The Longridge Agricultural Station was established as a farming settlement during the late 1820s after Kingston & Arthur's Vale. Extensive and permanent buildings were erected from the late 1830s to the early 1850s.
Surviving Longridge buildings include a former cookhouse and a ration store and bakehouse, and Branka House. Also in the area can be found plants introduced during the First and Second Settlement periods. These include red cedar, citrus trees, banana trees and a Moreton Bay Fig.
The Arches
The surviving sections of the building consist of stone walling, the main wall having ten arches, with another series of openings above the arches. The rest of the structure is understood to have been constructed of timber. On the southern side there was a hipped roof, with eaves a little above the window heads. Internal floor levels, and the way in which rooms were arranged, is not known. Although the building is said by some to have been a prisoners' barrack, this is not confirmed, and may be a confusion with the Prisoners' Barracks No 2. There is a possibility that the building was used to store or load carts with farm produce, was used as stables, or that grain may have been stored in the building. There is a large drain at one end, and this is seen as evidence for the building's agricultural purposes.
The scale and design of the building are intriguing as they reflect a level of extravagance not often seen in penal settlements.