page_title: Petrie Bight Retaining Wall
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Petrie Bight Retaining Wall / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Petrie Bight Retaining Wall (2008)
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 150-metre-long (490 ft), parapeted retaining wall, ranging in height from 5 to 9 metres (16 to 30 ft), is built of Brisbane tuff. 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. At the northern end of the wall, eight engaged buttresses, added only a few years after construction of the wall, afford further support.
  The arches provide rhythm to the mass of the wall while the finely detailed balustrade adds an effect of light and space. The distinctive pinks, greens and browns of the Brisbane tuff contribute to the aesthetic appeal of the wall.
  As the wall was backfilled with rock to the present level of Queen Street, only the parapet and railing are visible from the street. From the river side, however, the wall with its varying depths and distinctive arches and supporting pilasters is clearly visible.
  The wall is largely intact despite several modifications.
  The wall appears in an Orient Line postcard of 1895 painted by Arthur Henry Fullwood. Its appearance there does not seem to accord exactly with its history. The buttresses seem to be omitted and reflection in water is suggested.
  The wall is shown also in a 1905 postcard photo.
  The tuff retaining wall in nearby Arch Lane to the north is not part of the Petrie Bight retaining wall. The Arch Lane wall was built by the Brisbane Gas Company in 1883. Arch Lane was developed in 1920.
caption: Cast iron railways as seen from Queen Street, 2008
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