[1] After the short lived Canoona gold rush of 1858, Rockhampton was proclaimed as a town and declared a "port of entry".

This was initiated by the first committee of the Rockhampton School of Arts, which had stated its primary aims to include "the diffusion of literary, scientific and other useful knowledge to be attained by means of a reading room.

[1] The Department of Public Instruction had been involved with the design of primary and technical schools since 1907, utilising knowledge gained from overseas trips by other educational authorities in Australia.

However the curriculum, and the number of classes being offered by the Technical College, was overtaxing available space in the School of Arts building.

[1] In 1912 a donation of a half acre of land fronting Alma Street was made to the Technical College by James Stewart.

The new technical college buildings in Bolsover Street are gradually assuming the shape intended by their designer:[1]"The whole of the subdividing walls are equally advanced, whilst the heavy timber joists have been laid ready to receive the reinforced concrete of which the floor will be constructed".

The stonework hitherto has proved something of a check upon the rate of progress, chiefly because of the scarcity of masons, and the enormous amount of work that is necessary to prepare some of the arch pieces.

[1] The design was produced by the office of Government Architect AB Brady, with construction being undertaken by the Public Works Department.

During the depression era, the Rockhampton Technical College also offered free training to youths unable to find employment.

[1] The standard of education within the College received a further boost in 1925 when training was offered in the Queensland University Diploma in Mechanical and Electrical drawing (continuing on a curriculum tradition established by the Rockhampton School of Arts).

Sixty fitters and eighty turners were trained and sent to various parts of the state involved in the production of war materials.

The Bolsover Street elevation is a symmetrical composition, mostly faced with sandstone, consisting of a two-storeyed verandah penetrated by gabled projections either side of a central entrance.

[1] The ground floor central entrance has low wrought iron gates and is flanked by Ionic columns supporting an entablature with the name TECHNICAL COLLEGE in relief to the frieze, and prominent dentils to the cornice.

[1] The rear of the building has regularly spaced multi-paned casement windows to both floors, and downpipes with pressed metal rainwater heads.

A centrally positioned free-standing two-storeyed masonry structure is located behind the building, and is linked via a covered walkway on both levels.

A central corridor runs the length of the building, and a concrete half-turn stair with landings and metal balustrade is located opposite the entrance foyer.

The stair and entrance foyer are separated from the corridor by segmental arches with expressed keystone, voussoirs and impost mouldings.

A timber door, with a multi-paned glass upper panel, is located below the stair and accesses the ground floor of the toilet block at the rear.

The building has rendered masonry walls, fibrous cement ceilings with timber battens, and linoleum floor coverings to public spaces.

[1] The Alma Street elevation was an asymmetrical composition, consisting of a gabled section with an adjacent entrance wing on the northwestern side.

The gable section had a slightly projecting central bay which housed a pair of wide casement windows to both floors.

[1] The southeastern wall was blank to the front section, with regularly spaced multi-paned sash windows to the rear wing, which was slightly recessed.

The northwestern wall was similarly blank to the front section, with a central circular roof ventilation opening to the gable, and a slightly recessed stairwell projecting at the rear.

The lower part of the first floor exterior walls, along the northwestern side of the building, had been rendered in an attempt to overcome rising damp deterioration to the brickwork.

[1] 'A' Block of the Rockhampton Technical College was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.

[1] The place is also important in demonstrating the development of the civic centre of Rockhampton, particularly during the early part of the twentieth century.

The building is also a good example of technical college structures of the period, which evolved in response to progressive thinking in the design and planning of educational institutions.

[1] The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.

The site is also associated with prominent businessman James Stewart, who in 1912 donated a parcel of land fronting Alma Street for the establishment of the Technical College.

[1] The building is a significant example of the work produced by the office of Government Architect Alfred Barton Brady, and Deputy Architect Thomas Pye, other examples of which include the Elizabeth Street building, Brisbane General Post Office (1908), Administration Centre of the Challinor Centre (1914) (Ipswich Mental Hospital), and Windsor State School (1915–16).