Bulolo Flats is a heritage-listed apartment block at 9 McLachlan Street, Fortitude Valley, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

[1] A devout Roman Catholic and close friend and confidant of Archbishop James Duhig (1871–1965), Beirne was a prominent benefactor of the church.

In July 1929 he was awarded a papal knighthood of the Order of St Gregory the Great in recognition of his work for the Church, especially in connection with Duhig's planned Holy Name Cathedral in Fortitude Valley.

On his death in 1949 The Courier-Mail commented that "Brisbane has lost a personality whose life has been woven strongly into its own progress and development for half a century".

Many of Beirne's young female employees were experiencing city life for the first time, and he took a paternal interest in their moral welfare.

Designed as private homes for young women earning their own income, they were symbolic of contemporary community recognition that many young, unmarried women of this era could support themselves financially and were no longer content to live in the family home, or in supervised accommodation such as hostels, or in other forms of communal dwellings.

At the same time, the intention to attract only female occupants allayed traditional community suspicions about the immorality of single men and women inhabiting shared residential accommodation.

By insisting that Bulolo Flats were designed for women only, the stigma of "fast" or "loose" being applied to the young unmarried female occupants was removed.

[1] Although quite fashionable in Sydney and in London, flats designed especially for single women were uncommon in Queensland, and no other self-contained block for this purpose is known to have been purpose-constructed in Brisbane in the interwar period.

Similarly, a few blocks of "bachelor flats" or tenements were erected in Brisbane for single men – such as Donegal (1934 and 1936) on St Paul's Terrace in Fortitude Valley.

Bulolo was unusual in that, although designed along the lines of "bachelor flats", the apartments were self-contained with private bathrooms and water closets.

[1] The front elevation to McLachlan Street is divided into three bays, delineated by simple brick pilasters which rise above the level of the parapet.

[1] The decorative detailing in the front elevation is simple but effective, and includes: the use of polychromatic brickwork in the parapet; the use of multiple brick pilasters at the corners of the building; the creation of textured effects using expressed brickwork; and the incorporation of six small "grotesques", two in each of the front bays, at about the height of the upper floor.

Bulolo Flats, constructed in 1934, is important for its association with the provision of residential accommodation for women in Brisbane during a period of chronic, bordering on acute, housing shortage.

The place also demonstrates contemporary community recognition that modern young women were seeking an independent lifestyle outside the family home.

As an excellent example of its type it is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a well-designed, well-constructed, domestic-scale block of self-contained residential flats for single women.

Each small flat contains a bed-sitting room, sleep-out, kitchenette, bathroom, water closet, built-in cupboards, and front and rear (trades) entrances.

Common areas include the central street entrance, halls, stairwells and the former shared laundry facilities on the rooftop.

The lack of provision of garaging is consistent with its interwar purpose as flats for young women residing within easy walking distance of their place of work.

Decorative details such as the planter boxes at the front, either side of the entrance stairs; the stylistic concerns with utilising brickwork for decorative purposes (including salt-glazed highlights and patterns in a darker colour brick and the incorporation of dramatic pilasters to the exterior); and the incorporation of small "grotesques" in the front elevation; remain intact.

It remains strong evidence of his compassion as an employer and as a committed Catholic and humanitarian, which earned him the respect of his staff and of the Queensland community generally.