Queensland State Archives Buildings
With the appointment of an Archivist in 1959, space was initially allocated in the Commissariat Stores in William Street, Brisbane, but this building was full by March 1962. Additional space in the Anzac Square government building and the old Lady Bowen hospital also filled rapidly.
In July 1968 Queensland State Archives was relocated to a purpose-built facility in Dutton Park. Conservation was accorded a new emphasis in the Dutton Park building, with fumigation chambers installed to deal with pest and mould infestation. Stricter environmental controls were placed upon the storage of the records. There was an increase in the number and complexity of reference enquiries and new reprography services were introduced. A microfilm camera was purchased in 1971 and a microfilm storage vault was built. The use of microfilm provided access to heavily used records while preserving the original documents. Space was again an issue by 1974 and in 1978 a building at West End in Brisbane was acquired for use as remote storage. A new building was proposed and a site selected at Runcorn.
The current Queensland State Archives building at Runcorn, Brisbane was built in 1992. Officially opened in 1993, it was nominated for an architectural award and as a finalist received a commendation.
Continuing growth in the amount of archival public records led to the construction of a new building adjacent and connected to the existing Queensland State Archives building. The expanded facility opened on 10 November 2008, bringing the total floor area of Queensland State Archives to 23,322m2 and the total storage to approximately 90 linear kilometres. The expansion includes additional repositories which will allow Queensland State Archives to store records transferred from more than 600 Queensland public authorities for the next 10 to 15 years. The new Queensland State Archives building was designed to complement the appearance of the original building and to continue providing a secure, purpose-built environment that will aid in the long-term preservation of Queensland’s documentary heritage.
The expanded facility project features environmentally sustainable initiatives including water harvesting from roof areas and car park surfaces for re-use in irrigation; recycling of water from cooling tower operations and efficient air-conditioning services, incorporating a purpose-built three million litre chilled water tank for off-peak electricity. Recycled or recyclable materials and fabrics were used in the construction, wherever possible.
Read more about this topic: Queensland State Archives
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