The cost of repairs

With the First World War in full swing there was precious little money for the frills and fripperies of life and the department and most governments had budgets pared to the last penny.

The general wear and tear on departmental buildings, some of which had been in service for 50 or 60 years, was plain for all to see but the war economy and the austerity of the times meant everyone had to make do.

Cardwell, in the deep north, had once been a thriving community, particularly during the gold rushes and when it served as the major port for the Hinchinbrook area. Responsibility for customs, harbourmaster and legal services had been placed in the hands of the clerk of petty sessions. Times changed, however, and by the turn of the century most of the activities had moved to Ingham. Cardwell had slipped into genteel decay.

In 1903, an independent assessment considered that the police and courthouse buildings were ‘in a dilapidated state requiring repairs’ to an estimated value of £11 6s 1d. Then in 1911, a cyclone blew half the iron off the roof. Constable Reed and the Aboriginal tracker put it back, presumably during the height of the storm, before further winds stripped the building entirely. The stables, at this time, were reported as ‘very old, rotting and falling down and not worth doing up again’. The same Constable Reed applied to keep a cow and a few fowls at the Cardwell Courthouse as it was ‘very difficult to procure milk and eggs’. As there was no fence, he proposed to let the cow run in the bush all day and milk her in the mornings. Later he complained that lack of a fence meant the town’s stock, with their noisy bells, kept his wife and child awake at night and he had to keep getting up to chase the animals away.

Stephen Creedy, acting Clerk of Petty Sessions, reported in 1914 that the courthouse required painting and repairing, and that a new tank, stand, spouting and water closet were required. The same officer, with a view to his family’s welfare, also applied in 1915 to keep a cow, calf and 20 fowls on the premises, which presumably had been fenced by then. In 1916, Cardwell Shire Council advised the Under Secretary for Justice that the only water closet in the township of Cardwell with an open cesspit instead of a pan was at the courthouse and, consequently, the Commissioner of Public Health had asked for the necessary action to be taken to replace it. The tender for converting the closet to a new pan system was £5 10s.