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Parliament House, Melbourne Peter Kerr (21 April 1820 – 31 March 1912) was an Australian architect and the principal designer of the Parliament House of Victoria, Australia, commencing from a government architect's basic design. Kerr immigrated to Melbourne in 1852 after working under Sir Charles Barry on the design of the Palace of Westminster. Having also associated with Augustus Pugin, he ...
- Early Customs, 1830s
- The Customs Tent
- Maritime Trade, 1840s
- The Gold Rush, 1850s
- Melbourne's Port, 1850s
- Tarrifs
- 'Anything to Declare?'
- Measurement
- Protection and Federation
- Controlling Immigrants
The first Customs officer arrived in Melbourne in 1836, only two years after its founding. Governor Bourke in Sydney had to accept the illegal settlement at Port Phillip by John Batman and his fellow entrepreneurs. There was little he could do to prevent it. But Bourke could at least ensure that smuggling was prevented and that customs duties were ...
Robert Webb established his customs house in a round white tent pitched beside the Yarra River, close to where the boats unloaded their stock and supplies. The customs service immediately paid its way. In 1837 Webb collected duties of 3000 from 140 ships, far more than his annual salary of 200.
Melbourne's maritime trade expanded rapidly through the 1840s. Manufactured goods for the expanding town and surrounding farming districts came through Melbourne's port. Large amounts of imported spirits and tobacco generated much customs revenue. Even stock and wool that was loaded at Geelong had to be cleared through customs at Melbourne, an arra...
The gold rush in the 1850s brought a dramatic increase in trade and a constant flow of immigrants to Victoria. When Victoria was proclaimed a separate colony in 1850 there had been concern whether the new government could raise sufficient revenue. The Customs department was the government's own gold mine. Duties were levied on all the imported luxu...
During the 1850s, an endless procession of customs agents and ship captains climbed the stairs to the Customs House. By this time, the building stood at the centre of a busy maritime precinct. The gateway to the Victorian goldfields and agricultural districts, the bustling port was a scene of continual activity. Newly arrived immigrants crowded the...
The primary role of customs officers was to calculate the tariff payable on goods imported into Victoria. The term was derived from the ransoms demanded by the pirates of Cape Tariffe. Customs officers spent a great deal of their time measuring and weighing goods, and then calculating the amount of duty to be paid by the importer. The tariffs for d...
As now, one of the main functions of Customs Officers was to prevent smuggling of illegal goods, and to ensure that customs duty was paid on imported goods. When ships arrived at the port, passengers disembarked, the cargo was unloaded and the Customs 'Landing Waiter' checked the papers listing the cargo and persons on board. He then superintended ...
Calculating the duty payable on a barrel of brandy was a detailed task. The gauger had to measure the barrel to determine its volume. Barrels were irregular in shape, and finding the volume required several measurements and checking tables of figures. Alcoholic content was then measured with a hydrometer. The duty varied according to the alcoholic ...
Customs tariffs were not just the major source of government revenue. They were a major instrument of government policy. The nineteenth century Victorian economy rested on wool, gold and manufacturing. The colonial government used import tariffs as a way of protecting these industries. Farming and mining equipment were brought in free, but imported...
Customs officers controlled immigration into Victoria. Any person regarded as undesirable could be refused entry. Immigration restrictions in Victoria began during the gold rush, when a landing tax was imposed on all Chinese arrivals. By the 1880s, Chinese immigration was barred. Restrictions soon applied to all non-Europeans. The Immigration Restr...
History. John George Knight was born in London in 1826. He studied as an architect but worked for and was trained by his father, engineer John Knight. Peter Kerr, born in Aberdeen in 1820, worked with several architects such as Sir Charles Barry, known for his work on the Houses of Parliament at Westminster, before migrating to Australia.
John Knight and Peter Kerr had just formed a partnership, and Knight may possibly still have been an architect within the Public Works Department at this time, while also practicing privately. This design was also apparently deemed unsuitable, and Knight & Kerr were employed separately to create a much grander design by 1855, which was perhaps ...
- 1855
- Victoria
Peter Kerr. Designation: Born: 21 August 1820. Died: 31 March 1912. Bio Notes: Peter Kerr was born in Aberdeen on 21 August 1820, son of James Kerr, shipmaster and leather merchant, and his wife Helen Chesney. He served his articles with Archibald Simpson for four years from 1839, thereafter working in the office of George Fowler Jones in York.
The design was later modified by another architect, Peter Kerr of Knight & Kerr. In December 1855 construction began on the site in Spring Street, and the building was completed in stages between 1856 and 1929. The chambers for the Victorian Legislative Assembly and the Victorian Legislative Council were finished in 1856, at which time Bourke ...
However, appearances can be deceptive as the ambitious vision of 19th century architect Peter Kerr was never fully realised, leaving the building incomplete. With features showcasing the wealth Victoria had accumulated from its gold and wool exports, a visit inside Parliament House is sure to delight anyone with an interest in architecture and ...
