Burdekin Shire Council Chambers
| Burdekin Shire Council Chambers | |
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Burdekin Shire Council Chambers
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| Location | 145 Young Street, Ayr, Shire of Burdekin, Queensland, Australia |
| Coordinates | 19°34′38″S 147°24′22″E / 19.5772°S 147.4062°ECoordinates: 19°34′38″S 147°24′22″E / 19.5772°S 147.4062°E |
| Design period | 1919 - 1930s (interwar period) |
| Built | 1917 - 1939 |
| Architect | Frederick Smith |
| Architectural style(s) | Classicism |
| Official name: Burdekin Shire Council Chambers, Ayr Shire Council Chambers | |
| Type | state heritage (built) |
| Designated | 13 October 1997 |
| Reference no. | 601922 |
| Significant period | 1920s, 1982 (historical) 1920s-ongoing (social) 1920s-1930s (fabric) |
| Significant components | council chamber/meeting room, office/s, views to, strong room, furniture/fittings |
| Builders | AS Wight |
 Location of Burdekin Shire Council Chambers in Queensland
Location of Burdekin Shire Council Chambers in Queensland
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Burdekin Shire Council Chambers is a heritage-listed town hall at 145 Young Street, Ayr, Shire of Burdekin, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Frederick Smith and built in 1937 by local builder AS Wight. It is also known as Ayr Shire Council Chambers. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 13 October 1997.
Burdekin Shire Council Chambers at Ayr was completed in 1922 as Ayr Shire Council Chambers, replacing an 1890s timber building destroyed by fire in 1919. The 1922 building was designed by local architect Frederick Smith and extended in the late 1930s.
Ayr was established in 1882 to service the developing sugar-growing district on the Lower Burdekin River. In the early 1860s the land was taken up as pastoral runs, but during the second half of the 1860s and 1870s, following the introduction of the British Government's Sugar and Coffee Regulations of 1864, pastoral holdings on the Lower Burdekin gradually converted to sugar cultivation. By the late 1880s, four sugar mills had been established in the Burdekin.
When local government was extended to all Queenslanders in 1879, with the passing of the Divisional Boards Act, the Lower Burdekin was included in Subdivision 3 of the Thuringowa Division, based in Townsville, while the area south of the Burdekin was included in the Wangaratta Division. The Lower Burdekin community became concerned that its problems were not being addressed by the Thuringowa Divisional Board, because board members from the district found it difficult to get to meetings in Townsville. An attempt to overcome these problems was made in September 1883 when the Lower Burdekin was included in Subdivision 2 and the remainder of the division within subdivision 1.
Despite these boundary alterations the problem of distance from Townsville could not be overcome so easily. A petition seeking to have the Lower Burdekin made a separate division was unsuccessful; despite support from the Thuringowa Board, the Minister for Lands rejected the petition. A further petition prepared in 1884, pointing out that the population of 2,000 people centred on Ayr, was not acknowledged. To maintain pressure on the government, residents formed the Burdekin Delta Association and a further petition was successful. The Ayr Division was proclaimed in 1888 but comprised only land north of the Burdekin River.
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