Stage Number: MBSH.03.03.17
Group: Southern
Local Study Area: Bulimba-Balmoral-Hawthorne-Morningside
Epoch: Late 19th Century
Street Address: Corner of Apollo Road and Byron Street, Bulimba
Latitude & Longitude: -27.44411667,153.06391667
Time Link: 1880
Map Link: 1884
Image Time Point: 1884
The Apollo Candle Works was established here in 1880 by J Kitchen and Sons Ltd. This was a large operation, as candles were a basic commodity in a time before electric lighting. The nearby riverside meatworks would have been a major source of animal fat used in making candles. The company was amalgamated with the Apollo Candle company in 1885, and the road there today is called Apollo Street. The factory was badly damaged during the 1893 Brisbane River floods, and then partially destroyed by for in 1909, but survived before being taken over for use by the US Army Transportation Service Depot in 1942, during World War II. The large chimney stack on the site was a local landmark before its demolition in 1930.
The Week, 10 September 1881; Brisbane Courier, 9 June 1909; Daily Standard, 10 February 1930; Queensland Government; Queensland WWII Historic Places, ‘Camp Bulimba’ (www.ww2places.qld.gov.au/places/?id=329), sighted 8 August 2017.
J. Kitchen & Sons Soap and Candle Works at Bulimba in 1906. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Record number: 48232.
QSA. QSA Series ID 2043 City of Brisbane and Suburbs Maps – A1A Series. 5 chains to the inch. City of Brisbane. 5 chains to the inch. Government Engraving, and Lithographic Office, Brisbane.. 634496
