The Ingham Court House is a two storeyed rendered brick and reinforced concrete structure with a generally symmetrical façade to Palm Terrace and a less formal asymmetrical grouping to Davidson Street. The fibro-cement sheeted roof has a characteristic ventilated hipped gable arrangement with strongly expressed eaves, in form and pitch reflecting that of the neighbouring earlier court house, which however is no longer clearly visible. The main ridge as built is a departure from the architect's intention as seen in the working drawings, which show a curved ridge of a type which became popular some decades later.
The north (Palm Terrace) elevation is rhythmically articulated with brick piers, protecting vertical windows and the outer walls of the upstairs Juvenile Court and witness rooms and downstairs offices.
A central entry at ground floor level leads up to a ground floor public space and an elegant bifurcating staircase, whose intermediate landing forms a projecting foyer space protecting the entry below, and is expressed with a generous glass wall overlooking the street. Smaller upper windows on the western elevation are protected by overhanging eaves and those on the ground floor have light horizontal window hoods, those rooms being mainly toilets and ancillary services. A similar projection occurs on the eastern elevation where windows are larger and to a projecting single storeyed wing housing secondary offices, with a separate podium entry from the street. The south elevation continues the pattern of large vertical windows to the upper floor, serving the Court Room and the general office on the ground floor.
The corner site includes lawns and large trees to the rear of the building, with a row of vigorously growing palms partly obscuring the front façade.
Generally the interiors are intact and impressive, particularly in view of the inadequate system of construction supervision customary at the time. The interior generally has timber framed floors, rendered brick wall, painted panels and lightly detailed timber. The influence of Scandinavian modernism may be seen in the understated blond timber finishes and joinery, and the lightness and precision of the planar composition of court room fittings. The main staircase is light and airy, with grey terrazzo treads and risers and an almost freestanding handrail tracing a playful line within the generous volume containing the stairs. The stair well creates a remarkable focus in a finely contrived sequence of spaces.
","history":"The Ingham Court House was designed in 1948 by John Hitch of the Queensland Department of Works. The building replaced an earlier court house on part of the site which was retained for other purposes.
The earlier court house was constructed in 1915 and was single storeyed timber building. Following construction of the 1948 Court House, the 1915 building was taken over by the Police Department and altered. The 1948 building was located on the corner of Park Terrace to the north and Davidson Street to the east. It was deliberately designed to establish a more impressive civic streetscape and to signify a self conscious post war progressivism and expansion. Designed in 1948, its completion took about five years owing to post war shortages of building materials, particularly bricks.
John Hitch qualified as an architect in England in 1938 and served as a Flight Lieutenant in the RAF during World War II. His early work was influenced by Scandinavian and other prewar streams of modernism. He later won a design competition for government buildings in Reykjavik, where he had served during the war. The buildings were later featured on a series of Icelandic postage stamps.
On demobilisation, Hitch worked as a specialist valuer in compensation claims for UK buildings requisitioned during the war years. In 1947 he was one of about six UK architects recruited for the Queensland Department of Public Works and fulfilled a three year contract in Queensland until 1951. By then he was apparently the last of the group remaining in Queensland some of the others having broken their contracts and returned to the UK. Hitch entered private practice for some years with Theo Thynne. For most of his time in Brisbane he combined a diverse architectural practice with part-time teaching of Design to senior years in the University of Queensland Bachelor of Architecture course. In 1962 he left the Brisbane practice, at that time being the partnership of Hitch and Sinnamon, and joined Bates, Smart and McCuthcheon in Melbourne where he remained until retirement.
John Hitch's time with the Queensland Government, then considered something of a backwater, produced a number of significant and innovative designs. The Department's excessive division of labour and particularly the exclusion of design architects from site visits even in the initial design stage were unwelcome impediments, which Hitch contested with occasional success. The Ingham Court House was his first design project for the Department and he contrived a site visit there, during a near cyclone. His resulting design attempted to incorporate innovative climatic design with "a 'contemporary' design acceptable within the departmental and ministerial understanding" and successfully achieved what he called "newly established post-war imagery of a public building".
The Ingham Court House was designed and constructed as a two storeyed brick and reinforced concrete structure with an impressive entrance and stair hall to the first floor court rooms. Sun control was effected within the building by recessed wall surfaces broken by piers and horizontal metal sun hood spaced to promote convectional air flow. Mechanical ventilation equipment was installed within the roof space under a curved ridge line. This innovative roof profile, which was apparently a casualty of an on-site design change, was a response to cyclonic wind speeds, and anchored down to reinforced concrete perimeter beams.
","criteria":"The Ingham Court House represents an early expression of a Government intention to develop a progressive and sophisticated image through its postwar building program. The building was designed by John Hitch, one of the young English architects recruited by the Department of Works in 1947. The Ingham Court House can be seen as one in a sequence of provincial court house buildings including Tully (1945) and Bundaberg (1956) and also designed by Hitch, by then in private practice. The place is significant for its place in this history of public architecture and government policy and as an important stage in the work of its architect,
|as well as for its aesthetic qualities of architecture
|and its technical innovations particularly in climatic control in the tropics.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion E | Criterion F","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place is important because of its aesthetic significance | The place is important in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":3944,"place_ref":602591,"name":"Gairloch Bridge","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Old Bruce Highway","suburb":"INGHAM","lga":"HINCHINBROOK SHIRE COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2008-07-17","description":"The Gairloch Bridge is a low level concrete bridge. It is simple and unadorned in appearance with no posts or balustrades.
The superstructure has the appearance of a shallow concrete slab about 5.7m wide. The roadway atop this slab is edged with concrete curbing and covered with worn bitumen. At each end of the bridge, there is a pair of reflective guide posts fixed into the curb, one on each side of the road. The steel plates that make up the base of the superstructure are clearly visible on its underside.
Fourteen concrete pillars support the superstructure. These taper slightly from a wide base and are curved in cross-section in the direction of water flow. There is a wide raised band around the base of each pillar and a narrow band around the top. The cement that is an element of the pillars has eroded, exposing the pebbles that form part of the concrete's composition.
At the southern end of the bridge, the road passes through a deep cutting. The sides of the cutting are lined with sections of brick, stonework or loose rocks. Some of the stonework and bricks are coated with cement.
The bridge crosses the Herbert River at a point where, for most of the year, it is wide but quite shallow. Dense vegetation covers the river banks at either end of the bridge.
","history":"The Gairloch Bridge is a low level road bridge across the lower Herbert River near Ingham in north Queensland. Completed in November 1891, it was an innovative design by the prominent Queensland Government architect and bridge engineer, Alfred Barton Brady.
The Herbert River valley was first occupied by pastoralists in the mid-1860s. Sugarcane farming, now the dominant industry in the area, commenced during the early 1870s. By the late 1880s, the Ingham area had become one of Queensland's top sugar producers with some five mills operating in the Herbert River district.
From as early as 1885 the Hinchinbrook Divisional Board and residents of the area called for the colonial government to construct a bridge across the Herbert River to improve access for growers on the north side of the river to the region's seaport south of the river mouth at Dungeness. Unsuccessful in persuading the government to fund the construction, the board decided to raise the finance itself, and in June 1888 asked the Government Engineer for Bridges to prepare plans for the bridge.
The bridge was designed by Alfred Barton Brady, an English-born civil engineer and architect who migrated to Australia in 1884. From 1885 he held a position as Assistant Engineer for Bridges with the Railways Department in Queensland before being appointed Acting Engineer for Bridges in the Department of Mines and Works in June 1889. In the Department of Mines and Works and its successor departments, Brady had a distinguished career rising to the position of Government Architect and Engineer of Bridges in 1892 and Undersecretary in 1901. He held this position until his retirement in 1922.
The contract for construction of the bridge was awarded to James Graham of South Brisbane who commenced work early in 1890. Following a number of delays, partly caused by the frequent flooding of the river, the bridge was completed at a cost of £7,737 and opened for traffic on 4 November 1891.
The Gairloch Bridge was the first road bridge designed by Brady as Engineer for Bridges in the Department of Mines and Works. Other bridges designed by him included the Burnett River Bridge at Bundaberg, Victoria Bridge in Brisbane (no longer extant), and the Lamington Bridge in Maryborough (1896, QHR 600721). The Lamington Bridge was a Wunsch-system structure of reinforced concrete, the first such design in Australia.
The bridge at Gairloch, which pre-dates the Lamington Bridge by five years, demonstrates one of the earliest uses of concrete in bridge construction in Queensland. Prior to the introduction of reinforced concrete to Australia in the 1890s, concrete as a component of bridges took the form of un-reinforced abutments, piers and mass concrete culverts, the earliest known being railway culverts constructed in South Australia in 1878. In 1882, concrete culverts were used on the Warwick to Stanthorpe railway line in Queensland. The original bridge across the railway in Edward Street, Brisbane, designed by FDG Stanley in 1887 had concrete abutments. The concrete piers and abutments of the Gairloch Bridge, designed in 1889, are among the earliest known in Queensland. From c1890, the greater availability of locally made Portland cement made the use of this material in bridge construction much more common.
The Gairloch Bridge is a submersible bridge designed to withstand inundation during major floods. It is the first submersible road bridge known to have been designed by Brady who is recognised for his important contributions to the development of this type of bridge. The shorter, submersible bridges were a cost-effective alternative to designing longer bridges above major flood levels, which often inundated a considerable area either side of the river. The principal difficulty of submersible bridges was that debris accumulated against the bridge during floods and this, in combination with the force exerted by the water, could cause major damage. Brady developed designs to avoid trapping debris and to present the least possible obstruction to the flow of flood waters. To date, it remains common practise to design less important bridges to withstand flood submergence.
The Gairloch Bridge incorporated a number of features that were innovative at the time. For the decking, Brady used 33 foot (10m) lengths of steel trough plate, 12 inches (30cm) deep, riveted together and securely bolted down to the concrete string-courses. The troughs were then filled with tarred metal. The curbs and posts were of hardwood. Brady argued that this design had important advantages in flood conditions due to its greater weight and because the steel troughs eliminated the need for girders, the bridge offered less resistance to the flow of flood waters. This design option was more costly than a bridge using the more conventional timber decking and superstructure, but Brady argued that the maintenance cost of his design would be less. The Gairloch Bridge is the only known road bridge of this design in Queensland.
Against the expectations of its designer, the bridge did not perform well initially. On 11 June 1892, the Queenslander reported that it required 'rather a large amount of money to keep it in repair'. A major flood in 1894 resulted in two sections of iron troughing being lifted and doubled over by the force of the flood. This necessitated the complete renewal of the roadway with layers of concrete and tarred metal. Then, in 1927, a record flood completely destroyed the northern approach to the bridge. In 1929, the bridge roadway was resurfaced and the hardwood curbing was replaced with concrete.
The inconvenience incurred by the periodic inundation of the bridge eventually prompted the construction of two high-level bridges across the lower Herbert River: one linking Halifax with Macknade and Ripple Creek in 1927; and in the late 1960s another was built upstream from the Gairloch Bridge. Despite its early set-backs, the 1891 low-level bridge has survived in the long-term and this has been attributed to its innovative design, which presents a small obstruction to flood flow. The bridge continues to be used.
","criteria":"Gairloch Bridge, constructed in 1890-1891, is important in demonstrating the pattern of settlement in North Queensland in the late nineteenth century. By the late 1880s, the Herbert River valley was one of Queensland's most important sugar producing areas. As the first bridge across the lower Herbert River, built to provide access to the region's port for growers on the north side of the river, the Gairloch Bridge is closely associated with the establishment of this important industry in northern Queensland.
As an early, experimental submersible bridge, the Gairloch Bridge is important in demonstrating the evolution of bridge design in Queensland and exemplifies how the colonial authorities responsible for bridge building responded to the extreme conditions of the north Queensland wet season. Submersible bridges evolved as a cost-effective solution to the problem of bridging rivers that were seasonally subject to extreme flooding, and remain common in Queensland.
As one of the state's earliest extant bridges incorporating concrete, the bridge also demonstrates the evolution of the use concrete in bridge construction in Queensland. The Gairloch Bridge is an example of the earliest use of concrete, where it was restricted to applications requiring only compressive strength such as piers and abutments. The introduction to Queensland of reinforced concrete a few years after the bridge was built broadened the applications of concrete to include components requiring tensile strength.
|The Gairloch Bridge is important in demonstrating a high degree of technical innovation for its time. The key design feature of the bridge is its superstructure. Steel troughs were placed longitudinally on concrete piers to form the decking of the bridge while at the same time acting as structural members. This eliminated the need for girders, thereby reducing obstruction to flood borne debris. The design is also innovative for its early use of concrete in the piers, abutments and string courses.
|The Gairloch Bridge is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of submersible bridges: it is a low level bridge, crossing only the main channel of the river, and is designed to present the least possible obstruction to flood waters and debris.
The bridge is also important as the earliest known example in Queensland of a road bridge designed by the notable architect and engineer, AB Brady. The bridge was designed soon after his appointment as Engineer of Bridges in the Department of Mines and Works. Other important bridges designed by Brady include the third Victoria Bridge in Brisbane (no longer extant) and the Lamington Bridge in Maryborough (1896, QHR 600721).
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion F | Criterion D","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place is important in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period | The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":16924,"place_ref":601169,"name":"Pelota Mano Court","alternate_name":"Fronton | Basque Handball Court","street_address":"Trebonne Road","suburb":"TREBONNE","lga":"HINCHINBROOK SHIRE COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2001-07-27","description":"The Pelota Mano Handball Court is located in Trebonne Road, Trebonne. The court comprises two reinforced concrete walls and concrete slabs on the ground. The long or side wall [eastern elevation] is eighteen metres in length. The end wall [southern] elevation is six metres in length.
The concrete sections extend beyond the long wall, in a generally northerly direction, for six metres. The slab extension has remains of a brick wall extension which has collapsed. An electrical fuse box and conduits are located on the end wall. The court sits generally in the north-eastern corner of the property, surrounded by a chain wire fence. There is no other development on the property on which the court is located.
","history":"The Pelota Mano [Handball] Court, or fronton, was opened on 28 November 1959, in Trebonne, a small township, eight kilometres west of Ingham in the Herbert River district of North Queensland. Jack Williams, solicitor, opened the court and Reverend Father Tomas Ormazabal, travelling Chaplain for the Spanish community of North Queensland, dedicated it. The court was established through the efforts of the local Basque community.
Handball is an ancient game. The Maya tribes of pre-Columbian America and the ancient Greeks and Romans had versions of the game. The Romans spread it throughout western Europe. In the area of modern-day France, a variation of the Romans' game of 'pila' emerged, and during the Middle Ages it became known as 'jeu de paume'. Basque handball is a derivative of this game.
Andrea Navajero, a Venetian historian, travelled through the Basque county in 1528 and commented on how all the males played this game. Indoor ['courte paume'] and outdoor ['longue paume'] versions endured during the 18th century, but following the French Revolution the games were nearly abandoned for being associated with royalty and nobility. Its popularity, however, remained in small circles. From the early outdoor version evolved modern tennis and in the Basque country it became the present manifestation of Basque handball.
The Basque pelota mano derives from Roman versions of the game and spread throughout western Europe and France. What became the traditional game 'pelota basque' played in church porticos or during village festivals is now played competitively at international competitions. The supreme version of the game is today 'cesta-punta' and is played with a long, scooped wicker basket, a 'chistera', on a fronton called a 'jai-alai'.
Besides the chistera, the game can be played with an assortment of equipment, for example, the bare hand, a wooden bat or a wooden-framed strung racket called a 'xare'. There are also different types of balls, for example, one is covered in leather and weighs 52 grams, another is covered in parchment and weighs 90 grams, while yet another is rubber and weighs 40 grams.
Originally played face to face, the introduction of more rapid rubber balls compelled a change in the game: returning the ball to a wall instead of over the net. Thus Basque handball was born. While theoretically, the game can be played anywhere where there is a high wide wall, three types of pelota mano courts evolved: the 'plaza laxoa' or open court with only one wall at the front; the 'ezker pareta' or left-wall court with one wall at the front and one on the players left and the 'trinketa' or original court of the indoor form with four walls. The handball court at Trebonne is an example of the ezker pareta type of court.
Basque migration to the Herbert River District, North Queensland, began in 1907 and grew in momentum, peaking between 1958 and 1960. The numbers were never great [In the five voyages between 1958 and 1960 that brought Spaniards to Australia, 387 identified themselves as Basque residents] and today there is little, if any, migration of Basques to North Queensland. By the late 1960's only 100 people of Spanish nationality, 85% of whom identified as Basques, remained in the district.
Basque immigrants were predominantly male, with most arriving to cut sugar cane. While canecutting was an arduous task and left the canecutter weary by nightfall, on the weekends the cutters were keen to socialise. One popular gathering place was a farm owned by the Mendiolea family, where migrants found hospitality and companionship, home cooked food and family life. In Trebonne in the 1950's improvisation was necessary. The Mendiolea concrete farm house had a high, wide back wall, and, with a tennis ball, many young Basque migrants soon found a traditional outlet for their excess energy - pelota mano.
Another place to socialise was the Trebonne Hotel run by Mr and Mrs Joe Sartoresi. The hotel attracted Spanish and Basque canecutting gangs working and living on the farms west of Ingham and was ideally located on the intersection of the main road from Ingham to Abergowrie and the road to Stone River. Open-air dancing took place on a wooden floor laid over the grass and card games, especially 'mus', were played. These pastimes connected the Basque people with their homeland. Eventually they were able to play pelota mano in the grounds of the hotel, courtesy of Joe Sartoresi.
The hotelier was persuaded to build a court by two brothers, Jose Marie and Felix Jayo, who ran a baker's shop across from the hotel at the time, and Albert Urberuaga. They had seen the potential for a proper court in the grounds of the hotel. For many months Sartoresi remained sceptical. The cost was an issue and he had never seen the game played. One afternoon, Sartoresi visited the Mendiolea farm, where he not only saw the vigorous and noisy game in progress, but noted how many people were gathered, and that a good amount of beer was being consumed as the afternoon passed. He came away with a change of heart. He could see that the initial cost of the court would be compensated by the increased clientele and the business they would generate.
In order to build the fronton a plan was required. Albert Urberuaga with Augustin Adarraga obtained a plan from the Basque country, however, being for a plan for a jai-alai court, it was too large and had to be modified in both size and strength. The court also had to comply with building regulations which required that the structure be able to 'withstand winds of over 100 miles an hour.' Appropriate plans were drawn up by architectural firm, Ford, Hutton and Newell. Builders Idillio Quartero and Ken Duffy were engaged for the construction.
The structure was built on two feet wide and six feet deep foundations. It was constructed of concrete composed of four parts river gravel and sand to one part portland cement. It was estimated that about 80 tons of cement was used. Both upright walls were reinforced with steel. At the highest point the walls were six metres and at the lowest point, three metres. The court was 18 metres in length and six metres wide. The playing surfaces were finished with a cement render. The cement was mixed in a large cement mixer and transferred to wheelbarrows. The wheelbarrows were pushed up planks on wooden scaffolding constructed around the formwork. In between moves of the scaffolding the slope of the plank increased. As it did a run-up was required with each push of the full wheelbarrow. There was much community interest in the construction and the Basques could hardly restrain their excitement. The two contractors with one paid worker, an apprentice, and some weekend helpers took six weeks to complete the contract.
The playing area was divided into six cuadro [sections] each one marked and numbered in paint. At a later date Jose Badiola, bricklayer, added another 10 feet of wall to make seven cuadro. Not built to the same specifications as the original this addition was later demolished as it became unsafe. The fronton was also equipped with lights for night games.
On the opening day, formalities were conducted by Jack Williams and Father Ormazabal, and tributes were paid to the Sartoresi family, an exhibition game and barbeque were also held. On this occasion and for special competitions traditional Basque clothing was worn to play the game, consisting of a white skirt and trousers with a green or red sash, a guerrko, and espadrille like footwear, known as alpargatas.
The publicans during the heydays of the fronton were Joe Sartoresi and Gino Manini. The first advertised event was a 'Monster Dance and Barbecue' held on Saturday, 16 July 1960. Entertainment included an exhibition of handball and an orchestra. A Spanish Handball Club was founded on 24 June 1960. Joe Sartoresi was appointed Patron while Pasqual Badiola was elected President. The Spanish Club held barbeques to raise money for the upkeep of the fronton, to purchase seating and to purchase the goatskin pelotas which were sent from the Basque country.
For nearly a decade, the fronton attracted many people, especially on Friday nights and on the weekend. Up to 200 people gathered, particularly on nights when there was dancing and a barbecue organised by the Club. Over the years, the Spanish Handball Club [variously referred to as the Spanish Club, the Handball Club and the Trebonne Handball Club] was not the only organisation which benefited from the entertainment at the fronton. The Trebonne State School, Ingham Golf Club, Tennis Association, amongst others, have been beneficiaries. In all the years of its use, activity at the fronton peaked from July to December, the harvesting months.
Few of the Basques who came to the Herbert River District in the late 1950s and early 1960s remained. Most, if they did not return to their Basque homeland, settled elsewhere, particularly in Melbourne and Sydney. Today the Pelota Mano Handball Court stands unused, attracting occasional interest from locals and tourists. It remains, however, as a solitary remaining monument, marking the small but significant migration of Basque people to North Queensland.
","criteria":"The Pelota Mano Court, Trebonne, is significant historically as a rare illustration of the presence of people of Basque origin in Queensland. Basque migration to northern Queensland peaked in the late 1950s, and although small in numbers, contributed significantly to the sustainability of the sugar industry in North Queensland in the 1950s and early 1960s.
|There are few monuments or reminders of the presence of the Basques in Queensland, as many later returned to their homeland or relocated to southern cities, which devolves strong rarity value on the Pelota Mano Court, Trebonne. The place is further significant for its rarity as the only purpose-built fronton constructed in Queensland.
|Constructed with one wall at the front and one on the players left, the Pelota Mano Court is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of the 'ezker pareta', or left-wall type of traditional Basque handball court construction.
|The Pelota Mano Court, Trebonne has social significance, having historically a strong association for the Basque community in Trebonne and surrounding areas as one of the focal points for their cultural and social activities. It remains important to people of Basque descent who still reside in the district, as evidenced by the recently written history of the place.
|The Pelota Mano Court, Trebonne, is significant for its strong association with the Basque community in the district. The small but significant migration of Basque people to the area was instrumental in the success of the sugar industry in North Queensland, particularly in the period following the Second World War.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion D | Criterion G | Criterion H","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage | The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places | The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons | The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":17014,"place_ref":602193,"name":"5 Lynch Street","alternate_name":"Ruth Fairfax House | Yeddo","street_address":"5 Lynch Street","suburb":"INGHAM","lga":"HINCHINBROOK SHIRE COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2003-12-12","description":"5 Lynch Street is located on a flat site at 5 Lynch Street, Ingham opposite the railway line. It is located close to the front and southern boundaries which are formed by high concrete block screen walls covered in a thick hedge that provides privacy to the verandahs when the amado are open. To the north a carport abuts the house adjacent to the projecting gable over the entry. Behind the house, a smaller detached single storey timber lined and clad building houses a living area and the kitchen. A garden shed and large bush house occupy most of the remainder of the rear of the site.
The main portion of the house was rebuilt on a concrete slab. The encircling verandahs supported on stumps have a timber floor of boards, 375mm wide. Part of the verandah was not constructed where the house came within close proximity to the building already located on the site and a portion of the verandah roof at the rear is sheeted with corrugated iron as there were insufficient tiles that survived the removal to Ingham.
There is some supposition about the accuracy of the relocation of walls and it is possible a secondary hallway was created between the rear bedrooms. The bathroom has been converted into storage and two sleeping apartments were adapted for the bathroom.
Nails have been used in the re-erection of the framework. Most of the screens survive athough little if any remains of the original paper on the shoji screens. Some of the papier mache on the fusuma screens survives the screens as do most of the ranma, the moon window, the tokonomas and the tanas. The ceiling has been replaced with ply sheeting.
Glossary
Amado\t\tHeavy wooden storm doors on the exterior of the house that slide away during day time to allow light and air into the interior
Fusuma\t Heavier sliding doors made from opaque paper on a wooden frame. - used as room separators often decorated with seasonal scenes.
Nageshi\t Wooden runners in which sliding doors run.
Ranma\t\tFretwork panels which sit above the door lintels and allow air to circulate through the house.
Shoin\t\tAn elevated and slightly projecting alcove which developed from Buddhist study alcoves. It was adopted by the upper classes and became attached to the tokonoma.
Shoji\t\tTranslucent paper sliding screens used on the outer edges of room. Allow a diffuse light to enter - easily removed.
Tana\t\tDecorative shelving which like a soin window adjoins the tokonoma.
Tatami\t\tStandard floor mat, made from rice straw, which is the basic size module for all Japanese rooms. It is approximately 910x1820.
Tokonoma\tA wall recess which is used for displaying art or flower arrangement and is regarded as the focal point of a Japanese room.
","history":"5 Lynch Street, is a single storey timber framed residence with tile roof imported from Japan by Judge GW Paul and erected on a suburban allotment at the corner of Langshaw Street and Bowen Terrace in New Farm in 1887. It was sold at auction in 1962, dismantled and transported to Ingham and re-erected at its current address in Lynch Street. It is the first known residence of its type to be imported from Japan.
The Brisbane suburb of New Farm has played an important part in Brisbane's history since early settlement, providing land for both farming and recreational activities. Its development as a residential area was a little slower, despite Fortitude Valley's earlier establishment. While houses began to appear on the peninsula in the 1860s, it wasn't until the 1880s boom economy that the area between Brunswick Street and the river began to develop solidly with many of Brisbane's most prominent citizens choosing to live there.
It was into this increasingly wealthier residential area that Judge GW Paul, the then Southern District Court Judge, chose to build his Japanese house in 1887. The house was fully manufactured in Japan, and imported into Brisbane, along with Japanese labour - three carpenters and two plasterers - who travelled from Kobe to construct the house, under the guidance of an English supervisor. The house was the first known piece of authentic Japanese architecture in Australia. Japan had been open to full trade with the West for less than twenty years and its influence at the time on Western culture was confined principally to Japanese furniture and interior elements, which had begun to appear in European houses some time earlier.
George William Paul was born in Penrith, New South Wales in 1838, and became a member of the English bar in 1861. He returned to Australia in 1863 and worked in private practice in the new colony of Queensland for some years until being appointed Crown Prosecutor. He went on to become a judge of the District Court in 1871 and was described in his obituary as one of the finest criminal barristers in Brisbane as well as having spent regular intervals on the bench of the Supreme Court.
Judge Paul travelled to Japan in 1886. The house he imported was a copy of the house he stayed in at Kobe during his few months in Japan. Its suitability for the Brisbane climate was allegedly one of the criteria by which Judge Paul chose to bring the house to Brisbane. The house, constructed on a sloping site at the corner of Langshaw Street and Bowen Terrace at New Farm, was reported in the Brisbane Courier on 12 December 1887 in an extensive and highly favourable article. It was also covered in a later issue of the Boomerang with illustrations by GHM Addison. Few Queenslanders, apart from merchant seamen, would have visited Japan at this early time and even fewer would have thought to attempt something such as importing a whole Japanese building. Together with the house, Judge Paul had also brought back with him from Japan, an extensive collection of ceramics and other art treasures.
The house, named Yeddo, was fully manufactured in Kobe, somewhat larger than standard, and was test assembled there before its export. There is some supposition that the house was imported as a speculative venture and its failure to sell prevented a wider trade.
The house was an elevated timber post and beam construction and built on a 6' grid with some plaster infill and a heavy tiled roof after the shoin style. This style of Japanese house remains the one with which most non-Japanese associate Japan, that is, wood framed with paper sliding doors. The shoin style refers to a small elevated bay or box window derived from a type of study alcove (shoin) popular in early Buddhist ecclesiastical communities as early as the 12th Century. These study places became a status symbol and feature in the main guestroom of official residences between the 16th and 18th centuries. Other elements that combine to produce the shoin style are the tokonoma and tana.
The tokonoma, an interior focal point, derives from the private altar in a priest's home, which was originally a low wooden table on which incense was burnt, flowers were placed and above which scrolls were hung. In shoin style this became a built-in alcove often coupled with the tana - originally freestanding scroll racks that became a built in shelving system. These three elements are combined in the house's central room to produce the shoin style.
Like typical Japanese houses, 5 Lynch Street's walls consisted of movable shoji (wood and translucent paper screens to filter the light between the exterior and interior) and fusuma (heavier paper mache partitions between interior spaces to provide privacy). The only fixed walls were around the kitchen, bathroom and tokonamas. These walls, presumably for bracing were made from a plaster on lathe. Heavy timber storm shutters or amado ran around the verandah and effectively formed another layer of enclosure. These could be slid away or removed entirely storing neatly away in the amaboko at the end of each run. At the New Farm site, the kitchen was detached off a servery via the dining room. A bathroom and teahouse were also located in the grounds.
All materials were imported except the plaster and mortar which were mixed to Japanese specifications. The roofing tiles were dark blue-grey, shaped like the English pan-tile. The ridge and hip closers were decorated with the Buddhist chyrsanthemum symbol in high relief.
The house at New Farm covered about 30 squares, including a 6' wide verandah all round. It had four main rooms (which could be subdivided to make eight) and three tokonomas and chigai-tanas. There was an akari shoji (moon window) made by exposing the bamboo frame of a plaster wall in the suki-ya tradition. The shelves of the chigai-tana were meticulously veneered to avoid exposing end grain. The corner posts and beams of the tokonomas had been chosen from cherrywood, hokki pine or bamboo samples. There were few hand wrought iron nails in the house as most of the joints were mortised and tenoned and secured with wooden pegs.
The jointing of the roofing timbers were intricately detailed. The roof was of traditional construction with two beams 24" by 10" in section used for strutting the rafters and hanging the ceiling. The tiles were set in a mud-like mortar on a thin timber decking. The ceiling also was made from this thin timber veneer like plywood. In spite of the houses' flexibility the subtle modular and the fine workmanship, the roof was heavy and complicated.
The Tokyo modular system appeared to have been used. Horizontal distances measured between column centers were in multiples of 3 feet. Vertical distances were floor to mid-transom, 6 feet 6 inches and thence to the ceiling, the width of one and a half mats with a ceiling height of 11 feet. The timber floor had been made from the packing cases in which the house was shipped instead of the usual tatami - the boards were 1.5 inches thick and 15 inches wide and beautifully laid. It was not sunk for tatami matting - only 3/4 inches as if for carpeting. The module was broken only by two internal passages, each 3 feet clear. This must have been a stipulation of the owners as these are not likely to have existed in a Japanese house.
Judge Paul lived in the house until his death in 1909 after which the Public Trustee sold the house to John Cockburn in January 1911. In 1927 it was purchased by George Maxted, a Brisbane bookmaker and sold again in 1948 to the Country Women's Association who renamed it the Ruth Fairfax House and used it as their headquarters until 1960 when they moved to premises in Gregory Terrace. Changes that had been made to the house by this time included cutting off some of the original posts below floor joint level and replacing with brick piers, painting external wood work in cream and dark brown, varnishing sand staining internal woodwork and adding electricity and plumbing.
In March 1962, the house was sold to a developer who offered the house at demolition value to the City Council, University of Queensland and the National Trust. Time constraints and lack of finances prevented the offer being taken up.
The house was purchased at auction for £600 by Dr Pam Markwell, through her sister, acting as agent. With only thirty days for the house to be taken apart for transportation to Ingham, the Markwells enlisted the help of William Carr of the University of Queensland's architecture department, who, with some of his students, recorded the demolition and dismantling for later erection of the building in Ingham. The Markwells then transported the materials 1000 miles north to be rebuilt with local labour.
Some of the timber framework, ranma and a decorative frieze went missing during the trip north. The ceiling and some of the lath and plaster wall panels also did not survive the trip. A number of roof tiles were broken when being unloaded in Ingham. The meticulous mortise and tenon jointing was broken to allow for the removal of the frame and few if any mortice and tenon joints survive. Nails were used in the reassembly.
The house is now re-erected in Ingham. Modern materials have been used to replace those lost in transit or broken during demolition or delivery. The new owners sanded down the timber to its original state.
","criteria":"5 Lynch Street, built in New Farm in 1887 and transported and re-erected in Ingham in 1962 is important as the first known and one of few imported Japanese houses to Australia. The story of 5 Lynch Street is important in demonstrating the pattern of Queensland's history. It provides evidence of late nineteenth century society's attitudes and interest in other cultures.
|As a fully imported Japanese house, 5 Lynch Street, although relocated and altered, demonstrates a rare building type in Australia and displays the principal characteristics of a Japanese House in the shoin style.
|As a fully imported Japanese house, 5 Lynch Street, although relocated and altered, demonstrates a rare building type in Australia and displays the principal characteristics of a Japanese House in the shoin style. Many of its characteristics are directly comparable with the typical Queensland house of the period.
|The detailing of 5 Lynch Street from its heavy decorated roof tiles to its light and intricately detailed paper screens, its wide floor boards, its screening systems and its solutions to controlling its environment has aesthetic significance that varies from the Queensland house of the period.
|5 Lynch Street is also important for its association with its owner, Judge GW Paul, who had the prescience to import the house from Japan, something that had not been previously attempted from a country that had only recently been opened to full trade with the West.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion H","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage | The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places | The place is important because of its aesthetic significance | The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":19468,"place_ref":602349,"name":"Row of Street Trees","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Macrossan Street","suburb":"HALIFAX","lga":"HINCHINBROOK SHIRE COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2003-09-06","description":"The Row of Trees, comprising eight Mango trees (Mangifera indica), a Weeping Fig (Ficus benjamina), and an African Mahogany (Khaya spp.) are situated in Macrossan Street, the main street of Halifax, in the block between Alma Street at the northern end and River Avenue at the southern end. The trees are planted down the centre of the street at approximately 25m intervals over a length of 255 metres.
The Mango trees have an average trunk circumference of 4.1m but each tree has its own character with trunks gnarled and burled in different patterns. The largest circumference is 5.15m with the smallest circumference measuring 2.75m. The average height of the trunk up to the first major fork in the tree is 3.62m but varies from tree to tree, the tallest measuring 5.05m and the shortest 2.79m. The average total height of the Mango trees measured [by use of a clinometer] was 20.20m, however these figures are approximate because of the difficulty in accurately sighting the top of each tree.
The shade of each Mango tree extends to an average area average of 132 m² providing a welcome shade source in summer. This shade extends over the western side of the street where the majority of the shops and the two hotels are located.
The canopy circumference is comparable to the root ball. It is estimated that the depth of the root ball extends at least 18 metres below the surface of the road reserve and quite possibly interlinks at many points at the tips. Their size and height is not only due to their age but also due to the availability of the water table which is approximately 2 metres below the surface. The tree roots provide an excellent structure to bind the soil and decrease erosion, a major problem in a wet area like the Herbert. The surrounding road surface, which extends right up to the base of the trees, is sealed with bitumen.
\t
There have been some changes in the composition of the row of trees. One Mango tree has been replaced with a Weeping Fig (Ficus benjamina), to ensure that the aesthetic and shade qualities enjoyed by the community would remain. This is the only tree in the row to retain a circular concrete bench seat around its base. All of the Mango trees used to have these benches, which have since been removed. There is also a more recent African Mahogany (Khaya spp.) which appears to have been planted in place of a Mango tree.
","history":"In the mid-1880s members of the small community of Halifax planted a row of Mango trees along Macrossan Street, the emerging hub of the new township. The trees were planted as part of a broader public works program in Halifax initiated during the 1880s by six prominent settlers: Harald Hoffensetz, August Anderssen, Austin W Carr, Niels C Rosendahl, John Alm and Francis Herron, who constructed local roads, a church and school using volunteered time and money. These settlers also contributed to the economic stability of the township and promoted the district and the community at every opportunity. The Mango Trees are probably the last remaining stand of trees associated with this public improvement program, which at one time may have extended to other parts of Halifax.
In 1864 an official exploration party headed by George Elphinstone Dalrymple, Government Surveyor and Government Lands Commissioner, travelled from Port Hinchinbrook (now Cardwell) to the Valley of Lagoons Station and opened the Herbert River district for selection. In 1867, John Davidson explored the lower end of the Herbert River Valley and three years later settlers were beginning to trickle into the district. In 1873 there were three sugar plantations established: Gairloch, Macknade and Bermerside. They all had separate mills and the lower Herbert District was developing into individual communities with the first sugar crush at Macknade in 1874. The founder of Halifax, August Andersson, arrived in Bowen with his wife Eva from Hamburg in August 1872 and they quickly made their way to the Herbert River district. Andersson was employed on the Macknade Plantation as a carpenter but later worked on the construction of the nearby Ripple Creek Sugar Mill. Andersson continued working at the Macknade mill until 1879 when he moved up to the Gairloch Plantation and set up a shop near the Planters Retreat Hotel which was halfway between Gairloch and Ingham. It was here that he opened a successful blacksmith business which enabled him to purchase land downstream in 1880, which would later become Halifax.
In 1880, convinced of its possibilities, August Anderssen and Francis Herron made an exploratory survey of the lower Herbert Region before heading off to Cardwell to approach the Land Agent to stake a selection. A small land rush ensued, marking the beginning of an area noted for its small farm settlement, distinct from large plantations. Anderssen purchased 360 acres (portion 228) and a year later purchased the adjoining block (portion 270), but later that year sold part of it to the Colonial Sugar Refining Company (CSR). The company proceeded to build a wharf there to service their Victoria Plantation nearby. At this stage sugar would be loaded at the Halifax wharf, which was an important terminus for Herbert River traffic, and then taken downstream by boat to the deepwater port of Dungeness at the mouth of the Herbert River. At around the same time that the Anderssen family moved down to their property, so too did nine other families. They occupied an area of approximately 2,200 acres comprising ten selections, which became known as Black's Township. In 1881 Copnell built the first hotel on Anderssen's Riverview estate. It was established on an area of Anderssen's estate which would later become the present Halifax and was quickly joined by a store built by Eugene Regazzoli who purchased a portion of Anderssen's land. This store serviced the fledgling community.
The six main Black's Township settlers decided to form a company to negotiate with CSR to supply the Victoria Mill with cane. They called themselves the Herbert River Farmers Association and included: Harald Hoffensetz, August Anderssen, Austin W Carr, Niels C Rosendahl, John Alm, and Francis Herron. These men were forerunners of the small farm and central mill system which would characterize the sugar industry. They also put a lot of effort into improving their district. For example, in 1883 they approached the Divisional Board for a road to be made from the wharf to Cordelia Vale. This would then provide an important service link with Ingham. When the Divisional Board was unwilling to commit funds to the project the Herbert River Farmers Association cleared a track to Cordelia Vale themselves.
By now most of the six families had been in the district for nearly ten years. They met every Saturday nearest the full moon with the men conducting the Herbert River Farmers Association meetings and the women enjoying the social opportunity to meet together. It is not surprising that in 1883 the community lobbied the Queensland government for a school. A provisional school was approved for the area only on the condition that the community provide teacher accommodation and a schoolroom. The Association decided to contribute all work on a voluntary basis with Anderssen, Hoffensetz, and John Alm constructing the building out of hardwood. In September 1883, a school for 17 local children commenced. The men in the Herbert River Farmers Association were dedicated to the welfare and progress of their community and were instrumental in the development of the settlement which would later become the township of Halifax.
Halifax began as a township in 1885 when Anderssen decided to utilize unused portions of his land and engaged a local surveyor to subdivide his land into township allotments and roads. He engaged a Townsville auctioneer and they started an active and successful promotion campaign which attracted many people including over 300 who came from Townsville. Anderssen's Town became the envy of the nearby town of Ingham and appeared ready to surpass Ingham as the major town in the district. The nucleus of a township was already established; it had a hotel, a store, a wharf and a tramline. In addition the new town was in the vicinity of three major plantations and mills: Ripple Creek, Macknade, and Victoria, so its future appeared secure. This sale produced immediate capital gains for the two businesses already established, and Copnell sold the hotel to CF Robinson and it later became the Halifax Hotel. Initially regarded as Lower Herbert, it was not until 1886 that the settlement was officially named Halifax after the nearby Halifax Bay, named in 1770 by Cook. With the formation of a township secure, the community turned to the establishment of a Church.
The Halifax community set about building its own church using volunteer labour. Again key settlers Anderssen and Hoffensetz designed and supervised the building project and it was completed in 1886. It is most likely during this initial period of community building that the Mango trees were planted in the main street of the new town as part of a beautification program. A grandson of Niels C Rosendahl claims his grandfather planted them. While many communities in Northern Queensland during the settling period planted Fig trees (Ficus spp.) in public places the settlers of Halifax planted Mango trees (Mangifera indica) which were considered practical, as they were fruit bearing trees and much valued for their shade.
By the 1890s when much of colonial Queensland was suffering crippling economic depression, the Lower Herbert district was booming. Rather than large settlers starting plantations, there was a general move to small individually owned farms bolstered by the completion of the Victoria to Halifax tramline in 1890. It enjoyed a culturally diverse population including a large population of South Pacific Islanders, brought in as indentured labour to work on the sugar plantations, and Chinese who worked on the CSR tramline to Lucinda.
In response to the banning of 'coloured labour' in 1891 a Townsville businessman recruited Italian workers to fill the labour shortage left when Pacific Islanders were repatriated to their islands. This initiated a chain migration pattern and many of these Italian immigrants settled around Halifax. Halifax was fast becoming the centre of the district, rivalling Ingham as the main commercial centre.
However the town did not fulfil its promise. Progressive silting of the Herbert River made the river too shallow for many vessels, and an alternative transportation method for the sugar industry was sought. In 1896 the CSR Company built a tramway through the mangroves to a newly established deep-water port at Lucinda. With the tramway now extending from Ingham to Lucinda and the usage of waterways in decline, Halifax ceased to function as a service centre for the sugar industry.
By 1900, the Mango trees in Macrossan Street were large and kept well trimmed by the community, providing welcome shade for the hotel patrons against the tropical heat. A c1900 photograph indicates that the trees were pruned to promote upward growth and possibly to extend the spread of the canopy to maximise the shade potential. In 1904, the usefulness and beauty of the Mango trees was noted in a local newspaper:
Strangers, sighting Halifax for the first time cannot fail to be struck with the natural advantage of the town, although the greater part of it has not been built on the orthodox Government surveyed line. The tramway runs down the centre, or thereabouts, of the main street, and a nicely planted, uniform row of mango trees gives excellent shade. This umbrageous ornamentation is something to be proud of and it makes one wonder why that "one of the best shade trees" has been so persistently ignored in school grounds and other public places in North Queensland.
At the turn of the 20th century increasing arrivals of Italian workers invigorated the Lower Herbert District, with many later buying their own farms and bringing their families out from Italy. Again the Mango trees in Macrossan Street provided a social meeting venue for the new immigrants, who regularly met under the shady canopies. Older members of the Italian community maintained this tradition for well over 50 years. They are also remembered for displaying extreme pride in their meeting place, sweeping the street clean and free of leaves and mangoes before settling down on the benches installed around the base for lively discussions. These benches were extant by the mid-20th century. Younger members of the community also found a welcome social spot under the Mango trees. In the 1950s, after a Saturday night party at the Dance Hall situated between the two hotels, young men and women would spill out onto the street to congregate under the trees before heading home.
In 2003, nearly one hundred and twenty years after they were planted, the Mango trees in Halifax continue to fulfill the role intended by the community who planted them. They are a welcome source of shade against the tropical sun and provide natural character and beauty to the town of Halifax. As Halifax is located on an emerging tourist route the aesthetic quality of the trees in the town's overall character is highly valued and is perceived to contribute to the local economy.
","criteria":"The Row of Street Trees in Macrossan Street, Halifax, comprises eight mature Mango Trees (Mangifera indica), a Weeping Fig (Ficus benjamina) and an African Mahogany (Khaya spp.). The row is significant to the local and Queensland community for its historical, aesthetic and social qualities. The Mango trees are thought to have been planted c1885-86 as shade trees to help Europeans adjust to the tropics and as part of a beautification program, using introduced species as was common then.
The Mango trees are important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history, being associated with the earliest establishment of the township of Halifax on the Herbert River in the 1880s, and with the role of the Herbert River Farmers' Association in developing the town and district.
|They are an excellent surviving example of late 19th century shade trees planted in public spaces, particularly interesting for the choice of Mango trees (Mangifera indica), which are both fruit-bearing and much valued for their shade, rather than the more usual Fig trees (Ficus spp.).
|The trees have become part of the community life of Halifax as shady meeting places in the area of the town, particularly for the elderly, and are valued by the locals throughout the district and by visitors for their aesthetic qualities.
The trees are important for their aesthetic value. Halifax is distinctive for its avenue of trees and the aesthetic qualities they project. Visitors to the town remember the Mango trees in particular for their size, height and beauty; being all approximately 20 metres in height, possessing gnarled trunks, and planted at a uniform distance. The trees are a significant physical feature of the Macrossan Street streetscape and contribute significantly to the character of Halifax.
|The trees have become part of the community life of Halifax as shady meeting places in the area of the town, particularly for the elderly, and are valued by the locals throughout the district and by visitors for their aesthetic qualities.
The trees have been an integral part of each stage of community development in Halifax, and have a strong and special association with the local community as a meeting place. At one period a concrete seating bench was constructed around the base of each tree. One Mango tree, dubbed the 'Tree of Knowledge', remains a favourite meeting place for older Italian men who have regularly met friends there over a period of fifty years. The trees are also fondly remembered as the place for younger members of the community to meet friends on a Saturday night. The community has always taken pride in Macrossan Street and its trees and the current Halifax community feels a strong and special association with them. When removal of the trees was proposed in late 2001 the community organised a protest petition to be sent to the Hinchinbrook Shire Council which was signed by over 800 people from Halifax and surrounding districts, including Cordelia, Taylors Beach, Lucinda and Ingham.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion G","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places | The place is important because of its aesthetic significance | The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":19484,"place_ref":602362,"name":"Muralambeen Homestead","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Off Bosworth's Road","suburb":"FORREST BEACH","lga":"HINCHINBROOK SHIRE COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2005-02-25","description":"Muralambeen, a rural property close to the north Queensland coast near the Palm Islands, is situated on the fertile flood plains of the Herbert River, south east of Ingham. The approach to Muralambeen is via a long drive flanked by mature pine trees. The homestead, a single storey low set timber residence with corrugated iron hipped roofs, is set in a shady fenced garden surrounded by agricultural land. Lucy and Palm Creeks flow past just to the south of the homestead garden.
The house is raised approximately 1m above the ground on short concrete stumps and surrounded by verandahs. Short flights of stairs lead to the verandah on the western, northern and eastern sides of the house. The verandahs, which continue all the way around the building except for the southwest corner, are screened by lattice panels and partly enclosed with cement sheeting and timber casement windows.
The roof of the house has been amalgamated and extended over time. Once a pair of simple hip roofs surrounded by lower pitched verandah roofs, various extensions and alterations have created a complex roofscape of interlocking hipped roofs with box gutters, valleys and ridges. The roof is modest in scale and appearance due to the relatively low pitches used and the small size of the original elements.
The house is largely constructed of timber. Simple timber posts support unlined verandah roofs with exposed timber framing. Wall construction consists of outside studding with timber cross bracing and single skin linings of timber boards. The boards in exterior walls are laid horizontally. They are profiled as chamfer boards on the outside and as beaded boards on the internal face. Newer sections of the house are clad and lined with cement sheeting, except for the southern wall of the house which is clad with timber chamferboards. The older sections of the house have double hung timber-framed windows and timber-framed french doors opening onto the verandahs. Casement windows are used in the newer works.
Built in stages, the house is comprised of an original core, a major addition of a northern wing and various accretions. The house, with the exception of the southwest corner, has a suspended timber floor and is roughly L-shaped in plan. The original core and the northern addition are one room in width and are joined by an enclosed breezeway. Utility spaces have been created by enclosing sections of the verandah.
The breezeway, which forms the main entrance to the house, is centrally located connecting the east and west verandahs. Narrower on the western end, it is the only large living space and is the focus of the interior. Formerly the junction of two verandahs, the breezeway has been enclosed with timber casement windows and cement sheeting. The roof over the breezeway has been raised and the floor replaced with narrow timber boards.
The wing on the north side of the breezeway contains a row of three bedrooms. The bedroom on the northeast corner, formerly two rooms, is twice the size of the other bedrooms. The central bedroom is now used as a study. A small room, originally enclosed with insect screens, has been built into the north west corner of the verandah. Timber panelled doors open from these rooms onto the northern verandah.
On the southern side of the breezeway is the oldest part of the house, consisting of two bedrooms and surviving sections of the original verandah. The kitchen and associated scullery and a dining area have been built into the original verandah and have raked ceilings. A bathroom of relatively recent construction, has been added to the narrow western end of the breezeway. The dining area is an extension of the breezeway. The kitchen, originally a detached building, is located in the enclosed southern verandah. A stove alcove has been built, projecting beyond the line of the original verandah. The adjoining scullery is lined with timber shelves for crockery. A servery window in the scullery overlooks the former washing up area, now the laundry and once the location of the house's only water supply.
The semi-enclosed laundry area, on the southwest corner of the house, is separated from the main house by a change in floor level. The floor of the laundry area is a concrete slab on the ground. Located in the crook of the L-shape formed by the main house, it was built on the site of the original detached kitchen. It also contains a toilet and a shower and is partly enclosed with cement sheeted walls and insect screens.
The garden contains large shade trees and various decorative shrubs. Lawns to the north and east of the house are the locations of former rose gardens and tennis courts. A large timber and steel shade structure is adjacent to the southwest corner of the house. A small garage is located to the west of the house.
","history":"Muralambeen Homestead is located on Bosworth Road in Forrest Beach, 8 miles south-east of Ingham on the Herbert River flood plains in the Kennedy pastoral district. Muralambeen was first taken up in 1876 by Christopher Allingham, and the site today includes a timber house erected c 1881-83 for John Allingham.
The first European penetration of the Kennedy pastoral district began in the mid 1840s when Ludwig Leichhardt passed west of the Herbert River while exploring the upper Burdekin Valley. No immediate attempts were made to settle this region, with sporadic explorations taking place following Leichhardt's journey.
One of the earliest squatter settlers to follow Leichhardt was Christopher Allingham. He had immigrated to Australia with his parents and family in 1841 from County Fermanagh, Ireland. The family was well-established farmers and business people in Ireland, and on arriving in Australia the Allinghams settled near Armidale in New South Wales where they engaged in grazing and inn keeping. In 1852, in the wake of the public acclaim afforded to Leichhardt's ventures in north Queensland, Christopher Allingham left Armidale in search of pastoral land in the Burdekin region, only to return to New South Wales when he found the land was not available for selection. When Christopher made his next expedition north in 1859 he was accompanied by his cousin, John Allingham, who had arrived in Australia 4 years earlier. The two men travelled with cattle and sheep, and in 1861 arrived in the Burdekin region where they took up the run they called Hillgrove. John soon after moved back to Armidale and married Frances Allingham (same surname but not related to John) in 1862. The young bride returned with her husband to Hillgrove and was reputedly the first white female to live north of the Burdekin River
The 1870s was in general an era of expansion for the Kennedy pastoral district and graziers were facing improved economic prospects and stability following the financial crisis of the previous decade. By this time, John's brother, Johnstone Allingham, had joined the family at Hillgrove and during the 1870s the Allinghams extended their pastoral interests in north Queensland by taking up Kangaroo Hills and Waterview stations. In late 1875 and early 1876, Christopher Allingham also took up a number of selections in the county of Cardwell, including Selection 171 which contains the present homestead site. The selection was approved on 22 January 1876 and comprised a total of 1309 acres.
By November 1876, Christopher had returned to New South Wales where he died and the lease to Muralambeen was transferred to John Allingham, who added a further 1280 acres of leasehold land to the original selection in October 1881. One year earlier, John was issued with a notice from the Lands Department that compelled him to build a house on the property to satisfy the residency conditions on selection. No form of house had previously been erected on the site and in a deposition to the Law Agent of Cardwell in November 1880 John Allingham claimed this oversight was due to him being unaware of the residency conditions on selection when he became trustee of Christopher's estate. In a letter to the Under Secretary of Public Lands in December 1880 John Allingham stated that 'the wet season having apparently set in, it is impossible to get about on the land in question to erect the necessary buildings &c. for the purpose of residence' and the following February a similar claim was made to the Lands Department. At this time, John and Frances Allingham were living at Kangaroo Hills, however on 2 November 1881 their residence at that station was destroyed by fire. By 3 January 1883, a house valued at £50 had been constructed at Muralambeen, the whole property had been fenced and a significant garden had been laid. It was a modest, one-room house built on stumps and constructed from oregon pine and eucalypt hardwood from Maryborough with a surrounding verandah and detached bedroom. A separate building with an earthen floor and corrugated iron walls and roof was used as the kitchen, storeroom and laundry, while another structure was built for the bathroom. John and Frances Allingham resided there between January 1883 and December 1884 and it is said that during this time it 'grew into a commodious residence surrounded by a wealth of beautiful flowers, creepers, gaily coloured foliage plants and glorious trees'.
John and Frances returned to live in New South Wales in early 1885, leaving William Baggot and William H Broad as residents at Muralambeen. When John Allingham died in late 1885 Johnstone Allingham became lessee of Muralambeen. Frances remained in Armidale for some time and the station was left in the care of several managers before Johnstone Allingham moved his family there in 1894-95. In c 1900, Johnstone added a large wing to the residence, consisting of a row of 4 square bedrooms and an enclosed room in the north-western corner which was connected to the original house by a breezeway.
When Johnstone died in 1901, he was reputedly buried on the site and management of the property passed to his 3 sons. The following year, when a further 640 acres adjoining the original Muralambeen portion was selected, Frances was apparently residing once more at Muralambeen, which became known 'at all times [as] a happy social centre' for the Allingham family. Around 1908, Frances appointed her nephew, James Allingham, as manager of the property and conveyance documents show that on 11 October 1911 title to the property was belatedly registered in the name of Frances Allingham. Following her death in 1916, the Union Trustee Company of Australia was appointed as executors of her estate and on 25 January 1918 James Allingham was registered as lessee of Muralambeen for a period of 5 years from 15 January 1917. In September 1928, James was registered as sole owner of the property and it was immediately used as collateral for a mortgage.
Following a cyclone in 1940, repairs and extensions were carried out to the Muralambeen house and in 1952 James Allingham demolished the original kitchen and converted an enclosed verandah in the house to the new kitchen. When the Victoria Mill was constructed, sugar cane was grown on the property again in 1952 following a failed venture in the early 1900s. In the early to mid 1950s, James began subdividing the land and over the years further subdivision has resulted in the reduction of the homestead site to its present size. James Allingham died in 1959 and the property has continued to remain in the family.
","criteria":"Muralambeen was first selected in 1876 by Christopher Allingham and a portion of the surviving house was constructed c 1881-83 by John Allingham. The site stands as important surviving evidence of the early exploration and settlement of north Queensland in a period when pastoralists were experiencing improved financial fortunes and the region was expanding demographically and economically.
|Built initially to satisfy selection requirements, Muralambeen demonstrates the principal characteristics of a rural homestead including low-set single storey timber construction, extensive verandahs and a form evolved from gradual additions to the original house. The house retains its original core and subsequent expansion and modifications are clearly visible in the fabric of the house. A relatively well-preserved example of architecture of the Queensland pastoral frontier, it is a valued part of the historical character of the area.
|The house and property are also significant for its association with the Allingham family, who has had an association with the homestead site for nearly 130 years. Christopher Allingham was one of the earliest European settlers in the Kennedy pastoral district to follow the expeditions of Ludwig Leichhardt. The Allingham family were pioneers of the district and played a key role in the pastoral history of north Queensland.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion H","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places | The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history"} ]}