Newstead House Trust Act 1939

This Act may be cited as the Newstead House Trust Act 1939.

[repealed]

For the government, management, and control of Newstead House as referred to in the preamble there shall be established a board of trustees (the trust) constituted as hereinafter provided.

Number of membersThe trust shall consist of 3 members, who shall be appointed by order in council.

One of such members shall be a representative of the government nominated in that behalf by the Minister; such member shall be chairperson of the trust.

One of such members shall be a representative of the Brisbane City Council nominated in that behalf by the Brisbane City Council.

One of such members shall be a representative of the historical society nominated in that behalf by the said society and approved by the Governor in Council.

TenureAll such members shall be appointed for such period not exceeding 3 years as the Governor in Council shall declare, but such members shall on being duly nominated be eligible for reappointment for a like period of 3 years.

Failure to nominateIf within 28 days from a date to be fixed by the Minister (who is hereby authorised to fix such date) the Brisbane City Council or the historical society fail to nominate any person for appointment to the trust, the Governor in Council may without nomination appoint any person or persons to be a member or members of the trust, and any person or persons so appointed shall for all purposes be and be deemed to have been duly appointed a member or members of the trust.

VacanciesAny extraordinary vacancy which at any time occurs in the office of member by removal, death, resignation, disqualification, or otherwise shall be filled as soon as may be by the appointment or appointment after nomination as aforesaid, as the case may be, of another member; but any member appointed to fill any vacancy shall hold office for the balance of the period only for which the member’s predecessor would have held office had no such vacancy occurred.

DisqualificationAny person who has his or her affairs under liquidation or is an uncertificated or undischarged bankrupt or insolvent, or has been convicted of an indictable offence or is undergoing sentence of imprisonment shall be disqualified from being appointed or from continuing as a member of the trust.

Vice-chairpersonThe trust shall before proceeding to the dispatch of any other business choose one of its members to be vice-chairperson, and as often as the office of vice-chairperson becomes vacant the trust shall choose a member to be vice-chairperson.

The vice-chairperson shall cease to hold office as vice-chairperson if he or she ceases to be a member.

Absence of the chairpersonIn the absence of the chairperson or in the event of a vacancy in the office of chairperson the vice-chairperson shall preside at meetings of the board, and shall during such absence or vacancy have and exercise the duties and functions of the chairperson.

Two persons shall constitute a quorum of the trust.

Vacation of officeThe office of member of the trust shall be vacated—

if such member is or has become disqualified under this Act; or

if such member without leave obtained from the trust in that behalf has been absent from more than 3 consecutive ordinary meetings of the trust; or

upon death or resignation.

A member may resign office by written notice of resignation given to the Minister.

The trust shall be a body corporate under the name and style of the Board of Trustees of Newstead House, and by that name shall have perpetual succession and an official seal, and shall be capable in law of suing and being sued in its corporate name and of acquiring, holding, and disposing of property.

All courts, judges, justices, and persons acting judicially shall take judicial notice of the seal of the trust affixed to any document or notice and shall presume that it was duly affixed.

After the commencement of this Act all property and assets, including maps, manuscripts, charts, documents, and other papers and records being the property of the historical society and situate at or within Newstead House shall without any transfer, assignment, conveyance, or notice other than this Act be divested from the said society and shall be transferred to and vested in the trust.

Moreover all such property and assets, together with all such property and assets which may be acquired by or devolve upon the trust, shall be held, administered, and appropriated by the trust under this Act.

The Brisbane City Council shall as soon as may be after the constitution of the trust transfer all that piece or parcel of land situated in the County of Stanley, Parish of North Brisbane, described as resubdivision A of subdivision 50 of resubdivision A of subdivision 70 of eastern suburban allotment 63 containing an area of 29.46p, be the same a little more or less, for an estate in fee simple to the trust, and the registrar of titles shall upon the lodgment in his or her office of such transfer register the Board of Trustees of Newstead House as the registered proprietor as trustee of an estate in fee simple in the above described land upon and subject to the trusts imposed by this Act, and for that purpose may issue a new certificate of title and make such endorsement or endorsements as may be necessary in any certificate of title or deed of grant bound up in any register book in his or her office, and may make any such entry in any such register book as may be necessary and proper for the purposes of this Act.

Any gift or bequest may be made by any person of any property to or for the benefit or purposes of the trust.

Subject to this Act, the trust shall have the management and control of Newstead House and of the affairs and concerns thereof, and may act in all matters therein in such manner as appears to it best calculated to promote the interests thereof.

The trust may appoint a secretary or caretaker who shall exercise and perform such duties as shall be directed by the trust.

The trust shall establish a fund to be called the Newstead House Fund.

There shall be paid into the fund unless invested by the trust in pursuance of this Act—

all donations, bequests, legacies, grants, and contributions received by the trust under or pursuant to this Act, and all moneys arising from any gift or devise of real property received by or vested in the trust under or pursuant to this Act; and

all moneys received from consolidated fund (which moneys may from time to time be appropriated for the purpose); and

all moneys received from the Brisbane City Council; and

all other moneys received by the trust on any account whatsoever.

The fund shall be applied by the trust towards the payment of all expenses necessarily incurred in carrying this Act into execution and in doing and performing any acts and things which the trust is by this Act empowered or required to do or perform.

The trust may pay out of the fund any moneys which the trust has decided to invest in pursuance of this Act and any sum due under any agreement lawfully made for the purposes of this Act and any sum recovered against the trust by process of law.

All gifts, bequests, and devises of property made to the trust or vested in the trust pursuant to this Act shall be strictly applied in manner directed by the donors or testators respectively, but in the absence of any such direction shall be applied in aid of the execution of this Act in such manner as the trust may from time to time determine.

The trust is a statutory body for the Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Act 1982.

The Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Act 1982, part 2B sets out the way in which the trust’s powers under this Act are affected by the Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Act 1982.

If any person unlawfully damages, mutilates, destroys, or removes from the possession of the trust any picture, print, exhibit, coin, medal, curio, object of natural history, object or work of art, book, map, manuscript, document, pamphlet, paper, or other chattel the property of or in the possession of the trust at the time of the damaging, mutilation, destruction, or removal, the person shall be guilty of an offence and shall, without limiting or affecting any other liability imposed on the person by this Act or otherwise, be liable for and shall pay to the trust the full amount of the value of such chattel so damaged, mutilated, destroyed, or removed.

Such amount shall be recoverable summarily in the same manner as penalties for offences against this Act are recoverable or at the option of the trust in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Any proceedings under this section may be taken by the trust or by any person purporting to be authorised in writing by the trust.