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Brisbane General Depot at Banyo was built in 1943 for the United States Army. In 1942, the army quarried the left-corner of Earnshaw and Tufnell Roads as a Borrow Pit but closed this in March 1943. US Army Corps of Engineers' Lieutenant-Colonel Edward E. Rosendahl designed a Depot of 14 warehouses, at a cost, in April 1943, of £30,000.
Encompassing the existing site, the Depot also covered all land now occupied by Golden Circle plus the block between Noble Street and Bellare Avenue. Blinzinger Road (now Crockford Street) and Northgate (now Earnshaw) Road and the now defunct Bishopgate Road (along the boundary with Banyo Rail Workshops) were included in the Depot. The site comprised allotments which were compulsorily leased from the owners: Brisbane City Council (BCC),W.L. Baker, G.G.D. Blinzinger, G.E. White, E.J. Tilley and T.H. White.
Bulldozers began land clearance in June and soon the first building, a repair shed, appeared. By October 1943, eleven 100 ft x 400 ft warehouses were erected.
Earnshaw Road was closed during the early stages of construction. Thereafter the road was open to public access but traffic had to pass through two checkpoints where US guards noted the registration number and time of passing of civilian vehicles.
The Depot brought improvements to Banyo. In March 1944, Earnshaw Road was widened to 24 feet by US engineers. Bitumening Earnshaw Road was funded as a US Minor Works Project, in May 1945. The Depot's six inch water main was utilised by the BCC to provide reticulated water to nearby residents. The Depot's open drains, connected to Cannery Creek, alleviated local flooding.
But the Depot also had ill-effects. Margaret Skehan's block along Cannery Creek was bisected by a drain and George White's Tufnell Road market gardens were ruined by the Depot's sewerage treatment works, built in 1944.
By June 1945, the Depot reached a peak of 75 buildings, across three areas. On Earnshaw Road's right (cannery) side was the wooden Administration Block, another square-shaped building, male/female latrines and a Motor Pool. Downhill were six warehouses with concrete floors. Where the cannery stands, were two open storage areas with earth floors, a motor repair shed, plus a railway siding with earthen loading platform situated at Bindha Station's location.
Across the road is the second area. At the Tufnell Rd end was a Depot Troops Camp, with 135 enlisted men's tents and 44 buildings including: officers huts, bathhouses, latrines, headquarters building, infirmary, postal exchange (PX), recreation hut, supply shop, canvas movie theatre, four kitchens, two mess halls. Downhill were three warehouses, maintenance office, workshop and four open storage areas.
The third area, bounded by Bellare Avenue, Crockford Street and Earnshaw Road, was a large open vehicle storage space.
At War's end, the US no longer required the Depot and passed the site, valued at £191,300, to the Australian Army on 17 October 1945. On 5 August 1946, the Minister for the Army ordered the purchase of the entire site, but he was too late. The BCC had already sold its block to the Committee Of Direction on fruit marketing, for a future cannery. Thus the C.O.D. controlled two vehicle storage areas and the vital rail siding.
The Army still needed these and was granted a five year lease by the C.O.D.
In 1948, roof tiler Wunderlich mined clay at the Depot's Crockford Street end, and built their factory in Frederick Street. The Army moved to purchase the land before its owners became aware of these valuable clay deposits.
The 72 acre site, renamed Banyo Ordnance Depot, was acquired on 16 February 1950.
Banyo Army Stores Depot is now a support base, occupied by the Southern Queensland Logistic Support Group.
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