page_title: Petrie Bight Retaining Wall
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Petrie Bight Retaining Wall / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Customs House, Queen Street and Petrie Bight, Brisbane. (Brisbane CBD; Brisbane central business district)
context_page_description: Petrie Bight Retaining Wall is a heritage-listed embankment at 443-501 Queen Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1881 to 1882 by Henry Patten. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
context_section_description: This retaining wall was built in 1881-82 for the Brisbane Municipal Council. The contractor for the project was Henry Patten and the cast iron balustrading was manufactured locally by Smith Forrester & Co.
  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.
  In 1887 the City Engineer reported that the wall was out of plumb by 9 inches (230 mm) in 100 yards (91 m). In consequence, the wall was stabilised by the addition of eight engaged buttresses.
  Use of the Petrie Bight area changed after the 1940s when downstream shipping facilities were established, and the area below the retaining wall became available for development. One such development saw the establishment of a landscaped recreation area beside a car park.
  Recent alterations since 1988 have seen about 20 metres (66 ft) of the wall dismantled and reconstructed on a new alignment. The parapet has been breached in three places with openings ranging from 5 to 8 metres (16 to 26 ft) wide. 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.
caption: The balustrading of the Petrie Bight retaining wall is visible to the left of Queen Street, 1926
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