is a very much superior building to the old ‘temple of justice’.
“It is much more commodious, and is admirably lighted and well ventilated.
“On each side of the main entrance door, over which is a fanlight, there is a large window. In each side wall are two large windows and French doors, with a fanlight above the latter.
“For the convenience of solicitors, a couple of tables are provided. The dock and witness box are portable. The witness box is certainly a great improvement on the one in Ipswich and some other courthouses as it is provided with a seat.”
Yet while singing the praises of the new court house, no mention was made of the other new building then known alternatively as the police barracks or police quarters.
However, it is likely the buildings were completed around the same time as the tender for the construction was published in February 1907 and was followed a month or so later with the news that Charles Ridsdale (a carpenter who lived in Rosewood) had won the tender at a price of £709.
The siting of the new buildings had also drawn a lot of commentary since the upgrade of the old buildings was first mooted in 1905.
Some residents wanted the new buildings on a new site out of the main street as it was considered “valuable land where new shops may be set up”. One of the sites this group put forward as an excellent alternative, was the Rosewood State School land.
The school grounds at that time encompassed 10 acres and it was suggested that one acre be given over for the new police station buildings … “which would be surrounded by a 7ft high galvanised iron fence thereby preventing any interference with the school.”
The parents of the school children protested and that idea was buried.
In the documents leading to the heritage listing of the police residence in 1994, the building was described as “a single-storeyed weatherboard building with a half-gable and hipped corrugated iron roof.
“The building has a verandah on the southern side enclosed with weatherboard and louvres, and a verandah on the northeast, which is a later addition, enclosed with weatherboard and casement windows.
“An enclosed verandah room is also located on the western side.
“Internally, the building has vertically joined boarding to walls and boarded ceilings. Doors have fanlights and windows are mostly timber sashes.”
And now to today.
The police residence has been moved from its former location awaiting the final move to its new permanent site in the police grounds.
Once in place, it will be renovated.
