The Conroy & Stewart is a historical building in Maclean is one of the town’s oldest surviving structures and heritage listed.
Built in 1878 for a stock banking company, it became to site for a legal practice in 1944. Conroy & Stewart building continued to be used for legal offices, last occupied by Conroy & Stewart Spagnolo Lawyers, hence the name of the brown sign. It is now occupied by an accounting firm, the Maclean office of Stephenson Partners 
.
The brown sign was twisted when we visited and assumed it was referencing the Maclean Hotel. Thanks to Rebecca Mann from Stephenson Partners who let us know the correct building it should have been pointing towards.
The Maclean Hotel is an interesting building itself which appeared to be odd with the back looking more like it should be the front. This is because it was built to be facing the river, before the main road changed to behind the building. This is also true for the Conroy & Stewart building, however, it’s appears on the main street is more naturally fitting than the Maclean Hotel.
Maclean Talking Trail
Conroy & Stewart was part of the Maclean talking trail, the brown sign is there as part of the talking trail. Headphones were borrowed and audio played as you walked the trail. Below is what was included in the talking trail audio.
History
This building began its life in 1878 being constructed by Alexander Cameron for the Australian Joint Stock Banking Company. As such it is one of Maclean’s oldest surviving structures.
Originally, it was a four-room building with a detached kitchen, high gabled roof and four slender chimneys. As was customary at the time, the building was built facing the river.
By 1893, River Street had become established as the main business thoroughfare and so, major alterations and additions were undertaken, resulting in the classical styled façade of the existing Conroy and Stewart building. The original part is now the rear of the building..
The building is of brick construction and sits on a stone foundation. Most notable is the gabled pediment and balustraded coping on top of the building.
In 1910 the bank company became the Australian Bank of Commerce and remained so until 1931. It was then a dental surgery for a while and then a residence before it was occupied in 1944 by Mr W B Fleming, a well-known solicitor.
Since 1944, it has continued to be used as legal offices A legal practice has operated from this site since 1944.
Story
Hello my name is Peter Finucan and I worked as a lawyer in the building at 30 River Street Maclean.
In the late 70’s I came up from Sydney with my family and took a job at the firm in Maclean, and it was then called Conroy and Stewart.
In September in those days and up til about 10 years ago, we had the Cane Festival and the Cane Festival was on in September and we would all dress up, a lot like they do in Grafton later on in October or November when they do the Jacaranda Festival, and that was fun to do and that certainly helped to create the spirit of the town.
And I remember on the Friday, it was a Friday that we did the dress up and on the Friday night which was usually the start of the September school holidays there’d be a lot of activities in town. A few bands would play and famously I remember in the 80’s they parked a big truck outside our office and on that Friday night we were all there having a great time and Troy Cassar‐Daley was playing with his then band which was called “Little Eagle” and we just had a great night, you know, which people talk about, if they were there, and still talk about today. Maclean’s that sort of town though, there were good things that happened, it was nice to be a part of it and you were part of it when you worked in a building like that
Peter Finucan, Maclean Talking Trail Audio
To get there
From the Pacific Hwy, take the Yamba Rd exit for Maclean. Turn left (west along the Clarence River) and from the brown sign for Tourist Drive 22, follow Yamba Rd for 5km. Passing the pedestrian crossing at Woolitji House on the left, continue into the main shopping street in Maclean for another 200m, turn right into Basin St at the Maclean Hotel, the building of Conroy & Stewart.
