The Bundaberg Drill Hall was first built alongside an armoury for the use of the local volunteer force in 1889.
Situated at 50 Quay Street, the building is the only 19th century drill hall constructed in the region and is listed on Bundaberg Regional Council’s Register of Local Heritage Places.
The Bundaberg Drill Hall has a special association with the volunteer and Queensland Defence Force formed in the Bundaberg Region as well as those associated with the Australian Defence Force after Federation.
Local volunteer forces were created throughout Queensland from the 1850s, often in response to the perception that the colonies might be attacked.
Bundaberg’s first volunteer rifle corps (infantry) was formed in 1876, known as No. 10 Company, Bundaberg Rifles.
However as threat of an attack did not materialise, attendance at drills quickly declined and the volunteers were reorganised into ‘M’ Company.
While interest remained casual, a training encampment was still held on the Barolin Plains in 1879 and a rifle range was also established that year.
The local volunteer force was reconstituted as ‘E’ Company in 1886, following the creation of the Queensland Defence Force (QDF) with the Bundaberg Drill Hall created three years later.
The drill hall was built by local contractor Edward Boyle to a standard colonial government design and cost over £400 to complete.
A drill instructor was appointed in 1892 after which the interest and competency of the company increased before it was disbanded in 1893 due to government budget cuts.
‘D’ Company was then created in 1898, part of the 2nd Queensland (or Wide Bay and Burnett) Regiment, however the company, regiment and drill hall were all absorbed into the Commonwealth Military Forces following Federation.
Bundaberg also formed a mounted infantry corps in 1885 which disbanded in 1893 and a naval brigade in 1892 which also passed to the Commonwealth after Federation.
Construction
The Bundaberg Drill Hall is located in the northwest of a levelled grassed block bordered by Quay Street in the north, Post Office Lane in the south and the North Coast Railway Line in the west.
The site is surrounded with a high mesh and barbed-wire fence with access from Quay Street.
The design demonstrates principal characteristics of drill halls from this time through its timber construction and distinctive curved corrugated iron clad roof.
The building consists of a low-set timber structure with a curved corrugated iron clad roof, an enclosed verandah with skillion roof wraps around the eastern and southern side and an annex attached to the western elevation.
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