Diversifying the early history of the prefabricated colonial house in Moreton Bay

Abstract The history of prefabrication in settler Australia is incomplete. The use of prefabricated and transportable buildings in existing Australian architectural histories focuses on colonial importation from Britain, Asia, America and New Zealand. This article, however, argues for a more diverse and local history of prefabrication — one that considers Indigenous people’s use of prefabrication and draws on archaeological research of abandoned military ventures, revealing an Australian-made, colonial prefabricated building industry that existed for over 40 years, from the 1800s to the 1840s. A more inclusive architectural history of prefabrication is considered in relation to a case study of the first European house erected in Moreton Bay at the British penal outpost of Red Cliffe Point (1824–25), a settlement established partly to contribute to British territory-marking on Australia’s distant coastlines. While existing histories prioritise transportability and ease of assembly as features of prefabricated buildings, this research has found that ease of disassembly, relocation and recycling of building components is a key feature of prefabrication in early abandoned British military garrisons.