sashwindows

Unidentified men gathered outside the School of Arts Building, Charters Towers

from State Library of Queensland

• Vesna Verencevic said:

  Charters Towers is arguably the most beautiful inland city in Queensland. It may not have the range of domestic architecture that makes Ipswich so distinctive but in terms of public architecture it is unrivalled. Like Kalgoorlie, Cue and Coolgardie in Western Australia it is a city built from the huge profits of goldmining and, as such, the city fathers (a quixotic band of nouveau riche miners) were determined to flaunt their wealth. Today the city is beautifully preserved and the best of the buildings are concentrated on Mosman Street and Gill Street. No one is certain about the origin of the town's name. One popular explanation is that the gold prospector Hugh Mosman, who is credited with first finding gold in the district, saw three hills and named them Charters Tors after W.S.E.M. Charters, the mining warden at Ravenswood. The town never became Charters Tors because, as early as December, 1871 the local paper, the Ravenswood Miner, was referring to the settlement as Charters Towers. Source: www.aussietowns.com.au/town/charters-towers-qld

• Vesna Verencevic said:

  In 1878 meetings were held to bring about the construction of the School of Arts which opens in December on Mosman Street conducted at John Gard's Clubhouse Hotel beside. In 1900 the School of Arts commences the Charters Towers Technical College inside the old Clubhouse Hotel. Source: www.charterstowers.qld.gov.au/council/charters-towers-his...