page_title: Brisbane Showgrounds
section_title: 5. John MacDonald Stand (1906)
hierarchical_section_title: Brisbane Showgrounds / Description / Area 1 / 5. John MacDonald Stand (1906)
caption_attribution_description: English: Machinery Hill Stand, Ekka, Brisbane, 2015
context_page_description: Brisbane Showgrounds is located at 600 Gregory Terrace, Bowen Hills, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and was established in 1875. It hosts almost 300 events each year, with the largest being the Royal Queensland Show.
  The Brisbane Showgrounds was designed by Claude William Chambers and built by Walls & Juster. It is also referred to as the RNA Showgrounds, Ekka Grounds, National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland Exhibition Grounds, Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland Exhibition Grounds/Show Grounds, and Royal Queensland Showgrounds. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 25 July 2003.
  The Brisbane Showgrounds is owned and operated by The Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland. Over 10 days in August, it hosts the Ekka show. Throughout the rest of the year, other events can hire spaces in the Brisbane Showgrounds.
context_section_description: This is the earliest of the surviving ringside stands, located on the northwest side of the Main Arena. It is a substantial brick structure with a gambrel roof. In the centre of the roof is a large fleche with cupola and four-faced clock which can be seen from much of the showgrounds. The roof of the stand, which has been re-clad with a recent corrugated metal sheeting, is supported on early light steel trusses and round cast metal columns with cast-iron brackets and valances along the front and sides. Between the arc of the central bay is a large sign with the lettering: JOHN MACDONALD STAND. The sides and front of the stand have a decorative cast-iron balustrading.
  Timber tiers accommodate the seating, which is of slatted timber fixed on steel frames to the tiers. The seating is accessed from the front of the stand via three sets of brick and concrete steps, set symmetrically in the centre and toward either end, each of which has a double staircase. These have the same decorative iron balustrade as the main stand. Between the staircases at the front of the stand are concrete seating tiers with slatted timber benches. Behind the seating tiers the rear brick wall has arched openings with the same decorative metal balustrade as the stairs and front and sides of the stand. There is a rear promenade at this level, but several tiers of later timber seating have been installed here, restricting pedestrian circulation.
  Because the land is flat and the stand is so high, there is a very tall rear arcade promenade (traffic-able to vehicles and pedestrians) running the length of the stand beneath the upper seats and a huge sub-floor beneath the remainder of the stand. The brickwork in this section of the building is in red face brick, with decorative dark-glazed bricks to the arches along the arcade and supporting the upper seating tiers.
  The large sub-floor is divided into four main rooms, accessed mainly off the rear promenade. Each of these spaces has a ripple iron ceiling which follows the slope of the seating tiers above, a concrete floor a step or two below street level and windows and doors opening both to the promenade and to the front of the stand overlooking the arena. The northern room is utilised by the St John's Ambulance Service and has been divided by sheeted partitions into cubicles. Facilities include an early iron-framed, wheeled ambulance stretcher. The southern room has been converted into an English-style pub, complete with appropriately decorated entry. There are toilets located at each end of the subfloor, accessed from the front – the men's toilet at the southern end and the women's at the northern end. The men's toilet retains an early lead-light fanlight above the entrance door, but both facilities have been remodelled internally.
caption: Machinery Hill Stand, 2015
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