It was proclaimed a municipality in 1877 and the construction of the Great Northern railway created easy access to the port at Townsville, solving the problem of high freight costs experienced by many other mining fields.

Charters Towers gold was in deep reefs and the equipment needed to extract and process it was financed by substantial southern and overseas investment.

They were a large firm of carriers, forwarding agents and produce merchants, formed in New South Wales, who had arrived in Charters Towers in 1882 following the opening of the rail link with Townsville.

They initially had premises at the Charters Towers railway station and in 1884 opened a forage store on the corner of Gill and Deane Streets.

In 1907 they leased it to Cummins and Campbell, who initially conducted a similar business, but branched out and by 1916 were describing themselves as wine, spirit and general merchants.

Within a decade of Burns's arrival in Townsville, the company dominated trade in North Queensland, supplying a huge range of goods.

Lissner was not considered a good business man by Burns and the Charters Towers branch actually made a substantial loss in the years 1883–1886, apparently due to previous injudicious purchasing.

The company developed rapidly during the boom of the 1880s, although 1888–89 was a difficult time for Charters Towers as drought affected the running of crushing mills which used considerable quantities of water.

There was concern about the possibility of demolition and in order to prevent this, the building was purchased by the National Trust of Queensland with a bequest from Miss Zara Clark of "Mirtna" Station.

Bartlam's store forms the edge of this once continuous row of buildings, and is now important in maintaining some sense of the scale of Mosman Street as a former commercial district.

[1] The former Bartlams store in Charters Towers comprises two single-storeyed brick and stucco buildings of similar scale and design at the corner of Mosman and Mary Streets.

Both buildings have a high level storage area inside with delivery doors to the rear which opens into a yard with a loading platform.

The former Bartlams store has housed several companies supplying essential goods and services to the pastoral and mining industries and who therefore contributed to this development.

The elaborate facades reflect the importance of their Charters Towers branch to such companies and the affluence and confidence of the goldfield in the late 19th century.

The former Bartlams store is a good example of late Victorian commercial buildings which combine office and retail functions with practical loading facilities, thereby demonstrating the way in which their business was carried out.

The building makes an important visual contribution to Mosman Street and indicates the extent and significance of this business area when Charters Towers was at its most prosperous.