Traveston Powder Magazine is a heritage-listed gunpowder magazine incorporated within the Traveston Soldiers' Memorial Hall at 7 Traveston Road, Traveston, Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1887 by Queensland Department of Public Works. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 10 June 2011.
History An 1887 brick powder magazine, with post World War II timber extensions, is located on Traveston Road south of the Traveston railway station. The magazine was relocated from Gympie to Traveston in 1898 and became a Soldiers' Memorial Hall in 1923. The former magazine is rare surviving evidence of the infrastructure associated with Gympie's mining heyday, specifically the use of explosives in deep-reef mining. It is also evidence of the Australian practice of commemorating the sacrifices of World War I and World War II with memorial halls and honour boards. The magazine at Traveston was initially located in the town of Gympie, which was established after the discovery of gold by James Nash, announced in October 1867. The new gold field established Queensland as a significant gold producer, contributing much needed finances to the young colony. Although the alluvial deposits were quickly exhausted, from 1868 shallow reef mining occurred. From 1875 a third phase of mining began, based on deep reef mining, which marked a new era of wealth and prosperity for Gympie. Peak gold production occurred in 1903 but by 1927 production at Gympie had almost ceased. Reef mining led to the need for explosives to break up rock. For over a century control of all explosives and gunpowder imported into Queensland was the province of the Harbour Master's Department (1860–62), the Department of Ports & Harbours (1862–93), the Marine Department (1894–1928), and the Department of Harbours and Marine (1929–63). In 1964, responsibility was shifted to the Queensland Department of Health. Under The Navigation Act 1876 the master of any ship entering a Queensland port with gunpowder to be unloaded had to ensure that it was placed in a government magazine. The various harbour departments therefore were responsible for the provision of magazines and for the safe storage of explosives at Queensland ports of entry. The Act further regulated the conveyance and storage of gunpowder in any place in Queensland, not just in the ports. On the goldfields, magazines were initially administered by the Mines Department, as control of magazines outside ports was not vested in the Marine Department until 1907. Some common magazine design features include sturdy construction, small windows and solid doors, ventilation and overhanging eaves, timber floors with copper nails or timber pegs instead of iron nails, and the provision of lightning conductors and copper earthing straps. Magazines were generally located away from population centres and were sometimes surrounded by earthworks to deflect any blast. In addition, magazine complexes were often surrounded by walls or fences to keep people out. Traveston once possessed all of the above properties except the earthworks. The Queensland Department of Public Works built powder magazines during the 1860s at Brisbane, Maryborough and Gympie; and during the 1870s at Townsville, Ravenswood, Mount Perry (Mount Perry Powder Magazine), Millchester, Cooktown (Cooktown Powder Magazine), Eagle Farm, Thornborough and Maytown. The first government magazines at Cairns (on a floating barge), Charters Towers, Croydon, Georgetown, Herberton, Normanton, Port Douglas and Rockhampton were all built in the 1880s. Magazines were also upgraded and replaced when necessary, and several were built at Gympie, in two different locations. Gympie's first magazine was built in 1868 by the Department of Public Works, at a cost of £191, on the west side of Commissioner's Gully (just west of today's Queens Park). The Gympie Times of 27 October 1868 suggested that people use it, "as there is as much powder stored in Mary Street as would blow Gympie out of existence. Rather a pleasant fact to dream about". However, the brick building proved inadequate by 1878. There was insufficient space and a timber skillion section had been added to store excess explosives. A powder explosion in a Mary Street store in 1877 made townsfolk nervous, and tenders for a new magazine were called in May 1878. A new magazine site was chosen on Rifle Range Road, and the new powder magazine was finished, except for painting, by late November 1878. About £496 was spent on construction, and an August 1878 plan shows a timber building set on stumps, with internal dimensions of 25 by 18 feet (7.6 by 5.5 m), sited within a cutting into a hillside and surrounded by a fence. JG Glover was appointed as magazine keeper in 1880, and in early 1885 James Nash, who had lost most of his money in poor business dealings, was appointed as the magazine keeper at a salary of £100 per annum. His daughter, Miss Amy Nash, eventually became the effective keeper of the magazine on behalf of her father.
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