The completion of the Great Northern railway line from Townsville to Charters Towers in December 1882 boosted the town's prosperity, by lowering the cost of supplies and building materials.

[9][10][11] According to Government Geologist Robert Logan Jack, Charters Towers was the third largest gold producing area in Australia, after Ballarat and Sandhurst (Bendigo).

[13][1] At the turn of the century, Charters Towers had just achieved peak production (1899), comprised a multi-cultural population of around 26,500, was Queensland's second largest city, and was known colloquially as "the World".

Death and injury figures between 1890 and 1901 for Charters Towers "were consistently higher, in proportion to the number of miners employed, than for the colony in general".

In Australia, Sydney's Board of Health formed the first recorded ambulance corps in 1881, for transportation of patients with suspected infectious diseases to the Coast Hospital.

[20][1] In 1900 the CATB instructed Superintendent R Nye Stevens to report on extending an ambulance service to the Colony's larger towns and cities.

A public meeting, organised by Mayor John Asher Benjamin, for those interested in the commencement of an ambulance and transport brigade in Charters Towers, was held on 12 October 1900.

[27][28] Later the centre moved to a six-roomed house on the corner of Deane and Ann Streets, with its stable and plant room located on an adjoining allotment.

Ambulance brigades were established in Charters Towers and Townsville (1900); Rockhampton, Warwick and Ipswich (1901); Toowoomba (1902); Ravenswood and Mackay (1903); Cairns (1904) and Bundaberg (1907).

The goldfields of Charters Towers, Ravenswood and Gympie, with large working populations of miners, were among the first to establish ambulance services in the state.

It wished to purchase land and erect its own premises at the cost of about £1200 and the Chair, JA Benjamin, thought it should be located near the suburb of Queenton, to the east of the city centre.

[33] An advertisement requesting details of land for sale in Charters Towers, in a central position and suitable for building the new ambulance brigade quarters, was placed in The Northern Miner in July 1902 by TW Treacy, Superintendent.

[35] The property was located between the city centre and the railway station, and close to the hospital (one block to the west on Gill Street) and to the principal mines of the goldfield (the Brilliant and Queen reefs to the east); therefore, near transport, medical facilities and potential patients.

The North Queensland Register newspaper criticised the Charters Towers Ambulance Brigade for spending too much on its new premises, claiming the two-storey masonry building would be costly and take money from hospital fundraising.

Nevertheless, fundraising continued, with an ambulance sports day attended by the Governor, Sir Herbert Chermside, and musical performances at Charters Towers' Theatre Royal.

[38][39] Less than three months later, on 13 June 1903, the building was officially opened by JA Benjamin, Chair of the Charters Towers Ambulance Brigade Committee.

The building was described by the Charters Towers Mining Standard newspaper at this time:[1][53][54][55]The ground floor being paved with concrete blocks ... consists of a large room where the sulky and stretchers are kept, the harness being suspended over the shafts of the sulky ready to drop on the horse at any time... Wunderlick [sic] ceiling has been used on the ground floor...The front and stable doors opened by electricity, so that when the alarm bell is rung - and the horse is trained sufficiently - the doors will open and the horse will walk into position ready for the men to come sliding down the pole from the upper storey.

The logo of the QATB (a Maltese cross encircled by the letters Q, A, T and B), the date "1900" and the word "AMBULANCE" were also incorporated into the elevation's ornamentation, and a stepped parapet concealed the roof structure from the street.

Large ground floor openings allowed ready access directly to the street for horse and sulky to quickly exit the building.

[80][1] The former Ambulance Building occupies the southwest corner of a level, 0.158 hectares (0.39 acres), rectangular allotment, approximately 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) east of the central business district in Charters Towers, North Queensland.

The Ambulance Building (1903) is positioned at the front (southern end) of the allotment, facing Gill Street, and is an eye-catching feature in the townscape.

[1] The Ambulance Building is a two storey, rendered brick structure, designed in a classical idiom, and sheltered by a corrugated metal-clad gable roof that is hipped at the rear.

The building is approximately rectangular in plan, with its front elevation angled to align with Gill Street and its long axis running north-south.

The building's roof has circular metal vents along its ridgeline and a tall, rendered brick chimney protrudes from the northeastern corner.

A stepped parapet concealing the roof is terminated at each end by octagonal pilasters, projecting prominently above the roofline and topped with domed caps and ball finials.

Other applied ornamentation to the front elevation includes: the former logo of the Queensland Ambulance Transport Brigade (QATB) (a Maltese cross encircled by the letters Q, A, T and B) and the date "1900" in raised letters within the pediment; acanthus leaf motifs and the word "AMBULANCE" raised within the entablature; fluted arch spandrels; ivy leaf motifs; and moulded horizontal bands.

Aligned with the northern archway, a large, internal arched opening is set within a wall separating the front and rear of the ground floor.

[1] Recent elements that are not of cultural heritage significance include: the carpet, tile and linoleum floor linings; kitchen and bathroom fit-outs; external, northern stairs; aluminium-framed windows; sheeting enclosing openings; the door connecting to adjacent, modern ambulance facilities; reconstructed doors within the front elevation; paint covering window panes; and light fittings.

[1] Alterations undertaken during the building's use as an ambulance building (1903–95), including widening of access doors and alterations to the ground floor for motorised vehicles, provide important evidence of the evolution of Queensland ambulance services – illustrating the transition from hand litter and horse-drawn to motorised transport, and growth in demand for the service.

The building is an eye-catching feature at the eastern entrance to Charters Towers' central business district; and its substantial massing and detailed ornamentation express the importance of ambulance services to early mining areas.