Durack, Brammer & Stekhoven project records

William Aiden Durack, 1918-2010, was a notable Queensland architect who practised in Toowoomba for much of his life. In 1936, he left school to commence four years articles of apprenticeship with Perth architect Michael Cavanagh, 'Master of the Gothic Style'. Durack's works included domestic dwellings (his first commission, a house in Perth for his sister, Mary); Qantas hangars and maintenance buildings in Darwin and New Guinea just after World War 2; dams, workshops and staff quarters on stations in far North Queensland where he worked as architect and project manager for the pastoral company Australian Estates; tank stands, cattle yards, wells and irrigation set ups, on the farm he bought below the Toowoomba range in 1952; a house for his family at 223 Geddes street, Toowoomba. He later took on two partners, Frank Brammer and Ben Stekhoven and the firm, known as Durack, Brammer & Stekhoven, were active until William’s retirement in 1988. It was a long and productive era, with the firm heavily involved in designing numerous schools, churches, business premises, homes and homesteads throughout south-east Queensland.