Boys Brigade Hall

The Boys’ Brigade 1st Brisbane Company was formed by George Orr at the Presbyterian Church on Enoggera Terrace in 1913. Orr was a Scottish master plumber who had been involved with the Boys’ Brigade in his home country where he had become a staunch advocate of the Brigade’s aims, which had been laid down by the organisation’s founder William Alexander Smith: “the advancement of Christ’s kingdom among Boys, and the promotion of habits of Obediance, Reverence, Discipline, Self-respect, and all that tends towards true Christian Manliness.” An organisation much influenced by the military, these objectives were met by the Brigade through parade drill, bible study, and regular meetings and camps. Although the boys drilled with dummy rifles in the United Kingdom, and the Brisbane Company used army rifles blocked to prevent firing, this was only as an accoutrement to drilling and the Brigade did not train members in the actual use of weapons. After 1926, the practice of drilling with dummy or “blocked” weapons ceased.

Orr had migrated to Australia in 1912 to work on the Brisbane sewerage scheme. He became an Elder of the Church in 1914, and under his guidance the 1st Brisbane Company became immensely successful. By 1919 the Company was able to commission the construction of a hall at the cost of £1500. The boys raised £400 of the money themselves and obtained loans for the rest which they were able to repay in total by 1924. By this time 134 boys were enrolled in the Company. The Company grew rapidly through World War I.  In the early 1920s, the Company was visited by the Governor General of Australia, Sir Matthew Nathan, and was widely considered at this time as the best run Boys’ Brigade unit in Australia. It was used as a model for other Boys’ Brigade groups being established at the time. In 1926, the Boys’ Brigade amalgamated with the Boys’ Light Brigade, a similar organisation. This did not affect the Boys’ Brigade unit in Enoggera Terrace.

The 1st Brisbane Company of the Boys’ Brigade has been regarded as the first really successful unit of its type in Australia, and is Australia’s longest continually active Boy’s Brigade unit. It is still based in the original hall, eighty years after it was constructed, and eighty-seven years after the unit itself was formed.

There is no doubt that such a successful organisation would have had a significant presence in the local community. All the local boys would have been well aware of the Boys’ Brigade, and possibly attracted by the organisation’s focus of camps, drill, and weapons training. That it was a noteworthy part of the fabric of Red Hill society in the first part of the 20th century seems certain. The formation of a Boys’ Brigade unit in the area also demonstrates the population growth that took place in the region, a growth which was gradually more and more able to support various community organisations, culminating in the establishment of bases like the Boys’ Brigade Hall.

Timber framed windows with multi-paned sections are located above the entry gable, and to either side of the entry door. Windows are also along both sidewalls. 

The building is raised above ground on the steeply sloping block of land, but it is still slightly below street level. Under the hall and at the back of the building some small rooms have been added.

1. Brisbane City Council Water Supply & Sewerage Detail Plans

2. Department of Natural Resources, Queensland. Certificates of Title and other records

3. Hoare, Michael E. Boys, urchins, men: a history of the Boys’ Brigade in Australian and Papua New Guinea (Reed, 1980)

4. McKellar's Map of Brisbane and Suburbs. Brisbane: Surveyor-General’s Office, 1895

5. Information kindly provided by Mr Graham Milliner, Boys’ Brigade, 25 Jan 2001