Ravenswood Ambulance Station

Ravenswood Ambulance Station is a heritage-listed ambulance station at Deighton Street, Ravenswood, Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1904. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.HistoryThe Ravenswood Ambulance Building, constructed in 1904, has played an important role in the Ravenswood community providing assistance for the sick and injured. This role expanded when the hospital closed and it has continued its community service as a venue for regular clinics held by the Royal Flying Doctor Service for over thirty years.Ravenswood was one of several important goldfields in which formed a major component in the development of North Queensland. The need to access and exploit gold finds determined the path of railways, the establishment of related industries and commerce and the location of settlements. Some of these were short lived "rushes", where tent and shanty townships disappeared almost as quickly as they rose. Other settlements based on goldfields became established towns with government and civic buildings, shops and family homes and survived as such. A few became important centres, only to fade away as gold yields fell. Ravenswood was one of these.The area was first settled by Europeans following the establishment of Bowen in 1861. Pastoral runs were soon set up in the hinterland, including the area on which the Ravenswood field was to develop. The first gold in north Queensland had been found at Star River in 1865 and triggered further exploration. Gold was found at Merri Merriwa, the run on which the town of Ravenswood stands, in 1867, although it was reported as being on the adjoining property of Ravenswood, the name by which the field was always known.