Burdekin Shire Council Chambers

Burdekin Shire Council Chambers is a heritage-listed town hall at 145 Young Street, Ayr, Shire of Burdekin, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Frederick Smith and built in 1937 by local builder AS Wight. It is also known as Ayr Shire Council Chambers. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 13 October 1997.HistoryBurdekin Shire Council Chambers at Ayr was completed in 1922 as Ayr Shire Council Chambers, replacing an 1890s timber building destroyed by fire in 1919. The 1922 building was designed by local architect Frederick Smith and extended in the late 1930s.Ayr was established in 1882 to service the developing sugar-growing district on the Lower Burdekin River. In the early 1860s the land was taken up as pastoral runs, but during the second half of the 1860s and 1870s, following the introduction of the British Government's Sugar and Coffee Regulations of 1864, pastoral holdings on the Lower Burdekin gradually converted to sugar cultivation. By the late 1880s, four sugar mills had been established in the Burdekin.When local government was extended to all Queenslanders in 1879, with the passing of the Divisional Boards Act, the Lower Burdekin was included in Subdivision 3 of the Thuringowa Division, based in Townsville, while the area south of the Burdekin was included in the Wangaratta Division. The Lower Burdekin community became concerned that its problems were not being addressed by the Thuringowa Divisional Board, because board members from the district found it difficult to get to meetings in Townsville. An attempt to overcome these problems was made in September 1883 when the Lower Burdekin was included in Subdivision 2 and the remainder of the division within subdivision 1.