The contractor for the project was Henry Patten and the cast-iron balustrading was manufactured locally by Smith Forrester & Co.[1] In 1880, after the Council purchased Kennedy Wharf (just downstream on the Petrie Bight of the Brisbane River from the present Customs House), they obtained a loan of £7000 to build the retaining wall and extend Kennedy Wharf to Macrossan Street.

Besides providing more working space behind the wharves, the wall marked the recently widened alignment of Queen Street.

One of the openings now houses a reinforced concrete stairway which leads to a five-storey building erected on the river side of the wall.

The blocks are laid in courses and surmounted by a detailed cast-iron railing which incorporates one of the two original lamp standards and terminates in a sandstone endpost at the Customs House end of the wall.

[1] The arches provide rhythm to the mass of the wall while the finely detailed balustrade adds an effect of light and space.

[4] Petrie Bight Retaining Wall was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.

Construction of the wall was associated closely with municipal acquisition of Kennedy Wharf, and reflects the Council's developing role in providing improved transportation facilities in Brisbane.

Construction of the wall was associated closely with municipal acquisition of Kennedy Wharf, and reflects the Council's developing role in providing improved transportation facilities in Brisbane.