Ayr Court House
| Ayr Court House | |
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Ayr Courthouse, 2009
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| Location | 163 Queen Street, Ayr, Shire of Burdekin, Queensland, Australia |
| Coordinates | 19°34′36″S 147°24′14″E / 19.5768°S 147.4039°ECoordinates: 19°34′36″S 147°24′14″E / 19.5768°S 147.4039°E |
| Design period | 1919 - 1930s (interwar period) |
| Built | 1935 - 1941 |
| Architect | Douglas Francis Woodcraft Roberts |
| Architectural style(s) | Classicism |
| Official name: Ayr Court House | |
| Type | state heritage (landscape, built) |
| Designated | 13 January 1995 |
| Reference no. | 601126 |
| Significant period | 1930s (historical) 1930s (fabric) 1935 ongoing (social) |
| Significant components | garden/grounds, court house, roof/ridge ventilator/s / fleche/s |
| Builders | day labour |
 Location of Ayr Court House in Queensland
Location of Ayr Court House in Queensland
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Ayr Court House is a heritage-listed courthouse at 163 Queen Street, Ayr, Shire of Burdekin, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Douglas Francis Woodcraft Roberts and built from 1935 to 1941 by day labour. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 13 January 1995.
Constructed in 1935 on a site adjacent to the existing 1897 court house, this was the third court house in Ayr.
The Burdekin River region was first settled in the 1860s, and the town of Ayr was surveyed in 1882. Tenders was called for a Court House and Police Station in Ayr in late 1882, and a building was erected in 1883 which comprised the police quarters, lock-up and court room. This building was situated on Allotment 6, bounded by Queen, Khedive (now Mackenzie), Omar (now Graham) and Bey (now Young) Streets. The Post and Telegraph Office and Residence were also located on this block. The town grew in support of the increasing number of sugar plantations and small sugar growers establishing themselves in the Burdekin region.
By late 1896 the court room was inadequate for court purposes. Construction on a new court house commenced in 1897, the former room being taken over for use by the police. The new court house was built on a site south east of the police building, at the corner of Queen and Khedive Streets.
Ayr was almost completely destroyed by Cyclone Leonta in 1903; much of the town was rebuilt after the cyclone. Part of the court house roof was damaged during the cyclone.
Ayr and the surrounding district experienced an unprecedented period of growth through the 1920s and 1930s as a result of the expansion of the sugar industry, and other developments in the district from the turn of the century. The formation of the Ayr Tramway Joint Board and the opening of the railway connecting Ayr and Stuart (Townsville) in 1901 overcame many difficulties previously associated with transporting sugar to the port in Townsville. The Ayr-Stuart line became a government railway in January 1913.
The early farmers in the Ayr district found that the supply of water to irrigate their cane crops was inadequate. Several irrigation schemes were proposed, however none eventuated until the Queensland Government approved an irrigation scheme for the district in July 1916. The Inkerman Supply Board was constituted in February 1917 and the Irrigation Plant was opened in May 1922. While the Great Depression was affecting most other parts of the country, the sugar towns of Queensland experienced steady growth and stable economies.
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