It was designed by William John Dumaresq and built from 1828 to 1913 by convict labour under the direction of Captain Logan as a permanent Commissariat Store for the Moreton Bay penal settlement.

As this location proved unsuitable, the settlement was moved in 1825 inland to a ridge overlooking and bounded on three sides by the Brisbane River, and simple buildings were constructed to serve it.

[3][1] Penal colonies were run on a military system and so a commissariat directed the procurement, supply and distribution of essential goods, as well as serving as a custom house and bank.

In 1826 Captain Patrick Logan arrived as Commandant and began a works program that replaced key buildings with more substantial structures made of stone and brick.

[4] Along with houses for the Commandant, Commissariat officer and chaplain, it was erected on the ridge running parallel to William and George Street that remains the focus of government buildings to the present day.

[13] All built during a similar period and for the same purpose, the surviving store buildings exhibit a number of similar characteristics, which include proximity to both a point of entry for goods and the settlement served, robust and utilitarian form communicating authority, and incorporating aspects of Georgian and Regency architectural styles such as symmetrical elevations with windows decreasing in size from lower to upper levels, and restrained, Classically inspired decoration.

[1] The importance of the Brisbane store and its river frontage as a portal to the colony was emphasised by the addition of the royal cypher of King George IV and the date to the front, river-facing gable; features retained when the third storey was added later.

The clear orientation towards the river (and what is now Queens Wharf Road) is also reflected in the stonework itself, which is evenly coursed at the front, but more random at the rear (William Street) and sides (Miller Park to the north-west).

The Commissariat Store was built of Brisbane tuff from the quarry at the Kangaroo Point Cliffs with sandstone from Oxley Creek used for footings, the base course, quoins, sills and lintels.

[20] A pedestrian path developed along the slope from the wharf to the ridge of present-day William Street passing to the north-west of the Commissariat Store, through what is now Miller Park.

[32][1] Further north-west along William Street, the first purpose-built home of the Queensland Museum was constructed between 1876 and 1879 to a design by Francis Drummond Grenville Stanley in what is now known as the Old State Library.

In 1886 a single-storey brick wing was added at right angles to the original building on its southern corner running out to the boundary of the yard to the Queens Wharf Road.

[35][1] In October 1886, the Colonial Storekeeper had written to the Under Secretary of Works drawing his attention to the bad state of the wooden fence erected in William Street to back up the footpath in front of the store.

[39][1] A strong room was built in the Commissariat Store for record books in 1888 and in 1889 William Street was lowered necessitating some underpinning of the existing retaining wall.

By 1911 an additional storey was designed by Leonard Kempster, an architect for the Department of Public Works, in order to increase accommodation and provide access to William Street.

In 1911 he suggested that if relocation was not possible, the addition of a lightweight upper storey with access to William Street would be helpful, providing increased floor space and improving lighting and summer cooling conditions.

A ventilation fleche and dormer windows were inserted to allow the attic space to be used and timber columns were added to the lower floors to help support the extra weight.

The pedestrian bridges leading into the store from William Street and the open ground to the north-east (now Miller Park) were rebuilt in concrete, with the original iron balustrades and gate being reused.

This dock stands within easement K/CP892185 (outside the heritage boundary) and destroyed part of the convict-built retaining wall along Queens Wharf Road and extinguished the archaeological potential of that area of land.

The park was also landscaped including construction of new ramps, staircases, retaining walls, rails and brick paths, the installation of lighting, seats, rubbish bins and new turf and plantings.

Before restoration began in 1978 an archaeological excavation was conducted by the Queensland Museum, uncovering the original drainage system, modern material, oyster shells, bones, nails, buttons, ceramics, glass, and clay pipes.

Half of the William Street retaining wall between Miller Park and the walkway into the Store collapsed, sending over 75 cubic metres of sediment and debris into the yard and ground floor areas.

The hipped roof is clad in corrugated galvanised steel sheeting and features a central fleche and gable centred on the Queens Wharf elevation, and two dormer windows facing William Street.

Miller Park (excluding easement K/CP892185 in the north-west corner) contains no buildings, stepping down from William Street to Queens Wharf Road by means of a large terrace and a series of ramps and stairs.

Park infrastructure includes concrete pathways and ramps with galvanised metal railings, brick garden edging and steps, lighting, seating and rubbish bins.

The adjacent area of land, now known as Miller Park, has been an open space since the earliest European settlement, and continues to provide a pedestrian thoroughfare linking the river and city.

Archaeological investigation of the Commissariat Store building and Miller Park, has the potential to reveal important information about the penal colony and the subsequent use of the site.

This investigation may provide insight into official and unofficial uses of the space, the lifeways of convicts, arriving immigrants and other early residents, as well as the material culture of nineteenth century Brisbane.

This place is important in retaining the principal characteristics of a penal-era Commissariat Store that adapted to free settlement and transformation into a Government Store, through its simple form, robust construction, Georgian and Regency architectural influences - all of which help impart to the building a sense of the authority it represented - and its location between the river (from where goods and immigrants arrived) and the centre of the penal and later free settlement.

The Commissariat Store has a special association with Commandant Patrick Logan, as one of the few remaining components of his penal-era building program, which made a major contribution to the development of the colony and state of Queensland.