New Farm Police Station

The site of the present New Farm Police Station was formerly part of the land surrounding the nearby Le Brocq residence. The fifty perch allotment with a thirty year old residence was purchased from the Le Brocq Brothers for about £1250 in 1911 but was not occupied until January 1913 after substantial renovations and additions.  Further renovations occurred in 1933 at a cost of £82. These premises were suitable for the next 20 years, but in 1935, Sergeant Cranitch reported that the existing police office on the site was over 60 years old and should be condemned as unfit for occupation. Several bricks had fallen from the chimney and nearly hit his children.

In 1935, plans were drawn up for a new brick and tile police station and residence. Lavatories for the single officers and the public were built on the grounds. Relief Workers employed under the Intermittent Relief Workers Scheme carried out the excavation and levelling of the site.  

The new brick buildings and re-location of a timber building were completed in 1939 at a cost of £2798.The main building was both a residence and a functioning police station. A concrete fence was constructed on the front and side boundaries adjoining the streets, and a timber fence was constructed at the back and other side of the property.

Even in the new building, office accommodation for the five police officers was extremely limited. In 1943, plans were drawn up to increase the office space by extending the lobby.

In 1979, a brick room was added to the western side of the police station and a passage was added to connect them to the existing residence and police offices. The connecting passage contained male and female toilets. This extension provided a room for the Officer in Charge, a constable’s day room and a public counter. 

The hardwood and pine building on the western side of the property was probably built in 1912 when the police moved onto the site as a lock-up with two cells and single men’s quarters. In 1936 when the old police station was replaced, the lock-up was thought to be in good repair, and was simply moved on the site and re-built.  Lavatories were added at this time and the cells were converted into an office for administration of the Intermittent Relief Worker’s Scheme. When the Relief Workers Scheme ceased in New Farm in 1942, the police used the building as additional office space, a store room and a meal room. By 1961, the building had fallen into disrepair and the rector of the neighbouring and newly built Anglican Church wrote to the local Member of Parliament asking for it, and a redundant pole previously used to mount an air raid siren in World War II, to be removed. The Fortitude Valley police inspector described the timber building as “dilapidated and unsightly” in his report for the Minister. However, as the old building provided much needed storage space and meal facilities and there were insufficient funds to replace the building, it was decided to repair and repaint the 1912 building, at a cost of £196. The building still exists today, but is screened from the church and the street by large shrubs.

In 1993, the New Farm Police Station was incorporated into the Fortitude Valley Division. Today, the buildings in Brunswick Street are used by the Traffic Branch and as an inquiry office. Police patrols are conducted from the Fortitude Valley Station.

The hardwood and pine building on the western side of the property is an early lock-up with two cells and a single men’s quarters. A simple rectangular timber and tin building it is the earliest structure on the site and dates to the first police station constructed there.  

The fence to the two street frontages is a partial retaining wall with the upper level reflecting the verandah balustrading. Pedestrian gates provide access from each street level to the front entry stairs of both buildings.

1. Brisbane City Council, Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Detail Plan No: 161, 1937

2. Department of Natural Resources, Certificates of Title

3. Pullar, Margaret. Historical Reports on Ambulance, Fire and Police buildings throughout Metropolitan Brisbane, A Report for the Brisbane City Council Heritage Unit. 1995

4. Queensland Post Office Directories

5. Queensland State Archives A/41422, Brunswick Street police Station

6. Ryan, Robyn, Metropolitan North Region, Queensland Police Service, electronic mail, 27/03/03