[1] The Surveyor-General of New South Wales, Thomas Mitchell, mapped the area in 1846 and the District of Maranoa was proclaimed in November 1848.

The new Commissioner of Lands arrived with several police in 1849 and set up camp on Yambougal station, moving slightly up river a few months later.

Although Surat was superseded by St George as an administrative centre for the district in 1865, it continued to serve the surrounding area, which became Warroo Shire.

In the late 1880s his eldest son, Henry James (Harry) joined the firm to train with his father.

[2] The new building combined offices and a meeting room for the Shire Council with a large open hall to be used for a variety of public and private functions and events and which contained a stage and projection booth.

The three clock faces in the tower are a memorial to Alex J Simpson who was Chairman of Warroo Shire from 1925 to 1946 and who was killed in a car accident in 1947.

[1] The Warroo Shire hall is located prominently on the corner of two major streets in the centre of Surat.

A 1930 photograph of the shire offices shows the square windows opening on a central, horizontal pivot.

The large hall is lined with fibrous cement sheeting and triangular brackets between high-level windows support the roof.

[1] The separate supper room is a simple rectangular timber building with a gabled roof clad in corrugated iron.

[1] Warroo Shire Hall was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 8 May 2007 having satisfied the following criteria.

The Warroo Shire Hall demonstrates the way in which much of western Queensland was settled by means of small service towns on supply routes.

They provided a scattered population with essential goods and services, administrative facilities and the social structure to develop a sense of community.

The Warroo hall provided a meeting place for the Shire Council and a venue for formal and informal social events and still serves the community.

It has rooms for shire offices, with a large hall, stage, projection booth and small kitchen to the rear.

The Warroo Shire Hall is an important public building in a prominent location and in form, scale and materials makes a strong visual contribution to the townscape and character of Surat.

The Warroo Shire Hall has a long connection with the people of Surat and the surrounding district as a focus for a range of important community services and social events.

[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.