Places of interest
1 STOCK EXCHANGE ARCADE
During the Charters Towers goldmining boom, the centre of its financial district was the Stock Exchange Arcade at the intersection of Mosman and Gill streets. Built originally in 1887–88 as a shopping precinct known as the Royal Arcade, it became the Charters Towers Stock Exchange from 1890 to 1916. Designed by Sydney architect Mark Cooper Day, it featured a glass roof and large tiled floor space and was illuminated at night by gas lights. The Stock Exchange was established to raise capital for the area’s deep reef mines, with the public allowed to buy and sell stock at 8pm every evening during an event known as the Calling of the Card. The exchange closed in 1916 and is today used by local shops and administered by the National Trust of Queensland.
2 WORLD THEATRE
Originally home to The Australian Bank of Commerce Ltd, this building was completed by the Australian Joint Stock Bank in 1891. It was restored in 1996 as the World Theatre and is now used as a civic theatre, cinema and public art gallery offering movies, live concerts and exhibitions. The building combines Classical Revival architecture (with many columns) and Victorian Italianate ornamentation.
3 CITY MURALS
Of the many murals around the town – including those at the Civic Club, Centenary Park, Westpac Bank and McDonald’s – the most accessible and impressive is in the car park opposite the World Theatre. Created by artist Mark Sutherland in 2010, it shows the town in its heyday, painted in the style of mid20th century English artist L.S. Lowry, known for his depictions of North West England industrial districts.
4 ZARA CLARK MUSEUM
Once a general merchant’s shop, this facility owned and run by the National Trust is now a repository for local historic photographs, equipment and memorabilia. Of particular interest is the flying fox once used in the Stan Pollard building in Gill Street to transfer cash from counters to the accounts department.
5 VENUS GOLD BATTERY
Proclaimed as “Australia’s oldest remaining gold battery” and recognised as one of the country’s most important historical industrial sites, the Venus Gold Battery, on the corner of Millchester Road and Jardine Street, is 4km from Charters Towers’ centre. It was established in July 1872, became a state battery from 1919 until its 1973 closure, and is Australia’s largest surviving (and Queensland’s oldest surviving) gold battery relic. There are guided daily tours.
6 TOWERS HILL LOOKOUT
Views across the town and surrounding plain from atop Towers Hill, the area’s highest point, are spectacular. The base of this hill is where gold was first discovered, in late 1871. Today, remaining features include the footings of Clarke’s mine and battery, the ruins of the Pyrites Works, more than 30 ammunition storage dumps from World War II and the remnants of telegraph lines from the 1950s. There are interpretive displays and an amphitheatre where a film, Ghosts After Dark, about the history of Charters Towers, screens at night.