Supporting the Colonial Forces

An organisation designed to defend the colony required an infra-structure network, not only from which to mount a defence, but also facilities to enable training, supply, accommodation and administration for the force. It took the Queensland Government more than two decades before it began to accept its responsibilities seriously in this regard.
Prior to the Jervois/Scratchley report of 1877 on the defences of the colony, there had been little investment in defence. The main facility of the early 1860s was the Volunteer Armoury in Brisbane which had been built as part of the 1830 British Army barracks. Major facilities such as Victoria Barracks were allocated to the Police rather than the Volunteers, and it was not until the formation of a Permanent Force within the new Queensland Defence Force in 1885 that a military force returned to the Barracks.
Other facilities, such as offices, supply stores, magazines for ammunition, drill halls and rifle ranges, were rare throughout the 1860s and 1870s, however began to appear across the colony from the 1880s. Fortifications, initially recommended as part of the Jervois/Scratchley scheme of defence, were also commenced around this time at Fort Lytton, and later at Kissing Point and Thursday Island.