The temple complex is situated in an open, grassed area which is the site of the former Chinatown. Its positioning suggests that geomancy was used to select the most auspicious site and alignment for the buildings. The complex consists of a temple, hall, kitchen and store constructed of corrugated iron and local timbers in a traditional Chinese form.
The buildings are marked off from the street by an ornamental picket fence and gate which have been reconstructed from photographs and archaeological investigation. The temple building is fronted by a pagoda consisting of the upper section of the original roof mounted on a new base. Inside, the space is divided into an entrance area separated by doors from the area which contains the altar and a heavenly well. This is a section of raised pagoda roof which is designed to admit light and to allow incense to rise from the large burner below. It is glazed to keep out rain and is supported on posts which display a deliberate irregularity to symbolize human imperfection.
The interior of the temple is lined with unpainted cedar and is decorated with carvings, painted metal wall panels and temple furnishings which were imported from China. Much of the carving is embellished with vermilion and gold paint.
On the left side of the building as one faces the altar, a door provides access to the adjacent community hall. This is a plainer, more functional building and contains a bedroom for the caretaker, and a room for meetings and ceremonial banquets. There is a clerestory similar to the one in the temple and evidence of Chinese notices and graffiti survive on the unpainted walls. Behind the hall are two small buildings which contained a store and kitchen. Both are timber framed and clad, unpainted inside with earth floors. The kitchen has a galvanised fire recess. Much of these two buildings has been reconstructed.
The buildings are raised on hardwood stumps. Structural members are made of black bean (Castospermum australis) and the ceilings, wall linings and joinery are made from red cedar (Toona australis). Red Penda and Kalantis have been substituted for these no longer common timbers where reconstruction work was necessary for conservation. Both of these timbers are very close to the original in appearance.
Paths edged with upturned bottles, an indentation which indicates the position of the pig roasting pit and archaeological remains survive. Artefacts which were placed in temporary storage are being replaced in the temple as they are conserved. These include carvings, carved banners and the temple bell on its stand. There are also substantial archaeological collections.
","history":"The Hou Wang temple was built in 1903 by the community of the Chinatown at Atherton using local materials for construction and furnishings ordered especially from China. It provided a social and spiritual focus for over a thousand people in the township and the surrounding area.
Atherton Chinatown was one of many small settlements that developed in Australia during the nineteenth century as homes for the Chinese sojourners who arrived in great numbers to work on the goldfields. Most of these Chinese were males who came from poor areas in south west China and intended to work here until they had gathered enough capital to assure their financial security on their return home. For mutual support and to maintain contacts with their homeland, they lived and worked together, creating such Chinatowns within European settlements, or on their fringes.
Chinese diggers flocked to north Queensland in the 1870s in large numbers following the discovery of gold on the Palmer River and on the Hodgkinson. They were regarded with suspicion and hostility by Europeans, who they greatly outnumbered, and were barred from working on newly discovered mineral fields. Because of this, and as the Palmer River field was faded in importance, most Chinese moved south looking for other means to make a living.
They arrived in the Atherton area in the early 1880s, working with European timber getters, and set up a camp on the opposite side of Piebald Creek to the tiny European settlement of Prior's Pocket. In 1885, this area was surveyed and officially named Atherton. Land sales took place and although the Chinese were not allowed to own land, many entered into leases with Europeans and began farming. They grew fruit and vegetables to supply nearby towns and pioneered the growing of maize in north Queensland, which became an important commercial crop. Chinatown grew to service Chinese people in and around Atherton and by 1897 was a thriving residential and commercial centre.
In the 1890s, it was decided to built a temple to serve what was now quite a large community. Funds were collected and furnishings were ordered from China. In 1903, the temple was constructed of local cedar and black bean timber and corrugated iron. Brick was the material usually chosen for temples in Australia and the painting of the front wall to resemble this material suggests that the community would have preferred brick, had it been readily available. The temple complex consisted of a temple dedicated to the god Hou Wang, a feasting hall, kitchen and store. It had living quarters for a caretaker and provided accomodation for those visiting the temple from the outlying district. During the 1900s, when Chinatown was at the height of its importance, the temple was a social and spiritual centre for over a thousand people.
Following the First World War, Chinese leases on agricultural land in the district were revoked in favour of soldier settlers. During the nineteen twenties, most of the inhabitants of Chinatown and the surrounding farms moved south or to nearby coastal towns. Many of the buildings in Chinatown were demolished and removed, some being reused locally. A caretaker remained at the temple which was used by a few old men who remained in the township.
Although some repairs were carried out, without a community to support it, the temple fell into disrepair. A cyclone in 1956 blew away the pagoda, which was replaced by a lean-to. Damage also occurred from water leakage. In the 1960s artefacts were removed from the temple, including the image of Hou Wang and other gods. Some of these artefacts have since been returned. The temple was used intermittently for worship until the early 1970s and contains objects connected with this later use. The land on which the temple stands was purchased in 1965 by several local Chinese families.
In 1975, the National Trust of Queensland, who had been aware of the temple for some time, gained funding to begin investigative work. In 1977 the area was surveyed, as the Fong On family had offered the temple to the Trust to ensure its preservation. At about the same time cataloging of the remaining artefacts in the temple began. The temple was transferred to the Trust in 1980 and conservation work on the buildings began. It is now interpreted as a place museum.
","criteria":"As a temple complex which serviced a major Chinese settlement and farming community on the Atherton Tablelands, it is important in demonstrating the role which the Chinese played in the development of north Queensland.
|It is the only surviving timber and iron temple in Queensland; is the only temple outside China known to be dedicated to Hou Wang and contains a substantial number of original artefacts.
|It has the potential to contribute to an understanding of Queensland's history by demonstrating aspects of the lifestyle and beliefs of Chinese sojourners in Queensland.
|It has aesthetic qualities which are valued by the community and reflects the cultural traditions that the Chinese brought with them to Australia.
|It has a special association with the Chinese community of Atherton who made an important contribution to the development of agriculture in the area.
|It has a special association with the Chinese community of Atherton who made an important contribution to the development of agriculture in the area.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion C | Criterion E | 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 has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland's history | 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 | 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":14786,"place_ref":600011,"name":"Chinatown","alternate_name":"Cedar Camp","street_address":"Herberton Road","suburb":"ATHERTON","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The site is approximately 4.5 hectares in area and is located on the gently sloping area to the south of Piebald Creek and to the east of the Herberton Road. The site comprises Lot 2 on RP897109 facing Herberton Atherton Road to the west and extending southward to form the northern and eastern boundaries of the Hou Wang Temple site (600010). Lot 3 RP912545 faces Herberton Street and is site on the southern boundary of the temple site.
The location of the site appears to have been selected with the aid of geomancy as evidenced by its relationship to natural features such as the Herberton Range and the creek.
It is located on dark grey clay soils and the northern, low-lying portion is subject to inundation during wet seasons. Vegetation cover is mainly guinea grass, lantana and clumps of Japanese sunflowers. There are some eucalypts, tea-trees and grevillea and the area is dotted with mango trees introduced by the Chinese. The ground close to the temple is regularly cut to keep the grass low. Dense vegetative cover occurs over much of the site and may help to protect the extensive scatter of artefacts above ground. Evidence of occupation includes wells, buildings sites and possibly plantings.
Interpretative signs which mark key sites and illustrate aspects of life in Chinatown were erected by the National Trust in 1996.
","history":"This open area surrounding the Hou Wang Temple was the site of a Chinese settlement which was established in the mid 1880s. It grew to service Chinese tenant farmers in the Atherton area and peaked in importance in the early 1900s when there were over a hundred buildings on site. Its decline began after the first world war when Chinese-held agricultural leases were revoked in favour of returned servicemen and most Chinese left the area. By the late 1940s, virtually all buildings had been removed.
Atherton Chinatown was one of many Chinese settlements that sprang up in Australia during the nineteenth century. The Chinese began to arrive in large numbers following the first gold rushes of the 1850s. Most of them came from provinces in the south east of China where conditions were harsh. Almost all were male and many were poor, having borrowed the money for their fares from Chinese guilds. They hoped to make enough money to pay off their debt, to send money home to their families and to eventually return themselves with enough capital to secure their futures. For mutual support and to maintain contacts with their homeland, they lived and worked together, creating Chinatowns within, or on the fringes of, European settlements.
The discovery of gold on the Palmer River in 1873 led to an influx of miners to far north Queensland. Many of these were Chinese and by 1877 there were 17,000 Chinese on the Palmer River fields, vastly outnumbering the other diggers. Europeans felt threatened by their numbers, by their willingness to work for low recompense and because the Chinese maintained their own culture. Restrictions were placed on Chinese immigration and they were denied access to new mineral fields. Because of this, and as alluvial gold began to peter out on the Palmer field, the Chinese moved away and looked for other ways to earn money.
Tin was discovered on the Wild River in 1880 which gave impetus to the development of the Atherton Tablelands. This is an area of volcanic plateaux, set in the Great Dividing range, which has a mild climate and fertile soil. It was originally heavily forested and a group of Chinese, working with European timbergetters, moved into the Atherton area in the early 1880s. They established a settlement called Cedar Camp across Piebald Creek from the Europeans and a short distance from the tiny settlement of Prior's Pocket. In August 1885, this area was surveyed, renamed Atherton and land sales began.
Queensland legislation prevented Chinese land ownership, but many of them entered into leasing arrangements with Europeans. The newly cleared land could not be ploughed, but was well suited to the hand cultivation methods favoured by the Chinese, who became successful farmers. They supplied the developing town of Herberton with fruit and vegetables and pioneering the growing of maize, which became an important commercial crop for the area. The rents which they paid the land owners also provided a valuable source of income during the difficult economic period of the 1890s.
Atherton's Chinatown is on a lease originally granted to Frederick Loder in 1887 and which was transferred freehold to Edward Jasper Loder in 1890. By 1897, there were over 180 Chinese living on the site which developed as a short main street lined with small timber and iron shops and houses. At the height of its development, around 1909, commercial premises located here included corn merchants, food and general goods stores, a herbalist, two gambling dens and a place of entertainment which employed musicians. There was also a Tong society meeting hall and a temple. At the time, this was the social and commercial centre for over a thousand Chinese people who were living in the Atherton district.
In 1911, the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty and the declaration of a republic in China caused divisions in the Chinatown society. The authority of the Tong, which acted as an administrative body, was undermined, gambling crept in and there were violent incidents. Some Chinese moved away at this point. There was also increasing local pressure to have the land reserved for European use as the mild climate was thought to be particularly suitable and the land was now ready for ploughing or for dairying. Following the First World War, leases farmed by Chinese were made over to soldier settlers and most of the Chinese moved south or to nearby coastal towns. During the 1920s many buildings were demolished or moved for reuse elsewhere. A handful of old men remained in the settlement until the late 1940s and the temple continued in intermittent use until the mid 1970s. The land on which Chinatown stood was purchased by a group of local Chinese families and was eventually purchased outright by the Fong On family, who had originally lived in the town. The National Trust of Queensland obtained a grant to carry out research on the site in 1975 and the temple was offered to them by the Fong On family in the following year to ensure its preservation. This donation was finalised in 1980.
In 1991 John Fong On subdivided Lot 2 on RP740536 gifting the remained of Lot 2 to the National Trust of Queensland and seeling the newly created Lot 3 RP912545 to the Atherton Shire Council. This part of the site contains no buildings. Since the subdivision reports suggest that Lot 3 may contain archaeologically interesting material.
In the years since then the temple complex has been researched and conserved as a place museum. A number of research projects have also been carried out on the town site by the Material Culture Unit of the James Cook University. These included research and documentation of the settlement and temple by Latif Ibrahim in 1981, a 1986 project to map remaining surface relics and the original street, and excavations undertaken in 1991 and 1992. Although some damage has been done to the site by the casual digging of collectors in the late 1970s and early 1980s, it is believed that some areas remain undisturbed.
","criteria":"Chinatown, Atherton is important in demonstrating the evolution of Queensland history in that the Chinese were pioneers of agriculture in north Queensland and as such played an important role in the opening up of the Atherton area for settlement.
|It is a major Chinese settlement site in tropical Queensland and has never been built over. Such a concentrated site of Chinese occupation is rare in Australia making Chinatown an important archaeological site.
|It has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland's history by demonstrating the formation of, and life within, a large Chinese settlement in Australia.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion C","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 has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":14787,"place_ref":600012,"name":"Atherton War Memorial","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Kennedy Highway","suburb":"ATHERTON","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The First World War Memorial is situated in one of the main intersections of Atherton facing the RSL building. It is located within a park setting and is complemented by a gun or 'war trophy', a flagstaff, flower beds and poinciana trees.
The painted sandstone monument comprises a pedestal surmounted by a digger statue.
It sits on an octagonal base consisting of three smooth faced steps of the same height surmounted by a larger step, also smooth faced. Rising from this is a tall square pedestal capped by a large and simple cornice. The pedestal displays leaded marble plates on the front and rear faces. The front plate bears the names of the 67 men from the district who fell during the First World War and the plate at the rear bears the names of the 35 fallen from the Second World War.
The pedestal is surmounted by a digger statue in an animated pose. The figure is striding forward with the right arm raised. The remnants of a rifle (now missing) can be seen in the left hand. The figure is wearing a tin helmet and gas mask and is supported by a pile of rocks.
","history":"The Atherton War Memorial was unveiled on 1st May 1924 by Chairman of the Tinaroo Shire, Mr Grau. It is thought to be designed and executed by Melrose and Fenwick, the leading monumental firm in north Queensland at the time. Funds for the memorial were raised mainly by the local women, with the Atherton RSL contributing £100. Excess patriotic funds allowed Atherton to expand its existing hospital into a larger war memorial hospital.
The stone memorial honours the 67 local fallen of the First World War. On Anzac Day, 1954, a plate was added to pay tribute to the 35 local fallen of the Second World War.
Initial attraction to the area of Atherton was due to the availability of timber, with a saw mill established in the early stages of development. The town was surveyed in 1885, several years after the discovery of tin in the tableland. Atherton became a large agricultural producer, providing much of the foodstuffs for the surrounding mining population. This was further enhanced by the arrival of the Chinese in the 1900s who continued to clear and cultivate the land for agricultural use. Major development occurred in 1903 and in the 1920s and 30s and the town continued to be a base for the surrounding mining sites.
Australia, and Queensland in particular, had few civic monuments before the First World War. The memorials erected in its wake became our first national monuments, recording the devastating impact of the war on a young nation. Australia lost 60 000 from a population of about 4 million, representing one in five of those who served. No previous or subsequent war has made such an impact on the nation.
Even before the end of the war, memorials became a spontaneous and highly visible expression of national grief. To those who erected them, they were as sacred as grave sites, substitute graves for the Australians whose bodies lay in battlefield cemeteries in Europe and the Middle East. British policy decreed that the Empire war dead were to be buried where they fell. The word 'cenotaph', commonly applied to war memorials at the time, literally means 'empty tomb'.
Australian war memorials are distinctive in that they commemorate not only the dead. Australians were proud that their first great national army, unlike other belligerent armies, was composed entirely of volunteers, men worthy of honour whether or not they paid the supreme sacrifice. Many memorials honour all who served from a locality, not just the dead, providing valuable evidence of community involvement in the war. Such evidence is not readily obtainable from military records, or from state or national listings, where names are categorised alphabetically or by military unit.
Australian war memorials are also valuable evidence of imperial and national loyalties, at the time, not seen as conflicting; the skills of local stonemasons, metalworkers and architects; and of popular taste. In Queensland, the soldier statue was the popular choice of memorial, whereas the obelisk predominated in the southern states, possibly a reflection of Queensland's larger working-class population and a lesser involvement of architects.
Many of the First World War monuments have been updated to record local involvement in later conflicts, and some have fallen victim to unsympathetic re-location and repair.
Although there are many different types of memorials in Queensland, the digger statue is the most common. It was the most popular choice of communities responsible for erecting the memorials, embodying the ANZAC myth and representing the qualities of the ideal Australian.....loyalty, courage, youth, innocence and masculinity. The digger was a phenomenon peculiar to Queensland, perhaps due to the fact that other states had followed Britain's lead and established Advisory Boards made up of architects and artists, prior to the erection of war memorials. The digger statue was not highly regarded by artists and architects who were involved in the design of relatively few Queensland memorials.
Most statues were constructed by local masonry firms, although some were by artists or imported.
The statue at Atherton is unusual in that it portrays the digger in action. The monument suggests victory rather than reverence and mourning which is more familiar to Australian war memorials. Other details are also unique to this memorial such as the inclusion of a gas mask, a tin hat rather than a slouch hat and rocks as support instead of the ubiquitous tree stump. The digger originally carried a rifle with a fixed bayonet in his left hand.
The monument was formerly located in the town's main intersection of Main and Vernon Streets. However it was re-located two blocks north-east to the grounds of the RSL in the early 1980s. Despite this, it remains a significant landmark within the town.
","criteria":"War Memorials are important in demonstrating the pattern of Queensland's history as they are representative of a recurrent theme that involved most communities throughout the state. They provide evidence of an era of widespread Australian patriotism and nationalism, particularly during and following the First World War. The monuments manifest a unique documentary record and are demonstrative of popular taste in the inter-war period.
|This memorial is unique as the only digger statue in Queensland in an animated pose.
|Erected in 1924, the memorial at Atherton demonstrates the principal characteristics of a commemorative structure erected as an enduring record of a major historical event. This is achieved through the use of appropriate materials and design elements. As a digger statue it is representative of the most popular form of memorial in Queensland.
|It is of aesthetic significance both for its high degree of workmanship and design and as a dominant landmark within the town.
|The memorial has a strong association with the community as evidence of the impact of a major historic event.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion G","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 strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":14788,"place_ref":600013,"name":"Head Teacher's Residence, Atherton State School (former)","alternate_name":"Principal's Residence (former) | Enterprise House | Atherton Provisional School","street_address":"42 Mable Street","suburb":"ATHERTON","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The former Head Teacher's Residence is located next to the former Atherton State Primary School on part of a 2.515 hectare allotment (2NR7968) at the corner of Mabel and Vernon streets near to the centre of town. It is a single-storey, timber-framed and weatherboard-clad building set on steel, square-section posts supported on pad footings. It has a complex hipped roof with ventilated gablets and clad in corrugated metal sheeting.
In plan the building comprises a core of rooms with an L-shaped verandah on its south-west side, an enclosed verandah on its north-east side and a small wing projecting off the rear corner.
The north-western elevation to Mabel Street is the building's front and composed of the side of the enclosed verandah with a window, a central bay with gabled roof and a tripartite window arrangement of three casements and the broad, open verandah. The three-part window has a timber-bracketed, metal sheeting-clad hood. The verandah has stop-chamfered timber posts and dowel balustrading with solid top rail, while its ceiling is lined with tongue-and-groove boards. A series of French doors open onto the verandah. The north-eastern elevation features a gablet towards the rear under which are two double-hung sash windows, and the enclosed verandah with a series of casements and a timber double door at the top of the access stair here (timber).
The open verandah runs along the south-western side of the building, with a roof ridge running parallel to the verandah length and finished with gablets at each end. Over the verandah the roof is broken-backed. The walls to the verandah are single skin. On the south-eastern elevation there is a recent ramp leading off the end of the verandah (replacing timber stairs no longer extant). A small room projects off the north-eastern corner and has a separate skillion roof and stands on a concrete slab-on-ground. Its north-eastern and north-western walls are clad in corrugated metal sheeting (where mesh had been originally). A single door opens onto the back yard.
Public access to the former residence is via a gate in the chain-wire fence on Mabel Street, along a concrete path, up a short flight of timber stairs leading to the open verandah and through a wide door with glazed panes. Through the front door is a short hall. Three rooms stand on the south-western side against the verandah, while a further two stand along the north-eastern side. The central room has been made a reception with insertion of a counter. Beyond the latter to the north a verandah has been enclosed as two small rooms, the single-skin, once-exterior wall still visible. At the rear, north-eastern corner are three small rooms leading into a kitchen.
The main rooms of the residence are predominately lined with vertical tongue-and-groove boards on the walls and ceilings. There are also simple timber strip cornices and skirtings throughout. Similarly, the main rooms have polished timber floors with carpet laid over some areas. The walls of the three small rooms at the rear, the last of which is reached via a short flight of timber stairs, are lined with flat sheets. There are linoleum squares on the floor in this area leading into the kitchen, with timber boards likely underneath, except in the former laundry which stands of a small slab that is finished with paint.
The early doors are four-panelled and have glazed fanlights above. The French doors are low-waisted with two large lights each side divided in two by a mullion. They also have glazed fanlights above. There are a number of double-hung windows throughout with two lights, each divided in two. A number of double casements are used in the enclosed verandah. A secondary entrance here comprises a short flight of timber stairs. A French door opens at the top of these stairs and on either side are fixed, four-paned windows. Most doors and windows have original hardware.
The yard of the former residence is grassed and fenced, with a few trees lining the perimeter in the north-eastern and south-eastern corners. There is a very gentle slope from Mabel Street toward the east. A concrete retaining wall about half a metre high follows the Mabel Street alignment, with short stair in the centre. It turns the corner along part of the Vernon Street alignment.
There is a skillion-roofed garage in the south-eastern part of the yard facing Vernon Street. It is clad in profiled sheeting, stands on a slab and has large double timber doors.
","history":"The former Atherton State School Head Teacher's Residence was built in 1913 to accommodate the large family of the school's head teacher at the time, Joseph Johnson. Its design was the product of the Queensland Department of Public Works under the leadership of notable architect Thomas Pye. Atherton is located in Far North Queensland about 50km south-west of Cairns. It is one of the principal towns of the highland area known as the Atherton Tablelands, the main industries of which are agriculture, dairying and tourism. After the school was relocated in the mid-1980s, the land on which the residence and school buildings stand became a local government reserve and the site has been available for community purposes since 2009.
In 1880 tin was discovered at the site of Herberton, on the present day Atherton Tablelands, bringing Europeans into the area including a number of timber-getting teams seeking valuable cedar. They established small camps including one named Prior's Pocket. In 1883 agricultural blocks were opened for selection in the area and requests were made for a survey of Prior's Pocket to allow the establishment of a township. This was surveyed in 1885 and renamed Atherton. The first land sale took place on 23 February 1886, when 84 town lots were sold. Atherton was on the path of the railway being constructed from Cairns and by 1888 it was seen as a future terminus for agricultural produce and timber. The town developed rapidly and the need for a school was soon felt.
Colonial governments played an important role in the provision of formal education. In 1848 the New South Wales Government established National Schools. This was continued by the Queensland Government after the colony's creation in 1859. The Education Act 1860 established the Queensland Board of General Education and began to standardise curriculum, teacher training, and facilities. The Education Act 1875 provided a number of key initiatives for primary education; it was to be free, compulsory and secular. The Department of Public Instruction was established to administer the Act. This move standardised the provision of education and, despite difficulties, colonial educators achieved a remarkable feat in bringing basic literacy to most Queensland children by 1900.
The provision of schools to provide formal education to Queensland children was considered an essential step in the development of early communities; integral to the success of a town, the colony, and the nation. Land and construction labour was often donated by the local people and schools frequently became a major focus within the community as a place symbolising progress, for social interaction, and a source of pride. Also, the maintenance of schools frequently involved contributions of time and effort from teachers, parents, and pupils.
Provisional schools were introduced in 1869 to provide education to communities with small, scattered student populations and limited financial capacity, and were often constructed on rail lines or in mining areas. If there were between 15 and 30 pupils, and the community could provide a school building, the government would provide a teacher and equipment.[1]
In 1890 a school committee was formed at Atherton and an application made for a provisional school to meet the needs of the growing community. The Committee raised £65 for the school, which was constructed as a simple two-room timber building and opened in 1891 on a site at the corner of Mabel and Vernon streets.[2] The school suffered a setback in 1895 when the teacher resigned. It was closed, and the children sent to school at Carrington until a new teacher was appointed and the school reopened in 1896.
Although the progress of the railway took longer than initially expected, when it arrived at Atherton in 1903 it brought prosperity and more families to the township. By 1904 the Atherton Provisional School was the biggest in the state by a considerable margin, far exceeding the minimum numbers required for the establishment of a state school, and its status was upgraded.[3] A new school building was completed next to the provisional school in 1906 and the old building was extended and adapted as a residence for the head teacher. The state school formally opened in 1906 with Richard Hooper as head teacher.
By this period, the Atherton Tablelands had become the main maize growing area in Far North Queensland and this was the chief agricultural pursuit around Atherton.[4] Chinese tenant farmers dominated the industry, and a sizeable Chinatown (QHR 600011) developed.[5] Although dairying in the Tablelands was not a significant industry until World War II, the industry showed some early promise[6] with establishment of the Golden Grove Butter Factory built just north of Atherton in 1909. In 1913 it had 110 registered suppliers.[7]
Atherton had 1186 residents when Joseph Johnson commenced as head teacher at the school in 1911, and moved into the old residence with his wife and seven children.[8] One of his sons, Joseph Jacques Johnson, was also employed as a pupil teacher.[9]
It soon became evident that the residence was inadequate for the Johnson family. In August 1911, Johnson wrote to the Under-secretary for Public Instruction complaining that it was too small and uncomfortable and its condition was so deteriorated that one of his sons had fallen through a floorboard.[10] In September, the Works Department's Inspector of Works for the Northern District confirmed the poor state of the building and recommended a new residence be constructed.[11] The following month, the family moved to a rented property and in 1912 the old residence was sold and removed from the site.[12]
As in other Australian colonies, the Queensland Government developed standard plans for its school buildings, which helped to ensure consistency and economy. The standard designs were continually refined by government architects in response to changing needs and educational philosophy. Until the 1960s school buildings were predominantly timber-framed, taking advantage of the material's abundance in the state and the high number of builders skilled in its use. This also allowed for easy and economical construction and enabled the government to provide facilities in remote areas. Due to the standardisation of facilities, schools across the state were developed in distinctly similar ways and became complexes of typical components.
Design and construction of school buildings was the responsibility of the Department of Public Works from 1893.[13] Its staff refined the Department of Public Instruction's existing practice of using standard plans and documentation to eliminate the expense of preparing site-specific documents for every school.[14] In 1909, new standard designs for school residences were developed by the department in response to persistent criticism of the old designs by the School Inspectors. One inspector commented in 1904: ‘I believe this want of comfort in the matter of residences to be one of the causes why teachers are so reluctant to accept schools in the Western parts of the State.'[15] In order to make the residences more comfortable, the verandas were enlarged, and, in larger residences, a rear veranda was designed to be used for dining or as a sleep-out.[16]
The design of the head teacher's residence at Atherton differed considerably from the standard designs. As well as being quite different in room layout, the ten-roomed timber and corrugated iron house was larger. It had four bedrooms, a sitting room and a dining room whereas the largest of the standard designs from the period could have up to four bedrooms but only by converting the sitting room to a bedroom.[17] Why the house was made larger than normal may have simply been due to the size of the family it had to accommodate, or that it accommodated a pupil teacher as well as the head teacher. Nevertheless, its design was consistent with the resolve to improve the comfort of teacher residences that had motivated the development of the 1909 standard plans.
Tenders were called for the new residence in March 1913 and the following month the £670 tender of H Boyle was accepted. Following its completion, the Johnson family moved in on 25 October 1913.
The Department of Public Works at the time of construction of the former residence was led by AB Brady, the Government Architect. In 1912, the Works department had a team of 21 draftsmen and one draftswoman under the supervision of the highly competent Thomas Pye as Deputy Government Architect.[18] During the early 20th century, this team produced a substantial body of high quality work including the Land Administration Building (QHR 600123), the former Queensland Government Savings Bank (Family Services Building; QHR 600111), the George Street additions to the former Government Printing Office (QHR 600114), 'A' Block in the Central Queensland Institute of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) Rockhampton Campus (1914) (QHR 600789) and Windsor State School (1915 to 1916) (QHR 600991). Many of the finest public buildings in Queensland were designed at this time.[19]
Of the school residences built between 1893 and 1914, 19 are extant, and of these, 16 were built to a standard design. After 1914, the standard designs changed and in the late 1920s two types were introduced that resembled the residence at Atherton in form and plan arrangement. The earlier standard residences (1893-1914) were low-set with simple hipped roofs, featuring a verandah along the front of the house with rooms stacked behind. To increase the capacity of these houses, a verandah was added at the rear. Later designs (those used after 1914) featured hip-and-gable roofs and were high-set. The overall form of the residence at Atherton and its plan arrangement are similar to the post-1914 types, but is low-set like the earlier types.
Johnson remained at the school until his death, aged 66, in the Atherton Hospital on 6 November 1930. Mr AJ Beck replaced him as head teacher in December that year (formerly of Dallarnil State School). The following year the Atherton State School became a Rural School and provided manual training and domestic science classes. A new head teacher, Mr Gilchrist, formerly of Silkwood State School, was appointed in 1934.[20] The school continued to expand with the addition, in 1951, of the first wing of a new school building to accommodate a High Top. This was progressively expanded until 1963, even after the opening of the new state high school at its present site in 1959.[21]
In 1984 a new State Primary School was opened and grades 5 to 7 moved to the new school site in Armstrong Street. In 1985 grades 1 to 4 followed them and the Mabel Street primary school was closed.[22] The National Trust of Queensland entered the residence in its register in that year.[23]
The land occupied by the school was gazetted as a reserve for Local Government purposes in 1988 and responsibility for the buildings passed to the Atherton Shire Council. The former head teacher's residence became Enterprise House in 1997 and accommodated various government offices including one for the Department of Primary Industries. A deed of grant of the land was made to the Tablelands Regional Council in 2009.[24]
The former residence at Atherton remains substantially intact in 2013. It has been restumped with steel columns and the veranda on the north-eastern side of the house has been enclosed to make two rooms. A doorway from this enclosed veranda into the bedroom facing Mabel Street (north-west) was closed and a doorway into the former dining room moved towards the west. The former pantry was remodelled into a toilet and a nearby doorway into an adjacent bedroom closed. Access into this room is now provided via a new doorway directly into the kitchen, whose stove recess has been removed and replaced with a bank of windows looking over the rear yard. The former bathroom has been opened into the adjacent kitchen and the former washroom at the rear was partitioned to form a store and exit lobby. A ramp has replaced stairs leading off the rear of the south-western verandah.
References
[1] Burmester, P., Kennedy, M. & Pullar, M. ‘Queensland Schools: a heritage conservation study.' A report for the Department of Education, November 1996, pp.5-6. [EHP report collection H-QLD/031.]
[2] ‘The Tableland Above the Range: Atherton', Cairns Post, 21 March 1891, p.3.
[3] Annual Report of the Secretary for Public Instruction, 1904, p59, Queensland Parliamentary Papers, 1905.
[4] Queensland Parliamentary Papers, 1911-12, volume 2, pp808, 928 - 929.
[5] M Gilmore, ‘Thematic History: Agriculture in Far North Queensland, 1880 to 2005', unpublished report prepared for the Environmental Protection Agency by Tablelands Research and Consultancy Services, July 2007, p9, 12 ; S Robb, ‘Thematic History: Chinese Settlement in Far North Queensland, unpublished report, EPA Cultural Heritage Branch State-wide Survey , nd, p9 - 10; Queensland Parliamentary Papers, 1911 - 12, volume 2, p793.
[6] Queensland Parliamentary Papers, 1911-12, volume 2, p916.
[7] J Wills, ‘State-wide Survey Thematic Histories, Dairying in the Far North', unpublished report, Environmental Protection Agency, nd, p1, 5, 7.
[8] The Northern Miner, 7 July 1911, p4; letter J Johnson to Undersecretary of Public Instruction, 30 September 1911, Queensland State Archives, item 13702.
[9] Annual Report of the Secretary for Public Instruction, 1912, Queensland Parliamentary Papers, 1913; Return of all schools, 1912, Queensland Parliamentary Papers, 1912, Vol 1, p1044; Townsville Daily Bulletin, 4 March 1914, p6; 23 March 1915, p5; Cairns Post, 26 March 1917, p4.
[10] Letter, J Johnson to Undersecretary of Public Instruction, 19 August 1911, Queensland State Archives, item 13702.
[11] Telegram, Inspector of Works, Fraser, to Government Architect, 6 September 1911; follow up report, Fraser, 7 September 1911, Queensland State Archives, item 13702.
[12] Letter J Johnson to Undersecretary of Public Instruction, 30 September 1911; Official authorisation to H W Mocatta to remove the residence, Queensland State Archives, item 13702; Cairns Post, 29 November 1911, p4.
[13] H-QLD-031, ‘Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study', unpublished report for the Department of Education, 1996, Executive Summary, pp18, 27.
[14] Report H-QLD/031, p5.
[15] Cited in Report H-QLD-031, p27.
[16] Report H-QLD/031, pp26 - 27.
[17] Architectural drawing, Atherton State School - Teacher's residence, 1913, Queensland State Archives, item 579446; Report H-QLD-031, pp 40 - 41.
[18] Queensland Blue Book, Queensland Parliamentary Papers, 1913, Vol 1, p646; D Watson and J McKay, Queensland Architects of the 19th Century: A biographical dictionary, (Queensland Museum, Brisbane: 1994), pp 20, 149, 150.
[19] Draft entry for Mount Morgan Court House (former) and Police Precinct (QHR 600745), and entries for the Challinor Centre (QHR 601821), and 'A' Block, Central Queensland Institute of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) Rockhampton Campus (QHR 600789).
[20] ‘Scholastic Appointment', Cairns Post, 1 August 1934, p. 6.
[21] QSA item 125268, batch files - Atherton State School; QSA item 579450, architectural drawings, Atherton State School, item 125268, batch files - Atherton State School, item 597740 batch files - Atherton State School; ‘The New School', Supplement to the Tablelander, September 1985, p33.
[22] Atherton Centenary Committee, Tall Timber and Golden Grain 1885 - 1985, (Atherton, Qld.: Atherton Centenary Committee, 1985), p14 - 15, Sunday Mail, 1 September 1985, p28; Supplement to the Tablelander, September 1985, p33.
[23] ‘Atherton', The Sunday Mail, 1 September 1985, p.28.
[24] Certificate of Title reference 49018780; Deed of Grant, title reference 40059213.
","criteria":"Completed in 1913 and unusual in being built to a non-standard design, the former Head Teacher's Residence, Atherton State School, is important in demonstrating the prominence of Atherton as a regional centre in northern Queensland, particularly in the first part of the 20th century.
The size of the residence and the amenity it provided to the head teachers who occupied it - characteristics that can still be read in the building 100 years after its construction - also exemplify the Queensland Department of Public Works' policy from 1909 of improving the comfort of these types of residences to encourage teachers to remain in their positions in regional schools.
|The former Head Teacher's Residence at Atherton is important as a rare example of one that followed a non-standard design by the Queensland Department of Public Works. There were 19 extant school residences built 1893 and 1914, and only three of these follow a non-standard design.
|Highly intact in terms of the important characteristics of this class of cultural place-namely the internal layout of its rooms, fabric and setting-the former Atherton head teacher's residence is a fine example of a purpose-built school residence designed by the architectural office of Queensland's Department of Public Works.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion D","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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15242,"place_ref":600467,"name":"Eden House Restaurant","alternate_name":"Private residence | Nibbles Tea House/Restaurant","street_address":"20 Gillies Highway","suburb":"YUNGABURRA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"Eden House Restaurant is a single-storeyed timber structure with a corrugated metal hipped roof and bullnosed verandahs to three sides. The building fronts the Gillies Highway to the east, and is surrounded by landscaped grounds.
The building presents a symmetrical elevation to the street, with a central entrance flanked by french doors with fanlights opening to the verandahs to three sides. The verandahs have timber posts, dowel balustrades and curved brackets. The verandah walls are of single-skin horizontal boards with exposed framing, and the building has timber stumps.
Internally, the front section of the house is used for dining, and several internal walls have been removed, and decorative arched timber details inserted. A section of the central corridor survives, with decorative pressed metal ceiling and cornices, and rooms to either side have pressed metal or boarded ceilings.
A single-storeyed addition at the rear houses kitchen and toilet facilities, and a large timber dining deck with curved awning has been constructed on the northern side of the building.
The grounds have been landscaped, but contain a number of substantial mature trees, and the remains of an early well. The site has a driveway on the southern side accessing the rear of the property, and a timber picket fence to the street.
","history":"Eden House Restaurant was constructed reportedly c1914 originally as a private residence for Arthur (Archie) Herbert Belson, a Tableland timber merchant, and whose brother was the first Chairman of the Eacham Shire Council in 1911.
Yungaburra, previously known as Allumbah (meaning red cedar) Pocket, was surveyed in 1886 by Surveyor Rankin as part of a government village settlement scheme. In 1910, the Cairns to Millaa Millaa railway reached the town, which was renamed to avoid confusion with another similarly named town. In 1926, the Gillies Highway between Cairns and Gordonvale was opened. Fuelled by the resulting tourist trade to the nearby lakes, the town experienced a second period of development.
The land on which Eden House is located was alienated from the Crown by George Henry O'Donnell in September 1899. Mr O'Donnell subdivided the property, and the land was transferred to Arthur Herbert Belson in April 1912.
The house was reportedly named Cedrella when constructed, and was later described as having wide verandahs, a tennis court and 'Old English' gardens. The house was very much a social centre of the district, and was transferred to Mr Belson's son-in-law George Alfred Duffy in July 1922, who later became the local State Member of Parliament.
The property was transferred to Martin Rudolf Lehfeldt in December 1929, and in June 1930 a Deed of Grant was issued. The property was then transferred to Albert Edwards in March 1948.
The property was later transferred to Alfred and Alice King in January 1958, who came to Yungaburra c1954 to run the Tivoli cinema, which is now the community centre (QHR 600479). Mr King died in 1964, and the house was occupied by Mrs King (who changed her name to Alice Baszel Jones - spinster - in June 1964) until her death, after which it was sold at auction. The property was transferred in October 1988 to Mitojo Pty Ltd and RM and AB Payne Pty Ltd (associated with a Cairns solicitor).
The house was substantially rebuilt over a two year period and redeveloped for use as a restaurant. Photographs taken during this work show the only surviving original material being the external walls (reportedly cedar) to the front of the building, some internal walls, some doors and windows, and the floor. However, the house was rebuilt to look substantially similar to the original structure. An addition was constructed at the rear, which houses toilets and kitchens.
The building was operated by lessees as 'Nibbles Tea House', until it was transferred to the current owners in August 1998. The current owners have undertaken some works, including a large dining deck one the northern side, have developed the gardens, and reopened the premises as 'Eden House' in October 1998.
","criteria":"Eden House Restaurant is important in demonstrating the pattern of development of Yungaburra and the Atherton Tablelands. The building was constructed as a substantial private residence reportedly c.1914 during the town's first phase of development following the arrival of the Cairns to Milla Milla railway in 1910.
|Eden House Restaurant contains the remains of the original house, and together with its substantial mature plantings, makes a strong aesthetic contribution to the Yungaburra townscape.
|The house was constructed for Mr Arthur (Archie) Herbert Belson, a Tableland timber merchant, whose brother was the first Chairman of the Eacham Shire Council. The house was later transferred to his son-in-law Mr George Alfred Duffy who became the local State Member of Parliament. The property was later transferred to the King family who were long-time operators of the local Tivoli cinema, now the community centre [600479]. During the early Twentieth century, the house was described as being 'very much a social centre of the district'.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion E | Criterion H","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 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":15243,"place_ref":600468,"name":"27 Atherton Road, Yungaburra","alternate_name":"Bank of New South Wales | 2/34 and 3/34 Cedar Street, Yungaburra | 36 Cedar Street and 14 Kehoe Place, Yungaburra","street_address":"2/34 and 3/34 Cedar Street","suburb":"YUNGABURRA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"This single-storeyed timber building with a corrugated iron gable roof is located on the corner of Atherton Road and Cedar Street in the centre of Yungaburra. Originally an exposed framed, single skin building, it has been clad in chamferboard.
The street frontage to Atherton Road to the east has a reconstructed curved corrugated iron awning with a shaped gable above. The building is divided into two tenancies, with the Atherton Road end having a central entry from the awning and the rear tenancy accessed via a timber deck off Cedar Street.
The building has principally sash windows, with some later casements. A lean-to bathroom has been added to the southwest. The building has been recently refurbished, with new timber floors and some new windows. The rear of the site is grassed.
","history":"27 Atherton Road, Yungaburra is a single storeyed timber building erected c1914 for local timber merchant Arthur Herbert Belson on the corner of Atherton Road and Cedar Street. For over fifty years, it housed the local branch of the Bank of New South Wales.
Yungaburra, previously known as Allumbah (meaning red cedar) Pocket, was surveyed in 1886 by Surveyor Rankin as part of a government village settlement scheme. In 1910, the Cairns to Millaa Millaa railway reached the town, which was renamed to avoid confusion with another similarly named town. In 1926, the Gilles Highway between Cairns and Gordonvale was opened. Fuelled by the resulting tourist trade to the nearby lakes, the town experienced a second period of development.
In 1914, the building which was sited opposite the new railway station, was leased to the Bank of New South Wales. Previously the Bank had occupied temporary premises in the town. In 1921, the property was purchased by the Bank. Photographs at this time show the building to be single skinned. According to local folklore, the bank was part of a New Years Eve prank, in which the railway gates were removed, taken across the road, and left on the awning of the bank. This was regarded as a feat of strength on the part of the young people of the town.
In 1965, the Yungaburra branch was converted to an agency attached to the Atherton branch of the Bank. In 1967, the agency was closed and the property sold by the Bank of New South Wales in the following year. It was acquired by the present owners in 1988.
","criteria":"27 Atherton Road, Yungaburra is important in demonstrating the pattern of Queensland's history, in particular the development of Yungaburra and the Atherton Tableland.
|It exhibits a range of aesthetic characteristics valued by the local community, in particular its contribution, through scale, form and materials, to the Yungaburra townscape.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion E","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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15245,"place_ref":600470,"name":"Shop, 1/34 Cedar Street, Yungaburra","alternate_name":"Burra Inn Restaurant | The Workshop | Barber's Shop","street_address":"1/34 Cedar Street","suburb":"YUNGABURRA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The shop is a single storey timber building, rectangular in form, with its short axis towards the street. The building is level with the street at the front and is set on stumps of increasing height towards the back as the ground falls away to the rear of the block. The shop has a stepped parapet and a gable and hipped roof clad in corrugated metal. It has a timber-framed awning to the street, clad in corrugated metal sheeting. The shopfront has a central recessed entry flanked by display windows. The interior is simple with timber walls and floors and has been modified to suit its ongoing commercial use.
","history":"The shop at 1/34 Cedar Street, Yungaburra, is one of a pair of simple timber shops [600470 and 600478] constructed in the mid 1920s for the Williams family and was thought to have originally been a hairdresser's shop.
\nThe first Europeans on the Atherton Tablelands were engaged in timbergetting and mining, but the rich soil and cool climate were thought particularly suitable for the development of agriculture. In 1885 a Village Settlement scheme was introduced which offered settlers 40-acre farm blocks with home sites clustered as a village. In 1888 a village settlement was laid out at Allumbah Pocket, later to become Yungaburra. At the same time a railway from the port of Cairns to the Tableland was begun, although it took far longer to reach its objective than originally envisaged. The first farms at Allumbah were taken up in 1891, though the scheme proved unsuccessful. The railway reached Mareeba in 1895 and Atherton in 1903, greatly improving access to the area. Following new Land Acts in the early 1900s to encourage closer settlement, which had more practical requirements, more people took up land around Allumbah. The land on which the shop was later built, and which was to become the commercial heart of Yungaburra, was part of an Agricultural Farm selected by George O'Donnell in 1899.
\nIn 1900 the land was sold to George Wedderburn and subdivided into numerous small blocks in 1910. The Railway Commissioner acquired six acres and the position of the new railway station caused a geographic shift in focus from the original settlement, which was located towards the north west of the new commercial centre. Buildings were constructed or relocated near the railway.
\nAlbert Soffe and Frederick Campbell Williams acquired Sub 16 in Cedar Street in 1913 as trustees of the estate of their father, Henry S. Williams. He had arrived in Australia in the 1860s and worked in a number of occupations before taking up land at Scrubby Creek on the Tablelands. After losing his dairy cattle to tick in 1895, Williams turned to business and ran a store and butchery at Scrubby Creek and the Carriers Arms hotel at Carrington. He then acquired land in the original Allumbah settlement in 1898 and established a store. He was killed in an accident in 1905, but the business was continued by his family under the name of 'Estate H.S. Williams'. In 1907 they established a shanty hotel in Allumbah to serve packers and the navvies constructing the railway inching its way towards the town. In 1910, the railway line reached the settlement, which had been renamed Yungaburra to avoid confusion with Aloomba near Gordonvale. The railway link triggered a period of rapid development with the construction of a sawmill, a store and a large hotel for the Williams family opposite the railway station, and a number of shops and houses. In 1919, a new title to the land was issued in the name of Estate H.S. Williams Limited.
\nIn 1926, the Cairns Range Road between Yungaburra and Gordonvale was opened, providing the first trafficable road to the Tablelands. Yungaburra became a gateway to the natural attractions of the area and a blossoming tourist trade to the nearby lakes created a second period of development. The range road was renamed the Gillies Highway in 1934, honouring the former premier and local member for Eacham, William Gillies.
\nIt is thought that the shop was constructed around the time range road opened and was probably a pair with the adjacent shop, also on lot 16. A barber or hairdresser are thought to have first occupied this shop, and a 1930 photo shows ‘hairdresser’ signage.
\nIn 1954, the land was subdivided into 2 blocks so that each shop was on a separate title. It passed out of Williams family hands in 1976 and has changed hands several times since. It functioned as a restaurant during the 1980s and 1990s. In 2017 it houses a pump and irrigation repair business.
","criteria":"As an early commercial building, the shop marks the emergence of Yungaburra's role as a gateway to the Tablelands following the arrival of the railway in 1910 and the commencement of a road link with the coast in 1920. This facilitated the growth of agriculture and dairying on the Tablelands and heralded the development of tourism in the area.
|The shop is an example of the type of simple timber commercial building that served many new settlements.
|In its form, scale and detail it makes a substantial contribution to the built character of Yungaburra.
|As a building constructed as part of the Williams Estate, the shop has an important association with the Williams family who made a major contribution to the commercial development of Yungaburra and the Atherton Tableland.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | 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 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":15246,"place_ref":600471,"name":"Yungaburra Post Office and residence","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"15-17 Cedar Street","suburb":"YUNGABURRA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The post office and residence are timber buildings constructed on adjoining blocks. The front of the post office is aligned with Cedar Street and has a separate post box on the pavement. The residence is set well towards the rear of the next block. Both have an informal garden setting, which contributes to the aesthetic qualities of the street.
The post office is a single storeyed timber building set on concrete stumps. It has a hipped roof clad in corrugated iron with a central projecting gable with the sign Yungaburra Post Office. The main roof extends on either side of the gable to cover twin porches that are accessed by stairs with timber handrails. That on the left contains the postal boxes and the main entrance. That on the right is currently sealed. There is a bank of triple sash windows in the central gable and a shingled hood shades these. Pairs of sash windows covered by hoods are on either side of the building. At the rear a modern awning shades the loading area.
Inside the building, the walls are lined with timber and the ceiling with fibrous cement panels. A timber counter separates the public area from the office and sorting area. The public area at the front of the building has a writing bench under the windows.
The residence is set well back on its block and is aligned towards the post office building, being linked to it at the rear of the post office by an area of lawn and garden beds. It is also a timber building set on stumps with a hipped roof clad in corrugated iron. There is a central projecting gable facing towards the post office. The building has sections of verandah at the front and side, much of which has been built in. It has a number of alterations and extensions to the exterior. The interior was not inspected.
","history":"The post office is a timber building constructed in 1926 to a standard design. The adjoining block has a timber postal residence set back from the road. The earliest post office service at Yungaburra had been from the railway station.
The first Europeans on the Atherton Tablelands were engaged in timbergetting and mining, but the rich soil and cool climate were thought particularly suitable for the development of agriculture. In 1885 a Village Settlement scheme was introduced which offered settlers 40-acre farm blocks with home sites clustered as a village. Around this time a railway from the port of Cairns to the Tableland was begun, although it took far longer to reach its objective than originally envisaged. In 1888 a village settlement was laid out at Allumbah Pocket, later to become Yungaburra. The first farms at Allumbah were taken up in 1891, though the scheme proved unsuccessful. The railway reached Mareeba in 1895 and Atherton in 1903, greatly improving access to the area. Following new Land Acts in the early 1900s to encourage closer settlement that had more practical requirements, more people took up land around Allumbah.
The land on which the post office was later built was part of an Agricultural Farm selected by George O'Donnell in 1899. In 1900 the land was sold to George Wedderburn and subdivided into numerous small blocks in 1910. Six acres were acquired by the Railway Commissioner and the position of the new railway station, which opened in 1910, caused a geographic shift in focus from the original settlement, which was located further north west. Buildings were constructed or relocated near the railway and Allumbah was renamed Yungaburra to avoid confusion with another similarly named town. A period of rapid development began with the construction of a sawmill, a hotel and a number of shops and houses near the railway station. In 1911, Eacham Shire was formed.
Robina Heale purchased lots 19 and 20 in 1912. She does not appear to have lived in Yungaburra and it is not known if she constructed any buildings on the land.
The first postal services were conducted from the railway station, a common arrangement where mail travelled by rail and there was no post office. From 1924, a postmaster, L. Craven, is listed in the Post Office Directory for Yungaburra and served in this capacity for several years. The Gillies Highway between Yungaburra and Gordonvale was opened on 26 June 1926, providing the first trafficable road to the Tablelands. The road link made Yungaburra a gateway to the natural attractions of the Tablelands and created a second period of development in the town due to the blossoming tourist trade to the nearby lakes. Probably in response to this increased demand, the Commonwealth of Australia purchased both blocks of land in August 1926 and constructed a post office building on lot 19. It is not known whether or not the building used as a post office residence was already there or was built concurrently.
The Interwar period was an active period for the construction of post offices, and 26 buildings of this standard porch and gable design were constructed in Queensland country towns between 1923 and 1939. This type of post office building contained no accommodation for postal officers, quarters being in a separate building, although a domestic scale was maintained. Materials introduced in this style included concrete stumps and shingles on sunhoods, both of which can be seen at Yungaburra. The post office had several staff members and a telephone exchange. Many tourists visiting Yungaburra and staying at the nearby hotel would have used the post office. During World War II many troops were stationed on the Tablelands and visited Yungaburra for recreational purposes. A Mr T L Bytie was postmaster throughout the war years.
In 1974, with changes in Post Office operations, the property passed into private hands, although it remains in use as a post office and has belonged to the current owner since 1979.
","criteria":"Yungaburra Post Office is important in illustrating the pattern of Queensland history, being a government facility erected at the time of the linking of this area to the coast by the Gillies Highway. It provided services that played an important part in assisting the town to develop, to operate as a gateway to the surrounding area and to facilitate the growth of the early tourist industry on the Atherton Tablelands.
|The Post Office is a good example of a timber twin porch and gable post office of the 1920s, a standard design developed by the Government Architect's Office during a period when a high quality of design and finish was achieved.
|It makes a substantial visual contribution to the built character of Yungaburra.
|The Post Office has had a long connection with the people of Yungaburra and the surrounding district as a provider of communication services that have been conducted from this building since 1926.
","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":15247,"place_ref":600472,"name":"Residence 16-20 Cedar Street","alternate_name":"Williams' House","street_address":"16-20 Cedar Street","suburb":"YUNGABURRA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The former Williams house is a single storey timber building set on stumps and has a corrugated iron hip and gable roof. It is at street level at the front and is set on stumps that increase in height as the ground falls away to the rear.
At the front, a former central verandah has been built in with timber and casement windows. Sliding windows in timber frames having alternating square panes of pink and green obscure glass flank this section and extend down each side of the building.
At the rear, what may be an early detached kitchen now forms part of the house. On the western side of the building towards the rear a section of verandah has been removed, exposing a portion of wall with exterior studding. A verandah side awning cuts across a window at this point, evidence of the series of adjustments made to the house to accommodate changing use. On the eastern side there is a deck with an awning over.
The interior walls are vertical timber boards and there are timber floors and ceilings. Some sections of wall appear to have been added or removed and other alterations made to accommodate use as two flats. French doors open onto some areas.
There is a wall constructed of basalt boulders approximately 1 metre high running along the front of the property.
","history":"16-20 Cedar Street is a timber dwelling, the earliest section of which may have been constructed by James Dunstan between 1911 and 1914 or may have been built by the Williams family business, which acquired the property in 1915. It has been extended since in several stages and was divided into two flats.
Yungaburra was surveyed in 1888 as a Village Settlement called Allumbah. The Village Settlement scheme was introduced in 1885 and offered settlers farm blocks with home sites clustered as a village. Around this time a railway from the port of Cairns to the Tableland was begun, although it took far longer to reach its objective than originally envisaged. The first farms at Allumbah were taken up in 1891, though the scheme proved unsuccessful. The railway reached Mareeba in 1895 and Atherton in 1903, greatly improving access to the area. Following new Land Acts in the early 1900s more people took up land around Allumbah and a small commercial area developed to serve them.
In 1910, the railway line linking Cairns with the Tablelands reached Allumbah, which was then renamed Yungaburra to avoid confusion with another town. The Post Office Directory for this year lists almost all occupants of Yungaburra as 'selectors.' A period of rapid development then began with the construction of a sawmill, a hotel and a number of shops and houses near the railway station. The land on which the house is built was part of a 65-acre block comprising adjoining Agricultural Farms 163 and 164 selected by George O'Donnell in 1899. In 1900 the land was purchased by George Wedderburn and subdivided into numerous small blocks following the opening of the railway. The Railway Commissioner acquired six acres and the position of the new railway station caused a geographic shift in focus from the original settlement, which was located towards the north west of the new commercial centre. Buildings were constructed or relocated near the railway.
In 1911, James Dunstan, probably of the partnership of Dunstan and Pillinger, Commission Agents, purchased 3 of the new subdivisions from George Wedderburn. He had purchased another block from this subdivision the previous year and took out a mortgage for £150 on the newly acquired land, though not necessarily to build a residence.
In 1915 Albert and Frederick Williams purchased the property as Trustees for the estate of their father, Henry S. Williams. H.S. Williams had arrived in Australia in the 1860s and worked in a number of occupations before leasing land at Scrubby Creek on the Tablelands. After losing his dairy cattle to tick in 1895, Williams turned to business and ran a store and butchery at Scrubby Creek and a hotel at Carrington. He then acquired land in the original Allumbah settlement area in 1898 and established a store. He was killed in an accident in 1905, but the business was continued by his family under the name of 'Estate H.S. Williams'. In 1907 they established a shanty hotel in Allumbah to serve packers and the navvies constructing the railway inching its way towards the town. In 1910, they opened a hotel near the railway station. The Williams family's interest in this vicinity grew as they acquired further land over the next few years.
In the 1923 post office directory the Estate of H.S. Williams is first listed as operating a store, butchers and bakery in Yungaburra and they may have established these businesses in anticipation of the road link from Gordonvale, which had been under construction since 1920. Williams' Lake Eacham Hotel at the corner of Cedar Street was also extended and upgraded in the mid 1920s.
The house is believed to have been first occupied by Edward Stratten (Ned) Williams, who had four children who were born between 1916 and 1921. Rooms were added at the rear of the house as the family grew. E S Williams appears in the Yungaburra directory for the first time in 1924 and was a partner in 'Cairns and Tableland Motor Services Limited', a touring car company formed to bring tourists from Cairns to visit the Tablelands. It became a local institution known as the 'White Cars' and eventually had branch garages in several local towns. A garage was constructed in Yungaburra by Williams to maintain the cars and as a car dealership. This enterprise linked naturally with the family hotel, which became a well-known resort for tourists and for functions.
In 1926 the Gillies Highway was opened and the role of Yungaburra as a gateway to the natural attractions of the Tablelands created a second period of development in the town due to the blossoming tourist trade to the nearby lakes. E S Williams died in 1929 and his wife died the following year. His brother, Frederick, moved from Atherton and brought up his own 5 children and his 4 nephews and nieces in the house. Rooms were again added to the house to accommodate such a large family.
During the years of the Second World War, many troops moved into the Tablelands. The area was used for training and recuperation and from March 1942, there was a USAF base at Mareeba at which many Americans were stationed as ground and workshop crews. There were also military hospitals in the area and many military personnel visited the hotel for dances, dinner and musical entertainments held on Sunday evenings. Sydney and Clive Williams were officers and also held parties at their home. A deck was added to the eastern side of the house during this time to provide for dancing.
The extended Williams family worked together and had commercial interests in a number of interlinked fields. Because of the variety of enterprises owned by the family in Yungaburra and other local centres, they were major providers of employment in the area and made an important contribution to the development of Yungaburra.
The Williams family owned the house at 16-20 Cedar Street until 1976, when Earle and Helena Jones and Bruce and Patricia Jones purchased it. This may have been the period when the house was divided into 2 flats. The property changed hands several times in the 1980s and has recently passed into the hands of a member of the Williams family again.
The house has been extended in several stages and has had a number of alterations carried out to it over the years including the filling in of verandahs and removal of internal walls.
","criteria":"The former Williams house was built during an important period in the development of Yungaburra. As an early house built on one of the subdivisions made following the opening of the railway, it assists in understanding the way in which Yungaburra developed.
|As a timber residence built in a traditional style it contributes to the built character of Yungaburra.
|The house has had a long association with the Williams family who made a major contribution to the commercial development of Yungaburra.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion E | Criterion H","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 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":15248,"place_ref":600473,"name":"Lake Eacham Hotel","alternate_name":"Yungaburra Hotel","street_address":"6-8 Kehoe Place","suburb":"YUNGABURRA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The Lake Eacham Hotel is a two storey timber building, L shaped in plan, and has a hipped roof clad with corrugated iron. The roof and building are truncated at the corner where the entrance to the hall and main bar are located. The guests' entrance is in the later wing of the building and fronts the main road. At the street corner of the hotel there is a lamppost.
The original entrance hall has the public bar and games area to the left and a large dining room to the right. This is separated from the lounge by sliding doors with lead light panels and can itself be divided into two. The main entrance to the lounge, which also serves as a reception area, is from the street through lobby doors with 'Williams' Lake Eacham Hotel' etched on the glass. The lounge is large and features extensive use of silky oak and other cabinet timbers in wainscotting, an elaborate staircase and joinery. The upper walls and ceiling are sheeted with fibrous cement and stained timber cover strips. Inside the door on the right hand side there is a freestanding timber and glass reception office and a guests' telephone booth. The room has a large fireplace at the rear end and retains most of its original furniture including marquetry tables and firescreen. At the rear is the lounge bar, which is also panelled and retains the original horseshoe bar with glass and timber glass cabinets above.
The kitchen contains a very large freestanding cast iron Metters range with ovens on all sides. This has been converted to burn oil but is not currently in use. The upper floor of the hotel contains bedrooms, manager's quarters and sitting areas for guests. The hotel currently has 38 bedrooms.
There is a barbecue area to the rear of the building, which leads onto a garden. A circular bush house, paths and walls of volcanic rock appear to be remnants of a formal garden. There is also a single storey timber building along Cedar Street thought to have been staff quarters.
","history":"Side Brothers constructed the Lake Eacham Hotel for the Williams family in 1910, when the railway reached Yungaburra. It was considerably extended and refurbished in 1926 in time for the opening of the first motor road between the coast and Yungaburra, assisting the town to develop as a tourist destination and a gateway to the Tablelands.
Yungaburra was surveyed in 1888 as a Village Settlement called Allumbah. The Village Settlement scheme was introduced in 1885 and offered settlers farm blocks with home sites clustered as a village. Around this time a railway from the port of Cairns to the Tableland was begun, although it took far longer to reach its objective than originally envisaged. The first farms at Allumbah were taken up in 1891, though the scheme proved unsuccessful. The railway reached Mareeba in 1895 and Atherton in 1903, greatly improving access to the area. Following new Land Acts in the early 1900s more people took up land around Allumbah. The land on which the hotel was later built, and which was to become the commercial heart of Yungaburra, was part of an Agricultural Farm selected by George O'Donnell in 1899. In 1900 the land was sold to George Wedderburn and was subdivided into numerous small blocks in 1910.
The Railway Commissioner acquired six acres and the position of the new railway station caused a geographic shift in focus from the original settlement, which was located towards the northwest. Buildings were constructed or relocated near the railway. Albert and Frederick Williams purchased two of the blocks positioned close to the station in 1911. The Williams family's interest in this area grew as they acquired adjoining land over the next few years.
Henry S. Williams had arrived in Australia in the 1860s and worked in a number of occupations before taking up land at Scrubby Creek on the Tablelands. After losing his dairy cattle to tick in 1895, Williams turned to business and ran a store and butchery at Scrubby Creek and the Carriers Arms hotel at Carrington. He then acquired land in the original Allumbah settlement in 1898 and established a store. He was killed in an accident in 1905, but the business was continued by his family under the name of 'Estate H.S. Williams'. In 1907, the family set up a shanty, a simple inn offering bar service, food and accommodation, at Allumbah, which was run by 16-year-old Maud Williams. On 15 March 1910, the first train reached the settlement, which had been renamed Yungaburra to avoid confusion with a similarly named town. The railway link triggered a period of rapid development with the construction of a sawmill and a number of shops and houses. The Williams family built a two-storey timber hotel on the land near the railway and the shanty was used as a flourmill. The licence was issued to Frederick Williams, then from 1912 to Albert Williams, although the hotel is said to have been run by their sister Maud. The new hotel was named after Lake Eacham, although this popular picnic spot was 4 miles away, which suggests that it was intended to appeal to tourists who had come to visit the lake and other natural attractions in the area.
In 1914 Maud Williams married the stationmaster, Jack Kehoe, who worked at the hotel from 1916 and in 1922 was advertised as its proprietor. Maud herself was officially the publican only after her husband's death in 1933, although she is remembered in the district as the driving force behind the hotel's success.
On 26 June 1926, the Gillies Highway between Yungaburra and Gordonvale was opened. The 'Range Road' was originally a one-way road controlled by gates at the top and bottom and was the first trafficable road to the Tablelands. It allowed tourists easy access to the crater lakes and other beauty spots. In anticipation of this, the Lake Eacham Hotel was extended significantly along the main road and much of the wide verandah on the upper storey was built in. The new wing included a large lounge and reception area, a lounge bar and extra bedrooms. Yungaburra became a gateway to the natural attractions of the area and a developing tourist trade to the nearby lakes created a second period of development. E.S. (Ned) Williams was one of seven partners who started up the Cairns and Tableland Motor Services Limited, which became well known as the 'White Cars'. These collected tourists who arrived by rail and boat at Cairns and took them to the Tablelands where they visited Malanda and the Falls, the Curtain Fig, Mt Quincan and the lakes. Visitors could hire boats at Lake Eacham from 1920 and there was a kiosk there from 1930. Lake Barrine's teahouse was built in 1927. The White Cars had a refuelling depot at Yungaburra which maintained 2 mechanics and passengers stayed at the hotel. The service continued for many years with branches at other tableland towns and the company survives as Whitecar Coaches.
The Lake Eacham Hotel advertised in 1926 that it was close to golf links and public tennis courts and films were shown in the hall behind the hotel for many years. The hotel also staged dances and other social events and during World War II was host to military personnel who claimed the lounge bar for their own. In the 1960s rooms on the ground floor of the 1920s wing were converted into motel units. The railway branch line to Yungaburra, Malanda and Tarzali was closed in 1963 and the station and line have been removed, so that the hotel now overlooks a small park name for Maud Kehoe. In 1971 Mrs Kehoe died, after an association with the hotel that had lasted more than sixty years, although it was run with the assistance of managers in the last few years of her life. In 1974 the hotel was sold and changed hands several times before being purchased by the current publicans in 1982. The hotel still caters for tourists and is an attraction in its own right.
","criteria":"As the Lake Eacham Hotel was built in 1910 and extended in 1926 principally to cater for tourists, is important in demonstrating the development of Yungaburra and of the early tourist industry in the region.
|It is important as a good and intact example of an early resort hotel, with large and well-detailed public spaces.
The layout of the rooms and sequence of additions and facilities have the potential to provide information on the development of the hotel in response to changes in tourist requirements since 1910.
|The hotel is uncommon in the quality and intactness of its dining and reception areas and such details as the receptionist's office and guest telephone booth in the lounge, and the massive cast iron commercial range in the kitchen. It also retains much of its original furniture.
|The Lake Eacham Hotel, a large and prominently sited building, has been a landmark in Yungaburra since it was built, featuring in tourist postcards. In form, scale and detail it makes a major visual contribution to the Yungaburra townscape.
|The hotel has a strong association with the Williams family, who were important in the development of Yungaburra, and in particular with Maude Williams Kehoe, who ran the hotel for almost the whole period from its inception until her death.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion C | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion H","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding 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 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":15251,"place_ref":600476,"name":"Residence","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"12 (x25) Cedar Street","suburb":"YUNGABURRA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-08-21","description":"The summary information for this place is currently under review.
","history":"The summary information for this place is currently under review.
","criteria":"The summary information for this place is currently under review.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15252,"place_ref":600477,"name":"Court House, Police Station and Residence","alternate_name":"Court of Petty Sessions","street_address":"6 - 10 Cedar Street","suburb":"YUNGABURRA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The police reserve at Yungaburra consists of 3 adjoining blocks of land on Cedar Street. These contain the court house/police station, a modern two bay garage and a police residence.
The courthouse/police station is a single storey timber building, rectangular in form, with its long axis towards the street. It is set on metal stumps that are low at the front and increase in height towards the back as the ground falls away to the rear of the block. It has verandahs running along both the back and front of the building. The gabled roof is clad with corrugated iron and extends over the verandahs where it is supported on timber posts. The verandahs have simple timber handrails. There are doors to the office and courtroom at the front flanked by casement windows in timber frames. There are casement windows to the rear verandah and at the ends of the building where they are shaded by sun hoods. All windows are fitted with modern steel security grilles.
The interior of the building is divided into two rooms by a wall of vertical tongue and groove boards and has coved timber ceilings. The larger room of the two is the courtroom and has a triple casement window over a timber magistrate's bench. The second room is used as a police office and has modern cupboards and a counter. There is a toilet on the rear verandah.
Between the courtroom/police station and the police residence is a modern timber double garage with metal roller doors.
The police residence is a timber dwelling set on cement stumps, which are low at the front and increase in height towards the back as the ground falls away to the rear of the block. The staircase at the rear of the building has been encased with weatherboards. It has a hipped roof clad in corrugated fibrous cement sheeting. The residence appears to have had verandahs along the front and side built in. There are two access doors at the front. It has pressed metal sunhoods to some windows, which are generally casements in timber frames. The interior was not inspected.
A metal cyclone fence runs along the front of the whole police reserve.
","history":"The courthouse/police station was erected on this site in 1921 and was formerly a local school building. Formerly the site held a police lockup and stables which have now gone.
The first Europeans on the Atherton Tablelands were engaged in timbergetting and mining, but the rich soil and cool climate were thought particularly suitable for the development of agriculture. In 1885 a Village Settlement scheme was introduced which offered settlers 40-acre farm blocks with home sites clustered as a village. In 1888 a village settlement was laid out at Allumbah Pocket, later to become Yungaburra. At the same time a railway from the port of Cairns to the Tableland was begun, although it took far longer to reach its objective than originally envisaged. The first farms at Allumbah were taken up in 1891, though the scheme proved unsuccessful. The railway reached Mareeba in 1895 and Atherton in 1903, greatly improving access to the area. Following new Land Acts in the early 1900s to encourage closer settlement that had more practical requirements, more people took up land around Allumbah.
The land on which the courthouse and police buildings were erected was part of an Agricultural Farm selected by George O'Donnell in 1899. In 1900 the land was sold to George Wedderburn and subdivided into numerous small blocks in 1910, the year in which the railway line linking Cairns with the Tablelands reached Allumbah, which was then renamed Yungaburra to avoid confusion with another similarly named town. A period of rapid development began with the construction of a sawmill, a hotel and a number of shops and houses near the railway station. In 1911, Eacham Shire was formed.
In 1912, three blocks of land in Cedar Street were declared a police reserve and plans for police quarters and station, offices and cells were drawn up and estimated to cost £750. Although a police constable was appointed to serve Yungaburra in 1913, the building of a police station did not go ahead; instead a cottage was rented and a stable and feed room built for police use. On 29 January 1914, the Yungaburra District Progress Association wrote to the Home Secretary's Office asking that a Court of Petty Sessions be established in Yungaburra. At the time, the nearest court was in Atherton, which was inconvenient for settlers in and around Yungaburra. Both towns were within the Herberton Petty Sessions District. The request was denied on the grounds that few cases from the Yungaburra district were heard and all public offices were in Atherton, so that people from the surrounding area travelled there to conduct business in any case. A lockup was provided at Yungaburra in September 1914, however.
The Progress Association persisted, writing again on 2 September 1915 and received another rebuff. The reply pointed out that Yungaburra was only one of a number of settlements that had 'a degree of temporary importance' as the railway branch line had advanced and that the police constable visited it only once a week. Although the Magistrate at Herberton was in favour of setting up a courtroom and office in Yungaburra, the court in Atherton agreed with the Home Secretary's decision. Undaunted, the Progress Association continued its campaign, enlisting the help of MLA W.N. Gillies, who visited Yungaburra in 1918.
In 1919 the Eacham Shire Council wrote to the Department of Justice saying that although the police building was rented and too small to hold a court, the police reserve was large and that a building could be moved onto it. They suggested that the old Yungaburra school building, which had been unused for 3 years and was only a quarter or a mile away, might be suitable. This idea was initially rejected as it was planned to use the building as a teacher's residence. However, the determined Mr C.W. Roseblade, Secretary of the Progress Association, did not let the matter rest and in 1920 the Minister for Justice resolved to proclaim a Petty Sessions District of Atherton with court venues designated as the townships of Yungaburra, Peeramon and Malanda. They were to share an officer based on Atherton who would serve 2 days a week at each.
The cost of dismantling, moving and adapting the old school was estimated to be £185. This building was constructed around 1909 and in order to use it as a court it was enlarged and doors, windows and the steps to front and back were moved. The work was completed in May 1921 and a small office was constructed on the verandah as something of an afterthought in September. The completed cost was £264/10/5 and provided a court room, an office to be shared by the Clerk of Petty Sessions and the Dairy Inspector in the extension and the verandah office for the constable.
In 1926, the Gillies Highway between Yungaburra and Gordonvale was opened, providing the first trafficable road to the Tablelands. Yungaburra became a gateway to the natural attractions of the area and a blossoming tourist trade to the nearby lakes created a second period of development. The court building has changed little since, although there are modern fittings in the police office and the constable's office on the verandah no longer exists. A two-car garage has been constructed between the police station and residence. The 1914 lockup to the rear of the reserve was demolished recently.
","criteria":"The police station and former courthouse and the police residence illustrate the growth of Yungaburra and the surrounding district in the early 20th century. The original provision of office space in the courthouse for the Dairy Inspector in the 1920s indicates the importance of the dairy industry to the prosperity of this area.
|The court house/police station and residence are timber buildings constructed in traditional styles and make a substantial contribution to the built character of Yungaburra, being part of a cohesive group of such buildings in Cedar Street.
|The former courthouse and police station has been connected with the people of Yungaburra and the surrounding area since the early 20th century as a focus for the provision of important government services. These range from the first use of the courthouse as a school, through use as a court of petty sessions and offices for the dairy inspector and police officer, to modern use as a police station.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion E | Criterion G","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 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":15253,"place_ref":600478,"name":"Special Glass Co. Shop","alternate_name":"Tailor's shop | T.A.B. Agency | Billy Madrid's house | Yungaburra Pharmacy","street_address":"32 Cedar","suburb":"YUNGABURRA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The Special Glass Co. shop is a single storey timber building, rectangular in form, with its short axis towards the street. The building is level with the street at the front and has concrete and timber stumps of increasing height towards the back as the ground falls away to the rear of the block. The shop has a stepped parapet and a gable and hipped roof clad in corrugated metal. Timber posts support a metal awning to the street. The shopfront has a central recessed entry flanked by display windows. There are large timber framed shop windows with multiple panes facing the street. The shop interior is simple and has timber walls and floors.
There is a skillion-roofed extension along the western side. This is constructed of timber and has a row of timber framed casement windows running for most of its length. A door to the street beside the shop window provides access to it.
To the rear of the block is a large shed with a low-pitched gabled roof. It is clad in corrugated iron and set on a concrete slab. The concrete is marked 'Bill Lena 28.10.67'.
","history":"The Special Glass Co. shop is one of a two adjacent timber shops which are believed to have been built about 1925, probably in anticipation of the increase in trade experienced in Yungaburra following the connection of the town with Cairns by the Gillies Highway in 1926.
The first Europeans on the Atherton Tablelands were engaged in timbergetting and mining, but the rich soil and cool climate were thought particularly suitable for the development of agriculture. In 1885 a Village Settlement scheme was introduced which offered settlers 40-acre farm blocks with home sites clustered as a village. In 1888 a village settlement was laid out at Allumbah Pocket, later to become Yungaburra. At the same time a railway from the port of Cairns to the Tableland was begun, although it took far longer to reach its objective than originally envisaged. The first farms at Allumbah were taken up in 1891, though the scheme proved unsuccessful. The railway reached Mareeba in 1895 and Atherton in 1903, greatly improving access to the area. Following new Land Acts in the early 1900s to encourage closer settlement, which had more practical requirements, more people took up land around Allumbah. The land on which the shop was later built, and which was to become the commercial heart of Yungaburra, was part of an Agricultural Farm selected by George O'Donnell in 1899.
In 1900 the land was sold to George Wedderburn and subdivided into numerous small blocks in 1910, Ned Lisha, a storekeeper, purchasing Lot 16. The Railway Commissioner acquired six acres and the position of the new railway station caused a geographic shift in focus from the original settlement, which was located towards the north west of the new commercial centre. Buildings were constructed or relocated near the railway. In 1912 Archibald Hendren bought lot 16 and took out a mortgage for £1750 on it, but then sold it to Albert Soffe Williams.
His father, Henry S. Williams, had arrived in Australia in the 1860s and worked in a number of occupations before taking up land at Scrubby Creek on the Tablelands. After losing his dairy cattle to tick in 1895, Williams turned to business and ran a store and butchery at Scrubby Creek and the Carriers Arms hotel at Carrington. He then acquired land in the original Allumbah settlement in 1898 and established a store. He was killed in an accident in 1905, but the family business was continued by his sons under the name of 'Estate H.S. Williams'. In 1907 they established a shanty hotel in Allumbah to serve packers and the navvies constructing the railway inching its way towards the town. In 1910, the railway line reached the settlement, which had been renamed Yungaburra to avoid confusion with another similarly named town. The railway link triggered a period of rapid development with the construction of a sawmill, a store and a large hotel for the Williams family opposite the railway station, and a number of shops and houses. In 1918,a new title to lot 16 was issued in the name of Estate H.S. Williams Limited.
In 1926, the Gillies Highway between Yungaburra and Gordonvale was opened, providing the first trafficable road to the Tablelands. Yungaburra became a gateway to the natural attractions of the area and a blossoming tourist trade to the nearby lakes created a second period of development. The shop is believed to have been constructed around 1925, probably in conjunction with the adjacent shop, also on lot 16 and was first occupied by a tailor.
In June 1954, the land was subdivided into 2 blocks so that each shop was on a separate title. In January 1955, William Madrid, a long-term employee of Williams' Lake Eacham Hotel, acquired lot 1 containing this building via a seller's mortgage to Maud Kehoe (born Williams) and her daughters in law, owners of the hotel. The Madrids occupied the shop as a residence with access through a door into an addition at the right hand side from which Mrs Madrid ran a hairdressing business. The shed at rear of the shop was constructed in 1967. Billy Madrid died in 1987 and in 1995 the shop was purchased by the current owners and underwent considerable repair including replacement of the roof. The current shopfront windows were installed to facilitate use as a shop. The Madrid family could not remember the building ever having had shopfront windows and as a tailor's premises, residence and later as a TAB agency, it may not have needed them.
","criteria":"As an early commercial building in Yungaburra, the shop marks the emergence of the town as a gateway to the Tablelands following the arrival of the railway in 1910 and the commencement of a road link with the coast in 1926. This facilitated the growth of agriculture and dairying on the Tablelands and heralded the development of tourism in the area.
|The shop is an example of the type of simple timber commercial building that served many new settlements in the early 20th century.
|In its form, scale and detail it makes a substantial contribution to the built character of Yungaburra.
|As a building constructed as part of the Williams Estate, the shop has an association with the Williams family who made a major contribution to the commercial development of Yungaburra.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | 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 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":15254,"place_ref":600479,"name":"Community Centre","alternate_name":"Yungaburra Hall | Williams Estate Hall | Tivoli picture theatre","street_address":"19 Cedar Street","suburb":"YUNGABURRA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The community hall is a timber single-storey building set on stumps. It is rectangular in plan and its long axis is set at right angles to Cedar Street. The roof is gabled and clad with corrugated iron and has a raised section towards the rear over the stage. There is an awning to the street supported by timber posts. The entry is central and approached by concrete steps. There is a concrete block addition with a low-pitched skillion roof to the western side.
Inside, the building comprises a large rectangular space with side aisles. To the right of the entrance is a large modern bar and a kitchen is located to the left. There is a stage at the rear of the hall with small dressing rooms at each side. The wings and backdrop are decorated with modern paintings of trees and a view of Lake Barrine. The stage has storage lockers along the front.
A freestanding toilet block has been added on the western side.
A large freestanding wall constructed of volcanic rock is on the southeast boundary. It can be seen that it was once a wall of a building that has since been removed.
","history":"The earliest section of the building was constructed in 1910 as a hall for the Lake Eacham Hotel at Yungaburra and was originally situated beside the hotel. It was moved to its present site to the rear of the hotel when this was extended c1926 and has served as a venue for a variety of social events and as a cinema.
The first Europeans on the Atherton Tablelands were engaged in timbergetting and mining, but the rich soil and cool climate were thought particularly suitable for the development of agriculture. In 1885 a Village Settlement scheme was introduced which offered settlers 40-acre farm blocks with home sites clustered as a village. At the same time a railway from the port of Cairns to the Tableland was begun, although it took far longer to reach its objective than originally envisaged. In 1888 a village settlement was laid out at Allumbah and the first farms were taken up in 1891, though the scheme proved unsuccessful. The railway reached Mareeba in 1895 and Atherton in 1903, greatly improving access to the area. Following new Land Acts in the early 1900s more people took up land around Allumbah and a small commercial centre developed to serve them.
The land on which the hotel and hall were built, and which was to become the commercial heart of Yungaburra, was part of an Agricultural Farm selected by George O'Donnell in 1899. In 1900 the land was sold to George Wedderburn and subdivided into numerous small blocks from 1910 onwards. This was the year in which the railway reached the settlement, renamed Yungaburra to avoid confusion with a similarly named town. The Railway Commissioner had acquired six acres of Wedderburn's land and the position of the railway station caused a geographic shift in focus from the original settlement that was located north west of the new commercial centre. Buildings were constructed or relocated near the railway and 2 blocks close to the station were purchased by AS and FC Williams for a new hotel.
Henry S. Williams had arrived in Australia in the 1860s and worked in a number of occupations before taking up land at Scrubby Creek on the Tablelands. After losing his dairy cattle to tick in 1895, Williams turned to business and ran a store and butchery at Scrubby Creek and the Carriers Arms hotel at Carrington. He then acquired land in the original Allumbah settlement in 1898 and established a store. He was killed in an accident in 1905, but the family business was continued by his sons under the name of 'Estate H.S. Williams'. In 1907 they established a shanty hotel in Allumbah to serve packers and the navvies constructing the railway inching its way towards the town. The railway link triggered a period of rapid development with the construction of a sawmill, the hotel and a number of shops and houses. The hall was built as an adjunct to the hotel and was used for dances, although it also served for a variety of other uses including religious services and the first meeting of the Eacham Shire Council on 22 February 1911. It was then known as the Williams Estate Hall. The Williams family's interest in this area grew as they acquired further land over the next few years and built shops and a motor dealership and garage on it.
In 1926, the Gillies Highway between Yungaburra and Gordonvale was opened, providing the first trafficable road to the Tablelands. It improved access to the area for tourists and in anticipation of this, the Lake Eacham Hotel was extended significantly along the main road and the hall was then moved to land at the rear of the hotel, purchased for the purpose. The developing tourist trade to the nearby lakes created a second period of development with many tourists staying at the Lake Eacham Hotel. In the 1920s Yungaburra was one of a number of small towns on the railway line serviced by travelling projectionists, or 'picture show men' who showed silent films in the hall. These included Ted Stoltz and the Gilders, father and son. Films were shown at the hall for many years and from 1928 it was the venue for the Tivoli picture theatre, although it was also used for other functions.
A wall built of local volcanic stone is located across a narrow laneway from the hall and is the only remaining wall of a building used to accommodate staff from the hotel. The insurance company is said to have objected to its closeness to the hall and the wall had to be constructed as a fire safety precaution.
The hall was considerably extended after it was moved and the join between the old and new sections can still be seen. Side aisles were added and the original side walls were removed. The ceiling and walls were lined internally in the 1950s. In 1957 Alfred King and Alice Jones (Mrs King) bought the hall. In 1964 Mr King died and Mrs King continued to run the hall as the Tivoli until 1969. By the time it was purchased in July 1971 by the Eacham Shire Council, it had fallen into disrepair. Renovation was undertaken by the Yungaburra and District Progress Association and continued over many years. Works undertaken included the replacement of the floorboards and the building of a concrete block extension at the side. In the 1980s a concrete toilet block was built beside it. The hall now has a new roof, which remains unlined over the stage area. The kitchen has been upgraded and a modern freestanding bar has been constructed in the corner to the right hand side of the entrance. In 1993 the title to the hall passed to the Yungaburra and District Progress Association. The hall is still used for such events as dances and weddings, largely by people from surrounding towns.
","criteria":"The Community Centre, as the venue for a wide variety of events from the first meeting of the Eacham Shire Council, to church services and public entertainments, is important in demonstrating the development of Yungaburra. As an entertainment facility linked to a hotel that catered largely for tourists, it is also important in illustrating the development of the early tourist industry in the region.
|As a public building within a group of structures of similar age, scale and materials, the hall makes an important contribution to the built character of Yungaburra.
|As the venue for a wide variety of social events, since the earliest years of the town's development, the hall has an important association with the community of Yungaburra and the surrounding area.
|As a building constructed as part of the Williams Estate, the hall has an important association with the Williams family who made a major contribution to the commercial development of Yungaburra. It also has associations with early projectionists in the area and with the local community.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion E | Criterion G | Criterion H","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 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":15255,"place_ref":600480,"name":"7-9 Cedar Street, Yungaburra","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"7-9 Cedar Street","suburb":"YUNGABURRA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1996-03-15","description":"The residence (No.7) and store (No.9) consist of two single-storeyed single skin timber buildings with exposed framing, corrugated iron gable roofs and some concrete stumps, which are built on a south sloping site, fronting Cedar Street to the north. The buildings are separated by an open space with a screen wall to the street.
Both buildings have similar square parapets with cantilevered timber and iron awnings supported by deep, curved timber brackets. These awnings are propped with round timber posts. Both buildings have display windows with recessed central entrances. The east and west elevations have window hoods with timber battens and corrugated iron, and the buildings contain both casement and sash windows.
The residence has two timber doors, either side of an internal dividing wall which has been partly removed. The store is longer than the residence, and has a rear timber lean-to and a later corrugated iron addition.
Internally, the residence has had a rearrangement of spaces, with walls removed and partitions added creating a bathroom, kitchen, bedroom and living space. The store has also had a rearrangement of spaces, with a streetfront display area, a bedroom and a storage area behind.
","history":"These two single-storeyed, timber buildings were erected c1920s as an office and cafe.
Yungaburra, previously known as Allumbah (meaning red cedar) Pocket, was surveyed in 1886 by Surveyor Rankin as part of a government village settlement scheme. In 1910, the Cairns to Millaa Millaa railway reached the town, which was renamed to avoid confusion with another similarly named town. In 1926, the Gilles Highway between Cairns and Gordonvale was opened. Fuelled by the resulting tourist trade to the nearby lakes, the town experienced a second period of development.
The site on which the buildings are erected was first subdivided in 1911, when it was acquired by Kathleen Bullman. In 1923 the property was acquired by Patrick McChoy and in 1929, by local company, Estate HS Williams Ltd. Photographs show the buildings were erected by 1929. One shop was an auctioneer's office and the other operated as a cafe servicing the Tivoli Theatre, located on the other side of Cedar Street.
","criteria":"7-9 Cedar Street, Yungaburra, which comprises two c1920s timber buildings, is important in demonstrating the pattern of Queensland's history, in particular the development of Yungaburra and the Atherton Tableland.
|The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of small 1920s country town commercial buildings.
|It exhibits a range of aesthetic characteristics valued by the local community, in particular the contribution of the buildings, in their scale, form and use of materials, to the streetscape of Cedar Street and to the Yungaburra townscape, and as part of a cohesive group of early 20th century timber buildings.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E","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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15256,"place_ref":600481,"name":"Cairns Plywood Pty Ltd Sawmill Complex","alternate_name":"Williamson Brothers Sawmill | Eacham Sawmills | Cairns Plywood Limited","street_address":"25 - 33 Eacham Road","suburb":"YUNGABURRA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The Cairns Plywood Sawmill Pty Ltd occupies a large site on Eacham Road. Concrete footings, a steel chimney, two boilers, a steam generator and steam engine mark the original location of the sawmill. There are a number of corrugated iron gable roofed structures, sheds and various items of machinery scattered across a large site.
1. The Office is situated on the fence line fronting Eacham Road. It is a single-storeyed structure said to be made of silky oak timber, but has been painted inside and out. It has an exposed frame and is set on low steel posts. The building has a hipped roof clad with corrugated iron that extends into an awning at the front, which is supported on plain timber posts. There is an extension to one side and the building has both casement and sash windows with battened window hoods. The interior has offices opening off a cental hall and has timber walls, ceiling and floor. A large sales counter sits in the front room, which has three quarter height partition walls clad in tongue and groove boards with some weatherboard cladding. Few interior fittings are present, these include two fixed safes and some shelves and drawers.
2. The Moulding Shed and Borax Plant extends well into the road reserve area beside the modern bitumen road at the front of the complex. The Moulding Shed has a frame of timber poles and has a gabled roof clad with corrugated iron. It includes storage and loading areas and has a tiny office in one corner. Two kilns with tongue and groove lining with steam pipes set into the ceiling and small covered chimneys are in the Moulding Shed. The Borax Plant is a large steel framed and steel sided box with vertical sliding doors at each end adjacent to the Moulding Shed. It has a series of large pipes at points around the structure and a large borax tank on the top. There are the remains of rails in the floor and narrow gauge rails which lead from this building once led through the gate and under the road to the railway station. The railway has gone but small sections of the line remain and a few timber sleepers can be seen in the tunnel.
3. The Switching Shed is beside the pathway leading to the sheds and veneer mill from the Office. It is a small square timber building set on a concrete slab and has a skillion roof.
4. The Mill Site is represented by the remains of boilers and other machinery, concrete mounting blocks, belt wheels and stacks of corrugated iron sheeting. There are traces of rail embedded in the grass. A feature of the sawmill site that can be seen for some distance away is a metal chimney belonging to the boiler and machinery that once ran the sawmill. For safety reasons, steel cables currently brace this chimney. Industrial equipment immediately adjacent to the chimney consists of the main boiler, secondary boiler, steam engine and a steam generator interconnected by a series of cast iron pipes. Concrete pads represent the previous location of other industrial equipment.
5. The Former Workshop is a rectangular timber and weatherboard building with a gabled roof clad in corrugated iron. It has a timber parapet an awning and a double door on the west side. There are open skillion verandahs on the west and north side of the building and a corrugated iron clad skillion section on the rear, or east side. The machinery housed in the workshop were operated by a set of interconnected flat belts running to a single electric engine and drive shaft which is still present. Machinery includes a drill press, mechanical hacksaw, set of grinding wheels, a hydraulic press, a large bandsaw, a large metal lathe, a small lathe and a fan set to the forge in the blacksmiths room at the rear of the building. A short chimney protrudes through the roof above the blacksmiths forge. Tools such as spanners, and equipment including scrap iron, an old welder and welding masks remain in situ on the workbench. Other industrial equipment includes cogs, bolts, scrap metal, tin, chains, belt repair hooks and belt pieces. A large jack supports the centre of the skillion roof on the north side.
6. The Former Plywood Mill is a large corrugated iron clad timber framed building with two parallel sections with gabled roofs. Essentially the building is an open plan shed with some internal subdivision including an internal mezzanine section with a large tub with two small plywood partitions, one forming an office area. Three sets of railway lines cross the shed floor and exit through large sliding doors on the west side of the building. A drying kiln, lined with tongue and groove boards is at the northern end of the shed. Various pieces of machinery including generator sets, rollers, presses, saw tables, saw blades and railcarts are stored here.
7. The Veneer Mill is a very large rectangular timber structure with a gabled, steel clad roof. It has a raised concrete floor. Some posts supporting the roof are very large timber logs. There are two steel gantries spanning the building. Some machinery is still in place.
8. The Butter Box Factory is a timber-framed building with a corrugated iron roof and corrugated iron and timber walls. There are two enclosures within the factory, one a tongue and groove partition with a bench and shelves at the north-east section of the building, the other a small plywood office in the south-east corner. Machinery used for box production is in situ including a series of four multiple saw tables, separate rip saw, brand stamping machine and guillotine. A winch and drive shaft is also present, but removed from its original location. Spare, excess and disused equipment is currently stored in this factory.
9. The Drying Kilns is a timber-framed building with a corrugated iron roof and timber block footings. The kilns are two tongue and groove timber lined rooms comprising the inside of the building while three open sided verandahs form the outside. Above the ceiling of each drying chamber is a lined enclosed space which contains a series of parallel steam/hot water pipes feeding into a main pipe that leads towards the main steam boiler. Sections of the internal railway and timber carts used on the internal railway are stored under one verandah of the Drying Kilns.
Remnants of the Internal Tramway are discernable across the site.
","history":"The Williamson Brothers constructed the sawmill in 1910 when the railway reached Yungaburra, providing ready transport to Cairns for local timber. It was operating as Eacham Sawmills in 1918 and is believed to have been owned by George Gummow, Jimmy Brett and Jules Moxham during the 1930's, who named the mill Cairns Plywood Pty. Ltd in 1940. The Rankines bought the mill in 1963. At the time of World Heritage listing in 1988 the Rankine family owned mills at Peeramon, Kairi, Stratford, Mareeba, Innisfail and Ingham. All of these operations closed as a result of World Heritage listing.
The Atherton Tablelands originally had extensive rainforest cover. Although this eventually proved to contain over a 100 species of tree useful to Europeans, including high quality furniture timbers, transporting timber over the range to the coast was difficult. In the early years cedar getters cut and sawed timber by hand and transported it by bullock or horse teams; attempts to float it down the Barron River having proved wasteful failures. Many of the trees felled to provide cleared land for closer settlement were burned as they lay.
Yungaburra was surveyed in 1888 under the Village Settlement scheme and was called Allumbah Pocket. This scheme was introduced in 1885 and offered settlers farm blocks with home sites clustered as a village. Around this time a railway from the port of Cairns to the Tableland was begun, although it took far longer to reach its objective than originally envisaged, due largely to the difficult terrain. The first farms at Allumbah were taken up in 1891, though the village scheme proved unsuccessful. The railway reached Mareeba in 1895 and a sawmill was set up at Ravenshoe cutting cedar and pine in 1897. The arrival of the railway meant that large scale processing of timber at sawmills was practical and profitable. The line arrived at Atherton in 1903, greatly improving access to the area, and another sawmill was set up there. It supplied timber for mines in the area and later for building to support farming expansion. Timber was also exported and fine furniture varieties supplied from the Tablelands included cedar, maple, pines, walnut, penda, bean, ash and oak. Sawmilling became a part of every town on the Tablelands.
Following new Land Acts in the early 1900s more people took up land around Allumbah and a small service town developed to serve them. In 1910, the railway line linking Cairns with the Tablelands reached Allumbah Pocket, which was then renamed Yungaburra to avoid confusion with another town. The Post Office Directory for this year lists almost all occupants of Yungaburra as 'selectors.' A period of rapid development then began with the construction of a sawmill, a hotel and a number of shops and houses near the railway station. In 1911, Eacham Shire was formed.
Albert and Frederick Williamson established the sawmill close to the new railway station in 1911. The sawmill not only used the railway line to transport timber, but also provided timber for further railway construction.
In 1926, the Gillies Highway between Yungaburra and Gordonvale was opened, providing the first trafficable road to the Tablelands. Yungaburra became a gateway to the natural attractions of the area and a blossoming tourist trade to the nearby lakes created a second period of development. Improved roads led to the last of the bullock and horse teams in the timber industry being replaced by trucks and machinery. In 1933 George Gummow, who owned the mill at the time, installed a large Capital Lathe from the USA for veneer peeling and the business became Cairns Plywood Limited in 1940, manufacturing veneers and plywood following the increase in interest in veneer in the 1930's.
Butter production was an important industry on the Atherton Tablelands from 1913 to 1951. The Butter Box Factory was used to produce timber boxes for the Malanda Butter Factory, which later became the Malanda Milk Company, attributed with 'the longest milk run in the world', from Malanda to Darwin, which eventually became part of Dairy Farmers Group. The butter box factory ceased producing butter boxes after the Rankine's, who purchased the mill in 1963, found the machinery was so out of alignment they could not make money on butter box production. The Rankine's also ceased operating the borax plant, which involved dipping timbers into borax as treatment against borers.
The railway branch line to Yungaburra, Malanda and Tarzali closed in 1963, ending the rail link between the sawmill and Cairns.
The main operation of the mill under ownership of the Rankine brothers was the peeling of veneers. The Rankine's transported the cut veneers to their drying sheds at Peeramon by truck. The mill continued to produce timber stock for sale. The Rankine brothers took over Foxwood Industries in 1986, acquiring mills at Ingham, Innisfail and Mareeba. In 1989, this company was said to be the largest timber business in Queensland. The mill closed when World Heritage listing of the Wet Tropics Rainforest of North Queensland in 1988 prevented further milling of rainforest timber. The sawmill burned down in the late 1980s.
","criteria":"The Cairns Plywood Timber Mill is important in demonstrating the development and decline of the timber industry in Far North Queensland. It functioned as a timber mill from the 1910's until World Heritage listing of the Wet Tropics rainforest in 1988 during which time it functioned as an economic drive for the town and immediate district. The timber industry is one of the major industrial themes in the development of Queensland.
|The Former Workshop, Drying Shed, Moulding Shed, Sawmill site, Office, Veneer Mill, Former Plywood Sheds, Switching Shed, Butter Box Factory and remnants of the internal tramway demonstrate a rare combination of all elements of a saw milling operation including the steam and electric saw mill equipment which formed at least two generations of milling. A rare set of butter box making machinery remains intact and demonstrates a dedicated technology which links the dairy and timber industries, two significant industries on the Atherton Tablelands.
|There is aesthetic value in the industrial nature of the chimney, industrial equipment and work sheds and their locations across the site. The Office displays attractive characteristics of early 1900's timber architecture including exposed framing and internal timber archways while the former Workshop contains architectural detailing such as a distinctive timber parapet on the façade.
|The place has a high level of social significance for Yungaburra residents, as the Cairns Plywood Timber Mill was the main employer in Yungaburra during its operation. The Cairns Plywood Timber Mill has a special association with timber cutters from 1910 to the 1980's.
|(Criterion under review)
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion E | 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 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 | 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":15257,"place_ref":600482,"name":"Butchers Shop","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"2 Kehoe Place","suburb":"YUNGABURRA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The butcher's shop is a single storey timber building with a steeply pitched gabled roof clad in corrugated iron. The long axis of the building is set at right angles to the street and the front has a square timber parapet. An awning with a corrugated iron roof, which is supported on timber posts with brackets, runs along the shop frontage. This awning roof has hips at each front corner and extends back along both sides of the building, though it has been enclosed at the sides to form extensions. That on the left hand side is built in with timber boards with louvres above and has a brick section at the rear left hand corner. That to the right hand side is enclosed with spaced palings at the front corner and fibrous cement sheeting and corrugated metal towards the rear.
The shop is entered by a central pair of doors flanked by windows. That to the right has been blocked. That to the left is filled with reinforced mesh, as is the transom above the door. Inside, there is a public area with a tiled floor and counter. There is a cold room to the right. To the rear of the building is a work area with a concrete floor. The built-in section on the left hand side of the butchery is used as office space and is linked to the shop area by a door. To the rear of the office is a small brick room, described as a former strong room, which is used for storage. The built in section on the right hand side is used for storage.
","history":"This shop has always been a butchery and is believed to have been built in 1922 for the Estate of HS Williams, which developed several businesses on land close to the railway station at Yungaburra in the 1920s.
The first Europeans on the Atherton Tablelands were engaged in timbergetting and mining, but the rich soil and cool climate were thought particularly suitable for the development of agriculture. In 1885 a Village Settlement scheme was introduced which offered settlers 40 acre farm blocks with home sites clustered as a village. In 1888 a village settlement was laid out at Allumbah Pocket, later to become Yungaburra. At the same time a railway from the port of Cairns to the Tableland was begun, although it took far longer to reach its objective than originally envisaged. The first farms at Allumbah were taken up in 1891, though the scheme proved unsuccessful. The railway reached Mareeba in 1895 and Atherton in 1903, greatly improving access to the area. Following new Land Acts in the early 1900s to encourage closer settlement which had more practical requirements, more people took up land around Allumbah. The land on which the butcher shop was later built, and which was to become the commercial heart of Yungaburra, was part of an Agricultural Farms selected by George O'Donnell in 1899.
In 1900 the land was sold to George Wedderburn and subdivided into numerous small blocks in 1910. Six acres were acquired by the Railway Commissioner and the position of the new railway station caused a geographic shift in focus from the original settlement which was located towards the north west of the new commercial centre. Buildings were constructed or relocated near the railway. Two of the blocks positioned close to the station were purchased in 1911 by AS and FC Williams for a new hotel. The Williams family's interest in this area grew as they acquired land adjoining the hotel over the next few years.
H.S. Williams had arrived in Australia in the 1860s and worked in a number of occupations before taking up land at Scrubby Creek on the Tablelands. After losing his dairy cattle to tick in 1895, Williams turned to business and ran a store and butchery at Scrubby Creek and the Carriers Arms hotel at Carrington, He then acquired land in the original Allumbah settlement in 1898 and established a store. He was killed in an accident in 1905, but the family business was continued by his sons under the name of 'Estate H.S. Williams'. In 1907 they established a shanty hotel in Allumbah to serve packers and the navvies constructing the railway inching its way towards the town. In 1910, the railway line reached the settlement, which had been renamed Yungaburra to avoid confusion with another similarly named town. The railway link triggered a period of rapid development with the construction of a saw mill, a store and a large hotel for the Williams family opposite the railway station and a number of shops and houses. In 1911, Eacham Shire was formed.
In the 1923 post office directory the Estate of H.S. Williams is listed as operating a store, butchers and bakery and they presumably built these businesses about the same time in anticipation of the road link from Gordonvale, which had been under construction since 1920. The store was between the butchery and the hotel, but has since been demolished. In 1926 the Gillies Highway was opened and the role of Yungaburra as a gateway to the natural attractions of the Tablelands created a second period of development in the town due to the blossoming tourist trade to the nearby lakes.
In 1975 the butchery was sold and changed hands several times in the late 1970s and 80s before being purchased by the current butcher in 1992. The shop has modern equipment and interior finishes but its general appearance and functional layout appears to be substantially unchanged.
","criteria":"As an early commercial building providing an important service, the butcher's shop marks the emergence of Yungaburra's role as a gateway to the Tablelands following the arrival of the railway in 1910 and the commencement of a road link with the coast in 1920. This facilitated the growth of agriculture and dairying on the Tablelands and heralded the development of tourism in the area.
|The butcher's shop is a good and intact example of the type of simple timber commercial building which served many new settlements and has been continuously in use as a butchery.
|In its form, scale and detail it makes a substantial contribution to the built character of Yungaburra.
|As a building constructed as part of the Williams Estate, the butchery has in important association with the Williams family who made a major contribution to the commercial development of Yungaburra.
","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":15259,"place_ref":600484,"name":"St Marks Anglican Church","alternate_name":"St Mark's Church of England; St Marks Church of England; St Mark's Anglican Church","street_address":"7 Eacham Road","suburb":"YUNGABURRA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"St Mark's is a small single-storeyed timber building set on low, square section metal posts. It has a steeply pitched gabled roof clad in corrugated iron. To the rear of the church is a 3 sided apse and placed centrally at the front is a lower and narrower gabled roof covering a small vestry which is linked to the church by an entrance porch. This is entered by timber stairs on the left hand side. A probable matching entrance on the opposite side is now closed. Above this, under the eaves of the church, is a louvred belfry.
Timber double doors lead from the porch into the church, which is lit by plain lancet windows, as is the vestry. The interior is simple and austere and has a coved ceiling of stained timber boards which follow the shape of the apse. The walls are painted and there is a timber floor. The original pews with flame-shaped ends have been recently refinished.
","history":"St Mark's Church was built in 1912 to serve Anglicans in the newly developing township of Yungaburra and the surrounding district.
The first Europeans on the Atherton Tablelands were engaged in timbergetting and mining, but the rich volcanic soil and cool climate was thought particularly suitable for agriculture. In 1888 the government surveyor marked out a village settlement at Allumbah Pocket, later to be named Yungaburra. The Village Settlement scheme, introduced in 1885, offered 40 acre farm blocks plus home sites clustered as a village. Around the same time a railway from the port of Cairns to the Tableland was begun, although it took far longer to reach its objective than originally envisaged. The first farms at Allumbah were taken up in 1891 and the settlers grew vegetables, maize and kept dairy cows. However, without proximity to markets and reliable transport, the scheme was not successful. The Closer Settlement Act of 1906 provided for groups of authorised people to take up land prior to it being thrown open for general settlement and many miners came from Charters Towers which was by then in decline. Some people settled as part of groups and some individually. A small town developed to service the area and in 1910, the railway line linking Cairns with the Tablelands reached Allumbah, which was then renamed Yungaburra to avoid confusion with another similarly named town. The Post Office Directory for this year lists almost all residents as 'selectors.' A period of rapid development began with the construction of a saw mill, a hotel and a number of shops and houses near the railway station. In 1911, Eacham Shire was formed.
The first Anglican services in Yungaburra were held in William's hotel hall by members of the Brotherhood of St Barnabas (also known as the Bush Brothers). The Brotherhood was established in 1902 by the Reverend Aneurin Vaughan-Williams, Rector of Herberton. Originally consisting only of Vaughan-Williams and one other priest, it was modelled on the Brotherhood of St Andrew founded in central Queensland a few years earlier. It was intended to address the problem of providing pastoral care to a large and sparsely settled area and the Brotherhood initially visited mainly mining camps. The Brothers travelled where they were needed and remained unmarried during the two years of their term of service. They gained considerable respect for their work and in 1908, G.H. Frodsham, Bishop of North Queensland, gave the movement impetus by recruiting in England.
The first service at St Mark's church was conducted on 5 December 1912 and the first baptism on 16 March 1913, but the church was not dedicated until 7 November 1913. In 1918 a vestry was added at the front of the church.
In 1926, the Gillies Highway between Yungaburra and Gordonvale was opened, providing the first trafficable road from the coast to the Tablelands. Yungaburra became a gateway to the natural attractions of the area and a blossoming tourist trade to the nearby lakes created a second period of development. Tourism has remained a major industry in the area.
St Mark's does not have a resident priest, but is served as part of a parish which is centred on Atherton, where a married Rector replaced the Brothers in 1951, and also covers Herberton and Malanda. A self-help program was commenced by the congregation in July 1998 that raised funds to replace the roof and carry out conservation work in 2000-2001.
","criteria":"St Mark's Church, as a modestly scaled and finished church built in a new farming settlement, illustrates the development of Yungaburra and of the Anglican Church in Queensland. Constructed by community endeavour and served by the Brotherhood of St Barnabas for some years, it illustrates the way in which the Church endeavoured to reach small and isolated communities which could not support an incumbent.
|St Mark's church is a good and intact example of the type of simple timber chapel which served many new settlements as their first church.
|In its form, scale and detail it makes a substantial contribution to the built character of Yungaburra.
|The church has a strong connection with the Anglican community in Yungaburra, having served the village and surrounding farms since the early years of the 20th century. It also provides a testimony to the work of the Brotherhood of St Barnabas in providing pastoral care to the developing Tablelands.
","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":15261,"place_ref":600486,"name":"Allumbah","alternate_name":"Artist's Gallery","street_address":"7 Mulgrave Road","suburb":"YUNGABURRA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"'Allumbah' is a timber building with a hipped and gabled roof clad in corrugated iron. It is set on stumps that are low at the front, but increase in height as the land falls away to the rear.
A low retaining wall constructed of volcanic rock runs along the front of the property, breaking for the driveway and then recommencing further north down Mulgrave Road for a distance of approximately 40 metres. The stonework is similar to that seen elsewhere in Yungaburra, such as that in the gardens of the Lake Eacham Hotel. The trees that marked the front fence line have been removed.
At the centre of the front elevation there is a projecting bay with a triple window and sunhood below a decorative timber gable infill. This is adjoined on the right hand side by a wide verandah that runs around the side of the house and has been built in at the rear. The verandah roof is ceiled with tongue and groove timber boards and is supported by timber posts with decorative timber brackets. It has a timber handrail and slat balustrading. Four sets of French windows open onto the verandah.
The opposite side of the house has rooms along what may have been a former verandah. A verandah at the rear has been extended into a timber deck. The interior of the building has walls of tongue and groove timber boards and timber floors. The core rooms have high ceilings and the doors that open from the main room into the bedrooms and study have decorative transoms. The ceilings of all rooms on the perimeter of the house have raked ceilings, which suggests that the house has evolved from a four-room core and verandahs. The kitchen and bathroom are modern.
","history":"'Allumbah' is a single storey timber dwelling thought to have been built in 1926 on land that formed part of the earliest settled area of Yungaburra.
Yungaburra was surveyed in 1888 as a Village Settlement called Allumbah. The Village Settlement scheme was introduced in 1885 and offered settlers farm blocks with home sites clustered as a village. Around this time, a railway from the port of Cairns to the Tableland was begun, although it took far longer to reach its objective than originally envisaged. The first farms at Allumbah were taken up in 1891, though the scheme proved unsuccessful. The railway reached Mareeba in 1895 and Atherton in 1903, greatly improving access to the area. Following new Land Acts in the early 1900s more people took up land around Allumbah and a small service town developed to serve them. The land on which the house is built was part of a 7-acre block granted in 1916 to Albert Soffe and Frederick Campbell Williams as trustees for the estate of their father, Henry Sydney Williams. This grant replaced the original selection of 6 acres made in 1902 by H S Williams in an area in which the earliest commercial buildings were constructed.
Henry Williams had arrived in Australia in the 1860s and worked in a number of occupations before taking up land at Scrubby Creek on the Tablelands. After losing his dairy cattle to tick in 1895, Williams turned to business and ran a store and butchery at Scrubby Creek and the Carriers Arms hotel at Carrington, He then acquired land at Allumbah and established a store. He was killed in an accident in 1905, but his sons, under the name of 'Estate H.S. Williams', continued the family business. In 1907 they established a shanty hotel in Allumbah to serve packers and the navvies constructing the railway inching its way towards the town. In 1910, the railway line reached the settlement, which had been renamed Yungaburra to avoid confusion with another similarly named town. The railway link triggered a period of rapid development with the construction of a sawmill, a store and a large hotel for the Williams family opposite the railway station and a number of shops and houses. In 1911, Eacham Shire was formed.
In 1926, the Gillies Highway between Yungaburra and Gordonvale was opened, providing the first trafficable road to the Tablelands. Yungaburra became a gateway to the natural attractions of the area and a blossoming tourist trade to the nearby lakes created a second period of development. The Williams hotel was enlarged and the estate developed other businesses in Yungaburra. In 1926, the land on which the house stands was excised from the larger holding and transferred from the Estate to Frances Amelia Wardle, a widowed daughter of H S Williams. The house is thought to have been built at this time. In 1947, Mrs Wardle died and the house was left to Marion Lehfeldt, her elder daughter, and then in 1954 was transferred to a group of Williams family members.
By 1967 the house had fallen into disrepair and was condemned. However, it has survived in use following repair and renovation by a series of owners during the late 20th century. In 1975 it was sold by the Williams family and changed hands twice before being purchased in 1981 by Christian and Jacqueline Souilijaert who ran it as an art gallery. The house is still known to many people locally as 'the art gallery' even though it has not been used for this purpose since 1988 and has reverted to residential use. The house has undergone a series of modifications over the years and was last renovated in 1998 at which the time the bathroom and kitchen were renewed and the verandah at the rear extended into a deck.
","criteria":"Allumbah was built during an important period in the development of Yungaburra and is located on part of the original Williams family land, indicating the position of the original settlement of Allumbah, which predated the current centre of the township.
|Allumbah is a timber residence built in a traditional style and contributes to the built character of Yungaburra.
|As a building constructed on part of the original Williams land and which remained in that family for many years, Allumbah has an association with the Williams family who made a major contribution to the commercial development of Yungaburra.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion E | Criterion H","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 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":15262,"place_ref":600487,"name":"Residence","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"4 (x2) Oak Street","suburb":"YUNGABURRA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-08-21","description":"The summary information for this place is currently under review.
","history":"The summary information for this place is currently under review.
","criteria":"The summary information for this place is currently under review.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15263,"place_ref":600488,"name":"St Patricks Catholic Church","alternate_name":"Our Lady of Ransom | St Patrick's Catholic Church","street_address":"1 Penda Street","suburb":"YUNGABURRA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"St Patrick's is set on a grassed area on a ridge of high land overlooking the park-like plantings running down Eacham Road, originally a stock route. It is bounded to the east by Mulgrave Road and on the south east by Penda Street.
St Patrick's is a single-storeyed timber church with exposed framing set on concrete stumps. It has a gabled roof clad with corrugated iron and is cruciform in plan. The church is entered through a gabled entry porch below a triple lancet window assembly. The front wall of the building has chamferboard cladding. The roof has decorative timber brackets at the eaves and fretwork panels to the gable ends.
Inside the roof is supported by timber trusses and is lined with diagonal boarding. The interior is simply finished and retains the original pews and much of the original furniture.
There is a freestanding steel-framed bell tower located at the eastern corner of the site. The memorial plaque at the base reads:
Erected to the memory of
Revd. P.B. Doyle, O.S.A.
Died 16 November 1924
A Sincere Friend
And a Faithful Priest
R.I.P.
The relocated presbytery is located at northern corner of the site fronting Mulgrave Road. It is a single-storeyed dwelling set on stumps with hipped roof clad in corrugated iron. The walls are clad in corrugated iron and the verandah is partially enclosed by with timber louvres. The house contains 3 main rooms, with a bathroom and kitchen at either end of the enclosed verandah.
","history":"St Patrick's church is located on a ridge at the intersection of what were two major roads marking the original village settlement of Allumbah. It was built in 1914 and was the first Catholic church in the area, Mass previously having been said in William's hall.
The first Europeans on the Atherton Tablelands were engaged in timbergetting and mining, but the rich soil and cool climate were thought particularly suitable for the development of agriculture. In 1885 a Village Settlement scheme was introduced which offered settlers 40 acre farm blocks with home sites clustered as a village. In 1888 a village settlement was laid out at Allumbah Pocket, later to become Yungaburra. At the same time a railway from the port of Cairns to the Tableland was begun, although it took far longer to reach its objective than originally envisaged. The first farms at Allumbah were taken up in 1891 and a street developed along the ridge at Allumbah where the church is situated. However, without proximity to markets and reliable transport, the scheme was not successful.
The Roman Catholic Vicariate of Cooktown, serving North Queensland, was established in 1877 and was first staffed largely by Italians. At the time, most of the Roman Catholics in North Queensland were Irish miners and in 1884 the Irish Province of the Order of Saint Augustine agreed to take on the work of the Vicariate which was struggling to serve a scattered population of Catholics in a vast area with very few priests. Herberton was one of five centres in North Queensland at which priests were appointed. In the 1890s a slump in ore prices adversely affected the economy of mining towns and the population of the Tablelands began to drift toward new agricultural areas such as Yungaburra.
The railway reached Mareeba in 1895 and Atherton in 1903, greatly improving access to the area. Following new Land Acts in the early 1900s to encourage closer settlement which had more practical requirements, more people took up land around Allumbah. A small township developed to service the area and in 1910, the railway line linking Cairns with the Tablelands reached Allumbah, which was then renamed Yungaburra to avoid confusion with another similarly named town. The Post Office Directory for this year lists almost all residents as 'selectors.' A period of rapid development began with the construction of a sawmill, a hotel and a number of shops and houses near the railway station. In 1911 a tiny Anglican church was constructed, the first Methodist services were held in Yungaburra and the Eacham Shire was formed. The Catholics of Yungaburra were served by the priest from Herberton who visited on a monthly basis. Services were held in homes or in the hall attached to the Williams hotel.
The land on which the church was built was originally granted to George O'Donnell and was bought in 1900 by George Wedderburn. In 1914 work began on a new church on part of Wedderburn's land. It was well located at the juncture of the stock route, the main road to the coast and the road to Atherton. The church was officially opened on 26 April 1914 by Bishop James Murray as Our Lady of Ransom. The opening was a gala occasion and people travelled considerable distances to attend, many travelling on special excursion trains from Herberton and Mareeba. The resultant crowds filled the new church to capacity. The first wedding in the church was held only 3 days after the opening and was that of Maud Williams, who managed the new hotel, and Jack Kehoe, the local stationmaster. The first priest serving the church was Father Patrick Bernard Doyle and in 1915 title to the church land was placed in the names of Doyle and Bishop John Heavey.
Father Doyle was a deeply spiritual man who was held in great affection and respect by his parishioners. He was born in Ireland in 1874 and joined the order of Saint Augustine in 1893. In 1899 he came to serve in north Queensland as assistant priest, then parish priest, at Cairns. In 1906 he was appointed to Herberton where he stayed, with a return to Cairns for a year between 1908 and 1909, until his death in 1924. He served various churches in his parish, besides teaching and playing sport at the Sisters of Mercy school in Herberton. After his untimely death, the church was named St Patrick's in his memory and a plaque notes that the bell tower is dedicated to him.
In 1926, the Gillies Highway between Yungaburra and Gordonvale was opened, providing the first trafficable road to the Tablelands. Yungaburra became a gateway to the natural attractions of the area and a blossoming tourist trade to the nearby lakes created a second period of development. The road also made the church more accessible and Mass was celebrated twice a month. There were never enough Catholics in and around Yungaburra to support an incumbent priest.
Changes to the church over time have been minor and reflect the changes in liturgical practice following the Second Vatican Council called by Pope John XXIII in the 1960s. These include the removal of the confessional box, the relocation of the altar rails and the separation of the altar table from the back of the altar to allow the priest to face the congregation. The southern side of the entrance porch has been enclosed, presumably to shield it from the weather.
A house was moved onto the northern corner of the site fronting Mulgrave Road in 1996, for use as a presbytery and has toilets underneath. The house was originally located on the corner of Loeven and Severin Streets in Cairns and was then approximately 50-60 years old.
","criteria":"St Patrick's Church was built in 1914 and is associated with the early development of the Atherton Tablelands and the growth of the Catholic Church in North Queensland. The church marks the site of the original Allumbah Pocket settlement, the commercial focus of the township having moved towards the railway when it arrived in 1910.
|St Patrick's Church is a good and intact example of a rural timber church of it era.
|In its form, scale and detail it makes a substantial visual contribution to the built character of Yungaburra.
|St Patrick's Church has a strong connection with the Catholic community of the Yungaburra area, having served the village and surrounding farms since the early years of the 20th century. It also has a strong association with the life and work of Father Patrick Doyle, OSA, and the work of the Augustinian order in the spread of Catholicism in North Queensland.
","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":15313,"place_ref":600538,"name":"Holy Trinity Anglican Church","alternate_name":"Holy Trinity Church of England","street_address":"38 Broadway Street","suburb":"HERBERTON","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"Holy Trinity Church is located next to Woodleigh Residential College, a Uniting Church complex, and diagonally across the road from the Roman Catholic church at Herberton.
The church is a single-storeyed timber building with exposed framing and is set on concrete stumps. The gabled roof is clad with corrugated iron and a small projection at the front shelters a bell hung below the eaves. The building has a large central hall/nave, with a lower T-shaped plan entry at the front, and the front gable walls have chamferboard cladding. A detached vestry, entered through an arched door, is located at the rear corner of the church. In recent years, a toilet has been inserted in the space between this and the sanctuary.
The church has lancet windows, with a triple lancet assembly in the front wall, ridge ventilators, and decorative timber work to the gable ends.
Internally, the church has king-post trusses with diagonal struts and the roof is lined with timber boarding on the rake. Walls are lined with horizontal boarding, and a shallow pointed arch frames and separates the raised sanctuary from the nave. The church retains its pews and the font, altar and a chair and table in the sanctuary feature richly carved panels.
","history":"Holy Trinity church was built in 1889 to serve the Anglican community in the rapidly developing mining town of Herberton and in the surrounding district.
Herberton developed following the 1880 discovery of a substantial tin reef in its vicinity. A rush followed almost immediately and by August 1880, when the town of Herberton (named because of its proximity to the Wild River, the head of the Herbert River) was laid out, it already had a hotel, a butcher's shop, and three stores. The tin fields around Herberton and the other towns which sprang up in the district in the early 1880s proved to be the richest discovered on the Australian mainland.
The first Church of England incumbent in Herberton was the Reverend G. White, who arrived in 1887. Services were held in the small towns of Herberton, Watsonville and Irvinebank and occasionally in other places in the district. A 'ruinous' iron building already on church land was repaired for use as a Sunday School and in 1888 plans for a church were drawn up by the Townsville architectural firm of Eyre and Munro.
Walter Eyre was an architect, engineer and surveyor. He trained in England and worked in the office of his cousin, FDG Stanley, from 1881 until he was appointed City Engineer of Townsville in 1885. In 1887 he left to set up in practice as an architect and soon gained enough work to take on WHA Munro as a junior partner. The firm supervised the work of southern architects as well as designing buildings and were responsible for a number of major works in north Queensland before the firm ceased operations in 1892. The contractor for the work was H Petersen and the completed church was dedicated on Trinity Sunday, 30 June 1889. It was a simple rectangular building with a small entry porch on the western end.
In 1898 the Herberton parish included the towns of Herberton, Atherton, Watsonville, Montalbion, Irvinebank and Thornborough. Coolgarra and Mt Garnet were added in 1900, although Holy Trinity remained the only church in the parish. The area was isolated, roads poor and transport was by horse. This placed a difficult burden on the rector and the church had many changes of incumbent in its first years. The problem of providing pastoral care to a large and sparsely settled area led to the foundation of the Brotherhood of St Barnabas (also known as the Bush Brothers). The Brotherhood was established on 11 June 1902 by Aneurin Vaughan Williams, Rector of Herberton. Originally consisting only of Vaughan Williams and one other priest, it was modelled on the Brotherhood of St Andrew founded in central Queensland a few years earlier. The Brothers travelled where they were needed and remained unmarried during the two years of their term of service. They gained considerable respect for their work and in 1908, G.H. Frodsham, Bishop of North Queensland, gave the movement impetus by recruiting in England with the appeal 'O for a band of men that will preach like apostles, ride like cowboys, and having food and raiment, will therewith be content', appealing to the sense of adventure in many who became Brothers. Herberton was the Brotherhoods's headquarters and they built a small community house there which has since been removed.
In 1907 a vestry was built and in 1919 a new porch was added to the church and electric light installed. In 1914 the work of the Brothers was extended by the establishment of a school for boys at the instigation of Bishop J.O. Feetham, himself once a Bush Brother and an immensely popular bishop who was locally canonised after his death. This school closed in 1916 and became a refectory for the now vanished St Mary's School, founded in 1918 by Miss AG Philpott. In the 1920s a number of improvements were made to the church and it gained several fine pieces with carving by Miss Philpott, including the font, altar and a sanctuary chair and table. Miss Philpott later professed as a Sister of the Sacred Advent and was known as Sister Rosa. She died in 1928 and a Children's Corner chapel was created in 1929, in a section of the porch opposite the main entrance of Holy Trinity, as a memorial to her.
The Brotherhood relinquished care of the Herberton church around 1935 and were replaced by a married rector. The parish is now centred on Atherton and the Rector lives there serving several small centres in the district, including Herberton. Renovations to Holy Trinity were carried out in 1989 to mark its centenary.
","criteria":"Holy Trinity church illustrates the development of Herberton and of the Anglican Church in Queensland. It was the foundation church for the Brotherhood of St Barnabas, which was formed to address the problem of reaching small and isolated communities which could not support a resident priest.
|Holy Trinity church is a good example of a rural timber church and in its form, scale and detail makes a substantial contribution to the built character of Herberton.
|Holy Trinity church is a good example of a rural timber church and in its form, scale and detail makes a substantial contribution to the built character of Herberton.
|Holy Trinity church has a strong connection with the Anglican community of Herberton and the surrounding area. It also has a special association with the work of the Brotherhood of St Barnabas in providing pastoral care to the developing Tablelands.
","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":15314,"place_ref":600539,"name":"Jack & Newell General Store & Petrol Bowser (former)","alternate_name":"Jack and Newell General Store (former)","street_address":"Grace Street","suburb":"HERBERTON","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1993-04-22","description":"This single-storeyed set of two shops is located on the corner of Grace and William Streets at the top of a rise on a northwesterly sloping site in Herberton. The building has corrugated iron, twin gable roofs with an awning to both street frontages supported by timber posts.
This single-skin timber building is clad in deep, pit-sawn chamferboard and features timber pilasters to the Grace Street shop fronts. Both shops have central entrances and a recent shop has been built on the lower side of the building to the northwest boundary. This shop has a timber gable parapet and a street awning to mimic the original shops.
An early petrol bowser is located on the William Street frontage. A single-storey fibrous cement shed is located to the rear of the building along with a grassed carparking area.
Internally, the corner shop has early shelving, exposed timber trusses and long timber counters with swivel stools fixed to the floor. The second shop is a bakery, and has been lined with hardboard. The building has been refurbished recently and original signage has been painted over.
","history":"The southeastern building of this pair of single-storeyed timber buildings was erected c1882 for William Jack, storekeeper, of Herberton. It was the first in a chain of general stores erected by William Jack and John Newell in North Queensland during the last two decades of the 19th century. The northwestern building was erected by 1895.
Herberton owes its existence to the April 1880 discovery of a substantial tin reef in the vicinity, by experienced miners and prospectors William Jack, John Newell, Thomas Brandon and John Brown. In partnership, Jack, Newell, Brandon and William Joss (who had bought out Brown) secured about 60 acres of freehold near the present town, and named their claim the Great Northern. A rush followed almost immediately, and by August 1880, when Warden Mowbray laid out the town of Herberton (so named by Jack and his partners because of its proximity to the Wild River, the head of the Herbert River), it already contained an hotel, a butcher's shop, and three stores, one of which was William Jack's. The tin fields around Herberton and the other towns which sprang up in the district in the early 1880s, proved to be the richest discovered on the Australian mainland.
At an early date, Jack sold his share in the Great Northern to merchant and mining entrepreneur John Moffatt, and set up Herberton's first store, in a small bark hut. Jack probably did not erect the more substantial premises of pit-sawn cedar chamfers until after he purchased the store site in October 1881.
John Newell joined William Jack as managing partner in Jack & Newell, General Merchants and Forwarding and Shipping Agents, in 1882, and in 1885 married Jack's daughter, Janet. As new mineral fields were discovered, Jack & Newell subsequently established a chain of 26 stores on the Atherton Tableland, and were frequently the financial mainstay of these early settlements. The company had its own form of paper currency, recognised by all banks and firms throughout North Queensland, and by the late 1890s was the largest merchant house north of Townsville. William Jack died in 1910, but the business name of Jack & Newell was retained.
John Newell maintained a life-long association with mining interests in North Queensland, and was an active participant in civic affairs. He became a justice of the peace in 1884, was a member of the Herberton and Tinaroo Shire Councils, and served as mayor of Herberton in 1888-89. From 1896 until 1902 he was the state MLA for Woothakata; from its inception in 1906 until 1921, he was a member of the Cairns Harbour Board; and was vice-president of the short-lived Cairns Stock Exchange of 1906-12. Newell died in 1932, but several stores in the Jack & Newell chain survived into the 1970s. The store at Herberton remained the firm's headquarters until about 1960, and finally closed in late 1977.
","criteria":"The former Jack & Newell General Store at Herberton is important in demonstrating the evolution and pattern of development of North Queensland history, being associated with the establishment and growth of Herberton and the surrounding tin fields in the late 19th century. It is significant historically also as the first store established in the chain of general stores founded by Jack & Newell throughout the Atherton Tableland and associated districts in the late 19th century.
|It is a rare, early 1880s rural general store in north Queensland retaining original pit-sawn cedar chamfers; and the interior offers rare illustration of a highly intact 19th century drapery store with early shelving, counter and seating.
|It is a rare, early 1880s rural general store in north Queensland retaining original pit-sawn cedar chamfers; and the interior offers rare illustration of a highly intact 19th century drapery store with early shelving, counter and seating.
|The place exhibits a range of aesthetic characteristics valued by the Herberton community, including the contribution of the building's scale, form and materials, together with the adjacent petrol bowser, to the streetscape of Grace Street and to the Herberton townscape; and the interior with exposed roof framing, timber joinery and shop fittings.
|It has a special association for the local community as one of the earliest buildings in Herberton.
|The place has a strong association with William Jack and John Newell and their substantial contribution to the foundation of Herberton and the Herberton tin mining industry, and to the development of commerce on the Atherton Tableland in the late 19th century.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion D | Criterion E | 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 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 | 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":15315,"place_ref":600540,"name":"Herberton School of Arts","alternate_name":"School of Arts Herberton","street_address":"61 Grace Street","suburb":"HERBERTON","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The School of Arts is located in the central business area of Herberton on a site that falls away from the street towards the rear property boundary (101/SP124675). It comprises a reserve, 747 sqm in size and a small road leading off Grace Street, which is about 253 sqm. The building sits at the street end of the site, diagonally opposite the two-storey timber Royal Hotel. To the north, at the intersection with William Street stands the former Jack & Newell General Store & Petrol Bowser [QHR 600539].
The School of Arts is a single-storeyed timber-framed building with weatherboard cladding and set on timber and some steel posts. The under croft, which increases in height as the land falls away, is enclosed with timber battening. Two concrete block rooms (toilets) have been inserted under the building at its rear. The roof is clad with corrugated metal sheeting and comprises a main gable running perpendicular to the street, broken-backed skillions over two rooms on each of the rear gable ends and low-pitched, hipped additions facing the street on either side of a central gabled porch. This is filled with a triangular panel of painted timber fretwork and beyond which is the entry door to the library. On either side of the door are a number of windows. A modern timber pergola has been inserted in front of the northern section of this building face along with some paving and garden beds (all by 1995, pergola sheeted by 2001).
The interior comprises a large hall, now used as a library, with a stage area at the rear flanked by small dressing rooms, and two L-shaped rooms on either side of the street entrance. The hall has a suspended coved ceiling of acoustic board exposing the bottom chords of the timber trusses. The walls of the stage area are unlined, while those toward the street are lined with wide vertical boarding. The windows of the hall on both its side walls have timber board shutters hinged from the top. The small rooms on either side of the stage are entirely unlined and each has a small boarded-up window and ledged-and-braced door.
The rooms at the front of the building house an exhibition space and a small geological museum. The ceilings are lined with stained timber boarding, while some walls are single-skin with horizontal boarding and some are weatherboards.
","history":"The School of Arts at Herberton was constructed in 1881 as a community endeavour during the earliest European settlement of the district and is still a community resource.
Herberton was founded following the discovery, in 1880, of a substantial reef of tin in the vicinity. A rush followed almost immediately, and by August, when Warden Mowbray laid out the town of Herberton (so named because of its proximity to the Wild River, the head of the Herbert River), it already contained a hotel, a butcher's shop, and three stores. The tin fields around Herberton and the other towns which sprang up in the district in the early 1880s, proved to be the richest discovered on the Australian mainland.
On 31 December 1880 an open-air public meeting was held for the purpose of founding a School of Arts in Herberton. Strong public support was demonstrated by donations of £50 for the purpose. A site was purchased for £18 in early January the next year. By the end of the month a bark structure had been erected. It was the first community building in the district and the establishment of a School of Arts so early in the settlement of the area was unusual.
The first Mechanic's Institutes or Schools of Arts were established in Britain in the early 1800s and were intended to assist self-improvement and to promote moral, social and intellectual growth by providing lectures, discussions and lending libraries to a rising middle class. At the time there were no public libraries and books were expensive, so access to them by borrowing as subscribers provided an important educational and recreational service. The first School of Arts committee in Queensland was established in Brisbane in 1849 aiming for 'the advancement of the community in literary, philosophic and scientific subjects'. As towns and districts became established, local committees were formed to establish Schools of Arts and they became one of the principal means of adult education.
By 22 October 1881 The Queenslander reported that a public hall had been built in Herberton. It opened with a ball on the 9 November 1881. On 16 November that year it was the venue for the first local government meeting on the Tablelands and within a month was also in use as a school. Indeed, the demand for the venue for meetings, lectures and theatre was so high that by December, bookings for the first months of the new year had been made to the sum of £250.
By 1882 Herberton was connected to Port Douglas by a coach service. It boomed in the 1880s and 1890s, its population reaching its highest level of 1,500 in 1895 before it began to decline as the nearby town of Irvinebank developed in the late 1890s. In 1895 the rear of the School of Arts was extended to provide a stage and two small dressing rooms.
It was intended that the development of towns on the Tablelands should be encouraged by connecting them to the coast by rail, however, the terrain was difficult and the line came very slowly over the range from Cairns between 1886 and 1910. A photograph taken in this year, to celebrate the arrival of the railway, shows two small rooms at the front of the hall, possibly created by enclosing verandahs.
In 1934 one of these rooms was extended for use as offices for the Shire Council while its offices were constructed elsewhere. By the 1960s the building was in poor condition though still being used for meetings and social functions. A series of grants and community projects provided funds for renovation and repair until the Shire Council took over responsibility for the building in 1986. Since 1992 it has housed the Herberton Public Library in its core and there have been a geological collection and a photographic display in its front rooms, thus continuing the educational aspects of its service to the community. In 1992 a suspended coved ceiling was installed in the hall, under the main gable.
The building was enclosed underneath with timber battening in 1995. Alterations have been made to the front facade with the addition of various gardens, paving and the erection of a pergola on the northern side (both complete by 1995). The pergola had been sheeted with corrugated metal by 2001.
","criteria":"The School of Arts is important in illustrating the development of Herberton and as an element in the network of these institutions which sprang up in any town of consequence in Queensland during the 19th and early 20th centuries. They were community based and played a valuable educational and social role in the dissemination of information and the provision of facilities for lectures, meetings, games of skill and the staging of community events such as plays and concerts.
|The School of Arts is on a site central to the business area and makes an important visual contribution to the built character of Herberton.
|The School of Arts is important for its connection with the community of Herberton as an integral part of the social and community life of the town since its inception.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion E | Criterion G","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 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":15316,"place_ref":600541,"name":"Herberton War Memorial","alternate_name":"War Memorial Herberton","street_address":"Myers Street","suburb":"HERBERTON","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The First World War Memorial is situated in a dominant position on a hill overlooking the town. The memorial is surrounded by kerbing and a wire mesh panel (once a fence) with flagstaffs at each end stands behind it. A path leads to the memorial and various gardens, plantings and steps contribute to the setting. A gun or 'war trophy' is located in front of the monument.
The painted sandstone memorial comprises a substantial pedestal surmounted by a digger statue.
The monument itself sits on a stone base step above two white painted concrete steps. A square recessed marble pillar projects from the base and bears the leaded names of the 199 local men who served in the First World War, including the 21 fallen and the 7 who died on service. One of those who died on service, one is designated as aboriginal. At each corner are engaged square pillars with Corinthian capitals. These support a simple cornice surmounted by four urns.
The digger statue stands on a pedestal which has a relief carved, green painted laurel wreath on the front face and relief carved crossed flags at the rear. The soldier statue stands erect, with his rifle at his side. The left foot is placed slightly in front of the right. His uniform is painted khaki green, as is his hat.
The entire monument is heavily painted in various colours.
","history":"The Herberton War Memorial was unveiled in the early 1920s by the Shire Chairman. Funds were raised by local residents and the monument was commissioned from A L Petrie. The stone memorial honours the 199 local men who enlisted during the First World War, including the 21 who were killed and the 7 who died on service.
The town of Herberton was settled following the discovery of tin in 1880. It was surveyed in August of the same year and rapidly expanded during the following decade. In October 1910 the railway was extended to Herberton from Cairns, assisting in making the town a focal point for the surrounding district of mineral processing and pastoral industries.
The memorial forms a dominant landmark, situated on a hillside overlooking the town. A captured gun (war trophy) completes the setting.
Australia, and Queensland in particular, had few civic monuments before the First World War. The memorials erected in its wake became our first national monuments, recording the devastating impact of the war on a young nation. Australia lost 60 000 from a population of about 4 million, representing one in five of those who served. No previous or subsequent war has made such an impact on the nation.
Even before the end of the war, memorials became a spontaneous and highly visible expression of national grief. To those who erected them, they were as sacred as grave sites, substitute graves for the Australians whose bodies lay in battlefield cemeteries in Europe and the Middle East. British policy decreed that the Empire war dead were to be buried where they fell. The word 'cenotaph', commonly applied to war memorials at the time, literally means 'empty tomb'.
Australian war memorials are distinctive in that they commemorate not only the dead. Australians were proud that their first great national army, unlike other belligerent armies, was composed entirely of volunteers, men worthy of honour whether or not they paid the supreme sacrifice. Many memorials honour all who served from a locality, not just the dead, providing valuable evidence of community involvement in the war. Such evidence is not readily obtainable from military records, or from state or national listings, where names are categorised alphabetically or by military unit.
Australian war memorials are also valuable evidence of imperial and national loyalties, at the time, not seen as conflicting; the skills of local stonemasons, metalworkers and architects; and of popular taste. In Queensland, the soldier statue was the popular choice of memorial, whereas the obelisk predominated in the southern states, possibly a reflection of Queensland's larger working-class population and a lesser involvement of architects.
Many of the First World War monuments have been updated to record local involvement in later conflicts, and some have fallen victim to unsympathetic re-location and repair.
Although there are many different types of memorials in Queensland, the digger statue is the most common. It was the most popular choice of communities responsible for erecting the memorials, embodying the ANZAC myth and representing the qualities of the ideal Australian.....loyalty, courage, youth, innocence and masculinity. The digger was a phenomenon peculiar to Queensland, perhaps due to the fact that other states had followed Britain's lead and established Advisory Boards made up of architects and artists, prior to the erection of war memorials. The digger statue was not highly regarded by artists and architects who were involved in the design of relatively few Queensland memorials.
Most statues were constructed by local masonry firms, although some were by artists or imported.
At this time, A L Petrie and Son of Toowong were the most prolific. They were the largest masonry firm in Queensland at this time and were responsible for many First World War memorials throughout the state. Some statues differed in detailing, although most were supplied on a range of standard pedestals.
This monument is an intact example of the workmanship of A L Petrie. It incorporates a standard type of pedestal first used in 1918 at Upper Coomera and subsequently in many other Queensland locations. The monument was painted in 1974.
Of particular interest is the inclusion of the name of an aboriginal (designated as such) listed among those who died in service.
","criteria":"War Memorials are important in demonstrating the pattern of Queensland's history as they are representative of a recurrent theme that involved most communities throughout the state. They provide evidence of an era of widespread Australian patriotism and nationalism, particularly during and following the First World War.
It is unique in that lists an aboriginal amongst those who died in service.
|The monuments manifest a unique documentary record and are demonstrative of popular taste in the inter-war period.
Unveiled in the early 1920s, the memorial at Herberton demonstrates the principal characteristics of a commemorative structure erected as an enduring record of a major historical event. This is achieved through the use of appropriate materials and design elements. As a digger statue it is representative of the most popular form of memorial in Queensland
|It is an uncommon example of a memorial still located in its original surrounds and has aesthetic value both as a dominant landmark and for its high degree of workmanship and design.
|The memorial has a strong association with the community as evidence of the impact of a major historic event.
|It also has a special association with Brisbane monumental masonry firm A L Petrie and Son.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion G | 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 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 | 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":15317,"place_ref":600542,"name":"Great Northern Mine (Herberton)","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Off Jacks Road","suburb":"HERBERTON","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The place contains a comprehensive range of functions that exemplify historical tin mining in the Herberton district including - alluvial workings, shaft sinking, winding and pumping, maintenance and accommodation. There are four main component areas - alluvial workings, Eastern Shaft, Gully Shaft and a house.
Alluvial workings extend for the length of a permanent watercourse which runs through on the boundary of the property. These workings include stone and concrete retaining walls and evidence of work areas and camp sites. This area is claimed to be "the gully in which alluvial tin was first discovered".
The property contains 16 mine shafts of varying depths, an adit and an open cut shaft. The most important of these workings are the Eastern Shaft and the Gully shaft with their associated surface structures and plant. The Eastern Shaft group is extremely intact and includes a timber collared shaft and timber headframe, with an intact round timber and weatherboard winding shed containing an air receiver, compressor, single cylinder and portable steam engines, winding engine, boiler and pump. An extensive mullock dump is associated with the shaft.
The Gully Shaft, which is centrally situated on the property, contains a main shaft with a caved collar and recently collapsed timber headframe. Associated buildings includes a workshop and smithy(now collapsed), a crib room, and a round timber and weatherboard winding shed containing two vertical boilers converted to air receivers, a compressor, a winding engine and two boilers. This machinery is claimed to be from the Durham mine on the Etheridge Goldfield.
The fourth component of the place is an early two room house of weatherboard timber and iron construction set on round timber stumps. Furnishings, furniture and bric-a-brac of the former owner, remain. The house is termite infested and in poor condition.
Plant:
Colonial boiler - Smith & Faulkner Brisbane.
Tandem air compressor - A.Harkness & Co. Victoria Foundry Bendigo 1891.
Tandem air compressor - J.Horwood & Sons Bendigo Ironworks Sandhurst Estab 1856.
Portable steam engine - Marshall & Sons & Co. No 4904 Gainsborough England. David Munro & Co.Melbourne Distributors.
Vertical Special steam pump - Tangye Makers Birmingham.
Colonial boiler in brick mount - Walkers Limited.
Colonial boiler - no brand.
Two-cylinder winding engine - Walkers Ltd Engineers Maryborough.
Two-cylinder winding engine - no brand. (Walkers Limited).
2 Vertical boilers (Air receivers).
Duplex steam pump (not insitu).
Tandem air compressor - Ingersoll Rand.
","history":"The Great Northern tin lode was discovered in 1879 and four prospectors, William Jack, William Ronald Joss, John Newell and Thomas Brandon, who had been working in the Tinaroo and Wild River area for some time applied on 12 April 1880 at Thornborough for a sixty acre Mineral Freehold.
The Great Northern lode was on the eastern side of the Wild River and they traced the three feet wide lode for two miles up the ridges. They located two to three hundred weights of rich tin and, local legend has it, they smelted it crudely on site in a tree stump using their felt hats as bellows. Jack and Newell communicated their find to John Moffat in Stanthorpe who agreed to invest in a battery and smelter in the newly named Herberton area. By August 1880 there were 70 miners at work at Herberton.
On 18 September 1880 the Great Northern mine was christened. John Moffat, Anthony Linedale and George Seaman from Stanthorpe and Tent Hill arrived in Herberton in mid October 1880. Moffat's milling experience enabled him to secure leases and determine the location of tin batteries. Local miners hailed his technical knowledge as necessary for the development of the field.
Moffat's men prepared foundations for their Great Northern battery in November 1880. After Samuel Denny's experiments at tin smelting on behalf of other miners failed, Moffat enlisted his support for the Great Northern venture. Moffat's machinery arrived in Herberton in February 1881. The Great Northern ten head stamp battery had a trial crushing in early May 1881. Moffat formed the Herberton Tin Company to manage the Great Northern battery and all his mining interests including the Great Northern mine, on behalf of his Glen Smelting Company in Tent Hill, New South Wales.
In the 1800's the Great Northern yielded a steady income for the Moffat's Glen Smelting Company. Up to 1885 the mine averaged a phenomenal 30%. Moffat's manager, William Bonar, who had previously worked on the Palmer Goldfield, was able to accurately assess the direction of the lode and patterns and distributions to determine where it might next appear as benches and steps in the shaft, a contrasting policy to the reckless devastation of many lodes on Herberton hill. Bonar worked on two lodes the Gully and the Eastern. The two shafts were timbered in 1885 and a "Eclipse" rock drilling plant was acquired in 1887. The assays dropped in 1885 but at 8.6% the Great Northern was still very profitable.
Moffat sought to sell the Great Northern mine and battery several times during the late 1880's and early 1890's. The manager, Bonar, and Herberton storekeeper and mining investor, John Newell, were opposed to southern management taking over. When the finances of the Glen Smelting Company were rationalised into the Irvinebank Mining Company (private) in 1889-90 the Herberton Tin Company was not sold into any public company. Moffat tried again in 1892 to sell the Great Northern mine and mill to Sydney interests but without success. The mine closed down in 1893, except for some work done by tributers.
Herberton and the Great Northern had suffered from three serious problems in its development: reckless opening of many lodes in the early years, the difficulty in gaining exemptions to install machinery, and the expectation that the Great Northern would continue to perform as a bonanza. There were also problems right up to World War 1 that there was theft of rich ore and tampering with assays.
The Great Northern contributed significantly to John Moffat's companies for decades. Over 30 years it produced 4,400 tons of tin valued at £220,000 at an average assay of 14%. The mill ceased for a time in 1895. Moffat succeeded in floating the Great Northern in 1901 but the mill and mine remained idle until 1902. The shaft was sunk to 213 m in the next four years. The following years of operation the assay was only 3.5% and the mill was spectacularly less successful than the first fifteen years. Controversy arose over management of the three shafts, Froghole, Gully and Great Northern. Heavy water also entered the Gully shaft. Further sinking was postponed pending the erection of a headframe in 1909. However the mill, technologically more modern than the Loudoun at Irvinebank and christened on 24 August 1904, was a boon for miners. Nevertheless the problem over assays and theft continued.
The brace was erected in 1909 on the New Gully shaft. The mine resumed in the middle of 1916 with dewatering to 91 m. The winding plant was reset on foundations and the machinery overhauled. Seventeen men were employed in 1917 mining in the No.2 and No.3 workings. 30.5 tons of tin ore were obtained for a return of five tons 13 cwt of tin valued at £1,016. The company's mill was expected to be commissioned in 1918. The Gully shaft was cleaned out in 1918 down to a rich body of ore at 12 m. The company was able to clear off its debt. The town battery started crushing in February 1918. That year it was the second highest producer on the field.
In 1928 encouraging results were obtained from the hitherto barren side of a porphry dyke at the 122 m level. In 1930 the company lost the services of S. Day its manager since its re-opening in 1917. £7,658 worth of tin averaging 11.1% was won from 767 tons of ore. Freehold title was regained over the mine. Because of the low price of tin operations were suspended at the end of the year.
In 1937 the north workings were prospected and broken stopes retimbered; 29 tons of wolfram and 81 tons of tin were obtained. In the spa lode behind the boiler shed a winze and shaft were sunk for 10 tons of good ore in 1938. A new shaft to 15 m on the eastern lode in 1940 and prospecting shafts were put in; 215 tons of old dumps were treated for 2.6 tons of concentrates. £961 tons of tin were obtained in 1942.
In 1945 several tons of dumps were treated averaging under 1% for metal but no underground mining was done. No underground work was done in 1947 but some surface prospecting was carried out. In 1940 J. Newell dewatered "A" shaft. The Great Northern Freehold Mine and the battery changed hands in 1953. The new owner, F. L. Stamp, commenced work on the mine in June and put down six prospecting holes to obtain new lodes. The mine rarely operated thereafter.
","criteria":"The Great Northern mine at Herberton is historically significant as the pioneer lode tin producer in Australia (compared with alluvial production). Discoveries of tin in 1879 led to the establishment of an active and thriving township to be named, Herberton. Within four years there were 160 other lode or reef tin mines being worked in the neighbourhood. Hence, the Great Northern had a key role in stimulating the development of the mining industry and the economy of the Atherton Tableland.
|The mine contains the only timber headframe with sheave wheels surviving in North Queensland. The rarity and intactness of the surviving plant surpasses any other mining place recorded in Queensland. The rare plant includes a Harkness compressor (possibly the only Harkness product surviving in Australia), a Horwood compressor (the only known intact item) and a very early and rare 1878 Marshall portable steam engine in good condition. It is rare that two tandem steam air compressors manufactured by two of Victoria's earliest engine builders (A. Harkness, Victoria Foundry, Bendigo and J. Horwood, Bendigo Ironworks) still reside together on an early North Queensland mine.
The combination of components - alluvial mining, hard rock mining and residence on a freehold property - is rare.
|(Criterion under review)
|(Criterion under review)
|The mine is also associated with the mining entrepreneur, John Moffat, as his first venture in North Queensland in 1880.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion C | Criterion D | 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 has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding 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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15318,"place_ref":600543,"name":"Mt Garnet Mine Assay Office (former)","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Zinc Road","suburb":"MOUNT GARNET","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The Assay Office is located approximately 500m southwest of the outskirts of Mt Garnet and approximately 500 m south of the Kennedy Highway, to which it is linked by a track. Mt Garnet is located approximately 100 km by road west of Cairns.
The Assay Office is a single-storeyed brick and sheet iron clad building on brick foundations. It comprises two sections; that to the west is constructed of brick and contains a living area and bedrooms. Sash windows and doorways have curved heads featuring a double row of bricks. The building has a gabled roof clad in corrugated iron and a verandah extends along the northern wall shaded by a curved metal awning supported on timber posts. A deep awning shelters the windows to the western side.
This brick construction is joined on the eastern side by a section that has walls clad in sheet metal and a gabled roof set at right angles to that of the brick building. This area retains a timber floor and has a ventilated fume cabinet used in the testing of ore and metal samples. It now contains and bathroom and kitchen. The building is well lit with sash windows in both sections.
The area around the building has been cultivated as irrigated ornamental gardens. Some metal artefacts from the mine remain in the grounds.
The site may contain remains of slag heaps.
","history":"The former assay office was constructed in 1899 to process ore samples from the Mt Garnet Freehold Copper and Silver Mine.
The copper, silver and zinc lode at Mt Garnet was discovered in 1882 by Albert Vollenweider and Henry Faasch, who, with James McLeod, manager for John Moffat, applied for a selection of 60 acres in October 1882. Moffat bought his first shares from Vollenweider, Faasch and other partners in 1884 and through the 1880s acquired further shares until he had full control. He did not develop the site until the resurgence of copper prices in the 1890s when he opened up the Mt Garnet lodes in late 1896. In May 1898, crushing machinery was delivered to the site from Glen Linedale and Montalbion and a report was prepared to promote the mine to investors. By October 1898 mining leases and town lots at Mt Garnet were being purchased.
On 23 December 1898, the Mt Garnet Freehold Copper and Silver Mining Company was incorporated in Melbourne by Moffat and his associates in that city, though it was not floated until September 1899. A metallurgist and a construction engineer were appointed, assaying equipment was ordered and a brickworks and sawmill were set up in 1898 to supply building materials. The clay for the bricks was obtained from the banks of Return Creek nearby and the bricks made were used for a wide variety of constructions on site, commencing with the furnaces. Work began in 1899 on an assay office to service the mine and it was finished by 1900. Assaying on site was important in order to test ore quality and so provide a guide for the exploitation of the mine and the smelting operations. The assay building was used as a laboratory for determining the level of metal contained within the ore and the level of impurities contained within the metal after smelting. The building constructed for this purpose measured approximately 17. 5 metres by 11 metres and contained seven rooms, including a furnace room and offices, a room for chemical treatments and a room to house the scales.
Throughout 1899 the company employed about 150 men in sinking and driving shafts to test ore reserves. Six shafts aggregating 440 feet were sunk, and nearly 1200 feet of tunnels and drives were completed. By early 1900, an ore lode 96 feet wide but of uncertain depth had been found. Assays were encouraging and it was estimated that reserves totalled over 200,000 tons of ore averaging between three and twenty-five percent copper, with fifteen ounces of silver to the ton.
It was decided to install new large smelters, with 200 tons daily capacity and powerful mining machinery, and to dam Return Creek to provide adequate water for the treatment plant. Also, multi-tubular boilers, a powerful double cylinder hoisting engine, stone crushers, air compressors, a sawmill and water pumping station were established in association with the mining of the Mt Garnet lode. A railway to serve the mine was also planned.
On 15 January 1901, the first smelter became operational and in that year the smelters treated 35,616 tons of ore for copper and silver valued at £163,000. In the following year a total of 43,284 tons of ore were treated for 2,057 tons of copper and 486,651 ounces of silver valued at £164,267. The mine employed about 1800 men and Mt Garnet became the second largest inland town in Queensland.
However, the large sums committed to infrastructure, falling prices and problems with ore quality caused the mine to close as the company admitted it was unable to meet its interest and redemption commitments. The smelter opened again in June 1902, but Willcocks and Overend, the contractors for the railway which opened on 22 February 1902, foreclosed on 1 October 1902. A new company was floated but in 1903 it was found that the main shaft, down 181 feet, tapped a sizeable body, which proved to be refractory, having high zinc content and thus being uneconomic to treat by conventional means on site. Further, the open cut section of the mine collapsed. The smelter ceased operation in May 1903 and the smelters were dismantled and removed. Willcocks and Overend operated the railway privately to help recoup their costs and the New Chillagoe Railway and Mines Ltd worked the mine on tribute from the beginning of 1904, although much of the machinery was removed to the OK mine the same year. Attempts were made to reopen the mine in 1906 and again in 1915, when the mine remained open for a couple of years. In 1914 the Government purchased the railway.
The assay office was then used for many years to accommodate pastoral workers from Mt Lucey station, although it was unused when purchased in the late 1980s and renovated. It has been adapted as a residence and although the fume cupboard and sample table are still present, alterations include the replacement of the sample furnaces with a fireplace and conversion of the scale room to a bathroom and the chemical treatment room to a kitchen. The furnace area is now a living room and the offices in this section are bedrooms. It is the only building surviving from the Mt Garnet mine on site.
","criteria":"The former assay office is the only building surviving from the Mt Garnet copper and silver mine and smelter operation built on this site in the 1890s. It is important in demonstrating the development of the mining industry in North Queensland, and the establishment of the township of Mt Garnet. The mine, a development of John Moffat, who was an important figure in the mining industry in the north, was only briefly in production. Its demise due to overcapitalisation of an unproven ore body and falling ore prices illustrates the speculative nature of much mining activity in Queensland in this era.
|The former Mt Garnet Mine assay office is a rare surviving example of this type of facility situated close to the site of the mine and smelter. Although assay offices were a common and important feature of mining infrastructure, the majority in Queensland have not survived. The building is externally intact and has retained some features of its original use, although it has been adapted as a dwelling.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B","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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":15319,"place_ref":600544,"name":"Gunnawarra Homestead","alternate_name":"Gunnawarra Mount Garnet","street_address":"Gunnawarra Road","suburb":"MOUNT GARNET","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1992-10-21","description":"The buildings on Gunnawarra form a complex of accomodation and support buildings around the 1878 homestead. There are also service buildings, sheds and yards. Approximately 3 kilometres north of the main complex is a lagoon and adjacent building known as the Lagoon House.
Entering the main homestead area, to the right there is a rectangular timber building set on stumps. It has a corrugated iron roof and a verandah runs along the front with doors leading onto it. Set at right angles to this building at the rear is a small building clad with corrugated iron. A large corrugated iron clad shed is beyond these buildings.
To the left of the entrance are a small corrugated iron shed and an accommodation block clad in fibrous cement sheeting. The homestead buildings are separated from the working buildings of the complex by a mesh fence enclosing a grassed area. A corrugated iron tank on stumps and some small sheds are between the working buildings and the main house gate.
The early homestead is constructed of horizontal split logs held between uprights by cover strips. Its gabled roof is clad in corrugated iron over shingles which can be seen under the awnings to the verandah which runs around three sides of the building and is supported on timber posts. Adjoining this building is the 1928 addition; a corrugated iron clad structure with a rectangular chimney clad in corrugated iron and sheet metal. The interior is a single room clad in fibrous cement and is currently formal dining room. Three timber trusses support the gabled roof and the floor is timber. The large fireplace is timber and is lined with bricks and concrete.
To the rear of these buildings is a wing containing a drawing room with a dining alcove and a modern kitchen. Sliding doors open from this onto an outdoor living area with is shaded by an extension of the roof. Across the open area from the living room wing is a mid 30th century ranch style house.
To the rear of the complex are two cottages, possibly staff accommodation, and wire enclosures for hand fed animals. There is also a tennis court and tiled swimming pool close to the ranch style building, currently the main dwelling.
There is a small cemetery about 500 metres from the house. It is encircled by a mesh fence and contains family graves, including that of Kate Atkinson who died in 1917 aged 93, and has continued in use to the present.
Approximately 3 kilometres north of the main homestead complex is the Lagoon House, named for its proximity to a long narrow lagoon running parallel to Rudd's Creek. It is a well-made building of local materials utilising traditional construction techniques. The house is L shaped in plan and has a pole frame and a gabled roof clad with corrugated iron. An awning supported on timber posts runs around 3 sides of the main living area. The external walls are built of volcanic rocks to sill height, with bark sheeting above. Internal walls are of slab and corrugated iron. Shutters hinged from above close window openings. The floor appears to be ant bed that has been repaired with concrete. Inside, the structure has a living area in one arm of the L and a kitchen that contains a small cast iron range. The shorter arm of the L is divided into two rooms, presumably as bedrooms, and there is a laundry in an angle of the awning with a small adjacent bathroom and stumps that probably held a water tank.
To the south east of the house is a corrugated iron shed with a hipped roof. Domestic plantings nearby include 2 mature mango trees, citrus trees, custard apple, guava and cucumbers.
","history":"Gunnawarra is a pastoral property first occupied by Europeans in 1865 and was an outlying part of the Valley of Lagoons run on the Upper Burdekin River, established in 1863.
Ludwig Leichhardt discovered and named the Valley of Lagoons in 1845. George Dalrymple was appointed the first Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Kennedy district in 1861. He had arrived in Australia in the late 1850s, hoping to take up land on the Darling Downs. However this proved unsuccessful and he travelled north. He chose a well-watered block in the Valley of Lagoons and set up a partnership with brothers Arthur and Walter Scott and Robert Herbert in 1863. In 1864 Dalrymple and Arthur Scott travelled to the area and blazed a trail from what was to be the port of Cardwell to the Valley of Lagoons. The Scott brothers ran the property and soon afterwards Dalrymple relinquished his interest in the run to enter politics.
Gunnawarra was originally a run of 100 square miles and was occupied from 10 April 1865. Following the Pastoral Leases Act of 1869, the run was consolidated and included the blocks of Gunnawarra, Barcoo 1, 2 and 3, Froyle, Tempe, Tempe North, Tempe West, Forrest and Borderland. It then covered an area of 555 square miles and was leased by the partnership of Dangar, Bell, Bell and Ewan. Other outlying blocks of the Valley of Lagoons were formed as the stations of Cashmere and Greenvale. In 1878 the station appeared in the Post Office Directory as 'Gunniawarra', said to mean 'little house'. Later the name was amended to Gunna-Warra and then Gunnawarra in 1890. The first buildings erected at Gunnawarra were of slab construction and included a saddle shed and adjoining quarters. The earliest section of the homestead building was constructed in 1878 and is located on Bell's Creek, a tributary of the Herbert River. Jack Broad, who also built Kirrama homestead, constructed it of slabs with locally cut cypress pine for the uprights and rafters; stringy bark was carted from over twenty miles away for the shingles and hand adzed slabs. The floor was of rammed antbed.
Gunnawarra was divided into two sections following the Crown Lands Act of 1884, becoming Gunnawarra and Forrest. James Ewan purchased Gunnawarra at auction in September 1887. He held it until his death over twenty years later, when it passed to his wife and trustees. On 9 March 1904 it was sold to a partnership of the three Atkinson brothers, Henry John Atkinson of Greenvale, Robert James Atkinson of Cashmere and Thomas Joseph Good Atkinson of Kangaroo Hills.
In 1862 their parents, James and Kate Atkinson, were part of a small group of prospective settlers who arrived in the area. They had previous pastoral experience in Victoria and took up land at Mount Surprise in partnership with Ezra Firth. After a few years, the partnership was dissolved and in 1870 Atkinson took up Farnham station at the site of Ingham. In 1880 he purchased Wairuna and about 5000 acres from the Valley of Lagoons as Abergowrie. Thomas Atkinson married in 1901 and in 1904 brought his wife, Jessie Glennie Godschall, known as Glen, and their baby daughter to live at Gunnawarra. In 1908 they added a bedroom wing of tongue and groove cedar to the house and clad the shingled roof with corrugated iron. In 1913, the buildings of the property were reported to be a house, kitchen, outbuildings, stockyard, horse and milking yards, assessed at £125 in value.
Parts of Gunnawarra were resumed for grazing selections in 1914. In 1922, the brothers' partnership was dissolved and in 1924 the lease for Gunnawarra was transferred into the name of Thomas Atkinson alone. In 1929, when the lease expired, various parties made enquiries to the Lands Department regarding further resumptions for selection. An inspection was made in 1930 and on the recommendation of the Beef Cattle Commission the lease was extended on the grounds that previous resumptions had failed and been sold back to the Atkinson family by the selectors. The area covered by the Gunnawarra lease was then 245 square miles. In 1930, the Gunnawarra Pastoral Company held numerous leases and was composed of Thomas Atkinson, his wife and other family members. After he died on 14 June of that year, Glen Atkinson ran Gunnawarra.
Picnic races had been held at Gunnawarra in Ewan's time, but were discontinued when he died. In 1918 R.L. Atkinson, a nephew, decided to form a race club using the old course, about 5 miles from the homestead. Several surrounding stations agreed to participate and a Gunnawarra Picnic Hack Race Meeting was registered for New Year's Day, 1919 followed by a ball at the homestead. After a few years of running this event annually, a concrete slab was laid down at the racetrack for the purpose of dancing as most participants camped at the course. The large room added to the homestead in 1928 is said to have also been used as a ballroom for these races. The races were discontinued after Tom Atkinson's death in June 1930.
In 1933 a small house was constructed close to the lagoon some 3 kilometres north of the homestead complex. It was built using traditional techniques and local materials by local aboriginal people and station hands. It was intended for use by senior station employees such as the head stockman and later the bookkeeper.
In 1938, 324 acres of Gunnawarra were resumed for the highway, leaving 224 square miles.
Various alterations to the homestead were undertaken in the 1950s and 60s, including the lining of the interior with masonite, the replacement of verandah boards, the addition of concrete floors and inserting a skylight in the roof. New structures have also been added and a new ranch style homestead, a swimming pool and tennis court were probably also constructed in this period.
The homestead took farm-stay guests in the 1980s, but has not been used for this purpose for some years. Gunnawarra continues as a working cattle property and is still owned by members of the Atkinson family.
","criteria":"Gunnawarra Homestead illustrates the pattern of early European exploration and settlement of Queensland where the development of pastoral properties preceded agriculture and the establishment of towns. As an early homestead in north Queensland that has remained in continuous use, it has important associations with the development of the pastoral industry.
|Gunnawarra has the potential to yield information on the way in which such properties were run and evidence for the building techniques used over several generations, thus contributing to an understanding of Queensland's history.
|The homestead complex demonstrates the principal characteristics of its type well, including a sequence of residential buildings, associated outbuildings, graves, fences and mature trees.
|Gunnawarra homestead has a special association with the life and work of the Atkinson family, who, as pioneer pastoralists, have contributed to the development of the industry in North Queensland.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion C | Criterion D | Criterion H","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding 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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":16046,"place_ref":601283,"name":"St James Catholic Church","alternate_name":"St Jame's Catholic Church & Altar I St James Catholic Church & Altar","street_address":"Monash Ave","suburb":"MALANDA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2000-07-28","description":"The St James Catholic Church is a small, lowset, single storeyed timber church located on Monash Avenue, set back on the crest of a slope and overlooking the town and district of Malanda.
\nThe timber-framed and -clad church is symmetrically composed and has a high-pitched gable roof. T-shape in plan, the rectangular core is aligned on an approximate northeast-southwest axis; projecting gable-roofed wings flank the southwest end and in 2019 contain a vestry and reconciliation room (northwest wing) and sacristy (southeast wing) that both have rear doors accessed by timber stairs. The building has a frontispiece at the northeast end, which forms a small porch that provides access to the front doors of the Church via side stairs and a modern concrete ramp.
\nTall, narrow, pointed-arch ‘lancet’ widows are located on all sides of the building. Single lancets are located in the frontispiece (timber louvred), and on either side of the front wall of the building. Three single lancets combine to form ‘Trinity windows’ in the front and rear gables. Along each side of the church are four double lancets. Both double lancet and Trinity windows are located in the vestry and storage room.
\nThe church interior contains a central aisle, flanked by timber pews, that leads to the altar. The communion rail has been removed; however, its original location is still visible in the timber floorboards. The c1960s timber altar is located in front of the original altar and allows the priest to face the congregation whilst conducting mass. The original ornate timber altar with reredos (decorative timber screen behind), transforms this otherwise simple, unadorned country church into a highly evocative place of worship.
\nTimber stairs positioned adjacent to the front entrance access the original choir gallery, approximately 2m wide, which is used for storage and contains overflow seating. The open roof space features overhanging principals with verge projections from the wall plates, supported on arched brackets with metal tie rods. The original decorative timber ceiling is concealed behind a c1960s sheeted false ceiling.
\nFeatures also of state-level cultural heritage significance include:
\nFeatures not of state-level cultural heritage significance include:
\nThe St James Catholic church of Malanda, located west of Monash Avenue, was constructed in 1926 and opened in January 1927. A Malanda architect, Robert (Bob) Ransom Hassall, designed the church, and the altar with reredos, which were constructed from local timbers. Another local, Alby Halfpapp, built the church. James English, who was an early settler in the Malanda district, an important figure in the development of the dairy industry on the Atherton Tableland, and Chairman of the St James Church building committee, donated money to the church's building fund and provided the land on which the church was built.
\nMalanda is part of the traditional land of the Ngadjon-Jii people.[1] Amongst the first European settlers in Malanda was the family of James English (1865-1951). English, who is known as the founder of Malanda, came from the Lismore district of New South Wales seeking cedar, in 1907. The Special Agricultural Homesteads Act 1901 (renamed the Special Agricultural Selections Act in 1904) allowed groups of selectors, being either family groups or people who knew each other, to apply for adjoining blocks prior to a whole area being opened up for selection. This was designed to encourage the first settlers to help each other. The East Barron and Malanda area was opened up under this scheme in 1907, for 12 groups, and the ‘English Group’ was authorised to select 39 portions.[2] James English took up two parcels of land, with his son Patrick taking another two. Two friends who had accompanied English from NSW, Percy and Stan Davies, also took up land.[3] James English was a driving force in the establishment of the Eacham Shire, gazetted in 1910, and later served on the council during the 1920s.[4]
\nAs settlers removed the timber, dairy farming became a mainstay of the district. From 1908, James English introduced Australian Illawarra Shorthorn (AIS) cows, heifers and bulls to the Atherton Tableland. The breed soon dominated the local dairy industry. In 1918 he donated five acres (2ha) of land to the Eacham Show Society, of which he was Patron.[5]
\nEnglish, who with his wife Catherine had entertained many visitors to the district, also saw the need for a hotel for travellers once the rail line from Yungaburra opened in December 1910.[6] He applied for a licence and built the Malanda Hotel in 1911.[7] In addition, English preserved an area of natural rainforest behind his property, which, as ‘The Jungle’, proved a popular attraction for tourists to North Queensland from 1929.[8]
\nJames English also erected a timber mill. The Phoenix mill at Tolga was dismantled and reconstructed at Malanda from 1919.[9] This later supplied timber for many buildings of the Malanda township, such as shops in English Street, as well as the Majestic Picture Theatre [QHR 601743].[10]
\nThe Malanda district prospered due to timber and the dairy industry. By 1922, as well as the hotel, Malanda possessed two butter factories (1919, 1920), four sawmills, two blacksmiths’ shops, two saddlers’ shops, a cabinet and joinery factory, plumbers’ and tinsmiths’ works, two general stores, a drapery and a millinery, stationer’s shop, state school, shire offices, and a private hospital.[11] The nearby Malanda Falls was already a tourist attraction by this time, but visitation increased after the opening of the Gillies Highway in 1926.[12]
\nAlthough the town (surveyed in 1911) was thriving in the early 1920s, there was only one Church (Wesleyan) in Malanda by 1922.[13] In 1925 the Catholic community, of which the English family were staunch members, decided to build a church. At a meeting on the 9 August 1925 a building committee was formed to attend to the construction of a Catholic Church. At subsequent meetings, it was decided to build a church that could accommodate 200 people.[14] Local Catholics undertook fundraising events, including St Patrick’s Day dances.[15]
\nRobert (Bob) Ransom Hassall (c1882-1957) was commissioned to draw up plans and specifications and Lynch was appointed foreman of works. Hassall was an articled pupil of Addison and Corrie from 1899-1904, and a draftsman for them during 1905. He worked in the partnership of Addison and Hassall, Brisbane, from 1906-7, before working in Atherton from 1910-13. He served during World War I, and returned to work as a draftsman with J and HG Kirkpatrick, in Sydney, from 1919-20. He commenced work in Malanda in 1921.[16] Hassall’s later work in Malanda included an extension to the Malanda Hotel (c1928); St Matthews Anglican Church (1929); the Majestic Picture Theatre (1929); and the Malanda School of Arts (1932).[17]
\nAlby Halfpapp was deputed to build the church with the help of a permanent assistant, at the rate of £2 7 shillings per day for the two, with the additional help of three men for two weeks to start the work off. The building was to have a concrete floor with ironbark blocks. The outside walls were to be of water gum chamfers, and the ceiling and lining of bull oak, with all other timbers to be left to Hassall to determine. At later meetings, the proposal for a concrete floor was altered to that of a wooden floor, and the further suggestion was made that a choir gallery be included in the plans, if the estimate did not exceed £1,000. Timber mills from Millaa Millaa, Glen Allyn, Kureen, Yungaburra and Malanda were asked to tender for the supply of timber. The tender was given to Patrick English of Malanda who agreed to supply and deliver all timber to the site for 48 shillings per 100 super feet.[18]
\nJames English, who gave £100, as well as Mick Lynch, Dan O’Connell, Peter and Lou Kenny and Jack Hanrahan, who all gave £50, made the first donations towards the building of the church. These men were all members of the building committee. James English then donated 1 acre, 1 rood and 39.5 perches (0.6ha) of land, valued at about £600, from the grounds of his home, upon which the church would be built.[19]
\nCatherine English, an avid Catholic, wanted to see the church built in her time, but she died in January 1926.[20] Halfpapp commenced construction after late July 1926;[21] the building of the church was finalised by November 1926 and it was opened and blessed by Bishop Heavey on 23 January 1927.[22]
\nA contemporary newspaper article reported that the main building of the new ‘Roman Catholic Church’, built of Tableland timbers with an iron roof, was 52ft by 28ft (15.9m by 8.5m); with two attached sacristies measuring 12ft (3.7m) square. Located on a site overlooking Malanda, its style was Gothic, with double (lined) walls, and ‘an unusual feature is the overhanging principals of the roof, which have verge projections from the wall plates and make the appearance and ventilation much better. The principals are neatly chamfered, and are supported on arched brackets, which are connected with steel rods in place of the beams. The ceiling is also of an unusual type, consisting of diagonal panels, with wooden mouldings between the principals, each alternate panel being reversed, thus resembling a huge herring-bone scheme. The windows are of coloured cathedral glass…The seats and kneeling forms are light, strong and neat, and are of a pattern different from those commonly used’.[23] The timber had been supplied by Patrick English’s Phoenix sawmill in Malanda; the joinery was supplied by GE Smith of Mareeba; and electricity was laid on from James English’s home nearby.[24]
\nThe timber for the altar is said to have come from the English property as well. The altar with reredos (an ornamental screen behind the altar) was designed by Hassall and built in Mareeba by cabinet maker Steve Purcell, at a reported cost of £1200, and was delivered to Malanda in November 1928.[25] In 1941 the altar and reredos had a different colour scheme to that seen in 2019 (currently painted white, with gold trim), with the altar columns and plinth having a marbled appearance.[26] A sealed brass tabernacle (box) was added to the altar in the late 1950s; and the height of the dais, on which the altar with reredos stands, has been reduced since the late 1960s.[27]
\nThe church’s grounds were later extended to the north in 1946, when 3 roods and 39.5 perches (0.4ha) of land was transferred from four spinsters, who had owned it since 1932, to the Corporation of the Sisters of Mercy of the Diocese of Cairns.[28] A presbytery was built, just southwest of the church, c1959, when the parish of Malanda was established.[29] Sections of the church grounds, in the north and the south, were progressively sold, in 1961, 1987 and 2017.[30]
\nJames English died at his home in Malanda in January 1951, and his funeral was held at St James Church, before he was buried at Atherton cemetery.[31] In 2019, St James Church still stands on Monash Avenue, just north of ‘The Jungle’.
","criteria":"The St James Catholic Church (1926) is important in demonstrating the development of the Atherton Tablelands region following closer agricultural settlement in the early 20th century. The church was built with locally milled timber, on land donated by the English family, one of the earliest selectors in the area.
|The St James Catholic Church is a fine example of a Gothic timber church. It retains its high-pitched, gabled roof; chamferboard external cladding and horizontal tongue and groove internal lining; choir loft; lancet windows; Celtic cross finials; decorative brackets to the eaves; and most of the original furnishings, including the carved timber altar with reredos, and timber pews. The ventilation under the eaves represents the adaption of a European design to the Queensland climate.
|The simple design, incorporating carved internal detailing and furniture, demonstrates a high level of craftsmanship using local timber. The altar with reredos (c1928), a remarkable and highly ornate original fitting, has been retained and adapted to suit changes in the liturgy. In its open, churchyard setting, the church is an attractive feature within the streetscape.
|It has a special association with the Catholic community of Malanda. Both the fundraising for the Church and its design and construction were projects involving the wider community within the first 20 years of closer settlement in the district.
|The St James Catholic Church has a special association with the life of the English Family. Known as the founders of Malanda, James and Catherine English were early selectors who arrived in the region when the district was opened up in 1907 under the Queensland Government's Special Agricultural Selections Act 1901. James English, who later introduced the Australian Illawarra Shorthorn breed of dairy cattle to the Atherton Tableland, donated the land for the church.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion G | 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 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 | 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":16297,"place_ref":601534,"name":"Nettle Creek Tin Dredge","alternate_name":"Battle Creek Tin Dredge | Barrytown Gold Dredge | Barrytown 2 Dredge","street_address":"Nettle Creek","suburb":"MOUNT GARNET","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"1995-09-22","description":"The Nettle Creek Tin Dredge is located in Nettle Creek, 14 km east of Mount Garnet and 6 km south of Innot Hot Springs. Access is by track, south from the Kennedy Highway along the west bank of Nettle Creek.
The dredge is 47 metres long, 23 metres wide and 20 metres high above the pontoon deck., which in 1.9 metres deep. The dredge consists of a steel structure with three main levels supported by a pontoon located beached within the dredge pond. Most of the corrugated iron cladding has been removed, except for half a wall on the upper level.
All of the electrics have been removed, and only four jigs of the original eleven remain. A Vaughan gantry crane is located on the top level and two Richardson engines are on the base level. All of the buckets have been removed.
The dredge is located at its final point of operation in a pond contained by a partly breached earth dam. The course of Nettle Creek to the north is evidence of the dredge's operation and comprises a wide swathe of sandy, unrehabilitated watercourse largely devoid of trees or scrub.
","history":"The Alluvial Gold Co Ltd purchased the Battle Creek and Nettle Creek alluvial dredging leases from The Broken Hill Proprietary Co Ltd in August 1949. The leases were situated between Ravenshoe and Mt Garnet, North Queensland, and comprised tin bearing deposits which followed the courses of Battle and Nettle Creeks with both areas crossing the Kennedy Highway between Ravenshoe and Mt Garnet. The Nettle Creek area was divided into two sections, the upper section was shallow and crossed by several granite bars, but was rich in tin.
Alluvial cassiterite (SnO2 tin oxide) has been mined in the Mt Garnet area since 1881. In the area, the four creeks (Smiths, Return, Battle and Nettle Creeks) have provided the majority of the concentrates. Bucket line dredging was begun on Return Creek by Tableland Tin Dredging Co Ltd in the early to mid 1930s, and on Battle Creek by Ravenshoe Tin Dredging Co Ltd in 1957.
The Nettle Creek Tin Dredge was originally designed by FW Payne & Sons, England, and built c.1937 (according to photographs of the dredge under construction) in New Zealand by the Oak Ridge Co Ltd for Gold Mines Of New Zealand Co Ltd. The dredge was named the FW Payne and was operated as a gold dredge for Barrytown Gold Dredging Co Ltd in Barrytown, located on the west coast of the South Island. All the original equipment was British, including the two surviving Richardson electric motors and bucket drive cog wheels, and a Vaughan 15 ton gantry crane. The dredge originally had approximately 60 12 cubic feet buckets, and the Richardson RGP motors were supplied by cable with power from a land-based generator plant.
Alluvial Gold Co Ltd had the FW Payne dismantled in New Zealand, and the Ravenshoe Tin Dredging Co Ltd, which was established in 1953, purchased the dredge which arrived in Queensland in 1954. The dredge was landed in Cairns and railed to Battle Creek where a new pontoon was constructed and it was rebuilt. The dredge was considerably modified by the Alluvial Mining Equipment Co Ltd to make it suitable to dredge the above leases, as conditions of the lease to rehabilitate the tailings required a by-pass conveyor to be installed. The dredge was required to excavate a 20 feet (6.096 metres) depth of overburden which by-passed the treatment plant and was deposited over the tailings at the stern, and to dig 40 feet (12.192 metres) below water level into the ore bearing sand and gravel.
The re-erection of the dredge was completed on the Battle Creek area in November 1957 and commenced working upstream, until 1962 when it worked south across the highway. The dredge as modified was considered a most successful unit, having given good running time with reasonable maintenance, considering the most difficult and hard dredging conditions it has passed through. The dredge operated 7 days per week, 24 hours per day with a staff of 70 working 4 shifts.
The dredging of Battle Creek finished in February 1965, and the dredge was dismantled and a new pontoon was constructed on Nettle Creek north of the highway. From 1965 to 1992 the dredge worked down Nettle Creek, across the highway, to its present location. It had completed the original area by 1976, after which time the dredge worked the lower reaches of Nettle Creek.
The development of the bucket line dredge began in 1877 in the gold fields along the Clutha River in Otago, New Zealand. The second stage of dredge development is credited to the Californian gold fields, and higher capacity units were engineered. From gold the use of bucket line dredges spread to tin mining in Malaysia and Indonesia. The first reported unit in this area was off Phuket, Thailand in 1907.
Bucket line dredges are more capable of handling boulders and timber than other forms of dredges such as suction cutters. A dredge may be designed to handle the particular conditions of the area to be mined, including the presence of boulders, timber, gravel, sands, hard bands and clays.
Occurrence of Tin Ore
Tin ore occurs naturally as brown or black grains of free cassiterite (SnO2) and it is frequently found with the gravel in ancient or present creek beds where it was deposited by the alluvial action of running water after weathering from the original lode. Cassiterite contains almost 80% tin and after concentration is dried, bagged and shipped to smelters where it is cast into metal ingots. Its main use is for coating metal cans, but it is also an important constituent of alloys and solder.
Because of the low concentration of cassiterite in an alluvial deposit, large quantities of material must be handled in recovering it. The alluvial deposits generally occur at relatively shallow depths and it is possible, by test boring, to ascertain fairly accurately the extent of the area to be mined and the amount of tin ore likely to be recovered. Where sufficient water is available the most economical method of mining the deposit is by dredging.
Operation of a Bucket Line Dredge
A mining dredge comprises a mechanical excavator and a screening, washing and concentrating plant, all mounted on a pontoon. The dredge performs four functions:
1. Excavates the alluvial material
2. Screens the material into two or more sizes, usually with a revolving screen
3. Treats the fines to recover their metallic or heavy components, usually on tables or jigs
4. Deposits the fines from the treatment plant and the coarse rejects from the screen to the rear of the dredge.
The dredge floats in an artificial pond often supplied with water from an outside source. It digs at the bow and deposits washed tailings at the stern, thus carrying the pond with it as it advances. The digging end comprises an endless chain of cast manganese steel buckets carried on a fabricated steel ladder at an angle of approximately 45 degrees when operating at maximum depth. The ladder carries a circular tumbler at its lower end and a series of rollers on its upper side to support the loaded buckets. The top, or driving, tumbler is normally hexagonal in shape and is driven by electric motors mounted on either side of the ladder. The size of a dredge is designated by the capacity of its individual bucket which can be up to 20 cubic feet but, in the case of the Nettle Creek dredge is 12 cubic feet.
As the buckets pass over the top tumbler they discharge into a hopper from where a chute directs the dredged material into a revolving (or trommel) screen. Here it is washed by high pressure water jets, the fine ore-bearing material passing through the perforations (normally about 10 mm in size) and proceeding to the treatment plant and the oversize material continuing over the screen. The undersize from the screen is passed to ore concentrating and recovery equipment, consisting at Nettle Creek of a series of pulsating jigs. The concentrate is removed for further treatment while the tailings are discharged down a sluice at the stern of the dredge.
The oversize from the trommel screen is passed to a conveyor mounted on a moveable arm at the stern of the dredge (normally called a stacker) and deposited behind the dredge. Traditionally, it is not rehabilitated but at Nettle Creek it is a requirement that the tailings be levelled and covered with topsoil, thereby restoring the dredged area to near its original state. This is accomplished by digging the topsoil ahead of the normal cut and passing it direct to the stacker on a by-pass conveyor for deposition on top of the tailings. The area is subsequently levelled by a bulldozer ready for normal agricultural use.
","criteria":"The Mt Garnet area is one of the earliest locations associated with tin mining in Far North Queensland, which gave significant impetus to the economic development of the region.
|As a relic, the Nettle Creek Tin Dredge still demonstrates bucket line dredging, a once common mining process, which was employed to extract tin ore from alluvial deposits. The Nettle Creek Tin Dredge and dredge pond are the most complete evidence of this form of tin mining in Queensland.
The dredge is a good example of the adaptability of some items of mining equipment, in this case from dredging gold in New Zealand to tin in Far North Queensland. The site provides tangible evidence of the often mercurial nature of an industry susceptible to fluctuations in base metal prices.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D","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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":16480,"place_ref":601743,"name":"Majestic Picture Theatre","alternate_name":"Majestic Theatre","street_address":"1 Eacham Place","suburb":"MALANDA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2010-02-05","description":"The Majestic Picture Theatre is located on the corner of Eacham Place and Catherine Street in Malanda on the Atherton Tableland opposite the Malanda Post Office. The theatre is a prominent building in the township and is located in close proximity to the Malanda Hotel, which is still owned by the English family, the original proprietors of the theatre.
The theatre is a large timber framed building with a decorative curved and stepped parapet concealing the gabled roof auditorium and skillion roofed aisles of the theatre behind. The building is supported on concrete stumps and local rainforest hardwood is used throughout the building for framing, cladding and flooring.
The building's façade facing Eacham Place to the north-west is lined horizontally with painted chamferboards. Accessed from the footpath by three concrete stairs, the entrance to the theatre is recessed and comprises a pair of single light three panel doors with single panel sidelights. A poster bill frame hangs on the wall between the entrance and a double-hung two light sash window to the north and a mosaic mural (created as part of the Centenary of Federation celebrations) hangs on the south side of the entrance.
Six timber posts fixed to raised concrete footings support a later metal sheeted timber framed awning over the footpath. Centred in the wall above the awning, four pairs of two light casement windows provide natural light and ventilation to the projection room. Fixed above the windows is an awning and above that is signage bearing the name: 'Majestic Theatre'.
The north-eastern elevation facing Catherine Street is lined with metal sheeting and contains seven double-hung two light sash windows and three pairs of exit doors with steps to street. Above the skillion roof and along the full length of the building, two light top-hung sash windows provide ventilation to the auditorium.
On the opposite side of the building the south-west elevation is similarly detailed with three exit doors and five windows as well as a door to the kitchen at its western end. A later concrete block addition that contains toilets is attached to the exterior of the original building.
The rear elevation facing a service lane is lined with ripple iron.
Internally the theatre retains many of its early features, including entrance foyer, auditorium, projection-room above the entrance foyer, mezzanine 'dress circle', stage, seating and dressing rooms.
The entrance foyer has clear finished hardwood floors, the joinery is painted and walls and ceiling are lined with flat sheeting and cover strips. The northern side of the foyer contains a ticket box and the 1930s Simplex projector is on display. A kitchen is located on the southern side of the foyer together with a door leading to the southern aisle and to the mezzanine stairs in the auditorium.
A pair of doors from the foyer open into the auditorium, the main volume of which is separated from the aisles by timber arcades with slatted timber valances. At the south-eastern end of the auditorium furthest from the entrance doors is a hardwood stage, with a later stage area in front. The walls, balcony balustrade and ceiling of the auditorium are lined with v-jointed tongue and groove boarding and the external walls of the aisles are clad with flat sheeting. In the centre of the ceiling, a ventilation panel of timber lattice runs the length of the auditorium.
The projection room, with walls and ceilings lined with flat sheeting and timber battens is located over the entrance foyer with the mezzanine 'dress circle' either side accessed via timber steps from the aisles. The dress circle extends several metres along the walls of the auditorium and its solid balustrade is surmounted by a timber railing.
The auditorium has early oak-framed canvas seats. Originally these contained groups of one, two and four seats, but these have been replaced as groups of three and four seats, providing seating for approximately 100 patrons. There is additional seating for approximately 63 on later steel-framed canvas seats.
The dressing rooms on either side of the stage are accessed by timber doors from each aisle. Each dressing room has a double hung two-light sash window, a pair of exit doors and access to the stage via timber stairs and stage doors. Both dressing rooms have unpainted timber walls covered with chalk graffiti, particularly in the male dressing room.
","history":"The Majestic Picture Theatre was built in 1928 and is associated with one of Malanda's prominent settler families, the English family.
James English, widely acknowledged as the 'founder of Malanda', migrated to North Queensland from the Lismore district of New South Wales in 1907 in search of cedar. Although the abundance of timber on the Atherton Tablelands made the move profitable, it was the Queensland Government's 1907 Group Settlement Act that enabled English to take full advantage of the surrounding resources and establish himself and his family in the region. This Act permitted groups of selectors (including family groups or acquaintances) to apply for adjoining blocks prior to an area being opened for selection. The rainforest around Malanda was opened up under this scheme, and the English family was one of the first groups to take up land. James English established the Princes Sawmill near Malanda Falls to process timber cut in the area as farms were cleared. This mill supplied timber for many buildings in the Malanda township such as commercial shops in English Street, the Malanda Hotel and, in 1928, the Majestic Picture Theatre. English also established 'The Jungle' an important tourist attraction in Malanda during the 1920s.
Malanda expanded rapidly during the interwar period. Local dairy farmers successfully agitated for their own branch of the Atherton Tablelands Cooperative Butter and Bacon Company in 1919. The Gillies Highway opened in 1926 and brought more tourists to the town. In addition, alluvial gold was found at the nearby Boonjie Goldfields in 1928, bringing more wealth into the town. These developments prompted English's son, Patrick 'Paddy' English, to look beyond the family's sawmilling, dairying, farming and hotel activities and pursue an emerging sensation in public entertainment: the "Cinematographe" (moving pictures).
The Majestic Picture Theatre was designed as a 'tropical' theatre by local North Queensland architect Bob Hassell and constructed by builder Albie Halfpapp. A hard top theatre, with an auditorium designed to enhance air circulation, the place reflected a popular type of purpose-built picture theatre in interwar Queensland. Completed in December 1928, it was a timber-framed structure clad in weatherboards with a gabled roof and timber clad parapet, and was constructed entirely of rainforest hardwoods. The theatre was dedicated and opened on 14 December 1928 by Fred Browning, superintendent of Atherton Ambulance Centre. All proceeds from a concert held on opening night were donated to the Atherton Ambulance. Screening of the first films took place on 21 December 1928 and featured Charles Chauvel's first film, "The Moth of Moombi".
Large, purpose-built, single auditorium picture theatres, both open-air and hard-top, were constructed throughout Queensland during the interwar period. Almost every town and suburb in the State had its local picture theatre by the late 1930s. Many of these structures, including the Majestic Picture Theatre at Malanda, employed recognised façade 'styles' which the public came to associate with film exhibition venues. Like many of the fanciful names given to Queensland picture theatres, the name 'Majestic' was derivative of much grander overseas theatres and cinemas.
Initially, silent films were accompanied by an in-house pianist. The casework for the Beale piano at the Majestic was made to order by the Beale Company in New South Wales from figured maple, cut on Patrick English's property and specially selected and sawn by him. When "talking pictures" were introduced, English purchased a Raycophone voice machine, designed by NSW radio engineer Ray Allsop. Raycophones were widely adopted by Australian cinemas - by mid-1937, when the sound wiring of all 1,420 Australian cinemas was complete, 345 Raycophone systems had been installed.
The Majestic Picture Theatre has been owned and operated independently since it opened in 1928. In 1933, English sold the theatre to Pollard Bros who also owned and ran the Roxy Theatre in Atherton. Jack Henson purchased the theatre in 1939 and ran it with his wife, Lil Henson, during World War II until 1969. Thousands of war-time U.S. servicemen were based on the Atherton Tablelands and the theatre was an important social venue and meeting place for troops and locals during the war. Picture nights were held on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and the American troops often used the hall to hold dances. Newsreels were an important communication tool during this era, and screenings at the Majestic kept troops and locals up-to-date with the latest war news.
Following the war, picture theatres remained popular entertainment venues for Australian families. The newsreel connected country audiences with news of the day, including their first close-up view of a newly elected national leader or Australia's latest sporting hero. However, the advent of television during the mid-1950s began to erode attendance at cinemas - although this change was not as immediate in country areas as in the larger towns and cities.
For almost three generations, a pair of Simplex 35mm projectors, manufactured in the early 1930s, coupled with Western Electric sound units, provided Majestic Picture Theatre patrons with high quality and reliable exhibition until 1984. The Simplex machines, one of which is on permanent display in the theatre foyer, were replaced 'piecemeal' from 1984 by Westrex Simplex RCA and Starscope 14 lamp-houses that continue the tradition of carbon arc illumination. In 2000, the theatre's sound system was upgraded with the installation of a Dolby Digital Cinema Processor along with three 15" front-of-house Altec speakers and horns (left, centre and right of screen), and with 24 (12 left and 12 right) surround speakers.
Like many other picture theatres in north Queensland, the Majestic has also been used for community meetings. Shareholders of the Atherton Tablelands Cooperative Butter Association, for example, used the premises as a meeting place for 47 years. Significantly, it was the venue where Tableland dairy farmers resolved to go on strike on 1 March 1947 when the government decided not to subsidise northern dairy farmers after the 1946 drought after subsidising farmers in the south.
With the introduciton of television services to the Tablelands in the 1960s patronage of the Majestic Picture Theatre at Malanda declined. As a business the Majestic became unviable and the Henson's put the place on the market. Rather than see it close, Eacham Shire Council negotiated to purchase the building for $8,000. They have since been responsible for its maintenance. The Council continued screening films for a time and then leased it to series of film exhibitors in the 1970s.
The availability of affordable video players and the convenience of cassette hire further reduced attendance at picture theatres during the 1980s. Malanda Little Theatre Company, which later became the Malanda Theatre Company, leased the Majestic Picture Theatre for 15 years in 1981. They staged theatrical plays and in turn sub-let the building for film screenings. One day a month, the building was sub-let to stall holders for a market before this was transferred to the Malanda Showgrounds. The Majestic was leased to Stewart Cardwell in 1990, who operated it in a share arrangement with the Malanda Theatre Company until 2004.
At the time of entry of the place in the Queensland heritage register in February 2010, films were still being screened regularly at the Majestic Picture Theatre by an independent exhibitor (every Friday and Saturday and some Sundays). The Malanda Theatre Company was still staging productions at this venue, alternating performances with film exhibition.
","criteria":"The Majestic Picture Theatre, built in 1928 by one of Malanda's prominent settler families, the English family, is one of the oldest continually operating country picture theatres in Queensland. It contributes significantly to our understanding of how Queensland's leisure and entertainment history has evolved and is tangible evidence of this development in the tropical Far North. Before the introduction of television, picture theatres in Queensland enjoyed widespread popularity, particularly in rural areas providing not only entertainment but also a venue for social interaction. The Majestic Theatre is one of the few interwar picture theatres still screening regularly in Queensland.
|The Majestic Picture Theatre is a good example of a 1920s regional picture theatre adapted to Queensland's tropical climate. Constructed using local rainforest timbers, the building's interior and exterior intactness is notable, and the place is important in illustrating the principal characteristics of its type, including: the distinctive form and curved and stepped front parapet; the entrance foyer with early ticket box and display of early film projection equipment; the projection box located above the entrance foyer; the large auditorium with its ceiling ventilation panels, mezzanine 'dress circle', and early seating; and the early stage and associated dressing rooms.
|The Majestic Picture Theatre retains a high level of integrity and intactness and remains a rare surviving example of an interwar, single auditorium, 'tropical' picture theatre. This once popular form of picture theatre construction and design in Queensland is no longer common.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion B","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 demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":16522,"place_ref":602587,"name":"Barron Valley Hotel","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"53 Main Street","suburb":"ATHERTON","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2010-02-05","description":"The Barron Valley Hotel is a large, two-storeyed hotel of brick and concrete construction with a metal sheeted roof. It is located in the heart of the central business district of Atherton, on the north-western side of Main Street on the Kennedy Highway. Its allotment extends through to Railway Lane which runs adjacent to the Cairns Railway. The hotel is rectangular in plan comprising four wings built around a central courtyard and each wing has an external enclosed verandah and internal open verandah on both levels. Parapets to the outer walls conceal the main roof from exterior view.
The enclosed verandah which overhangs the Main Street footpath is the principal feature of the façade and is supported at the kerb line by piers constructed of bullnosed bricks. Above a solid brick balustrade, decorated with three diamond patterns of diagonal brickwork, a continuous rendered masonry sill underlines seven banks of eight-light casement windows between the brick piers. The verandah roof, clad in metal sheeting, has multiple hips that project over alternate banks of windows. The brick parapet with rendered capping is accentuated by a horizontal band of decorative render and a central vertical projection formed with stepped brickwork.
The rear and side boundary walls, constructed of a concrete frame with contrasting dark brown brick infill balustrading and parapet, form the outer verandah walls. The verandahs are enclosed with windows (both early timber casement and later sliding aluminium sashes). The northern corner at the rear of the hotel projects forward and above the parapet and has a decorative rendered cornice.
At street level the front of the hotel (south-east wing) retains its early black skirting tile and fine bands of horizontal cream tiles dividing green wall tiles. The recessed main entrance, in the southern corner, is tiled to door height and the tiling extends as a dado along the remainder of the hotel frontage. Above the entrance doors and adjacent narrow windows, a glazed sign with metallic trim bears the name of the hotel in large stylised lettering. The underside of the verandah is lined with flat sheet and decorated with a stylised pattern of timber battens.
The main entrance opens into the foyer which has an intact interior featuring a decorative plaster ceiling and cornice, polished timber floors and timber joinery including wall and counter panelling with inlaid timber detailing, a main stair, reception area and early furniture. The public bar, adjacent private bar and the main lounge open off the foyer.
The public bar with two entrance doors from Main Street and a window between, features early cream tiled walls with black tile detailing to complement the inlaid timber panelling in the foyer and an early terrazzo floor and bar with later laminate counter. North of the public bar, a passage way from the street provides additional access to the public bar as well as the central courtyard and an adjacent tenancy. A pharmacy, with a recent fitout and shopfront, occupies a large proportion of the eastern corner of the ground floor and was formerly the billiards saloon. In the eastern corner, a small, intact barber's shop has an early shopfront, early fixtures and vertical tongue and groove boarded interior lining.
In the south-west wing, the lounge opens off the entrance foyer through veneer doors that match the wall panelling and is separated from the dining room in the western corner by leadlight bi-fold doors. The lounge has an open fire place and both lounge and dining rooms have polished timber floors and decorative plaster cornice and ceilings. Both the lounge and dining rooms have eight light doors that open onto external and internal verandahs. Adjoining the dining room area is a private dining room and the hotel kitchen which form the north-west wing.
The courtyard is used as an outdoor lounge/dining area and has shade sails supported on a new veranda which runs along the north side of the lounge and the east side of the kitchen and private dining room. An open passageway behind the north-east wing (pharmacy) provides external access to the courtyard.
The upper level houses the hotel's accommodation of approximately 30 bedrooms. The main access to this level is from the entrance foyer and there are secondary stairs within the courtyard and on the external verandah in the north-west wing. Each wing of the building has a central corridor with bedrooms either side that have access either to the internal or external verandahs. A sun deck has been constructed within the south-eastern end of the courtyard void. There are four communal bathrooms and in the north-east and north-west wings, a number of bedrooms have been converted to ensuites for adjoining bedrooms. In the north-west wing there is a larger room for family accommodation in the northern corner and a communal lounge in the western corner. The corridors have plastered and painted walls and polished timber floors. The bathroom in the north-eastern wing has early tiling and fixtures.
The large enclosed verandah extending over the footpath houses recreation areas and a meeting room divided with single-skin timber framed partition walls. The ceiling is lined with flat sheet and finished with timber cover battens in a stylised pattern.
In the grounds behind the hotel facing Railway Lane is a detached bottle shop which is a later addition and is not considered to be of cultural heritage significance.
","history":"The Barron Valley Hotel was constructed in 1940-1941 and is located on the main street of Atherton. The site has been used continuously for hotel and accommodation purposes since 1890 and illustrates the role played by early hotels in the development and expansion of regional settlements. The present hotel, with its distinctive streamlined decorative detailing in the interior public spaces, has been run by the Nasser family for over 70 years.
Early European settlements on the Atherton Tablelands developed along the route from Port Douglas to the Herberton at Granite Creek near Mareeba, Rocky Creek near Atherton and Scrubby Creek near Carrington. Atherton, which takes its name from pastoralist John Atherton, was originally known as Prior's Pocket after Thomas Prior, a timber getter who was the first European to camp there permanently. The settlement grew to shelter men engaged in lumbering operations, including four brothers from the Mazlin family who played a key role in the local timber industry; much of the timber they cut was used to construct Atherton's early buildings.
The town was surveyed in 1885 by surveyor Falcone Hutten and the first town lots were sold in Atherton on 23 February 1886. From the mid-1890s Atherton's popularity as a settlement increased and it became firmly established as the main centre on the Tablelands. During the first years of settlement Atherton was also a staging post for Cobb and Co. Coaches, which stopped at the Barron Valley Hotel on their way between Herberton and Port Douglas. Atherton provided the surrounding mining population with the bulk of its produce and its importance as a regional centre was cemented by the arrival of the railway from Cairns in 1903. The railway was located behind the Barron Valley Hotel and eventually replaced the Cobb and Co. routes through to Herberton.
Thomas Peake's original Barron Valley Hotel - a shack beside the track to Herberton - was built in the 1890s. It was soon replaced by a single-storeyed hotel, which was also a Cobb & Co. way station and general store. In 1907-1908 it was rebuilt as a two-storeyed timber hotel, which became a feature of early life in Atherton and was a meeting place for all manner of occasions. Mr McCraw was the first licensee of this third hotel on the site and it became known as McCraw's Barron Valley Hotel.
Sconder (Alexander) Nasser, a Lebanese migrant whose family had emigrated from Kousba to Clermont in Queensland in the late nineteenth century, took over the ownership of the hotel in 1930. A number of Lebanese (Syrian) migrants settled in North Queensland pre-1900 and in the early twentieth century, particularly in coastal regions such as Innisfail and in the North West such as Charters Towers. Most worked as traders or shopkeepers but did not settle in dense communities. The Nasser family arranged a marriage between Sconder and Amelia Moses, from a Lebanese family based in Atherton, in 1912. Initially Sconder and Amelia returned to work in Clermont, but moved north after the disastrous 1916 Clermont floods. Initially they both worked at the Moses-owned Exchange Hotel (destroyed 1933 and rebuilt as the Grand Hotel) in Atherton. Prior to purchasing the Barron Valley Hotel, Nasser ran the town's first taxi service, operated a barber shop and built the first motor car garage in Atherton.
In the late 1930s Nasser decided to replace the two-storeyed timber hotel with a more substantial structure and engaged prominent Cairns architects Richard Hill and AJH Taylor to design it. Hill & Taylor, in partnership 1927-c1940 and 1945-1952, designed a number of prominent north Queensland civic buildings between the first and second world wars, including the Cairns City Council Chambers (1929-1930, QHR 601576), Cairns Post Office (1930), Johnstone Shire Hall in Innisfail (1935-1938, QHR 601579), Mossman Shire Hall (1936), and a number of country hospitals, including Mossman District Hospital (c1930, QHR 602713) and Proserpine Hospital (1939-1940, QHR 601573). This association with Hill and Taylor, as well as the distinctive interior detailing, underpinned the hotel's listing as a significant example of 20th century Queensland architecture by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects in 2005.
The new Barron Valley Hotel was a two-storeyed brick building which featured 30 bedrooms, a billiards parlour, two bars, and a lounge and dining room separated by decorative leadlight folding doors, which could be opened to create one large dance hall or ballroom accommodating up to 250 dancers. A barber's shop opened directly to the street. The hotel was opened on Saturday 12 July 1941 with a dance. At the time of opening the interior was described as being dignified and up-to-date with deep cream and gold walls and polished timber floors.
In 1942, during World War II, the Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Military Forces, General Sir Thomas Blamey, investigated using the Atherton and Evelyn Tablelands as a base for rehabilitating and training troops. Four officers made a thorough examination of the area, where already more than 5,000 troops were located, and selected a number of sites in the relatively dry western belt of the Tableland. They recommended that only two divisions be placed on the Tableland in view of the limitations imposed by the wet season, water supply and communications. The Tablelands were within easy reach of the battlefields of New Guinea and the climate gave the troops respite from the tropical heat of the coast and assisted in the convalescence of sick and wounded soldiers. The Tablelands also provided access to a training area similar to that of the South East Asian environment.
The establishment of the Tablelands Base Area in 1942 created a constant flow of Army traffic through Atherton's main street. Many of Atherton's buildings housed both Australian and American forces. The School of Arts building was taken over by the Red Cross, and the Girl Guides hall by the Australian Army for use as its historical section, while the Sharples Theatre became an Army Canteen. The Military took over the Atherton Showground and remained there for three years, building the Merriland Hall defence canteen (QHR 602016). The Barron Valley Hotel was requisitioned by the Australian Army as an officers club, mess hall and accommodation for two and a half years. For a few months before moving to Port Moresby, General Blamey made the hotel his base.
In 1945, Sconder's son Harold returned from three years military service and took over the running of the hotel. He retired from running the hotel in 1990 and the next generation of the family took over. In 2009 Harold's son Michael and his wife Maree are still the licensees and Harold's other son, David, runs the adjoining but detached bottle shop. Under Michael Nasser's ownership, the hotel underwent a major refurbishment between 2002 and 2007, which included: replacing the old iron roof; installing wheelchair access to a new deck and dining area; developing new men's and disabled bathroom facilities; upgrading the kitchen; and restoring the early furniture.
The Barron Valley Hotel has played an important role in providing accommodation for businesspersons, visitors and tourists to the Tablelands and has been promoted in tourism brochure over many years, including the 1949 Cairns, Innisfail & Atherton Tableland Visitors Directory. As Atherton's leading hotel the Barron Valley has provided accommodation for distinguished visitors including several Queensland governors. Its dining room/lounge have been used regularly for meetings, conferences and social functions. Local sporting clubs and community groups have been supported by the owners of the hotel and have a close association with the place.
","criteria":"The Barron Valley Hotel is notable amongst Queensland hotels of the late 1930s/early 1940s for the integrity of its layout and the intactness and quality of its interior, which employs a variety of decorative applied design elements and materials popular at the time of its construction. The main entrance foyer and staircase, which display a lavish use of North Queensland timbers in streamlined decorative finishes, fixtures and early furniture, are particularly fine.
The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a substantial 'Art Deco' hotel of the late 1930s/early 1940s in a regional centre, retaining:
- its original form and function;
- early street presence;
- early configuration with upper floor accommodation, public spaces on the ground floor (including entrance foyer, lounge, dining room, public bar, private bar and former billiards room - the latter occupied by a retail pharmacy in 2009) and barber's shop opening directly to the street;
- extensive early finishes, fittings and fixtures, including: the timber joinery (main stair, wall panelling, cabinetwork, window and door joinery) made from local North Queensland timbers; polished timber floors; decorative battening to the fibrous-cement ceilings; leadlighting; tiling; terrazzo work; plaster and stucco work; glazed brick fireplace surround in the dining room/lounge; and signage; and
- early purpose-built furniture made from local North Queensland timbers (including dining room chairs and club chairs in the foyer).
The hotel is important in exemplifying the commercial work of the prominent Cairns architectural firm of R Hill and AJH Taylor (1927-c1940 and 1945-1952), which made a significant contribution to far north Queensland's built environment in the interwar years.
|The Barron Valley Hotel at Atherton, the principal town of the Atherton Tableland, was designed in 1939 and constructed 1940-1941. It is the fourth hotel on the site since 1890 and one of three large, substantially intact hotels on the Tableland - the other two being the Lake Eacham Hotel (1910-1911 extended 1926, QHR 600473) at Yungaburra and the Malanda Hotel (c1910) at Malanda - that have contributed significantly to the development of the region. The large Barron Valley Hotel has accommodated visitors to the region, including dignitaries, officials and tourists, and has provided a popular meeting venue and social and recreational focus for Atherton and district since the 1940s.
The Barron Valley Hotel is important for its historical association with the Atherton Tableland as a base for allied training and rehabilitation during World War II, being requisitioned for about two and a half years during 1942-1944 as the Australian Army's officers' club, mess hall and accommodation, and providing briefly a home to General Sir Thomas Blamey, Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Military Forces.
Constructed for Sconder Nasser in 1940-1941 on the site of the previous Barron Valley Hotel which he acquired in 1930, the present Barron Valley Hotel is still owned and occupied by the Nasser family and exemplifies the contribution made by Lebanese immigrants to the development of regional Queensland.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion D | Criterion A","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places | The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":16528,"place_ref":601791,"name":"Coolgarra Battery","alternate_name":"Coolgarra Old Furnace","street_address":"Coolgarra Station","suburb":"MOUNT GARNET","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2000-08-25","description":"The remains of the Coolgarra Battery are located in a steep sided valley in hilly country to the north-east of Mt Garnet. Derwent Creek runs through the valley, this creek is ephemeral.
The Coolgarra Battery site comprises a series of benches extending down the northwest slope of the valley. A tall, redbrick chimney with a brick flue is the main feature of the site. This is one of only two brick chimneys surviving in the Herberton area (the other one being the Rocky Bluff Battery 15 km north-west of Herberton). The flue runs from the chimney to the boiler house site below the stamp battery. An old road curves to the northeast above the mullock heap. An earth ramp supported by bush timber posts has been built below the mullock heap. Below the ramp is a bush timber ore bin frame. Below this a stone retaining wall supports the bench where the stamp battery was located. There are concrete engine mounts and stamper foundations on the stamp battery. Another extensive stone retaining wall, which originally extended for over 110 metres, supports the main bench where the boiler house was located - 70 metres of this wall is still extant. Below this retaining wall several more earth benches support the concentration plant site and other infrastructure. The body of a return-tube boiler lies on the banks of the creek below the battery, this is not in situ. There is a considerable amount of iron debris lying around on the slope below the boiler house site, this includes iron tanks and wheels. An iron chute runs down the eastern side of the site, below an ore dump.
","history":"The Coolgarra Battery is situated on Derwent Creek, 15 kilometres north-east of Mount Garnet. The battery was constructed in 1901 by John Moffat's Irvinebank Company. When built, it was a modern plant utilising the best and most labour-saving designs. The battery was built to service the adjacent alluvial and lode tin fields. Its location was chosen for its ability to provide an almost inexhaustible supply of water needed to operate the battery.
In 1882 James Venture Mulligan, prospecting at the headwaters of Return and Emu Creeks, made discoveries of alluvial and lode tin which started rushes to the district. At Return Creek, a tributary of the Herbert River, many shafts were sunk on the lode claims and, although no underground workings had begun, mining companies became interested in the prospects. The rush to Return Creek attracted both local and southern investors and when S.J.Delaney applied, on 5 September 1882, for a machine site on Return Creek this encouraged further tin lode prospecting. People began arriving and settling at Return Creek and the first hotel was built in 1882.
The influx of prospectors and investors to the area created the beginnings of Coolgarra, which became a busy tin mining centre. Coolgarra was surveyed on 9 February 1884 by Peter G. Grant. As tin prices increased, many southern speculators were eager to join Delaney and on 16 April 1883 they formed the Beaconsfield Tin Mining Company with a capital of 25,000 pounds. They planned to erect a battery to crush, not only ore from their own numerous leases, but public stone as well. However, the machinery needed for these works was delayed, firstly in transit and then later in its construction. The Beaconsfield battery did not begin crushing until March of 1884, at the end of the wet season, and the venture failed. During this time, Coolgarra's miners had been sending their ore to John Moffat's batteries at Herberton and Watsonville.
By 1885 Coolgarra was growing, the township with five hotels, and several productive mines. In 1896 John Moffats's Irvinebank Mining Company began building a battery at Coolgarra on the Derwent Creek, a tributary of Return Creek. Extensive preparations were made for crushing and dressing plants and much of the machinery was in place by the end of 1900. The Irvinebank Company's battery, which superseded an earlier small battery erected at Coolgarra by a local man (possibly Dempsey), began crushing in 1901. It was built on the side of a steep sided valley and is believed to be the steepest battery site in North Queensland. Its design incorporated a series of benches and involved the construction of one of the largest and most extensive stone retaining walls connected with a North Queensland mining site. The Irvinebank battery had two log crate dams, the top one known as the Big Dam.
A tramline was laid from the Alhambra mine to the battery. Alhambra was the largest mine operating on the Coolgarra field and was the only mine in the area. Loaded ore trucks ran from the mine down to the mill, while horses hauled the empty trucks back up. Coolgarra's output of tin rose in the years 1901 to 1903, the Alhambra alone producing 20,000 pounds worth of tin in that period. The community had grown from 93 in 1893 to close to 250 in 1903. In that year 8,650 tons of ore were raised and treated but by October of 1903, work was suspended pending financial reconstruction of the company known as Coolgarra Tin Mines Amalgamated. At this stage also, mines were beginning to produce a lower grade ore, which created an overall slow-down.
In 1904 the Mining Warden noted that a period of depression had recently occurred, but felt that a brighter future could be expected for Coolgarra. And indeed, 1906 was said to be one of the better years for the area, with the battery working three shifts a day. However, although small miners and new discoveries kept work going, the larger mines were beginning to slow down. The Irvinebank Company's involvement in the operation of the Coolgarra battery ceased in 1906. A syndicated headed by Fred Taylor kept it operating to about 1910. By 1912 the battery had been dismantled and transported to Koorborra. This handicapped prospectors and led to the decline of the whole area. When the Big Dam collapsed after heavy storms in 1916, only a few prospectors stayed to work the area.
There was a wolfram-led revival in 1911 and in 1918 Bill Craven erected a battery on the foundations of the Irvinebank Company's Coolgarra battery. It operated until about 1928, but nothing of note occurred in the area after that. The site of Coolgarra township was dredged and almost totally erased when the Tableland Tin dredge went through the town site in the late 1970s.
","criteria":"The Coolgarra Battery is significant in demonstrating the evolution of Queensland's mining history because it is an example of ore processing in a remote, difficult site.
|The Coolgarra Battery demonstrates rare aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage as the steepest battery site recorded in North Queensland and one of the largest and most extensive stone retaining walls associated with a North Queensland mining site. In addition, the site has one of only two surviving brick chimneys in the Herberton area.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B","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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":16552,"place_ref":601815,"name":"Rocky Creek World War Two Hospital Complex (former)","alternate_name":"Rocky Creek WWII Hospital Complex (former) | Rocky Creek Second World War Hospital Complex (former)","street_address":"Kennedy Highway","suburb":"ROCKY CREEK","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2000-02-25","description":"The Rocky Creek World War II Hospital Complex site consists of the Entertainment Igloo and building remnants of the 2/2nd AGH, located on Frazer Road Reserve.
ENTERTAINMENT IGLOO:
The Rocky Creek Igloo is located on the southern side of the Kennedy Highway, approximately five kilometres north of Tolga. The World War II building is nearly rectangular in plan, 42.6 metres in length and 22 metres wide at its widest point. It is composed of two major elements: an "igloo" which formed the auditorium of the theatre; and the stage and backstage area.
The igloo has a curved auditorium roof 34 metres long, and has an overall width of 17.4 metres and a clear internal span of 16.8 metres. The interior space is 6.4 metres high to the top of the trusses, and the roof projects about a metre higher as a low-pitched gable to an overall height of about 7.5 metres.
The entire igloo stands on a concrete slab foundation about 18 metres by 34 metres in plan, with a raised kerb and two external drains running along the building's long sides, and twenty cast concrete feet which support the trusses. There are ten trusses spanning the interior space. Each is composed of two curved half-trusses which are pinned at the foundations and at the apex where they meet: a three-pin truss system. The trusses are made entirely of sawn pieces of native hardwood nailed together.
The roof of the igloo is clad with corrugated iron, the centre section of which has been angled up into a low-pitched gable. Rafters and the upper chords of the trusses support timber purlins, to which the corrugated iron is nailed. There is a ventilating gap in the roof above the centreline, protected by a raised sheetmetal ridge capping which is semi-circular in section. The curved roof has no guttering; water simply runs off into concrete drains on either side of the building.
Most of the interior of the auditorium is one large clear space. There are seven major ground-level openings into the auditorium, all symmetrically positioned. In the centre of the front wall are large double doors in the mid-point and at the rear end of each side wall, all protected by small skillion roofs. The rear doors are fitted with theatre exit bolts made by J Adams and Son of Sydney.
Along each side of the curved wall there are seven dormer windows with iron sides and skillion roofs, fitted with horizontally-pivoting window panes of Caneite. The only glass in the auditorium is in four small casement windows in the front wall. Low down on the side walls there is a horizontal opening in the iron for ventilation.
The stage and backstage area are housed in a more conventional timber-framed building with a gabled roof, which rises to about 9 metres above the ground at the ridge. It was built as a symmetrical structure continuing the centreline of the auditorium and it extends 8.6 metres along that axis and projects out sideways beyond the sides of the auditorium to 22 metres wide. The stage building is clad externally on its walls and roof with corrugated asbestos cement sheeting. The stage floor is elevated about a metre above the ground.
The entire structure of the stage building appears to be of sawn hardwood, framed with vertical studs and horizontal rails. Some interior walls are lined with vertical tongue and groove boards, and the entire proscenium around the stage is faced with selected vertical boards, left unpainted. The quality of the original carpentry is very good.
Post-war modifications to the backstage area include the partitioning of the stage itself with a stud framed wall just behind the proscenium, and two small partitioned rooms located at the rear of the stage. A small external room in front of the toilet in the western corner is a further post-war addition. All partitions and additions are timber-framed, and the rooms are lined and have ceilings of either asbestos cement sheeting or hardboard.
FRAZER ROAD - WESTERN SIDE:
Frazer Road extends in a south-eastern direction from the Entertainment Igloo.
The western side of Frazer Road contains several concrete floors on a long gentle slope running parallel to the road. From the northern end and extending south, the following remnants can be identified.
The "Disinfectant Room" , of which remains of the morgue can be identified. This includes a rectangular concrete floor with drain holes and two separate sewerage sumps, one on the north-eastern side and one on the east.
To the south-east of the disinfectant room, the remains of a bitumen road outcrop on the table drain at the edge of Frazer Road can be identified. This outcrop aligns with the road just south of the large cross-shaped ward.
Further south, remains of the "Dysentery Ward" include an elevated concrete slab with evidence of several walls and partitions. There are holes for drains and toilet outlets. There is a walkway leading down to the dysentery annexe (possible ablutions block). Marks in the concrete indicate that pans may have been used to supplement the toilets. There is a wing for beds running to the west and opposite that wing, to the east, there is another section of concrete floor that may have been another wing. The remains of garden beds are evident on either side of the western wing. There is a light glass, fibro and ceramic scatter surrounding the slab. At the northern corner is a sewerage inspection point. To the west-south-west is another, roughly in line with the end of the ward wing.
The remains of the "Psychiatric Ward" are located further up the slope. This is a cross-shaped ward. The north-south arm has a similar pattern of partitions, drains and toilet outlets to that of the Dysentery Ward. There are two simple wings to the east and west. Located close to the end of the western wing are the remains of a brick incinerator which has been relocated to this site. There is a sewerage inspection point on the north-east corner.
Remains of a bitumen road running roughly east-west are evident further along Frazer Road. This area has a scatter of artefacts including a drug bottle, and also a scatter of introduced garden plant species.
Further south are the remains of the "Venereal Disease Ward", another cross-shaped ward. The name "Hooks" has been scratched into the concrete of the annexe.
Twenty metres east of the VD Ward, in close proximity to Frazer Road, is another rectangular floor with no notable details. There is no known evidence of its former use.
To the south of the VD Ward are the remains of three concrete slabs that are slightly terraced. These are the remains of a former garden bed on either end of the southern-most terrace. The eastern edges of the northern concrete slab are crumbling badly. Further west is the remains of another concrete slab with an annexe running NNW-SE and a wing at right angles running south-west. This formed part of the Isolation Ward. It has been severely damaged by recent bulldozer activity.
East of the Isolation Ward and adjacent to Frazer Road is the remains of a small concrete floor with wall bases around the perimeter. The ground between the two elements contains a scatter of fibro, glass and ceramics.
FRAZER ROAD - EASTERN SIDE:
This section of the road reserve between Frazer Road and the cane field contains a cleared strip for high tension wires. The integrity of the hospital site remains on this side of the road are fair; road construction activities associated with the construction of Frazer Road, and the clearing of the large strip for the power line have caused damage to the site.
The eastern side of the road reserve contains the remains of several concrete floors and other remnants on a series of low wide terraces running roughly east-west. A fallen pole with ceramic insulators, evidence of roadways, broken sewerage pipes and a drainage line were all identified on the site.
","history":"The Rocky Creek World War II Hospital Complex was in operation from October 1942 until September 1945 as part of the medical installations established in North Queensland during World War II. Some 30 000 patients were treated at this facility in almost three years.
In the 1930s the threat of war with Japan became imminent. As Japanese aggression moved across the Pacific in the early 1940s, a military presence in North Queensland gradually intensified. The Australian Army first began investigating the resources of North Queensland in the late 1930s, and when war was declared on Japan on 9 December 1941, the construction of military installations began immediately. The bombing of Darwin (March 1942) and Townsville (July 1942), and the arrival of American troops in the north (from March 1942), added further impetus to the establishment of facilities in the area. When hostilities extended to Papua New Guinea in May 1942, the military presence in the north intensified further still.
The installation of medical infrastructure on the Rocky Creek site commenced on 6 October 1942 with the arrival of the 19th Field Ambulance from Calcium. They were charged with the preparation of a camp for the 5th Australian Camp Hospital (ACH). The 5th ACH arrived at Rocky Creek from Redbank on 14 October 1942. The Commanding Officer, Lt-Col LA Little (AAMC) and Matron K Cahill, assisted by several nursing sisters and a few male orderlies, established a small camp hospital on the south eastern side of Rocky Creek. Their duties complete, the 19th Field Ambulance left Rocky Creek on 17 October 1942 to set up camp just outside of Kuranda, where an Advanced Dressing Station (ADS) was to be established.
Over the next few weeks, activity at the site increased. The first patients were admitted on 20 October 1942, and were joined the next day by more patients when the 1st Australian Camp hospital left Wondecla and removed its patients to Rocky Creek. November 2 saw the arrival of the 1st Australian Mobile Laundry Unit, while 20 VADs (later AAMWS) commenced duties on 14 November, providing much needed nursing support.
In January 1943an advance party of 2/2nd Army General Hospital (AGH) AIF arrived at the Rocky Creek Hospital site, signifying a new phase in the hospital's development, and an intensification of activity. The 2/2nd AGH AIF replaced the 5th AGH which moved the next day, 5 January 1943 to a new hospital unit established at the North Cairns State School. The 2/2nd AGH, under the command of Colonel Talbert, the Commanding Officer, and Matron, Miss Jean Oddie, launched into the arduous task of expanding the small tent hospital into a large 1200 bed General Hospital. On 20 April 1943 they were joined by the 2/6th AGH AIF, who after serving two years in the Middle East (Greece, Crete, Jerusalem and Gaza), arrived back in Australia to find themselves transferred to Rocky Creek.
Patients treated at the Rocky Creek Hospitals usually arrived in Cairns from Papua New Guinea, to be transported to Rocky Creek by the 4th Australian Hospital Ambulance Train. The train ran three times a week.
The Rocky Creek Hospital Complex covered a site of 763 acres, encompassing private land purchased by the Australian Military Forces, and Crown Land. The Complex initially consisted of the 2/2nd AGH; the 2/6th AGH; the Mobile Laundry Administration Area; the 2/1st Australian Convalescent Depot, and associated medical installations. The 1200 bed 2/2nd AGH was constructed by a local Cairns firm, TJ Watkins PTY Ltd at a cost of £143 667. There were 73 buildings in total, including facilities for the 4th Australian Static Laundry. The Entertainment Igloo, recreation hut and warehouses were also constructed by Watkin and PR Ayre, at a cost of £2796. The 1200 bed hospital of the 2/6th AGH was built by AH Hodge and Sons of Toowoomba, while the 600 bed 2/1st Convalescent Depot was constructed by Clive Kynaston of Cairns.
Both the 2/2nd and the 2/6th Hospitals employed a similar layout and were constructed using similar materials. The two hospitals consisted of 40 wards, offices, stores and other auxiliary buildings. The wards were laid out in pairs, with a service annexe in between. Most were constructed with canvas, and measures 60 feet x 20 feet. Early wards had earth floors, watered daily to make them firm, and a rattan carpet down the middle isle. Other buildings were constructed from timber and iron. Later wards were set on a concrete slab and had a capacity of approximately 50 patients. By March 1944 both hospitals had been transformed from tent to hut hospitals and the bed capacity had increased to 1400, however, by September 1944 the daily bed average had increased to 1760. The buildings still had canvas walls but the floors were concrete and each ward had its own amenities, such as a wood stove, kerosene refrigerator, a permanent toilet and an office and dressing room. In October 1944 electricity supply, originally generator powered, switch to mains power, supplied by the Barron Falls Hydro Electricity Board.
The concrete ward floors consisted of reinforced concrete slabs varying in thickness. The annexes were bordered and partitioned by concrete wall bases, from which protruded metal wall ties. The concrete wall bases were slightly flanged on either side. On these flanges would have rested sheets of asbestos cement which formed the walls. They were probably nailed at the base to a wooden runner which would have sat on top of the wall base. The metal ties probably passed through the wood and continued up between the walls to the roof, or were bent over the wood if not in use. Where the asbestos cement sheets met the concrete, cover strips would have been nailed. Scatters of pieces of these cover strips are found over most of the site.
One of the wards in the 2/2nd AGH was the Malaria Experimental Ward. Participants involved in the experiments were all volunteers, and the trials involved groups of 5-6 volunteers being injected with parasites from the Anopheles mosquito which carries the malaria virus. Treatments were confidential and all volunteers signed a statement absolving the Army and medical staff of responsibility for any side effects.
While the work hours for staff at the Hospital Complex were long, various facilities were provided for their enjoyment in the leisure time available. The complex included an open-air picture show, where bingo was often played before the main feature. There was also a log-cabin recreational room and a tennis court with an ant-bed floor which was utilised by both patients and medical staff. Others spent their time planting garden beds outside their quarters and the hospital wards. Movies were shown in the Entertainment Igloo, constructed in 1943. A truck, with a projector on the back, would reverse up to the building along the built up driveway, so that the projector pointed towards the screen. Concerts and dances were also held in the building.
The staged closure of the Rocky Creek Hospital Complex began in 1944, and continued through to 1945. The 2/6th AGH was the first to close, in October 1944, followed by the 2/2nd AGH on 30 September 1945, which subsequently moved to Darley (Victoria). Following the end of the war, military buildings at Rocky Creek were auctioned and either dismantled or relocated. Some are to be found in the district today, having been purchased by local residents and farmers. Portions of land were sold as freehold allotments and many were subsequently converted to agricultural use. The Entertainment Igloo was purchased by Frank and Eileen Frazer in 1947. The stage was converted into a family home, in which the Frazers raised their 11 children. Mr Frazer manufactured cane furniture in the auditorium. Following the death of her husband, Mrs Frazer stayed on at the igloo until ill health forced her to move to Cairns in 1995. The igloo and land were donated to the Atherton Shire Council.
In the lead up to the 50th anniversary of victory in the Pacific celebrations in 1995, a War Memorial Park was established on the former site of the Mobile Laundry Administration Area through the efforts of a group of local residents. Various memorials, a flag pole, interpretive shelter and a sheltered park bench have been erected at the Park. Anzac Day commemorative ceremonies are now conducted at the park, while the remains of the Rocky Creek site are often visited by locals and visitors to the area where either they, or a relative, spent time at the hospital during the Second World War. It is also anticipated the local Tolga State School will utilise the Memorial Park for the purposes of education, in particular to develop an understanding among students of the importance of the Rocky Creek Hospital Complex during the Second World War.
","criteria":"The Rocky Creek World War II Hospital Complex is important in demonstrating the pattern of Queensland's history as an example of a World War II installation located in North Queensland. Being close to the Papua New Guinea battlefield, Queensland played a vital role hosting and supporting Australian and United States Servicemen. As a hospital complex, the site is significant for the role it played in the provision of medical treatment to these troops, including the use of new treatments and technology, and for the research conducted regarding the treatment of malaria.
|The Entertainment Igloo, constructed in 1943, demonstrates a rare aspect of Queensland's cultural heritage as one of the few remaining small igloos designed and operated as a theatre during World War II.
|The Rocky Creek World War II Hospital Complex has the potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland's history. Concrete slabs and scatters of artefacts could reveal information about the technology used in temporary military buildings during World War II.
|The Rocky Creek World War II Hospital Complex has a special association with those who spent time at the facility during the Second World War for cultural and spiritual reasons.
|The Rocky Creek World War II Hospital Complex has a special association with the work of the Australian Army Medical Women's Service (AAMWS) and with the important work of medical units, especially the Malaria Control Unit who developed new technology in Australia during World War II.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion C | 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 has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland's history | 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":16636,"place_ref":601900,"name":"Cressbrook Cemetery","alternate_name":"Cressbrook Cemetery-Evelyn","street_address":"off Jonsson Road","suburb":"EVELYN","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2003-06-17","description":"Cressbrook Cemetery is located in a paddock of Evelyn Station used (in 2003) for grazing cattle. The paddock slopes downwards slightly to the north, to an intermittent creek. Eucalyptus and acacia species are present on the boundaries of the paddock and a row of mangoes marks the approximate site of the Cressbrook Homestead. The four marked graves are enclosed within a barbed wire and timber post fence with a metal gate on the eastern side. A jacaranda tree and eucalypts are present within the enclosure. These trees do not appear to be part of a structured planting arrangement. The total area enclosed by the fence is 20 metres by 25 metres.
\nThe four graves are positioned side by side and face an easterly direction. They are constructed from concrete and each grave measures 1.5 metres wide by 3 metres long. There are three marble headstones, as Anna and Henry Stone share one. Two of the headstones, the Stone's and Alexander William Fraser's, are approximately 1.2 metres high with lead lettering and decorative elements. These were made by stone-masons Melrose and Fenwick, in Cairns and Townsville respectively. Mary Hull's headstone is a square piece of marble set in concrete, measuring approximately 50 by 50 centimetres. The ashes interred at the foot of Mary Hull's grave are not marked.
","history":"Cressbrook Cemetery contains the headstones of four people, Henry Stone, Anna Stone, Mary Hull and Alexander William Fraser. The graves are marked with three marble headstones set into concrete. Some of Hazel Hull's ashes are interred at the base of Mary Hull's grave.
\nHenry Stone was born in England in 1835. He came to South Australia aged 16 and began working on various pastoral properties. In 1859 he joined George Elphinstone Dalrymple on his expedition from Rockhampton to north Queensland in search of rich pastoral country. Pastoralists and Sydney businessmen funded the expedition after enthusiastic reports from Ludwig Leichhardt's 1844/45 expedition from Port Essington to the Darling Downs. Stone, who was the surveyor on Dalrymple's expedition, marked out large runs for members of the party and their financial backers.
\nDalrymple, Robert Herbert and the brothers Arthur and Walter Scott purchased an area known as the Valley of Lagoons in 1861 and installed Henry Stone as manager. Stone stocked the property with 25,000 head of sheep and cattle. It became essential to establish easier access to the coast. Stone was in the first expedition with Dalrymple, Scott and Farqurharson that crossed the Herbert Valley in search of route from the Valley of the Lagoons to the coast. On this expedition a route was not found.
\nOn March 8, 1864 Dalrymple, Stone and others departed from the Valley of Lagoons in another attempt to locate a route to the coast. They intended to build a road to Rockingham Bay and the newly settled port of Cardwell. The team included 12 European and 4 Aboriginal people, 3 bullock drays, 61 working bullocks, 63 fat cattle and 18 horses. Despite problems such as flood and loss of supplies, the first of the party arrived in Cardwell on 24 April and a dray route was soon established.
\nStone was given the responsibility of constructing the Vale of Herbert station, a half-way house between Cardwell and Valley of Lagoons. This was successfully completed in 1865 and Stone took up new runs on the Herbert River. The house constructed at the Vale of Herbert was known as Stone Hut.
\nScottish setters, Duncan and Maria McAuslan, had arrived in Queensland from New Zealand with their 2 young daughters, Anna and Mary, in 1868. They traveled overland from Bowen to the Valley of Lagoons, where Duncan worked as Head Stockman for the Scott Brothers, under Henry Stone's management. In 1873 Duncan McAuslan acquired 292 acres across Trebonne Creek from Stone hut, and 1280 acres known as `Greenfields'. Henry Stone owned the adjacent property, 'The Grange'.
\nDuncan McAuslan made two unsuccessful trips to the Palmer River Goldfields in 1879 with a large number of cattle fattened at Vale of Herbert. In this year McAuslan and Stone became partners in another run known as `Wairuna'. In 1880 Duncan McAuslan replaced Stone as manager of Vale of Herbert station.
\nEarly in 1880, 44 year old Stone announced his engagement to 16 years old Anna McAuslan. The first Bishop of North Queensland, Dr GH Stanton married them at Greenfields on 1 May 1883. They settled at The Grange until 1904, when they moved to Montecute at Evelyn.
\nThe McAuslans returned to Greenfields on the Lower Herbert catchment after the sale of Wairuna in 1881 where they ran cattle and a slaughterhouse. Duncan McAuslan died here while out riding on 22 July 1883. Greenfields was subsequently sold in 1885 to Thomas White, the surveyor who, in 1881, had laid out the town of Herberton. Maria and Mary McAuslan moved to Alston's, where Mary met her future husband, John Hull Jnr.
\nJohn Hull Jnr was born in England in 1865, one of eleven children. In 1871 John Hull Snr and his family, along with five other families, came to the Ingham area, to a property called Blackrock, to grow tobacco and later run a dairy farm. This was sold in 1887 and the parents retired to Epping in Sydney.
\nRev. Biddolf-Clive, of the Church of England, married Mary McAuslan and John Hull Jnr in Ingham in 1887. After their marriage they went to live at Gilldale, an outstation of the Valley of Lagoons.
\nWhile at Gilldale Mary is said to have learnt the local Aboriginal dialect and the medicinal properties of some native plants. In 1888 a heavily preganant Mary travelled on horseback to Stoneleigh, near Ingham, to be with her mother for the birth of her first child, Winifred Jane. This journey through Valley of Lagoons and across the Seaview Range to the coast would have taken at least a week. Mary returned to Gilldale alone with her newborn baby in the saddle.
\nMary and John Hull had seven children between 1888 and 1905. They were Winifred Jane (2/4/1988), Rhoda Maria (20/8/1889), Anna (23/2/1891), Elsie McAuslan (28/8/1892), Rowland Evered (13/3/1894), Kenneth Beven (10/12/1899) and Hazel Edith (2/7/1905).
\nMary and John Hull moved to Herberton in 1889 and went into the cattle business, butchering and breaking in wild bullocks. They also ran an unsuccessful dairy run. After Maria McAuslan's death in a buggy accident in 1892, Mary inherited money which she used to purchase Portion 157 at Evelyn. Mary named the property Cressbrook. The property was extended to include Portion 140 in 1905. It is believed that John Hull did not reside at Cressbrook for any length of time.
\nMary built a new house at Cressbrook out of locally pit sawn red cedar. The house was said to have survived the 1927 cyclone that destroyed many nearby houses. Mary operated Cressbrook as a dairy farm and a butcher/slaughterhouse, selling produce 20 kilometres away at Herberton. Mary supplied construction workers with fresh meat during the construction of the Herberton to Tumoulin railway. She also provided produce to the timber workers who worked along the timber tramway connecting Evelyn to the Herberton railway at Turulka which operated between 1912 and 1924.
\nEarly in 1913 Anna Stone, Mary Hull's sister, moved from Montecute to Cressbrook so that Mary could assist with a wound on her arm which needed to be changed daily. The injury led to Anna's death on 12 July 1913. Anna Stone was the first person to be buried at Cressbrook cemetery. After her death her husband Henry Stone moved to Cressbrook, suffering from failing eyesight, alcohol and laudanum addiction.
\nRhoda Maria Hull, Mary Hull's daughter, married Alexander William Fraser on 15 July 1914. They lived at Cressbrook after their marriage. Alexander Fraser was buried at Cressbrook cemetery after his skull was crushed in a timber felling accident on 13 April 1915. He was 22 years old. His father and brother-in-law attended Alexander's funeral. Fraser's family brought the marble headstone from Townsville. Rhoda was pregnant when Alexander died.
\nHenry Stone died on 11 October 1919 leaving his property, Montecute, to Mary Hull. He had been living at Cressbrook for five years. He shares a marble headstone, made by Melrose and Fenwick in Cairns, with his wife, Anna, in the Cressbrook Cemetery. Mary sold Montecute and used the money to purchase property for her sons, Rowley and Kenny, in East Evelyn. The property was one mile south of Evelyn, in an area with high rainfall. It was able to provide feed for Mary's stock when Evelyn was dry.
\nMary used Cressbrook as a boarding house after Henry's death, taking in people from Cairns with 'coastal fever', school teachers for the local Evelyn Scrub State School and visiting officials. She was a leading figure in the Evelyn area, being the local contact for childbirth, medical and police matters.
\nMary Hull suffered her first heart attack in 1924, and her second in 1936. She died three weeks after her third heart attack, on 31 October 1940. She had lived at Cressbrook for forty-eight years and was buried beside her sister, brother-in-law and son-in-law.
\nCressbrook was left to Mary's youngest daughter, Hazel Edith, who had married Don Fardon in April 1924. Hazel Edith Fardon and her family lived on the property until it was sold to Otto Jonsson in 1948, whose family owned the neighboring Evelyn Station. The buildings and fences were removed and Cressbrook was incorporated into Evelyn Station. In 2003 the property used for growing potatoes and grazing cattle.
\nHazel Edith Fardon was buried in Townsville with her husband after she died in the Blue Mountains on 21 August 1991. Some of her ashes were interred at the foot of Mary Hull's grave in 1992.
","criteria":"Cressbrook Cemetery is a small private cemetery containing the headstones of four early Herbert River settlers. It is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history, in particular the development and decline of rural properties.
|The cemetery demonstrates the principal characteristics of rural homestead cemeteries, where members of extended families were buried in small private cemeteries on the property. Two of the graves in the Cressbrook Cemetery are marked with typically elaborate marble headstones, made by stone masons in regional centres, and imported into the district.
|The place has a special association with Queensland's history because it is the burial place of important pioneers of North Queensland. Explorer and pioneer Henry Stone surveyed blocks on the headwaters of the Burdekin in 1859. He was the first manager of the Valley of Lagoons and first settler of the Upper Herbert, establishing the Vale of Herbert Station in 1865. Anna Stone and Mary Hull were also important early pioneers of the Upper and Lower Herbert districts, arriving as children at the Valley of Lagoons in 1868.
","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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":16752,"place_ref":602016,"name":"Merriland Hall","alternate_name":"Former Atherton Camp Supply Depot | Merrilands Hall","street_address":"Mazlin Street","suburb":"ATHERTON","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2000-07-28","description":"Merriland is a large igloo situated within the Atherton Show Grounds and located at the corner of Robert and Mazlin Streets, Atherton. The name \"igloo\" was a Second World War slang shorthand term for any of a number of building forms with curved metal roofs. The igloo was designed as a camp supply depot, today it is composed of two major elements:
\n- an \"igloo\" of timber trusses clad in corrugated iron which forms the auditorium
\n- a brick frontage which forms part of the stage, backstage area and dressing rooms.
\nA separate building has been attached to the rear of the auditorium. This weatherboard building with a CGI roof, is a cafeteria.
\nThe Merriland Hall is approximately 60 m long and has an overall width of 30 m. The igloo stands on a concrete slab foundation with a raised kerb and two external drains running along the building's long sides, and cast concrete feet which support the trusses. There are sixteen trusses spanning the interior space. Each is composed of four curved half-trusses which are pinned at the foundations and at the apex where they meet. The two adjacent trusses are laced together at top and bottom chord level. Therefore, each half-truss is comprised of four timber chords sprung into arch form, with light timber bracing nailed into position to form a curved open-latticed box truss. The trusses are made entirely of sawn pieces of native hardwood nailed together.
\nHorizontal timber members run the full length of the auditorium on each half-truss. The roof structure is braced by a pattern of crossed diagonal timber struts running across the roof between the trusses. The centre section of the roof has been angled up into a low-pitched gable with rafters rising up from the upper chords of the trusses to meet a ridge beam running down the centreline of the igloo. Timber purlins running the length of the roof are nailed to these rafters and to the upper chords. The corrugated iron cladding is nailed directly to the purlins. There are four ventilators in the roof.
\nThe interior of the auditorium has been divided into two spaces. The rear of the building is basically a clear space, it has been set up for indoor sports. An indoor basketball court has been marked out on the concrete floor and two backboards have been attached to trusses on either side of the igloo. One side of the auditorium has been modified to include both male and female toilets in a narrow concrete-block extension. A wire storage cage has been erected at the rear of the igloo. On the other side of the igloo, storage facilities have been provided in the form of timber lockers. In the centre of the rear wall are large double doors. Above the doors, and to either side, are a series of fixed glass windows.
\nA raised timber dance floor has been constructed in the front section of the building, with a stage and backstage area at one end. Dressing rooms and additional backstage space are housed in the 1958 brick frontage. Raised galleries, approximately 4m wide, have been constructed along either side of the dance floor for seating.
\nThe cafeteria is housed in a rectangular timber-framed building with a gabled roof, which has been attached to the rear of the igloo. This symmetrical structure is raised off the ground on concrete stumps. It is externally clad in weatherboard and the internal walls are lined with fibro cement sheeting. Vinyl floor tiles line the timber floor. Six timber framed glass windows extend along either long wall. Exit doors are located on each side of the building. The internal area has been divided into two elements; a hall containing tables and chairs and a small kitchen situated in the rear of the building. The fitout of the cafeteria kitchen is modern and is not considered to be of cultural heritage significance.
","history":"In November 1943 an Australian Defence Canteen was erected at the Atherton Showgrounds. Built for the Army by the Allied Works Council, with D. Prangley in charge and under the supervision of R C Nowland, a government Senior Architect, it was a timber arched, unlined igloo structure, sheeted with corrugated iron. The structure was a component of one of the largest military store depots on the Atherton Tablelands. After the war the igloo was purchased by the Atherton Show Society and retained at the Showgrounds, becoming known as Merriland Hall.
\nAtherton became a town when it was surveyed in 1885, and named for John Atherton in 1886 when the first lots were put up for sale. It began as a timber town and once much of the timber had been felled, maize, originally grown by Chinese tenant farmers, became the important crop. Peanuts, also introduced by Chinese settlers, were an alternative crop to maize. Today dairying is its main industry. Prior to World War II Atherton was a quiet country town however by December of 1942 the war had impinged upon the area quickly changing the landscape and the lives of the townspeople.
\nIn 1942 the Tablelands Base Area was established, creating a constant flow of Army traffic through the town's main street, as camps were set up to train troops in jungle warfare before their being sent to the islands north of Australia. Many of Atherton's buildings housed both Australian and American forces. The School of Arts building was taken over by the Red Cross, and the Girl Guides hall by the Australian Army for use as its historical section, while the Sharples Theatre became an Army Canteen. Meanwhile, the Barron Valley Hotel was requisitioned by the Australian Army as an Officers Club and, for a short time, General Blamey made this his headquarters.
\nSo much change occurred in Atherton during the war that it has been suggested that both the community and the economy could have been overwhelmed by the strain put upon it. But the reverse appears to have been true, as the one hundred thousand troops camped throughout the Tablelands area gave the residents the chance to become involved in the war effort by assisting and entertaining the visitors, while still keeping business running. Prosperity came with the influx and Atherton provided much timber towards war requirements. Maple was needed for aeroplane propellers and plywood for use in the manufacture of sea and air craft, while timber was also employed in the making of rifles, furniture and packing cases. Socially, the local people did much to entertain the forces and organised many dances, picture shows, concerts and outings as well as inviting the troops into their homes. In return, the soldiers helped in matters such as assisting to enlarge the Methodist Church, which was too small to accommodate their extra numbers.
\nIn 1942 the Military took over the Atherton Showground and remained there for three years. In November of 1943 a large igloo was erected for the Army by the Queensland Building and Engineering Co., under the auspices of the Allied Works Council. It was 200 ft by 100 ft in size and built particularly to house the \"Daily Issue Department\", or Australian Defence canteen. A bakery, which daily supplied bread for all the forces in the area, was built on the western side of the show ring. The canteen igloo was constructed with a nailed hardwood timber arch construction, each arm made up of two half arches, pinned at two supports near the ground and at a central point. It formed an arch with timber bracing nailed into position to form a curved box truss. Although the original US design was intended to be covered with camouflage netting, the igloos built for Queensland were sheeted with iron. These changes, as made by the Allied Works Council, provided a stronger, more durable building which would be capable of withstanding winds of up to 65 miles an hour. The timber used in the igloos was hardwood or Oregon and the outer sheeting was corrugated iron.
\nThe Allied Works Council, the builder of this and other wartime prefabricated buildings, was formed in February of 1942 to co-ordinate and facilitate the needs of the Australian and US military forces in Australia during the war. The work carried out by the Allied Works Council included roads, camps, hospitals, ammunition depots, aerodromes, mess and recreation facilities, and gun emplacements. The Allied Works Council is significant because so much of their construction work transformed Australia, leaving a post-war legacy of roads and buildings still in use for peaceful pursuits.
\nThe Defence Canteen igloo was purchased by the Atherton Tableland Agricultural Society for a very low price after the war. When the Shire Hall, built in 1898, was destroyed by fire in 1948, the war-time igloo became a Community Centre. A committee was formed to manage the hall and they set about building a dance floor measuring 5,000 square feet with a further 2,000 square feet of galleries for seating. The four thousand pounds needed for this work was put up by the Shire Council, and money raised by the Atherton Choral Society and the Atherton Players. Both these groups put all their spare funds into improving the facilities, later adding chairs, stage lighting and dressing rooms. A contest was held to name the new Community Centre hall and Miss Eileen Burke won with the name \"Merriland\". The committee gave a Grand Ball to celebrate the opening and the Merriland Hall went on to host most of the social and cultural occasions of Atherton for many years.
\nAmong the entertainments held at Merriland Hall were concerts by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and the Australian and Queensland Ballets as well as numerous shows by local and visiting amateur societies. From 1952 the Choral Society presented a variety concert or musical comedy every year when Princess Alexandra visited the area in 1959 most of the population of Atherton was able to gather in the hall to see the popular visitor. In 1958 a brick frontage and additions to the stage and dressing rooms were constructed at a cost of 400 pounds. In 1963 the Atherton Players produced more money and effort and repainted all the interior walls in preparation for the upcoming Drama Festival.
","criteria":"Merriland Hall is important in illustrating the evolution of Queensland's history because of the role it played in the provision of services to Australian and American army personnel who were training in north Queensland during World War II.
It is the largest igloo to be erected on the Tablelands and is one of only a few large igloos constructed during this time that is still situated on its original site. Since this style of building was only used during the war, the construction is distinctive of a period of great significance to the Atherton area.
|Merriland Hall demonstrates the principal characteristics of this type of structure and represents a significant advancement in timber technology and construction achieved during the Second World War which enabled long span lightweight structures utilising hand nailed timber in small sectional chord sizes to be erected quickly and at low cost. It demonstrates the ability of the Allied Works Council to meet emergency demands for the construction of Allied defence works.
|An impressive structure with a simple recognisable form, Merriland Hall is a local landmark. Adaptations made over time clearly reflect its change in use and contribute to its aesthetic and social value. Internally, the innovative timber structure is clearly expressed, and the expansive interiors contribute to the aesthetic significance of the structure.
|Merriland Hall demonstrates the principal characteristics of this type of structure and represents a significant advancement in timber technology and construction achieved during the Second World War which enabled long span lightweight structures utilising hand nailed timber in small sectional chord sizes to be erected quickly and at low cost. It demonstrates the ability of the Allied Works Council to meet emergency demands for the construction of Allied defence works.
|Merriland Hall has a special association for the people of Atherton and district as it has been their community hall from 1948. It also has a strong association with the Allied Works Council whose works during the Second World War had a profound and enduring impact in the region.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E | Criterion F | 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 is important in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period | 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":16874,"place_ref":602138,"name":"Evelyn Scrub War Memorial","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Jonsson Road","suburb":"EVELYN","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2003-02-28","description":"The area of the old township of Evelyn is comprised today of grassy paddocks and tall eucalyptus trees, and is used as grazing land for cattle. Timber cattle yards are constructed immediately behind the memorial.
The Memorial stands on private property on the Jonsson Road, off the Tumoulin to Ravenshoe Road in the southern Atherton Tablelands.
The Memorial is in the form of a substantial pedestal supporting a narrow pointed obelisk topped with a spherical object. The entire monument is concrete. Forty-one names and fates of the men from Evelyn Scrub who served in the Great War are attached to a brass plaque secured to one side of the pedestal behind a glass screen. Of particular interest is the inclusion of the name of an aboriginal person (designated as such) listed among those who died in service. A second plaque is fixed below the first, dedicated to the pioneers of the Evelyn Scrub by the Evelyn Social and Sports Club in 1983.
A single flagstaff stands five metres from the memorial on the southern side. There are no associated gardens or plantings remaining at the Memorial.
","history":"History
The Evelyn Scrub War Memorial was erected after the First World War [1914-18] on land set aside for the purpose by Edward Daniel, c1919. It lists the names of all the men from the Evelyn district who had served in the war. Forty-one names are recorded on the memorial.
In 1882 land on the Evelyn Tableland was surveyed into blocks between 160 and 640 acres. Selections were taken up as dairy and agricultural farms. Evelyn township was established on the edge of the rainforest 'scrub' in the 1890s as a commercial centre for the Evelyn Tableland farming district. Evelyn Scrub State School was established in 1895. The town had two timber mills, a town hall where congregations for the Salvation Army, Presbyterians and Methodists were held, shops including a general store and butchers shop and some small houses. The railway connecting Ravenshoe with Cairns was completed in 1910 and a horse drawn timber tramway named the Evelyn Scrub Tramline Co. was built from Evelyn to connect with the railway line at Turulka about 10 kilometres away and operated until 1921. The railway was used to transport timber from the sawmills to the port of Cairns. In 1918 a wide variety of crops were grown in the region, including English and sweet potato, maize, bananas, pineapples, grapes, oranges, apples, strawberries, peaches, plums, lemons, pawpaw and honey.
Following the outbreak of war in Europe in 1914, approximately 90% of the young men from the Evelyn Scrub eventually enlisted for overseas service. Some never returned, and of those who did, very few went back on the land. Community send-offs were held for the volunteers of the Evelyn district at the Pioneer Hotel in Tumoulin. On their return the soldiers were accorded a public welcome.
Australia, and Queensland in particular, had few civic monuments before the First World War. The memorials erected in its wake became our first national monuments, recording the devastating impact of the war on a young nation. Australia lost 60,000 from a population of about 4 million, representing one in five of those who served. No previous or subsequent war has made such an impact on the nation.
Memorials became a spontaneous and highly visible expression of national grief. To those who erected them, they were as sacred as the grave sites, substitute graves for the Australians whose bodies lay in battlefield cemeteries in Europe and the Middle East. British policy decreed that the Empire war dead were to be buried where they fell. The word 'cenotaph', commonly applied to war memorials at the time, literally means 'empty tomb'.
The Evelyn Tablelands was severely affected by the prolonged drought of 1915. It was the worst drought on record and cattle were sent away to the newly opened pastures of Millaa Millaa. In 1918 a cyclone again devastated the area, causing extensive damage to crops through flooding and heavy rains. Another drought in 1923 contributed to the economic decline of the Evelyn Tableland. The depression of the early 1930s had a major impact on the towns of the Atherton Tablelands. The three sawmills that had operated on Evelyn Tableland, between them producing £7,705 worth of timber in 1917, were dismantled and removed. Shops and houses from the township were also moved as people sought greater opportunities elsewhere. The school was closed in 1946.
The Evelyn War Memorial is now all that now remains of the town. It serves as a reminder of those who served in far away battles and is also an illustration of the once bustling farming and timber getting community in an area that is now sparsely populated. A dawn service is held at the Memorial each ANZAC Day in commemoration of those who served.
","criteria":"Evelyn Scrub War Memorial, erected c1919, is significant historically as a record of community and district participation in the First World War and as an embodiment of the prevailing sentiments and attitudes at the time.
As the last standing structure at what was once the town of Evelyn it illustrates the growth and decline of farming communities in the evolution of the history of the Atherton Tablelands.
|As a focus for ANZAC Day ceremonies it is highly valued by the community for its spiritual, symbolic, cultural and social associations.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion G","criteria_definitions":"The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | 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":19571,"place_ref":602449,"name":"Millaa Millaa Falls","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Theresa Creek Road","suburb":"MILLAA MILLAA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2005-12-05","description":"The Millaa Millaa Falls are approximately 18.3 metres in height and are formed from volcanic basalt which has weathered to create distinctive vertical striations (pipe formations) in the surface of the rock and which gives the falls its pleasing textural backdrop. There is a large pool below the falls that is surrounded by rainforest, except for a grassed viewing area facing the falls and a concrete block pad on the waters edge.
A set of concrete steps leads from the lower bus park down to the viewing area. The bus park is separated from the viewing area by a low post and rail fence. An circa 1950 timber-framed weatherboard toilet block is located on the north-eastern side of the falls and remains in use. A biological toilet facility has been constructed on the northern side of the bus park (2005). A shelter shed and interpretive bus shelters have also been erected on the north-western end of the bus park (2005). A track with steps runs from the 1950s toilet block and terminates at the upper car park.
There is a stone monument on the fence line, erected in 1982, at the western end of the lower bus park with a bronze plaque attached that commemorates the explorer Christie Palmerston.
The Millaa Millaa Scenic Reserve also may contain other sites of heritage significance that have not been formally identified at this time. These include the original clearing near the falls and its associated campsite; railway objects located near the western boundary of the reserve adjacent to the Irwin Track; and blazed trees associated with survey and logging tracks within the reserve.
","history":"The Millaa Millaa Falls were discovered during exploration of overland routes to connect the Herberton mining fields with Queensland coastal ports. The falls are named after the nearby township of Millaa Millaa. The name "Millaa Millaa" is derived from a phonetic adaptation of the Aboriginal word "Malay Malay", which in the language of the local Mamu Aboriginal people refers to the rainforest vine (Elaeagnus triflora), which fruit was a seasonal food source. This plant occurs throughout the surrounding area and is commonly known as the Millaa Millaa Vine. This is contrary to the popular belief that the name Millaa Millaa means either "water fall", "many waterfalls" or "plenty water", but does demonstrate how important the falls are in the regional psyche.
In 1882 tracks were blazed through the rainforest close to the falls by both Sub Inspector Alexander Douglas (May 1882) and Christie Palmerston (October to December 1882). Palmerston also mapped an improved track through the area during 1884-85, which subsequently became known as the Palmerston track. The popular belief that Palmerston camped at and named Millaa Millaa falls, which is in part commemorated by a monument at the site, cannot be substantiated from the historical record.
A clearing at the Millaa Millaa Falls was used as a rest stop for the early horse and mule pack teams that traversed the Palmerston track when travelling to and from the Herberton mining field. This clearing was also used as a base for land surveyors working in the area in 1909 and as a camp for workers constructing the railway line between Malanda and the Millaa Millaa township in the 1920's.
Also during the 1920's a quarry was established next to the Millaa Millaa Falls to supply a nearby crushing plant with stone, which was used to produce road-making materials. Blasting and excavation work at the quarry threatened to damage or destroy the falls, but due to the efforts of the Millaa Millaa Progress Association it was protected, and by the mid 1920's had become a popular stop for tours of the Atherton Tablelands. Conversely, the quarry, which was abandoned in 1927, was also partly responsible for the latter popularity and preservation of the falls because of the access that it provided to the site.
In the late 1950's access to a popular swimming hole known as "Rawson's Pool" which was located on private property downstream from the falls was stopped and the focus then shifted to Millaa Millaa Falls. The access road to the quarry was upgraded and extended down to near the base of the falls and a small car park constructed. Also at this time, public facilities were added to the site including toilets, shelter shed, and barbeques. Further safety and interpretive improvements were carried out in 2002. In 2003, the quarry was converted into a car park and a walking track and steps created which lead down to the falls viewing area. In 2005 a biological toilet facility, shelter shed and interpretive bus shelters were built. Millaa Millaa Falls is now part of what is known within the tourism industry as the "waterfall circuit" near Millaa Millaa township, which also includes the Zillie and Elinjaa Falls.
The Millaa Millaa Falls is an icon within the tourism industry, not only within North Queensland but also nationally and internationally. A 2008 search of the internet revealed at least 917 tour sites advertising the falls, with 276 containing photographs. The falls has also featured in numerous movies, documentaries and television commercials; advertising everything from Indian lotto to Swedish Timotei shampoo. The place is also used for a range of community events.
","criteria":"Millaa Millaa Falls is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history due to its close association with the tracks, surveying, railways, roads and tourism, which aided the development and settlement of the Atherton Tableland region. At various times the immediate area around the falls was used as a rest stop for the early horse and mule pack teams that travelled along the Palmerston track on their way to and from the Herberton mining field; used as a depot for the first land surveyors working in the area; a camp for workers on the Millaa Millaa railway, and as a quarry for road materials.
|Millaa Millaa Falls is also a place of importance because of its aesthetic significance, which lies in both its natural beauty and picturesque qualities, and because of its iconic representation, both nationally and internationally. Images of the falls are one of the most recognised natural features from the Atherton Tablelands and are used by local council and Australian tourism operators to promote the region. The natural and visual integrity of the falls has changed little over time, which is evidenced by the numerous historical images, although the site access, public facilities, and viewing environs have been modified.
|Because of Millaa Millaa Falls importance to the far north Queensland tourism industry and its historical utilization as a picnic and swimming venue, it has since the 1950's developed a strong social and cultural association with people of the region. Millaa Millaa Falls is also culturally important to the regional Mamu Aboriginal people, as it was a seasonal food source and camping area at the time of first European settlement of the area. The falls were also the first natural landmark to be associated with the area, even before the establishment of the Millaa Millaa Township.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion E | Criterion G","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 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":21286,"place_ref":602733,"name":"Malanda Falls Swimming Pool","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Malanda Falls Park Johnstone River","suburb":"MALANDA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2010-02-05","description":"Malanda Falls Swimming Pool is located within the Malanda Falls Park, adjacent to the Malanda Falls Conservation Park, and is located on the western outskirts of Malanda on the Malanda-Atherton Road.
Rainforest lines the road and either side of the entrance to the reserve. Beside the highway are a series of picnic tables and barbeques and a colourful mosaic honouring the area's Aborigines for whom Malanda Falls has special significance. A large car park has been developed more recently developed along with a shelter shed and toilet block.
While the rainforest backdrop is a feature of and setting for the Falls, the river banks above the pool have been benched and mostly cleared of vegetation. The western side of the pool is highly structured with stone-walled terraces, manicured lawns, an extensive network of concrete paths, fences and steps and handrails. The terraces have three main levels that are constructed from coursed rubble stonework set in mortar with a concrete capping on top. The lower terrace has three additional concrete terraces and these are generally used as seating by visitors.
The Malanda Falls Scenic Reserve comprises the North Johnstone River flowing through dense rainforest and over the basalt rock of the Falls into a man-made swimming pool. The Falls has a height of about four metres and a width of approximately 30 metres. The long pool at its base is surrounded by concrete paths which provide easy and safe access to the pool and which allow visitors to cross the pool. At the base of the falls at the end of the concrete path on the western side, there is a metal sign affixed to the rock face with the image of a diver in red.
The concrete bridge at the north end of the pool is approximately 30 metres long. It leads to further concrete paths behind which a low coarse rubble retaining wall is located. Approximately half way between the bridge and the Falls there are pool steps and a metal handrail attached to the concrete pathway. On the north eastern bank, steps with handrails lead to the Malanda Caravan Park. Further past these steps, towards the base of the Falls, are remnant concrete foundations, piping and the remains of a vertical boiler structure. The latter is riveted steel plate and is possibly associated with the water pumping activities of the Railways Department.
","history":"Malanda Falls Swimming Pool is located on the North Johnstone River in the Malanda Falls Park, adjacent to the Malanda Falls Conservation Park on the Atherton Tableland. First developed as a local recreation area during the early 20th century, Malanda Falls became associated with organised tourism on the Tableland from the 1920s and has been important in the development of the Cairns hinterland as a major tourist region in Queensland.
Despite the focus of early settlers and investors on economic exploitation of the landscape on the Atherton Tableland, a number of tourist attractions emerged based on the very resources being exploited and were largely framed in Romantic terms. Early non-indigenous visitors to the Atherton Tableland were fascinated with waterfalls and their jungle backdrop, variously described and depicted as sublime, beautiful and picturesque. Timeless in their appeal, these natural features were and continue to be essential to the success of the region in attracting tourists.
Due to its proximity to the township of Malanda, the Falls have always been popular for local recreation and have been adapted over the last century to meet the needs of the local community and to enhance its beauty and bush surrounds as a tourist attraction.
The Malanda Falls was surveyed in 1906 when it was described as being "partly covered with water lilies, and jungle stretched to the edge of the pool, with lots of fallen trees [in the] water". With the exception of the installation of hydraulic rams in 1911 to supply water to the Malanda Hotel and to steam trains, it would appear that the Falls remained undisturbed until 1918 when the local community cleared the underwater logs from the pool. The Falls quickly became a popular venue for New Year's Day picnic day celebrations and by 1920 the Eacham Shire Council had erected a substantial wooden diving platform and signs warning against nude bathing.
Other modifications included a wire netting fence erected around an unspecified area of the Malanda Falls Reserve in 1924, possibly to keep wandering animals from damaging the area. In 1925 when a retaining wall and a "narrow turning platform for swimmers, 25 yards from the bank" were built, Malanda's first swimming club was formed. Swimming carnivals were held between Malanda, Atherton, Mareeba and Cairns clubs in the pool until 1930. By 1934 the Malanda Swimming Club and the Eacham Shire Council had both contributed to and pool and surrounding reserve, with the Council's contribution amounting to £182/19/8 in 1933. The Department of Lands approved an additional advance of £50.00 for further enhancement works in 1934, and the Council engineer was instructed to look into building a path to the bottom of the Falls which was formed with terracing and gardens.
A significant feature of early tourism in the Cairns region was its use of the increasingly sophisticated transport infrastructure to service the mining, timber and agricultural industries. Development in Far North Queensland like other regions in Queensland was hampered by a lack of basic infrastructure. The construction of the Cairns to Mareeba railway provided for the development of the Barron Falls into one of the most popular tourist attractions in Queensland in the 1890s. Malanda Falls was also to benefit from this, when in 1910 the railway was extended to Malanda and a railway bridge erected spanning the Johnstone River just above the Falls allowing excursioners from other parts of the Atherton Tableland to visit the Falls more easily. It was not until the construction of the Gillies Highway in the 1920s that it became accessible to a greater number of people, notably tourists.
Photographs of Malanda Falls appeared in tourism literature as early as 1920 and in 1925 the Falls were part of a day trip from either Herberton or Ravenshoe. This day trip was by car and also included on the itinerary were visits to Lakes Barrine and Eacham and Millaa Millaa Falls. Whitecars, a local hire-car service, commenced day tours of the southern Tableland c1926 offered two tours to Malanda Falls: one including a visit to Glen Allyn Falls and the Malanda township, and the other incorporating a tour of the Malanda Butter Factory and The Jungle, an attraction which featured Aboriginal culture and the wonders of the rainforest.
Established c1922, Whitecars was integral to the development of tourism on the Tablelands and the increased popularity of region's attractions. Initially, Whitecars owners, Les Battle and Norm Graham, developed a timetabled taxi service between Malanda, Yungaburra and Atherton, and between Malanda and Millaa Millaa, with three cars. They took advantage of the 1926 opening of the Gillies Highway, linking the southern Tableland with Cairns, to take Ned Williams into partnership as The Cairns Tableland Motor Service Ltd to capitalise on the expected influx of tourists. In 1927 the company won the tender to transport passengers between Cairns and the southern Tableland via the Gillies Highway, and to operate day tours on the Tableland out of Yungaburra. In 1934 Whitecars introduced its first bus, capable of carrying 17 passengers to the area which, by this time, was being described in tourist guides featuring the Falls as "the land of waterfalls, cataracts and cascades".
In the 1950s and 1960s, the Malanda Falls were included in the Grand Tour/Tropical Wonderland Tour itineraries promoted by the Queensland Government Tourist Bureau (by then part of Queensland Railways). The Grand Tour operated during the winter months when a P & O ship would arrive at Cairns each week from Melbourne and Brisbane carrying around 200 passengers for a six day stay in the region. Upon arrival passengers could join the Tropical Wonderland Tour, which included being taken by White cars to visit the attractions of the Atherton Tableland, including not only the Malanda Falls but also the Millaa Millaa, Zillie and Glen Allyn Falls.
From 1942 a large number of Australian and American troops were stationed on the Atherton Tablelands during World War II. Malanda Falls was a popular swimming and picnic spot for service personnel and during the war years Australian troops upgraded the pool at the base of the Falls and built a three level platform diving tower.
As the tourism industry developed during the post war period, travel became easier and car ownership more commonplace and new tours were developed. Attractions such as Malanda Falls benefited from these changes and flourished. In 1961 a caravan park was established by the Eacham Shire Council, adjacent to the Falls with a capacity for 24 caravans, 30 camp sites and cabin accommodation for 20 people. Those staying at the caravan park inevitably visited the Falls and facilities were upgraded during the 1960s with the installation of a new concrete two-tiered diving platform along with a steel climbing frame allowing visitors to swing into the water, and grab rails and ladders to enter and leave the pool. In addition, the Malanda Swimming Club was reformed.
Malanda Falls was prominent in travel literature until the 1970s and continues to be identified as a tourist destination. Today the welcoming ceremony of the "Malanda Monsoon Festival" is held at Malanda Falls where traditional owners the Ngadjon Jii people invite good spirits into the town. In addition a Waterfall Ceremony is held at dusk at the Falls which includes the lighting of lanterns beside the Johnstone River.
","criteria":"Malanda Falls Swimming Pool demonstrates the evolution of tourism in North Queensland as an important example of how the Far North has utilised the natural environment to promote tourism in the region. Initially a swimming hole for locals, improvements to the site, such as terracing and gardens, transformed Malanda Falls from a natural waterhole to a more structured recreation area and swimming pool and since the 1930s has been a popular tourist destination.
|Malanda Falls Swimming Pool is valued for its aesthetic qualities and has been recognised in tourism photographs and literature since the 1920s as a picturesque destination that forms part of Far North Queensland's waterfall and picnic circuit. The manicured swimming hole is surrounded by terraced gardens and dense rainforest. Water tumbles over a basalt rock face into a structured pool below, evoking a strong sense of tranquillity and peace.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion E","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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":28659,"place_ref":602631,"name":"Kairi Maize Silos","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"30 Godfrey Road","suburb":"KAIRI","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2007-08-08","description":"The Kairi Maize Silos are located on the southern boundary of Lot 7 RP901633, at its midpoint, which faces Godfrey Road.
The Silos are constructed from reinforced concrete and are not adorned with any decorative elements.
The place comprises of a group of four separate silos arranged in a cluster. A corrugated galvanised iron, timber framed, multi-level skillion structure containing the receiving shed, office, toilets, elevators, conveyors and drive shafts, and engine room, abuts the southern walls of two of the silos.
A galvanised corrugated iron, elongated maize elevator tower straddles the roofs of the four silos. The tower is accessed through a passageway under the silos which is still present, and this leads to a ladder attached to the exterior wall. This passageway also houses the elevators for carrying the maize to the top of silos. The entrance to this passageway is located inside the maize receiving shed and is accessed via a wooden ladder. The subsurface areas and passageway were not accessed.
Internal infrastructure which remains at the place includes the facility's plant consisting of an engine connected by a drive wheel to the drive shaft and all associated elements to attach it to the ceiling of the receiving shed. Not inspected but also present are the elevators and conveyor belts (housed in the shed but in a largely disassembled state) and the intact maize sorting / grading machine, regarded as remnant machinery circa 1920s, and located on the mezzanine floor of the grain receiving building, approximately 5 metres above ground level and its camel haired conveyor belt. The truck despatch and receiving entrance is also extant. The access ladder used to enter the underground passageway, was extant although unusable located inside the maize receiving shed.
On the exterior of each silo are hatches / manholes located around 5 metres from the base of the silo. These are made of cast iron and are hinged at the bottom of the base plate. They are secured shut by two simple catches. Ventilation shafts are located at the base of each silo. It is likely that these shafts traversed the base of each silo allowing a fan to pump air through the silo thereby controlling mould and moisture build -up.
","history":"The Kairi Maize Silos are a complex of 4 concrete silos located approximately 10 kilometres east of Atherton near the outskirts of Kairi Township on the northern side of the Tolga/Johnstone railway line.
Maize production began purely as a response to a local demand, and grew rapidly as the dominant agricultural industry of the southern Atherton Tablelands up until the Second World War. Although some of the crop was exported to the south and overseas, its main market was and remains regional. Chinese settlers were instrumental in setting up the industry during the late 19th century, and returned soldiers from the First World War continued the industry in the early 20th century. The maize industry has experienced mixed fortunes over its 110 year history and has been subject to government intervention at every stage of its evolution. It now remains as a small section of the local economy, no longer monocultural, or as the dominant crop.
During the early 1920s, pricing problems and the region's climate impacted on the area's ability to store grain. This led to the formation of the Atherton Tableland Maize Board, which became responsible for storage issues and marketing the crop. In 1924, the Atherton Tablelands Maize Board erected three storage cluster silo complexes at Kairi, Tolga and Atherton. Only the Kairi Maize Silos remain as evidence of the region's significant maize industry.
Agriculture in the Atherton Tablelands followed mining and grazing. Although timber drew many settlers to the area, the maize industry was pivotal in opening up the Atherton Tablelands to agriculture. Maize initially fulfilled the requirements for stockfeed for the mining communities around Herberton and Irvinebank and later, further west.
Realising that it would be difficult to prosper only from planting maize crops, the farmers attempted to find alternate crops. The Atherton Farmers' Associated lobbied the Minister for Agriculture to establish a State Farm to provide research and advice on the growing of different strains of maize. As a result the Kairi State Farm was established in 1912 and was responsible for much of the experimental work carried out within the maize industry. The Kairi State Farm remained in operation until closed by the Government in 1935 despite the closure being disputed by the farming community which pointed out to the Government the desirability of having such a facility in a tropical environment.
White maize farmers resented the successful Chinese maize growers and with the inception of the Soldier Settler Scheme in 1917, Chinese farmers were displaced.
The area of land planted to maize steadily declined from 1919 to 1923 due to a series of difficulties experienced by small farmers under the Soldier Settlement Scheme despite attempts by the Government to relieve problems and allocate abandoned farms to remaining settlers to increase the size of their land. However at the time available varieties of maize were not suitable for the climatic conditions and were subject to various fungal and bacterial conditions. This resulted in an inferior product for the market and a push to resolve the problem by growing resistant strains of maize, and by erecting proper storage.
Farmers experienced difficulty in drying their crops and protecting it from pests while in storage. Treatment for pest eradication in the stored grain was costly, requiring an investment in drying and storage facilities for each farm. Failure to dry the grain to the required 14% of moisture also resulted in mouldy grain which was difficult to sell and added to the poor reputation of the Tablelands crop. Initially farmers stored their maize in barns but rodents and weevils soon encouraged the more affluent farmers to erect 1,200 gallon galvanised tanks for storage. They tried to overcome grain moisture problems by sun drying their maize on canvas tarpaulins before storing it in the tanks. Carbon bisulphate was then added to the top of the sealed tanks to kill the weevils. These efforts had variable results.
The Department of Agriculture and Stock recognised the difficulties and advocated for a modern plant for the drying, treatment and storage of the grain as early as 1921. It identified the need for a centralised, modern drying and storage facility, but recognised that the financing of such a facility was an insurmountable obstacle for the farmers. This difficulty, as well as the problems inherent in the marketing of the crop, was overcome by the introduction of legislation which was part of the complete reorganisation of agriculture in Queensland.
During the interwar period, the Queensland Government introduced five critical pieces of legislation which fundamentally affected the maize industry on the Atherton Tablelands. The Cooperative Production Act of 1914-19 allowed farmers to borrow money from the Government for centralised storage. The Primary Producers' Organisation Act of 1922 provided for the political organisation of agriculture. The Primary Producers' Cooperative Association Act of 1923 made possible the formation of cooperative companies to deal with the marketing of primary produce. The Primary Products Pool Act of 1923 enabled the establishment of pools of primary produce which allowed all the farmers to be placed on an equal footing, with one selling agent to handle the marketing of the crop and the Agricultural Bank Act of 1923 provided for cooperatives to borrow money for advance payments on crops before the sale of the commodity.
By 1923, as a result of the introduction of these pieces of legislation, the farmers had the means to form themselves into a Cooperative Company, raise money for suitable grain handling facilities, and market the crop as a whole, with returns guaranteed to each grower. The maize farmers after much acrimonious debate, took advantage of the legislation, and formed a pool, administered by the Atherton Tablelands Maize Marketing Board by authority of the Primary Producers' Organisation and Marketing Act of 1922-1926.
Thus, the inaugural Atherton Tableland Maize Growers Board negotiated a loan of £70,000 from the Government and built storage facilities at Tolga and Kairi, and a storage and drying plant at Atherton. Each had a working capacity of about 650 tons, barely enough to process the anticipated delivery of about 20,000 tons. The Board began operations in 1924, in time to handle the harvest of that year.
Each cylindrical concrete structure was constructed to 25 feet (7.6 metres) in diameter and 70 feet (21 metres) high.
The silos were designed, constructed and equipped with elevators, cleaning plant and driers by a Sydney based firm Henry Simon Ltd.
Constructed using 'sliding form' concreting (later known as slip-form concreting) the Kairi Maize Silos is one of the earliest applications of this technique in the construction of maize silos in Australia. The construction of the Kairi Maize Silos was overseen by a British engineer, Mr. C.P. Kinninmonth. The facility cost £7,000 which was financed by the State Treasury, and was repaid through levies on maize sold by the Board. The silos were opened by the Honourable W.N. Gillies on the 15 November 1924.
The complex was initially powered by a single cylinder 20 horse power Ronaldson Brothers & Tippet horizontal engine. In a measure of efficiency the engine was fuelled by burning corn cobs after they had been shelled. It powered the grain elevator and the fans to dry the maize. This engine was replaced in the 1930s, and may have incorporated an electrically driven system.
A small axial flow fan was constructed in the base of each silo. This was attached to perforated ducting, which sat on the floor of the silo. When in operation, the fan blew cool dry air, which was distributed via the ducting throughout the bin. This reduced the temperature of the maize within the structure to a level at which insect and mould development could not occur. A combination of drying and cooling using this method enabled the maize to be maintained in a sound and fresh condition for long periods. Cleaning equipment was located at each silo complex, while a drying plant was established at the Atherton silos to process maize with a moisture content exceeding 14 percent.
When the maize was received at the silos it was discharged from the truck through a grate in the timber floor of the grain receiving building, into a bin. From sub-surface level the maize was lifted by an elevator about 5 - 6 metres to the mezzanine floor above, which housed the sorting / grading machine. The sorting machine removed foreign matter from the shelled maize.
Using a system of electrically driven conveyor belts and elevators, grain in the silos was directed around the cluster of silos for cleaning, re-cooling or back through the underground tunnel to transport it from the site.
The elevator, located in the inter-silo space, carried the maize to the maize elevator tower which straddles the roof of the four silos. The maize then was conveyed through one of four chutes, into a designated silo. This part of the process was performed manually and access to the maize elevator tower was via a ladder attached to the exterior wall of one of the silos. Provision for access to the tower was incorporated by installing a passageway under the silos, which led to a ladder attached to the exterior wall. The silos could be fully emptied of its maize by the incorporation of inspection hatches located at the base of the silo.
The silos were an example of the socialisation of agriculture practiced by the Queensland Labor government following World War One. It based its practice on Union organisation principles, with the aim to organise the farmers in order to cut out the middleman and market co-operatively. Bolstering these organisations would be State-provided infrastructure such as transport, agricultural education and research.
The system of organised marketing and pooling of the crop certainly gave the farmers some surety of income, but instead of eliminating the 'middleman' it imposed another layer of bureaucracy, for which the farmers had to pay. The Government experiment with agrarian socialism during the establishment of the maize industry on the Atherton Tableland resulted in a highly regulated industry which produced high levels of debt for the cooperative entity and local government. The system did not meet expectations and was not an outstanding success on the Atherton Tablelands.
In the years following the construction of the silos the costs associated with the production of maize dropped and remained fairly stable, rising and falling as a percentage of grower returns, but remaining in the region of 20% to 25% of total returns. In spite of being the only maize growing area in Queensland to take advantage of legislation which allowed farmers to take control of the collective marketing of the crop, the industry struggled until the Second World War. The small size of farms forced farmers to grow maize as their only crop resulting in weed infestations, pests, and erosion gradually depleting the soil and grain yield. This often reduced farmers to a state of grinding poverty.
The years of the 1930s Depression followed by the Second World War affected many of the people involved in the maize industry on the Atherton Tablelands. Decline in farm values meant that immigrant farmers were able to acquire more land, albeit run down, as the debt-ridden soldier settlers and other settlers left the industry. Gradually the farms were taken over and enlarged, in many cases by migrant farmers from Italy, Albania, and Yugoslavia, some of whom were interned during the Second World War as 'enemy aliens.' The state of the industry improved when the Maize Board in 1936 began manufacturing poultry rations, and the 'Athmaze' brand of stock and poultry feeds was introduced. This activity consumed around 21% of maize produced on the Atherton Tablelands in the 1930s and 1940s.
After the Second World War advances in technology allowed farmers to increase production and efficiency but it was not until the 1960s that government sponsored research produced high yielding maize varieties, introduced rotation of crops, and established weed, pest and conservation management programmes. However, a monocultural approach to cropping had led to loss of the soil fertility which originally had been caused by nutrient recycling in the long-gone rain forest. It had also caused wide-spread erosion and thousands of tons of top-soil had been washing into the Barron River for decades. Realising that action had to be taken, farmers agreed to a compulsory levy of 1s. per ton on all maize produced in order to set up research projects on erosion and soil fertility, pest management and weed control. In 1946 this led to the reopening and redesignation of the State Farm at Kairi as a Regional Research Station. This Government action proved to be of enormous benefit to the maize farmers and the agricultural lands of the Atherton Tableland.
By the early 1970s the whole of the industry's maize production was absorbed by the dairy, poultry and pig industries of the Tableland and coastal areas including Mossman to Tully. The economic climate of the 1980s had been a very difficult time for the maize industry. Therefore, the industry entered the 1990s in a state of uncertainty and ferment, with poor returns, and an economy which made management of farms and businesses very difficult. The affairs of the Atherton Tableland Maize Marketing Board and of Athmaize, the milling and stock-feed operation, had been merged since the inception of Athmaize in 1936. In 1993 the Queensland government introduced deregulation to the maize industry and with the introduction in 1993 of a permit system with a fee of $16.00 per tonne led to the dissolution of the Board. The Boards assets and liabilities were transferred to the Athmaize Producers' Cooperative Association on 1 March 1994. Athmaize went into liquidation in 2002 thus ending 75 years of the Board's control of the maize industry on the Atherton Tablelands.
","criteria":"The Kairi Maize Silos with a height of 21 metres and a diameter of 7.6 metres, tower above the flat topography of the town and surrounding agricultural landscape of Kairi and the Atherton Tableland. The Silos are topped with an elongated corrugated iron elevator tower which adds further to the Silos as a landmark in this landscape.
|The Kairi Maize Silos are largely intact and significant for their potential to reveal further information about early 20th century concrete silo construction, technology and layout.
|The Kairi Maize Silos demonstrate a high degree of technical achievement as they were constructed using slip form concreting. This represents one of the earliest applications of this technique to the construction of maize silos in Queensland.
|The Kairi Silos complex demonstrates the principal characteristics of a bulk storage system associated with the Maize industry. It is a rare and largely intact complex incorporating elements of a bulk maize storage system which includes the sorting/grading machine, electric engine, elevators and conveyors. The Kairi Maize silos are the only surviving cluster silo complex on the Atherton Tableland.
|The Kairi Maize Silos, a cluster of four silos and incorporating associated structures to form a complex, are important in demonstrating the pattern of Queensland's agricultural history where maize was a major long standing industry in Far North Queensland. They are the last surviving example of three silo complexes erected on the Atherton Tableland to store maize and service the industry.
The Kairi Maize Silos are an important example of the regulation of agriculture in Australia during the interwar period, and particularly the regulation of the maize industry under the Maize Marketing Board.
|The Kairi Maize Silos are a rare aspect of Queensland's cultural heritage. They are the only extant example of a maize silo complex in North Queensland.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion E | Criterion C | Criterion F | Criterion D | Criterion A | Criterion B","criteria_definitions":"The place is important because of its aesthetic significance | The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding 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 | 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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":28859,"place_ref":602765,"name":"Atherton War Cemetery","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Cnr Kennedy Highway and Rockley Road","suburb":"ATHERTON","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2010-11-19","description":"The Atherton War Cemetery is located within the Atherton Cemetery Reserve on the south-eastern outskirts of the town. The war cemetery occupies the north-western corner of the triangular shaped 3.9 ha reserve which is bounded by Rockley Road to the north and the Kennedy Highway to the south-west.
The main entrance to the war cemetery is at the eastern end of the northern boundary which is formed by a brick pier and four-rail concrete fence. Wrought iron gates secure the entrance which is incorporated into a shelter constructed of brick columns with a concrete lattice roof. The shelter houses a bench, and a register box for a visitors' book and cemetery register. Bronze plated plaques attached to the shelter are inscribed as follows:
THIS WAR CEMETERY IS MAINTAINED
ON BEHALF OF
THE COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES
COMMISSION
BY THE
OFFICE OF AUSTRALIAN WAR GRAVES
Another bronze plaque reads:
DURING THE LAST 3 YEARS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR,1942-45, THE ATHERTON TABLELANDS AREA SERVED AS A MAJOR BASE AND TRAINING AREA FOR AUSTRALIAN TROOPS INVOLVED IN ACTION IN NEW GUINEA, BOUGAINVILLE AND THE LATER LANDINGS AT AITAPE - WEWAK, TARAKAN, LABUAN AND BALIKPAPAN. AUSTRALIA'S 6TH, 7TH AND 9TH DIVISIONS WERE BASED IN THE ATHERTON REGION, AND FROM HERE THE AIR FORCE STRUCK AT THE JAPANESE PRESSING DOWN FROM THE NORTH AND NORTH-WEST. MANY OF THE SERVICEMEN BURIED AT THIS SITE DIED IN LOCAL MILITARY HOSPITALS FROM WAR-RELATED WOUNDS, ACCIDENT OR ILLNESS.
THE ATHERTON WAR CEMETERY CONTAINS 164 BURIALS, COMPRISING 151 AUSTRALIAN ARMY, 12 RAAF AND 1 YMCA MEMBER.
A secondary service entrance for site management is located at the western end of the northern boundary fence with the remaining boundaries enclosed with mesh panel fencing.
The Atherton War Cemetery contains 164 uniformly marked and spaced graves and a Cross of Sacrifice set within a manicured lawn and gardens. Each of the graves is marked by a white marble headstone, rectangular in shape with a rounded top, carved military insignia, name, and rank of each soldier buried. Some headstones bear an epitaph. The headstones are evenly arranged in 11 rows, set into a concrete strip footing. Ten of these contain 16 headstones each, the final row has four.
The Cross of Sacrifice is located approximately 7.5 metres from the middle row of the headstones and stands about 4 metres high, set on a 3 metre square base. The cross is made of sandstone with bronze swords mounted on two sides. The plinth, base, stem and cross are octagonal.
While the arrangement of garden beds at the perimeter of the cemetery is of cultural heritage significance, the plant species within them are not and are replaced and upgraded from time to time to the standard required by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and specified in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Horticultural Manual.
","history":"The Atherton War Cemetery established in 1942, is situated within the Atherton Cemetery Reserve on the Kennedy Highway on the outskirts of Atherton. It contains a Cross of Sacrifice and 164 graves and headstones for soldiers and airmen killed during World War II. The Atherton War Cemetery is an example of the way in which the Imperial War Graves Commission's design principles, which were developed and implemented after World War I, were applied in a region that is significant for its World War II history and associations.
The Imperial War Graves Commission (which became the Commonwealth Graves Commission in 1960) was established in Britain by Royal Charter on 21 May 1917. The Commission's founder and vice chairman, Sir Fabian Ware, had submitted a memorandum to the 1917 Imperial War Conference outlining his concern for the upkeep of graves and sites of commemoration. During the conflict, Ware had used his mobile British Red Cross Unit to register and care for graves, and had received countless requests from bereaved families for information regarding their loved ones.
Once the Commission was formed, it resolved to create lasting memorials to those who lost their lives in battle and those families who had lost their loved ones.
To fulfil this aim, the Commission engaged eminent British architects to design the cemeteries and memorials. Sir Edwin Lutyens, Sir Herbert Baker and Sir Reginald Blomfield were the first three principal architects of the Commission and the Director of the British Museum, Sir Frederic Kenyon, drew their recommendations into a set of key principles regarding the development and management of the cemeteries. These principles determined that each of the dead should be commemorated by name on the headstone or memorial; headstones and memorials should be permanent; headstones should be uniform; and there should be no distinction made on account of military or civil rank, race or creed.
The principles were then applied to three experimental cemeteries at Le Treport, Louvencourt and Forceville in France. Of these, the last was considered the most successful. In consultation with renowned garden designer Gertrude Jekyll, a walled cemetery was built there with rows of uniform headstones set in narrow garden beds within a lawn in a symmetrical layout with a centre aisle between Blomfield's Cross of Sacrifice on the western boundary and Lutyens' Stone of Remembrance on the eastern boundary. After some adjustments, Forceville became the template for the Commission's building program.
The Imperial (later Commonwealth) War Graves cemeteries thus incorporated the following key elements (although some were contingent on the number of burials):
Cross of Sacrifice
The central focus of war cemeteries with over 40 burials is the Cross of Sacrifice. It was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield, an Imperial War Graves Commission architect who fought in the First World War. He created a tall, finely proportioned stone cross, with a symbolic downward pointing sword of bronze attached to its face, thus emphasising both the military character of the cemetery and the religious affiliation of the majority of the dead. It was designed to represent the faith of the majority and generally ranges in height between 4.5m and 9m depending on the size of the cemetery.
Stone of Remembrance
Sir Edwin Lutyens also fought in the First World War and was responsible for designing a general monument to be placed in war cemeteries called the Stone of Remembrance. It is suggestive of an altar and yet abstract and non-denominational, with horizontal lines and curved surfaces. The design was based on complex geometry derived from the Parthenon, giving an impression of majesty and tranquillity. Inscribed on the stone is the quote 'Their name liveth for evermore', taken from the Ecclesiasticus and chosen by Rudyard Kipling. The Stone of Remembrance is present in cemeteries where there are more than 1,000 burials and occasionally elsewhere although not at Atherton.
Headstones
Imperial (later Commonwealth) War Graves Commission cemeteries contain headstones of a standard pattern, usually set in perfectly straight rows. At the top of each headstone is engraved the national emblem or the service or regimental badge of the dead person, followed by their rank, name, unit, date of death, age and often an appropriate religious emblem. At the foot of the headstone there is, in many cases, an inscription chosen by the person's relatives. Some cemeteries, for climatic reasons, use low pedestals with bronze plaques instead of headstones.
Horticulture
Creating a garden setting for war cemeteries, in an effort to make them places of quite contemplation, beauty and soothing to the bereaved, was one of the earliest ideas generated by the War Graves Commission. These ideas were put into practice by the architects involved, in particular Sir Edwin Lutyens who worked closely with the renowned garden designer Gertrude Jekyll. Her ideas about traditional cottage garden plants, particularly flowering ones, and their placement greatly influenced the appearance of war cemeteries.
Soon after the Commission completed its program of World War I cemeteries in 1938, World War II began and the Commission realised that their efforts would be needed in many more countries. As that war progressed in the Allies' favour, the Commission began restoring its WWI cemeteries and memorials and commenced the task of commemorating 600,000 Commonwealth casualties from WWII. It built 559 new cemeteries and 36 new memorials and changed its name to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in the 1960s as the construction program of WWII cemeteries drew to a close.
The Atherton War Cemetery
The Atherton War Cemetery was created on land adjoining the Atherton General Cemetery (1928) in 1942, the year before the Tableland's Base Area was established as part of the Atherton Project (when the Australian Army Headquarters moved from Townsville to the Tablelands) and at the same time that the Australian General Hospital (2/2 and 2/6) at Rocky Creek commenced operations. The area between Atherton and Cairns was used extensively as a training ground during World War II for Australian troops involved in action in New Guinea, Bougainville and the later landings at Aitape-Wewak, Tarakan, Labuan and Balikpapan. The Tablelands Base Area created a constant flow of Army traffic through Atherton's main street, as camps were set up to train troops in jungle warfare before their being sent to the islands north of Australia. Australia's 6th, 7th and 9th Division were based in the Atherton region. Wounded soldiers were taken to the Rocky Creek World War II Hospital Complex as well as to the station hospital at Mareeba State School.
The first burial in the Atherton War Cemetery took place following the death on 4 January 1943 of Gunner AM Hemsworth, of the Royal Australian Artillery (Grave AC1). In 1944 the cemetery was resurveyed and redesigned by members of the 7th Graves Registration and Environment Unit. Plans reveal a symmetrical design that comprised a grid of three equal sized plots A, B C in an east-west orientation with 11 evenly spaced rows containing 10 rows of 16 and one row of four headstones. The plots were separated by gravel paths. To the south of the plots an expanse of lawn divided into three with gravel paths, contained a Cross of Sacrifice at its centre. The whole was surrounded by a gravel roadway with gardens/lawn between it and the perimeter fencing. The burials were arranged chronologically with 1943-1944 burials occurring in Plot A, 1944 burials in Plot B and 1945-46 burials in Plot C. The last burial took place following the death of Lieutenant Frank Stuart-Boyle, Australian Army Ordnance Corps on 1 December 1946 (Grave CC4). Graves in the Atherton War Cemetery were initially marked by white wooden timber crosses and later replaced with the marble headstones although there are no documentary records that specifically state when this occurred. Photographic records held at the Australian War Memorial indicate the change occurred between 1944 and 1949.
Early images depict a flag pole in the cemetery, which was the focal point for each burial service. The flagpole has been replaced by the Cross of Sacrifice, in keeping with Commission policy that cemeteries with more than 40 graves have a Cross of Sacrifice. In total, there are 164 graves in the cemetery, representing 19 different Australian regiments including: Infantry, Army Service Corps, Air Force, Volunteer Defence Corps, Medical Corps and Engineers. One grave belongs to a member of the Young Men's Christian Association.
A formal agreement was made in 1948 between the Shire of Atherton and the Imperial War Graves Commission (Anzac Agency) to hold Atherton War Cemetery in perpetuity for use as a war cemetery and granted rights to the Commission regarding use of the land.
There are 14 war cemeteries and plots in Queensland, including the one at Atherton: Lutwyche War Cemetery (386 burials) and Cremation Memorial, Bundaberg War Cemetery (35 burials), Ipswich War Cemetery (68 burials), Kingaroy War Cemetery (22 burials), Maryborough (10 burials), Rockhampton War Cemetery (36 burials), Toowoomba War Cemetery (44 burials, QHR 602718), Townsville War Cemetery (222 burials), Cairns War Cemetery (98 burials), Charters Towers War Cemetery (33 burials), Gympie War Cemetery (5 burials), Warwick War Cemetery (21 burials, QHR 602152), and Woombye War Cemetery (26 burials). In addition there are a number of individual war graves in civil cemeteries throughout Queensland. The war cemeteries and individual graves in civil cemeteries are maintained by the Office of Australian War Graves, a branch of the Department of Veterans' Affairs. The Office of Australian War Graves is the agent of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Australia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Norfolk Island.
References
Cohen, Kay, Margaret Cook, Howard Pearce, and Queensland. Environmental Protection Agency. Heritage Trails of the Tropical North: A Heritage Tour Guide to Far North Queensland. Book, Whole vols. Brisbane: Queensland Environmental Protection Agency, 2001.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Information Sheet: The Structural Maintenance of the Commission's Cemeteries and Memorials Commonwealth War Graves Commission, [cited 3 July 2007]. Available from www.cwgc.org/admin/files/cwgc_structural.pdf.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission. A History of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, [cited 3 July 2007]. Available from http://www.cwgc.org/.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Website http://www.cwgc.org/content.asp?menuid=1&id=1&menuname=Who%20We%20Are&menu=main & http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx?cemetery=2022502&mode=1
http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_plans.aspx?cemetery=2022502&mode=1
","criteria":"The Atherton War Cemetery is important in demonstrating the pattern of Queensland's history, being a product of Australia's involvement in World War II. North Queensland in general and the Atherton Tablelands in particular were important military sites during this country's involvement in the war in the South-West Pacific between 1941 and 1945. The Atherton War Cemetery is important as a memorial site to Australian soldiers and airmen who fought and died during the conflict, particularly in New Guinea.
The Atherton War Cemetery is closely associated with the Imperial (later Commonwealth) War Graves Commission, established by Sir Fabian Ware in 1921 to commemorate all individuals killed during war and to provide their families with a dignified and lasting memorial.
|The Atherton War Cemetery is important in illustrating the principal features drawn from the design guidelines that were established after World War I by the Imperial (later Commonwealth) War Graves Commission to ensure war cemeteries of this size suitably commemorated the fallen. These include uniform headstones in regular rows, the Cross of Sacrifice and manicured gardens; aspects of which appear in the 2,500 war cemeteries constructed in approximately 150 countries around the world and serve to make a dignified and reverential memorial site. These key characteristics and the aesthetic quality they create have strong associations with four internationally significant architects: Sir Edwin Lutyens, Sir Herbert Baker, Sir Reginald Blomfield and Charles Holden.
|The Atherton War Cemetery is an evocative site that conveys the distinctive aesthetic qualities and solemn ambience essential to all Imperial (later Commonwealth) War Graves Commission cemeteries. The formality of the War Cemetery - with its Cross of Sacrifice and uniform white marble headstones arranged in a regular pattern within a manicured lawn and horticultural border - make it a prominent feature distinguishable from the less formalised layout of the general cemetery.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D | Criterion E","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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":29442,"place_ref":602741,"name":"WWII RAAF 220 Radar Station","alternate_name":"Bones Knob Radar Station","street_address":"Bowcock Road Bones Knob","suburb":"TOLGA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2010-05-14","description":"The former WWII RAAF 220 Radar Station stands at the summit of a timbered hill called Bones Knob, which is located about 3km west of Tolga. There is farmland to the west, south and east of the hill, and a steep cliff is located northwest of the radar station.
The former military complex at Bones Knob comprises two concrete igloo buildings, a smaller concrete igloo for the station power plant, and concrete and steel footings of one radar tower. Recent additions include a steel bow-roof dwelling, a large on-ground water tank and an earth dam. Attached to one igloo is a small lean-to containing an alternative power plant. Entrances to both igloos are sheltered under bow-roof verandahs. None of the post-WWII improvements to the site are of heritage significance.
Concrete Igloos
Two igloo buildings with semi-circular reinforced concrete roofs are the principal structures. Their design, layout and dimensions are identical with those of the Charlies Hill ACO radar station near Home Hill. Each igloo is 11.20 metres in length and 7 metres wide, and spaced 55 metres apart in parallel alignment.
The Bones Knob igloos have been adapted as a studio and a storeroom respectively, and recent timber floors cover concrete recesses and raised platforms for electrical cables and the securing of radar equipment.
A smaller reinforced concrete igloo is located about 250 metres south of the transmitter and receiver igloos. This concrete igloo is similar in size and construction to those that housed generating plants associated with radar stations at Paluma and Horn Hill (an LW/AW radar station on Horn Island).
Tower Base
A 40.2 metre (132 foot) high timber tower was originally located alongside each igloo. Only the base of the northern tower was observed. Because of conditions at the time of survey, no evidence of the base of the southern tower could be seen. The tower footings comprise four 1 metre square concrete foundations, each containing two steel members about 1.5 metres in height to which the timber base of the tower was attached with bolts. No timberwork survives. The surviving steelwork is severely corroded. A shallow circular concrete pit about 2 metres in diameter, is located under the centre of the tower. The base of the tower occupies an area of about 12 metres square.
","history":"RAAF 220 Radar Station was one of five British-designed Advanced Chain Overseas (ACO) radar stations constructed in Queensland during World War II: four being completed (Benowa, Toorbul Point, Home Hill and Bones Knob) and a fifth not completed (Paluma). Early British wartime radar technology evolved rapidly and the ACO system was already outdated when introduced in Australia in 1943. ACO radar stations were built to the design of the Directorate of Works for the British Air Ministry and were very conspicuous through their two 40 metre high timber towers and two reinforced concrete radar transmitting and receiving shelters. RAAF 220 Radar Station, located at Bones Knob near Tolga on the Atherton Tableland, became operational in September 1943. It played a role in the protection of the large concentration of ammunition, ordnance and stores depots established on the Atherton Tableland as part of the assembly and training of Australian troops for the final phase of the New Guinea and island campaigns. Operation of the Radar Station at Bones Knob ceased in December 1944 as the South West Pacific frontline moved further north.
Radar in Australia
By the late 1930s Britain had become concerned with defence against aerial bombing and the development of radio direction finding systems for air warning and interception was receiving top priority. By contrast Australia's defence strategy was focused on preventing attacks on coastal targets by enemy warships. Air Warning (AW) radar had low priority in Australia and if the need arose, so went the argument, AW sets could be obtained from Britain.
The British Committee of Imperial Defence first shared their technical radar knowledge with Australian, New Zealand, South African and Canadian scientists in a top secret meeting in London in February 1939. It was anticipated that the commonwealth countries would commence their own research and use the new technology for defence developments. Australia was represented at the meeting by Dr David Martyn who ordered a substantial quantity of British radar equipment including six high frequency (HF) transmitters, designated MB (Mobile Base). With appropriate aerials on high towers, broad coverage patterns were being produced by the new British CH (Chain Home) stations. These stations gave long-range warning of high flying aircraft. However, transmitter/receivers for an air warning system against low flying aircraft (CHL or Chain Home Low Flying) were still being developed in Britain. Sets were ordered for delivery to Australia when completed, but delivery times were uncertain.
In August 1939, just weeks before the outbreak of World War II, the Australian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research approved the creation of the Radiophysics Laboratory (RPL) within the University of Sydney. Scientists at RPL, led by Dr David Martyn and Dr John Piddington, were concerned that sooner or later AW radar would be needed in Australia to warn of aerial attack and that existing air defence policy was too complacent.
During the first months of the war the Australian defence forces were without anyone specially trained in the tactical operation of radar and in March 1940 each service selected an officer to be sent to Britain for this purpose. The RAAF candidate was Pilot Officer Albert Pither who had previously completed an RAF signals course in England. In September 1940 he was posted to Britain for a two-month course in the tactical uses of radar including inspection of equipment in each of the British services. Pither was in Britain when the technology was put to use during the Battle of Britain. He returned to Australia by way of radar centres in Canada and the United States of America. In May 1941 Pither was promoted to Wing Commander in charge of the Radar Section of the RAAF Directorate of Signals. He began developing a plan to surround Australia with a chain of radar stations based on his experience with the British Chain Home system which relied on fixed transmitter and receiver towers. He also established a Radio (radar) School at the Richmond RAAF Station near Sydney. In early November 1941, one month before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the RAAF was given full responsibility for Australia's early warning radar operations and adopted Pither's radar defence strategy.
The delays that Australia experienced in acquiring British radar equipment spurred an innovative period of radar development by Australian scientists. Distance, competing demands and lack of material resources made it likely that Australia would not receive its first shipment of radar equipment until the middle of 1942. As a result, when news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor broke, Dr Piddington and his colleagues at RPL set about modifying the electronics of an experimental British set which was available. Reportedly within five and a half days they produced the first Australian-made AW set. The AW employed an innovative switching circuit developed by Dr Joseph Pawsey of RPL and aerials engineered by J.G. Worledge at the New South Wales Railway's Eveleigh workshops. The set was operational by 12 December 1941 and provided Sydney's only air warning for some months. The transmitter and receiver were comparatively light in weight and were subsequently modified to provide the electronics for Australia's principal air warning radar the LW/AW MkI and MkII. The radar equipment was manufactured in Sydney by HMV (His Master's Voice) also known as The Gramophone Company. By the time the British ACO (Advanced Chain Overseas) radar system was installed at Bones Knob in September 1943, features of its design had already been superseded by the Australian LW/AW radar, especially its conspicuous twin towers.
ACO Radar
Nine British ACO radar stations were installed in Australia in 1943, although the original intention was to erect 32 TRUs (Transportable Radar Unit) - a similar unit which differed in the type of aerial towers. However, the British government decided to terminate the Australian contract for the provision of TRUs so that these sets could be used in Africa. Instead Australia was supplied with nine ACO units. This meant that the RAAF had to provide timber for the fixed 40.2 metre (132 foot) towers, instead of the collapsible and transportable ones used in the TRU. The result was long delays in the erection of some ACO stations.
Of the nine Australian ACO stations, four were erected in Queensland at RAAF 209 Radar Station at Benowa (since demolished), RAAF 210 Radar Station at Toorbul Point, RAAF 211 Radar Station at Home Hill (QHR 601716), and RAAF 220 Radar Station at Bones Knob near Tolga. An ACO station was started at Paluma, and igloos were built that still exist on Lennox Crescent, but the towers were never built, as the ACO program was cancelled in late 1943. While the ACO unit was popular with operators, it was unpopular with the RAAF for a number of reasons. When compared with other sets in use the ACO was expensive, sophisticated and complex. Installation was measured in months rather than days with further delays in matching and phasing the aerial system. Also, the fixed nature of the two massive timber towers and their 40.2 metre height made camouflaging them almost impossible.
The ACO electronics were the second generation of the British CH (Chain Home) type of radar, a 'floodlit' system operating on the VHF band. The British electronics contained panels and features not used in other radars or deemed necessary in the Pacific.
The igloos were built to house the radar electronics and two tonne consoles for the transmitter and receiver. The buildings were intended to be earth covered and were designed with a small tower at one end which was equipped with a ladder and served as a ventilator and escape passage. Entrance doorways at the other end were large enough to accommodate the radar consoles.
The transmitter was a British MB3 model which put out 250 Kw of power at 42.5 MHz. The frequency was in the VHF band which would later become common for use in television transmission, but in 1943 this short wave-length was unfamiliar technology. The transmitter aerial system was in two parts set at different heights (at 37.2 and 14.3 metres high) to enable height finding using the floodlit system. Each part had four elements to cover four sectors of 120 degrees.
The receiver was a British RF7 (receiver fixed location) built in four vertical racks held in a frame of 2 x 2 x 0.6 metres. The receiver detected radio echoes from all directions simultaneously. The receiver compared the strength of an echo from within a radius to identify the direction from which the signal was originating. The receiver had two parts on the tower (at 40.2 and 14.3 metres high) plus crossed dipoles used for the height finding of an aircraft by comparing the echoes from the higher and lower sections of the tower.
The towers were of pre-cut and prefabricated construction, the timber used being Australian oak. One tower was for transmitting and the other tower for receiving radar signals. The transmitter tower was equipped with a three-stack array at the 37.2 metre level and a two-stack Gap Filler at the 14.3 metre level. The receiver tower array comprised two crossed dipoles at the 40.2 metre and the 14.3 metre level.
The towers did not rotate like those commonly used in other radar models. The ACO radar installation consisted of 14 switches on the receiver tower and more on the transmitter. These had to be constantly relayed from on to off, lower to higher, and to between different directions. The switches were controlled by the radar operators from the radar consoles located within the concrete igloos. Aircraft activity was monitored from an eleven inch cathode ray tube screen. Using the goniometre consisting of switches and controls of the direction and height finding components, the operator would monitor the screen and make comparisons to decipher the direction, elevation and distance of the aircraft.
In essence the ACO was totally unsuited to the fluid nature of war in the Pacific and was not used in the region, except in Australia, although intended for Singapore and Malaya. However in a fixed situation it had some advantages over the more portable British COL (Chain Overseas Low Flying) and Australian LW/AW mostly in use, including better penetration of thunderstorms and better height-finding ability. Ranges in excess of 320 kilometres were recorded on high flying aircraft and ACOs fulfilled the secondary role of assisting navigation of Allied aircraft.
Operation of 220 Radar Station
RAAF 220 Radar Station was formed at Camden, New South Wales, on 7 July 1943. The unit moved to Mascot for further training on 13 August 1943 and arrived at Tolga on 23 September, moving to Bones Knob the following day. The initial strength of the radar station was two officers and 34 airmen. A site plan for the installation at Bones Knob had been prepared by the Department of the Interior, Townsville, on 2 September 1942. Therefore, work may have already begun on construction of two concrete transmitter/receiver igloos, a smaller concrete igloo power house and two transmitter/receiver towers, together with a camp area and water storage tanks.
During the early months of 1943 the headquarters of the Australian Army in north Queensland was transferred from Townsville to the Atherton Tableland. Installation of a radar station at Bones Knob reflected the strategic importance of the planned concentration of ammunition, ordnance and stores depots in the Atherton district as part of the assembly and training of Australian troops for the final phase of the New Guinea and island campaigns.
ACO radar stations were built to the design of the Directorate of Works for the Air Ministry in Britain. In Australia, their construction was supervised by the Allied Works Council. The timber towers for 220 Radar Station were prefabricated by the Civil Construction Corps in Sydney from Australian oak supplied by the timber merchants Codey and Willis of Glebe, New South Wales. The firm was employed by the Allied Works Council and had the contract for the prefabrication and erection of the transmitter and receiver towers for the ACO stations. The timbers were cut to specifications, marked, and then shipped to the nearest port, in this case Cairns. In some instances the timber had shrunk when the builders started to construct the towers and it was necessary to re-drill the bolt holes on site. The timber towers were attached at the base to steel members set in four concrete footings. The towers were designed to withstand cyclone-strength winds in the Far East.
Electronic radar equipment for the station was installed and calibrated by specialist RAAF personnel. 220 Radar Station was a unit of RAAF 42 Radar Wing with headquarters in Townsville. Headquarters was responsible for the establishment of 2 RIMU (Radar Installation and Maintenance Unit) which provided specialist installation, calibration and maintenance support for RAAF radar stations in north Queensland. Radar mechanics regularly were required to climb the towers to service relay switches and aerials.
War-time radar operators played a significant role in saving the lives of airmen, but manning a remote radar station in northern Queensland was a routine and mostly uneventful task. To alleviate the boredom, the men of 220 Radar Station regularly travelled to Tolga, Atherton and Mareeba to the picture shows. A tennis court was constructed at the station during 1944 and cricket matches and table tennis tournaments between RAAF and Army units also helped to pass the time.
Operation of 220 Radar Station ceased on 7 December 1944 and during the month the unit commenced packing for its move to Townsville. By early January 1945 half the personnel of the unit had departed for Townsville leaving the remainder to assist with packing and dismantling the receiver and transmitter. The unit completed the move to Townsville on 18 January 1945 and was disbanded on 13 February 1945.
","criteria":"The remains of the former RAAF 220 Radar Station at Bones Knob are significant evidence of Queensland's participation in the network of air warning radar stations established at strategic locations throughout Australia during World War II. The place also has historical associations with the early introduction and development of British air warning radar technology during the war, being one of nine British-designed Advanced Chain Overseas (ACO) radar stations built in Australia during World War II, and one of five constructed in Queensland: at Benowa (no longer extant), Toorbul Point (extant), Home Hill (extant - QHR 601716), Bones Knob (extant) and Paluma (extant but never completed).
In addition, 220 Radar Station at Bones Knob demonstrates the strategic importance of the concentration of ammunition, ordnance and stores depots on the Atherton Tableland as part of the assembly and training of Australian troops for the final phase of the New Guinea and island campaigns.
|220 Radar Station demonstrates rare and uncommon aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage being one of four extant examples of British designed Advanced Chain Overseas (ACO) radar stations in Queensland.
|220 Radar Station is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of its type through its: elevated location; standard design reinforced concrete igloo shelters with escape towers, for housing radar transmitting and receiving equipment; and concrete and steel footings for timber radar towers.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion B | Criterion D","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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":30615,"place_ref":602734,"name":"The Curtain Fig Tree","alternate_name":null,"street_address":"Curtain Fig Tree Road","suburb":"YUNGABURRA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2009-12-03","description":"The Curtain Fig Tree (Ficus virens) is situated on Curtain Fig Tree Road approximately one kilometre north of the town of Yungaburra, in the Curtain Fig National Park within the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. The vegetation type indigenous to the area is mabi rainforest (complex notophyll vine forest), now classified as endangered.
The Curtain Fig Tree is approximately 50m high with a trunk circumference of 39m. The canopy extends in a radius of approximately 30m from the trunk of the tree. Extensive aerial roots, which are now thick and interwoven, drop 15m to the forest floor, forming a curtain oriented north-west to south-east over approximately 7m. The host tree has since rotted away and the fig is now a free standing tree.
Access to the Curtain Fig Tree which is approximately 50 metres from the road is via a 2m wide timber boardwalk from the roadside car park. At the beginning of the boardwalk there is a sheltered interpretation board that outlines the importance of the mabi rainforest and the history of the Curtain Fig Tree. The boardwalk then encircles the Curtain Fig. This boardwalk is easily accessible to wheelchairs and is raised above the forest floor (approximately 800mm) which also ensures visitors have minimal impact on the surrounding rainforest. Another interpretation board outlining how the tree was formed is located towards the end of the boardwalk, near the western face of the tree.
At the base of the Curtain Fig are timber posts and stones, remnants of a previous boardwalk that once passed much closer to the base of the tree. The boardwalk and interpretative signage are not considered to be of cultural heritage significance.
","history":"Far North Queensland's famous Curtain Fig Tree (Ficus virens), located in a national park about one kilometre north of the town of Yungaburra on the Atherton Tableland, is estimated by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service to be at least 500 years old. Associated with organised tourism on the Tableland since the 1920s, the tree has been important in the development of the Cairns hinterland as a major tourist region in Queensland.
Since the 1890s the tropical vegetation of the Atherton Tableland has been known variously as scrub, jungle and more recently, mabi rainforest. The term 'rainforest' was coined in 1898 but it was not a descriptor applied to the tropical vegetation of the Cairns region until the 1970s. Mabi rainforest was classified in the 1960s by ecologists, based on its physical characteristics and species composition. The name 'mabi' is derived from a local Aboriginal word for the rare Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo, the largest mammal found in this rainforest. Logging, agriculture and urban development on the Tableland has resulted in significant loss of mabi rainforest and it is listed as endangered under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
Early non-indigenous visitors to the Atherton Tableland often viewed the scrub in Romantic terms, fascinated by the dense and luxurious vegetation, especially the enormous trees covered with vines, and delicate and unusual ferns and orchids. A number of early twentieth century tourist attractions in the region, such as Fairyland (1907) and the Maze (1923) at Kuranda developed reflecting this view of the scrub. Other early commentators saw the fecundity of the scrub in a less favourable light, referring to it as gloomy, dank, and swarming with insects.
Ways of seeing the rainforest began to shift in the 1920s from the Romantic view of nature as a collection of fascinating curiosities and grand and sublime landscapes, to an ecological paradigm which views nature as a systemic interrelationship between all living things including humans, and their environment. In the 1930s the North Queensland Naturalists' Club lobbied for language change, seeking to replace 'scrub', often used in a derogatory manner, by 'jungle', in a bid to change community attitudes to the rainforest. Valuing the rainforest gained momentum with the rise of the environmental movement in the 1960s and 1970s.
Giant strangler figs such as the Curtain Fig Tree were considered to be wonders (if not 'freaks') of nature. Strangler figs are a parasitic species of tree that develop when the seed of a fig germinates on the top of another tree and then tries to plant its roots in the ground. Once the root system is established, the fig grows vigorously, finally killing the host tree and then growing independently. The unusual formation of the Curtain Fig Tree was created when its vertical roots strangled the host causing it to fall into a neighbouring tree on a 45 degree angle. The extensive aerial roots of the strangler fig then dropped from the oblique angle of the fallen tree 15m to the forest floor, forming a 'curtain'. North Queensland strangler figs were portrayed photographically in the Queenslander from as early as 1896 and on postcards soon after 1900.
Descriptions of unusual tropical vegetation such as the giant strangler figs began to appear in tourist guides from the 1920s. The Curtain Fig Tree was well known as a tourist attraction by the 1920s when Whitecars, a local hire-car service, commenced day tours of the southern Tableland c1926, stopping to view the giant tree. Prior to this the only comfortable travel available to visitors to the southern Tableland was by train via the Kuranda Railway. Whitecars was established c1922 by Les Battle and Norm Graham, who developed a timetabled taxi service between Malanda, Yungaburra and Atherton, and between Malanda and Millaa Millaa, with three cars. They took advantage of the 1926 opening of the Gillies Highway, linking the southern Tableland with Cairns, to take Ned Williams into partnership as The Cairns Tableland Motor Service Ltd (known locally as Whitecars), to capitalise on the expected influx of tourists. In 1927 the company won the tender to transport passengers between Cairns and the southern Tableland via the Gillies Highway, and to operate day tours on the Tableland out of Yungaburra. In 1934 Whitecars introduced its first bus, capable of carrying 17 passengers. The development of Whitecars was integral to the development of tourism on the Tablelands and led to the increased popularity of attractions such as the Curtain Fig Tree.
By the 1950s the Curtain Fig Tree was included in the Grand Tour/Tropical Wonderland Tour itineraries promoted by the Queensland Government Tourist Bureau (by then part of Queensland Railways). The Grand Tour operated during the winter months when a P&O ship would arrive at Cairns each week from Melbourne and Brisbane carrying around 200 passengers for a six day stay in the region. Upon arrival passengers could join the Tropical Wonderland Tour, which included being taken by Whitecars to visit the attractions of the Atherton Tableland, including the Curtain Fig Tree.
As tourism diversified and private car ownership became more commonplace in the 1960s, tourism numbers to the Cairns hinterland increased, as did numbers visiting the Curtain Fig Tree. More tours became available and the tree was included on the itinerary of the Tableland Circular Tour in 1966. The popularity of the tree continued unabated and it was included in more tours during the 1970s including the Atherton Tableland Tour.
The Curtain Fig Tree remains a tourist attraction, but advances in science and a greater understanding of the natural environment mean the tree is now seen and portrayed in ecological terms. Since the 1970s the area surrounding the Curtain Fig Tree has changed considerably: undergrowth has been trimmed back; interpretative signage educates tourists about the formation of the tree; and a boardwalk guides visitors to the tree. In December 1988 the Curtain Fig became part of the newly created Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, which consisted of 8,990 square kilometres of Far North Queensland rainforest.
A boardwalk was constructed in 2001 to allow wheelchair access for the disabled and to provide further protection for the tree and its surrounds, while permitting visitors to view it from all angles. Large numbers of tourists continue to visit the Curtain Fig Tree every year independently or as part of an organised tour. In 1994, 58,000 people arrived in commercial vehicles and 123,000 in private vehicles.
","criteria":"The Curtain Fig Tree is an imposing and distinctive tree set within rare mabi rainforest. It is valued for its immense size and the curtain effect that has resulted from the thick and interwoven vertical root system. The tree's verdant and luxuriant growth has been valued by locals and tourists from the 1920s, and evokes a sense of awe, wonder, amazement and curiosity.
|The Curtain Fig Tree (Ficus virens), a 500-year old strangler fig that has been associated with organised tourism on the Atherton Tableland since the 1920s, is important for its association with the evolution of tourism in Far North Queensland, demonstrating the attraction of the North Queensland natural environment for tourists. Its popularity is associated with the impact of the motor vehicle on Far North Queensland tourism. As an unusual natural phenomenon, the tree evoked a sense of wonder and curiosity amongst settlers on the Atherton Tableland in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and has been one of the most tourist-visited large trees on the Tableland since the 1920s. It remains a popular tourist destination.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion E | Criterion A","criteria_definitions":"The place is important because of its aesthetic significance | The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":34218,"place_ref":602823,"name":"Wairuna Homestead and Cemetery","alternate_name":"Wairuna Station Homestead and Cemetery | Wairuna Homestead","street_address":"Wairuna Road","suburb":"WAIRUNA","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2013-08-09","description":"Wairuna Station, located 117 kilometres south of Mount Garnet on Wairuna Road, is a 76,500 hectare property at the head of the Burdekin River adjoining the Girringun National Park. Eighteen kilometres from the north-western boundary of the Station, the approach through the scrub opens to provide a long view of the picturesque setting of Wairuna Homestead atop a knoll surrounded by lagoons and wetlands.
\nWairuna homestead comprises the 1940 residence with attached early kitchen/store, a cottage of early construction and the 3-car garage/workshop oriented to overlook the approach from the north. Other ancillary structures located in close proximity to the south and east include: two barracks buildings; an amenities block; butchering hut; machinery shed; wash house/accommodation/generator shed and the remnants of a tank stand and oil shed and garden structures. The former stockman's house is located on another knoll to the south with the remains of the former stables, pig pen and other yards contained in the gully between. Remnants of the Aboriginal campsite are located on the flats about 200m south of the former stockman's house.
\nThe 1940 residence is a robust single storey timber-framed building clad in chamferboards. Standing on a red-coloured concrete slab on fill it is covered by a low-pitched hipped corrugated sheet roof with half round ridge tiles and quad gutters, all of asbestos cement. Verandahs located on the north and east sides are supported on pairs of 150mm square posts finished with skirtings and capitals on capped concrete upstands. Along the verandahs, projecting porches with gabled hips distinguish the entrances when viewed from the main garden and driveway. The verandah walls and interior partition walls have exposed frames lined with vertical v-jointed tongue and groove boards and ceilings are lined with asbestos cement sheeting finished with timber cover battens.
\nThe 1940 residence comprises six rooms with the former lounge and dining room to the east separated from four former bedrooms to the west by a central hall and lobby running from the front door to the kitchen at the rear. The lounge and dining room share a large double-sided fireplace of face-brick. Two of the former bedrooms retain built-in wardrobes, drawers and shelving. The walls throughout the house and onto the verandahs have a single lining of vertical v-jointed tongue and groove boards with ceilings lined in asbestos cement sheeting and finished with timber cover battens.
\nAt the rear, the existing kitchen/store/verandah to which the 1940 residence was added retains its early cladding of ripple iron under fibre cement planks on the external walls and a bathroom has been added to the south-western corner.
\nThe cottage is a single storey building on stumps with an exposed timber frame, 290mm wide chamferboard cladding and a hipped corrugated iron roof. It is a typical two room cottage with a 5 x 8m core with rooms of unequal size and symmetrically placed openings. The verandahs with lower pitched incorporated skillion roofs are later additions: those to the front and rear are of equal width, the rear with a corner room; and a wider side verandah enclosed as two rooms with 180mm wide chamferboards. A walkway with curved corrugated iron roof connects the cottage to the 1940 house.
\nThe ancillary buildings to the south and east of the homestead and cottage are generic agricultural structures of basic design and construction built and modified since 1940. Most are timber framed, clad in corrugated iron or fibre cement sheeting and generally with concrete or earth floors. The former barracks building on the southern slope has a suspended timber floor and both it and the former stockman's house are clad in chamferboards with corrugated iron roofs.
\nOther components associated with the homestead are located at some distance from the main complex. The cemetery is located on the western side of the lagoon, about 500m from the homestead and contains the graves of James and Kenneth James Atkinson. The headstones are surrounded by a fence of decorative cast iron and mild steel with the large marble headstone of James Atkinson clearly visible from the homestead site.
\nA small number of structures including the four bay shed have been erected on the property since the Atkinson occupation of the station.
","history":"Wairuna Homestead and Cemetery, located approximately 80km south of Mt Garnet in the watershed of the Burdekin River, comprises a 1940s timber residence, early cottage, head stockman's house, barracks, sheds, butchering hut and a small cemetery established in 1899. From 1881 until 1976 Wairuna station was operated by the Atkinson family, an important north Queensland pastoral family. From the 1930s Wairuna station was a centre for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) partnered research into the suitability of Brahman-cross cattle in northern Australia and later for the establishment of the Australian Brahman breed. For more than two decades it was the home of Kenneth Edward James Atkinson, a significant initiator of the Australian Brahman breed, who co-established the Australian Brahman Breeders' Association in 1946 and played an important role in the development of Brahman and Brahman-cross cattle in Australia.
The northern part of the Kennedy district in north Queensland, where Wairuna is located, was settled quickly by pastoralists in the early 1860s. By the end of 1861 the best of the country had been selected, including the entire Burdekin River frontage. During this initial rush James Atkinson (1824-1899), in partnership with Ezra Firth, attempted to establish a run on land later claimed to be part of the early station The Valley of Lagoons.[1] Subsequently, c.1863 Atkinson and Firth formed Mt Surprise station to the north.[2] Their partnership lasted for about seven years before Atkinson took up land in the lower Herbert district, where he established the cattle run and cane farm Farnham near the site of Ingham. Atkinson, the son of a linen manufacturer of Scottish descent, was born in County Armagh, Ireland in 1824. After service in the British army he migrated to Victoria in c1854, spent time on the Ballarat goldfield and farmed in the Port Fairy district. He married Kate Good in 1859. He, his wife and daughter travelled to north Queensland in the early 1860s to take up pastoral land.[3]
During the 1860s north Queensland's early pastoralists struggled to survive for a number of reasons. Within a decade they found that footrot, fluke, lung worm and spear grass made most of the area unsuitable for sheep. There was no ready market for cattle because population centres were too far away. Until boiling down works opened in Townsville and Burketown in 1866 almost the only means of disposing of surplus cattle locally was to sell them to other squatters stocking new runs. Ports were distant and getting to them difficult, the Aboriginal people were hostile, the climate was challenging and from 1866 Queensland was in financial crisis.[4]
Queensland's monetary situation badly affected squatters in the Burke, Cook and Kennedy districts. They appealed to the government for more secure and extended tenure and for rental relief. Despite new land legislation enacted in 1868 extending leases, reducing rental and giving pastoralists the option of buying one block of 2560 acres per run, four times as many runs were abandoned in 1869 as in the previous year. In the six years from 1866 no new pastoral leases were taken up in the Kennedy district and most passed out of the hands of the original owners. Few of the remainder had prospered, and the failure of sheep and unsatisfactory markets for cattle gave no promise of an early improvement.[5]
However, the 1870s brought some relief to pastoralists as the establishment of northern goldfields created a local market for fresh meat. From 1872 buyers from Ravenswood and Charters Towers goldfields provided strong demand on stations in the vicinity. The Palmer River rush in 1873 sent cattle prices up to an average of £10 a head.[6]
The new demand for beef as a result of the establishment of goldfields, the growth of the sugar industry, the establishment of ports and a run of fair seasons restarted squatting in north Queensland. This second wave of expansion, from 1874, created a demand for stores and breeders[7] not only in north Queensland but in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. While this eased the pastoralists' financial situation in the short run, it exacerbated the problem in the long term as the grossly oversupplied market caused extremely low cattle prices at the end of the 1870s.[8] By 1880 north Queensland cattle numbers were estimated at 450,000 - almost three times the 1874 figure. The Townsville boiling down works re-opened in 1880 to deal with the excess.[9]
Nevertheless, in 1881 James Atkinson sold some of his land in the lower Herbert to the Colonial Sugar Refining Co (CSR), purchased Wairuna station in the upper Burdekin and moved there with his wife, daughter, three sons and cattle herd. The Wairuna lease had been established in 1879 by Henry Stone and Duncan McAuslan while Henry Stone applied for Wairuna No 2 lease a year later.[10]
The siting of the homestead on its flood-free position enabled management of the land from then onwards. Early writers commented on the homestead's siting and the beauty of its setting. It was ‘very prettily situated on a hill overlooking a grassy margined lake of considerable size, surrounded by high hills, and when you first catch sight of it, you naturally say, "well, this takes a lot of beating". And so it does, for beauty of landscape'.[11] A second wrote, ‘This well-known station home...is beautifully situated on a rise overlooking the Herbert, just before that river takes its plunge down the scrub-clad gullies to the level of the coast'.[12]
From the 1880s north Queensland cattlemen began to participate in southern markets, especially Melbourne and Adelaide. Although growth slowed during the dry years of 1884-5 and 1888-9, in the 5 years from 1889 cattle numbers increased quickly, to reach a peak of 1,390,899 head or 19.8 per cent of all Queensland cattle in 1894.[13]
Up to 1890 the cattle industry in north Queensland struggled for profitability because the supply of cattle greatly exceeded demand, and cattle prices were depressed.[14] This appears to be borne out by the Wairuna lease being held by the Bank of New South Wales as mortgagor for James Atkinson from 26 September 1887, which was still the case in 1900.[15] However, Geoffrey Bolton states that ‘[g]radually between 1870 and 1890 most of the northern graziers achieved, if not prosperity, a modest standard of comfort. The usual type of homestead residence was represented by Gunnawarra, "a comfortable house with slab walls and floors and a very large stone and antbed fireplace".[16] Similarly, the Wairuna residence in 1900 was a modest slab house with a corrugated iron roof on the site of the current residence.[17]
Three major structural changes in the beef cattle industry took place in the 1890s. The financial crisis of 1893, combined with low cattle prices and restricted markets, caused a change in the pattern of ownership, with many large stations passing to banks and pastoral finance companies. Secondly, a new type of owner was created: grazing selectors, initially given 30 year leases on areas not larger than 20,000 acres (subsequently increased to 60,000 acres). The third major change was the successful establishment of freezing plants in north Queensland, enabling cattle producers to enter the world market. Coinciding with these changes was the severe reduction in stock numbers from c1894 due to cattle tick, which killed a third or more of the cattle herd, and from the drought of 1898-1902. Wairuna experienced a 50 per cent loss of stock from the disease in 1896 when it first broke out on the property.[18]
By the time of Aktinson's death and burial in Wairuna Cemetery in 1899 he was semi-retired and in equal shares partnership with his three sons - Henry John, Robert James and Thomas Joseph. His quarter share of the lease passed to his sons.[19] Subsequently the Atkinson brothers' partnership increased its land and stock.[20]
The partnership continued until 6 May 1914 when the eldest brother, Henry John, withdrew. Wairuna station was initially transferred to him with a number of other properties, but was later sold to his brothers.[21]
From the 1890s until the 1950s, the north Queensland beef cattle industry was hampered by a number of factors. The prevalence of cattle tick meant that dipping was required to control it, although some tick resistance in the cattle did occur. Markets fluctuated: for example, the World War I boom was followed by a collapse of the beef export trade in 1921 resulting in a long and serious depression until 1939. Additionally, during the interwar period, three new diseases in northern stock were recognised - buffalo fly, Pegleg (due to phosphate deficiency) and ephemeral fever. Drought and long dry seasons remained a problem for northern cattlemen. Markets improved again during World War II but it was not until 1953 that the herd numbers surpassed the 1894 level.[22]
In an effort to resolve some of these problems, a few northern beef cattle producers began investigating the suitability of Brahman or Zebu (Bos indicus) cattle and Brahman cross-bred cattle for their tick-resistance and tolerance of hot, dry conditions. As early as 1910 William McDowall of Christmas Creek station purchased two Brahman bulls from Melbourne Zoo. The last of these bulls died in 1921. From their progeny, the best calves were kept for bulls and crosses were bred from them with station cattle. The cross-bred progeny were subsequently sold to various north Queensland stations.[23] Descendants of these early Brahman were used by Henry John Atkinson on his adjacent Greenvale station and by his nephew Ken Atkinson of Wairuna.[24] By 1923 Henry John Atkinson on his Greenvale property was ‘demonstrating the possibility of improving the existing types of beef cattle in the North by mating Zebu bulls with shorthorn stock, his object being the production of a hardier type, ... practically tick resistant and capable of withstanding the drought conditions to which the popular strains succumb'.[25] Ken Atkinson's older brother, Robert La Mont Atkinson (1902-1986), recalled that from 1926 he determined to try and form a new breed with a Brahman base which would be better for north Queensland conditions than the British breeds and more able to cope with ticks and droughts.[26]
Parallel with these initiatives was scientific interest in developing cattle suitable for the tropics. In 1920 veterinarian and former administrator of the Northern Territory, Dr John Anderson Gilruth (1871-1937), toured Texas, USA which strengthened his conviction that ‘vigorously controlled cattle breeding experiments in north Queensland would be wise'.[27] In 1929 a Joint Commission appointed to enquire into the beef cattle industry of northern Australia reported that there should be investigation of ‘problems of animal genetics with the object of creating a new breed of tropical cattle'. Subsequently, when preparing a research program for CSIR in north Queensland, Gilruth (acting chief of the division of animal health within CSIR) included a tropical cattle breeding project which was approved by CSIR council. In 1930 money was made available ‘for an inquiry into Zebu crossbreeding experiments carried out by the US Bureau of Animal Industry and others in the southern USA'.[28]
Dr Ralph Bodkin Kelley (1890-1970) of the CSIR arrived in the USA in January 1931 to gather information about the advantages of Brahman cross-breeding in Texas. On his return to Australia, a CSIR proposal to establish a cattle breeding station for experimental mating of Brahman and British cattle breeds in north Queensland was rejected by a graziers' meeting in Rockhampton. Influential men such as James Lockie Wilson (1880-1956), an executive member of the United Graziers' Association (UGA) for 27 years, opposed CSIR's introduction of Brahman cattle.[29] The project remained dormant until 1933 when Dr Gilruth negotiated an agreement with three pastoral companies and one central Queensland grazier. They would fund the purchase and importation of USA-sourced Brahman cattle into Australia, provide the British cattle for hybridisation and maintain the cattle and their progeny. Negotiations between Winter-Irving and Alison; Meredith Menzies and Company (Millungera); Queensland Stations Ltd; and grazier, and Colin W Wright, owner of Waverley and Branxholm in the St Lawrence district in central Queensland, were completed in January 1933.[30]
This syndicate imported 18 Brahman cattle selected by Dr Kelley and shipped in 1933. The cattle, which averaged two years old, were sent to Wright's property, Waverley station, for acclimatisation and inoculation before being divided among the syndicate members for use in the CSIR breeding trials.[31]
As early as 1930 the writer, ‘Vellus', in The Queenslander, was promoting the attributes of Brahman cattle - tick resistance, heat-resistance, disease resistance and breeding efficiency.[32] However, opposition to Brahman cross-breeding from cattlemen was expressed for many years to come.[33]
At Wairuna, Ken Atkinson, grandson of James, began breeding Brahman cross-bred cattle in 1936 with 15 heifers and two bulls purchased from Greenvale Station. The cattle carried ½ to ¾ Brahman blood and were descendants of the Christmas Creek bulls procured from Melbourne Zoo in 1910. Additionally, Atkinson purchased the pure-bred Nellore (ie small eared) Brahman bull ‘Abel' from Waverley station in 1939 although the sale of progeny by syndicate members was not permitted. When CSIR learned of this purchase it invited Atkinson to join the syndicate and subscribe to its agreement; which he did.[34]
Atkinson and his mother and siblings, inherited the estate of his father Robert James Atkinson of Cashmere and Wairuna after his death in March 1939, however, Atkinson had been managing Wairuna from c1930. In 1939 the homestead comprised an early residence, dairy room, car shed, boiler shed, two Aboriginal quarters, blacksmith's shop, fowl house and stockyard. Most of these structures were replaced, many during Ken Atkinson's management of the property. Buildings added to the site during this time were the current residence, garage with school room, two sets of barracks and the head stockman's house. The rock-walled terraced gardens surrounding the northern garden of the residence were established by the 1950s.[35]
The current residence was designed and built in 1940. In March of that year Ken Atkinson ‘made plans' for the house and in August the building contractor, NW Johnston of Kairi, visited Wairuna and ‘drew plans' for the house. These included an existing kitchen in the design. Building commenced in October after the demolition of the old house on the site and building contractors Harold and Norman Johnston completed it by 21 December 1940. It cost £2500 to build. [36] The homestead residence was later described as ‘one of the most attractive in north Queensland'.[37] As well as being the family home, it accommodated guests such as purchasers of stud cattle and distinguished visitors, such as Sir George and Lady Johnson.[38]
From the residence office, Ken Atkinson organised his Brahman breeding programme and performed the duties of office-bearer in various organisations of importance to the beef cattle industry over the next two decades. He co-created the Zebu Breeders Society of Australia in 1946 (later the Australian Brahman Breeders' Association i.e. ABBA); was a foundation member of The Australian Tropical Beef Breeders' Association (1952); and helped establish the North Queensland Saleyards Pty Ltd, of which he was the chairman of the board of directors from 1947 to 1976. He also served as chairman of the Mt Garnet branch of the Northern Graziers' Association between 1946 and 1949 and was a committee member of the Graziers' Association of Central and Northern Queensland in 1949.[39] In addition to his Brahman cross and Brahman stud herds, Atkinson also conducted a Poll Hereford Stud from c1941 and a Santa Gertrudis stud from 1952. In 1955 he joined the prestigious Queensland Club.[40]
Wairuna station was described in 1943 as about 700 square miles of coastal range country situated on the tableland west of the range that runs parallel to the north-east coast of Australia. It surrounded and followed the headwaters of the Burdekin. The country principally was open forest (savannah woodland), and well-watered by creeks and lagoons. Ticks were present and it was necessary to dip British-bred cattle fairly regularly, depending on the extent of the infestation. Some paddocks were fenced off, but much of the country was ‘open'.
In 1943 the Wairuna Brahman cross-bred (hybrid) herd totalled 170 including the pure-bred bull ‘Abel' and one pure-bred female; the remainder being various cross-bred cattle. The hybrids, which were relatively few in number, were depastured with the other cattle (mainly Devon Shorthorn crosses), of which there were approximately 7000. Atkinson had inspected the cross-bred herds of three of the older members of the breeding syndicate and considered that 3/8 Brahman was the proportion most likely to serve his purpose. He had devised a breeding plan to achieve this objective and facilities for this programme were available on Wairuna.[41] By 1943, Brahman-cross bullocks had already been marketed from Wairuna.[42]
The spread of Brahman cattle across northern Australia became possible after November 1941 when CSIR permitted syndicate members to sell Brahman and cross-bred cattle outside their group. Of the original 18 Brahman and one 3/8 Santa Gertrudis bull, 16 were still alive and well in 1941. By 1943 there were 7794 progeny from these cattle.[43] Kelley reported in 1948 that ‘within a seven year period, without propaganda and without regard to all possibilities... Zebu hybridization has extended from at least Rockhampton on the south, right along the coast to Townsville and thence to the Daintree River area. It appears to have leapt the Atherton Tableland but it has penetrated into Cape York Peninsula as far north as Coen. It has also penetrated the coastal range country behind Ingham and at Townsville has extended into the basaltic country above Charters Towers and Pentland. It cannot be accidental that the expansion has taken place principally in tick-infested coastal country.'[44] Atkinson had played a role in this dispersal through selling Wairuna cross-bred cattle to properties near Mt Molloy, Georgetown, Cooktown, Tully and Coen.[45]
Atkinson increased the diversity of his herd through purchases within Queensland and overseas. During 1946 he purchased all the pure-bred Brahman from the Australian Estates Co Ltd property Millungera station, including the bull ‘Texas'. He later purchased another CSIR syndicate bull, ‘Jake 315', from Glenprairie station. These, together with the cattle he had acquired earlier, made his total of 43 pure-breds the biggest of any pure-bred herd. His objective was to maintain a study of Brahman cattle and eventually have a 3/8s Brahman herd on his property. In 1947 Wairuna had a total of 850 head of pure and cross-bred Brahman cattle.[46]
The CSIR had concluded in 1943 that any extension Brahman cross-breeding would require further importations to avoid inbreeding in the cross-bred population.[47] Post-war, Atkinson and others followed this advice with further purchases of pure-bred Brahman from overseas to develop the breed. Between 1949 and 1951 Atkinson imported two Brahman bulls and two heifers from the USA. In 1950 Waverley Station, also imported Brahman cattle.[48] By 1954, 49 head had been imported to Australia; however, importations were terminated in 1954 because of the outbreak of the disease bluetongue in the USA.[49] It was not until 1981 when health protocols changed that importation from the USA recommenced and between then and 2002 more than 700 animals were imported.[50]
Atkinson and Maurice De Tournouer of Wetherby station, Mt Molloy, established the first Brahman-related breeders association in Australia in 1946. The Australian Zebu Breeders' Society started with Atkinson as president (1946-1960) and Le Tournouer taking the secretary's position.[51] In 1953 it was reported that ‘The system of registration being adopted by the Australian Zebu Breeders' Society will fill an important need in Queensland's cattle industry.... The Australian society, comprising nine active breeder members with Mr K J Atkinson of Wairuna, Mt Garnet as president, has now applied for affiliation with the American society...'.[52]
In 1947 north Queensland graziers considered forming a syndicate to build saleyards to be worked on a co-operative basis for the benefit of pastoralists. Subsequently, the Primary Producers Cooperative was formed with Ken Atkinson as the first chairman of the board and on 2 April 1948 the company North Queensland Saleyards Co P/L (Mareeba Saleyard) was registered. The Mareeba Saleyard's first sale was held on 19 May 1948 and it continues to operate in 2013.[53]
From the 1950s cattle-raising throughout most of north Queensland underwent a transformation. The 15 Year Meat Agreement between Britain and Australia[54] provided good beef prices irrespective of market trends, which generated optimism and the confidence to embark on development work. In addition the Queensland Government began to insist on improvements as a condition of pastoral leases and took a more active role in the industry.[55]
In 1952 Ken Atkinson was a foundation member of the ‘The Australian Zebu-Cross Beef Cattle Breeders' Association' (later the Australian Tropical Beef Breeders' Association) formed by his older brother, Robert La Mont Atkinson, and other Brahman breeders who were experimenting with cross breeding. The objective of the organisation was to improve the cross breeds to a high standard, and to collect, verify and publish information relating to them.[56]
Between 1952-54, Wairuna cattle were used for a study of comparative live weights and carcase weights and grades of beef using Brahman cross and British steers carried out by the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Stock (Dept A&S). As the four economic drivers of beef production in northern Australia are: survival, reproduction, weight gain, and carcass and meat quality, this trial was a quantitative test of three aspects of the suitability of Brahman type cattle for the north Australian cattle industry. The final weighing of the steers in the 2½ year-long weight trial took place during the first field day for north Queensland cattlemen, organised by the Mt Garnet branch of the Graziers' Association in co-operation with the Dept A&S, and held at Wairuna Homestead, in 1955. The study quantitatively showed the advantages of Brahman-cross beef compared with European breeds.[57]
From 1960 Wairuna, with its cross-bred herd, was managed by Atkinson's eldest son, Jon, while Atkinson moved his Brahman stud cattle to the property Moana at Kuranda to be more easily accessible for buyers.[58]
Industry improvements of the 1950s were followed during the 1960s and 1970s by a number of innovations higher degree of cattle control, provision of beef roads, increased emphasis on pasture management and the establishment of better adapted breeds such as Brahman and Brahman crosses including Santa Gertrudis.[59] The ABBA continued to grow during the 1960s and 1970s. Its headquarters, Brahman House, Rockhampton [AMP Building (former) QHR 600794], was officially opened on 20 August 1971 by the Association's patron Mr Edgar Hudgins of Hudgins Ranch, Texas, USA; making it the first beef cattle breed association in Australia to own its own building.[60] By 1971 there were 26,900 purebred Brahmans and 57,800 Appendix registered Brahmans in Australia.[61] During the early 1970s the ABBA's membership increased dramatically, exceeding 900 in 1972. With the increase in membership, cattle registration also increased dramatically, which in turn increased the genetic supply available to the commercial industry. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and Queensland Department of Primary Industries (DPI) research underpinned the growth by demonstrating the biological basis for the Brahmans adaption.[62]
From 1958-59 the USA surpassed the United Kingdom as the principal market for Australian beef exports. Worldwide demand for beef caused Australian cattle prices to increase by 40% between 1969 and 1974. However, by 1975 world overproduction and political decisions in the USA and Japan led to the collapse of world beef prices and the decline of beef exports from Australia. Prices remained low until 1979, when new markets were established in Eastern Europe and the USSR, and new quotas were negotiated with the USA.[63]
The development of tropically-adapted Brahman stock revolutionized the beef cattle industry in northern Australia. It transformed struggling enterprises into efficient and profitable ones and contributed billions of dollars to domestic and export income. In 2000 a Meat and Livestock Australia project assessed the contribution to the Australian economy by Brahman genetics. Analysis of the economic return on investment for the Australian beef industry from 1970 to 2000 found that Brahman and Bos indicus infusion delivered an additional individual on-farm benefit of $9170 per annum. About 40,000 Australian cattle producers gained from this additional profit in each of those 30 years. Brahman and Brahman-infused cattle accounted for 90 per cent of the genetic improvement in the Australian industry. The cumulative on-farm return since 1970 from investment in Bos indicus genetics amounted to $10.2 billion of a total on-farm return to the national beef industry from all forms of technology of $11 billion.[64] In 2013 ABBA comprises over 1200 members and is the largest beef cattle breed association, by membership, in Australia. Currently, a little over 50% of the Australian beef cattle herd has Brahman blood, while about 11 per cent of the herd is pure-bred. There are about 110,000 Brahman bulls above the Tropic of Capricorn, that is, about 70% of bulls in that region.[65]
Wairuna stud played a major role in the early era of Brahman cattle breeding. ABBA claims that ‘[o]ver the years probably every stud and station herd has had bulls and or females from Wairuna, Wetherby, Burnside, Dundee and the Orient [that] have left their mark on future generations of Brahman cattle. Today, if one traces a beast's registered breeding back far enough one or more of these studs' names will come up with bloodlines back to 1933 imports’.[66]
Without the contribution to the Brahman-cross experimentation conducted by the CSIR in conjunction with Queensland cattlemen, including Ken Atkinson, and the subsequent endeavours of individuals and organisations established to promote Brahman and Brahman-cross cattle, the north Australian cattle industry would not exist in its current form. Atkinson, working from Wairuna between 1936 and 1960, played an early, on-going and important role in the creation of Australian Brahman and Brahman cross-bred cattle. Accordingly, Ken Atkinson was awarded membership of the Order of Australia on 26 January 1983 in recognition of his service to primary industry.[67] He passed away on 1 October 1990 and his ashes were interred in Wairuna cemetery beside his grandfather's grave.
Wairuna remained in the Atkinson family until 1976 when it was sold as a result of the beef cattle price collapse.[68] Since then Wairuna has had several owners. At its last sale in 2010, Wairuna was purchased by the Queensland Government for national parks purposes.
Since the Atkinson era several buildings have been added to the Wairuna homestead, namely, the shed near the head stockman's house, an aviary and a four-bay shed adjacent to the butchering hut. These are not considered to be of cultural heritage significance.
Two natural disasters have affected Wairuna in recent years. In 2011 cyclone Yasi, which caused considerable destruction along the Queensland coast and inland, damaged buildings at Wairuna Homestead and in 2012 fire damaged all five of Wairuna's outlying yards and dips, and boundary fences.
Wairuna Homestead, like all early pastoral properties, developed as a self-contained village with workers living on site in barracks and with buildings for self-sufficiency functions such as blacksmithing and butchering. Station employees included Aboriginal people as they were an important part of the functioning of pastoral properties in northern Queensland from the 1870s. Aboriginal people employed at Wairuna resided in barracks or lived with their families in a camp sited to the south-east of the homestead. Warrungu people have an active Native Title Land Claim over land including Wairuna.[69]
The proposed demolition of Wairuna Homestead buildings by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services in May 2013 galvanised community members to attempt to gain protection for the homestead and cemetery through its entry in the Queensland Heritage Register. Submissions, petition and comment from community members, family members, former employees (including Aboriginal workers), and the regional council resulted.
Further research will reveal more information about Wairuna's worker history, station and stud operations and the Atkinson family's role in the history of the north Queensland beef cattle industry.
","criteria":"The aesthetic value of Wairuna Homestead and Cemetery is derived from its setting and views. Located high on a flood-free knoll overlooking and almost surrounded by wildlife-filled lagoons encircled by low hills, the views to and from Wairuna Homestead evoke tranquillity and a sense of seclusion and remoteness.
|Wairuna Homestead and Cemetery is important for its association for 95 years with James Atkinson and his descendants, a family which made a significant contribution to Queensland's beef cattle industry.
Wairuna Homestead and Cemetery has a special association with Kenneth James Atkinson, who is of importance in Queensland's history through his role in the Brahman cross-breeding experimentation conducted by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) (1930s-1950s); in the establishment and development of the Australian Brahman cattle breed; for his establishment of the Australian Brahman Breeders' Association of which he was foundation president (1946-1960); and for his role in the establishment of the North Queensland Saleyards Pty Ltd of which he was the founding chairman (1947-1976).
|Wairuna Homestead with its complex of surviving structures and cemetery is important in Queensland history for its role in the development of Australia's beef cattle industry through early experimentation with Brahman cross-breeding and the creation of the Australian Brahman. These breeds have made an enormous contribution to the Australian beef cattle industry.
|Wairuna Homestead and Cemetery has a special association with descendants of James Atkinson, former employees and community members as a valued place of former employment, residence and connection. This has been demonstrated by the response from former residents, employees, the regional council and members of the wider Queensland community to the threatened demolition of homestead buildings in May 2013.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion E | Criterion H | Criterion A | Criterion G","criteria_definitions":"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 | The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history | 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":null,"place_ref":650001,"name":"Atherton Performing Arts Theatre (WWII Igloo)","alternate_name":"ARMCO Hut ex Tolga Ordnance Depot","street_address":"6 Silo Street","suburb":"ATHERTON","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2015-10-09","description":"The Atherton Performing Arts Theatre (WWII Igloo) occupies part of a 1098m2 allotment on the western edge of Atherton’s central business district in the Tablelands Region of northern Queensland. The allotment is bounded by Silo Street to the southwest, Hopkins Road to the southeast and car-parking for the Silo Central Shopping Centre to the northeast and northwest. The buildings face southwest and comprise a steel-framed, igloo-style ARMCO hut, and a gabled-roof workshop (former) on the northwest side of the igloo. The two buildings are separated by a concrete surface drain. A low, skillion roof shelters the doorways that connect the two structures. Additional car-parking for the shopping centre is located in the southeast section of the allotment.
\nARMCO igloo (State heritage significance)
The ARMCO igloo is a long, steel-framed structure that is semi-circular in section, has profiled and corrugated metal-clad end-walls, a corrugated metal-clad roof and a concrete slab floor. The metal wall and roof cladding is modern. The building is approximately 38ft 9in (11.81m) wide x 98ft 9in (30.10m) in length. It is primarily accessed via the front (southwest) elevation, with secondary entrances from the other three elevations. All doors, windows and external awnings are modern additions or replacements; with most moved from their original locations.
The steel framing structure is exposed to the interior. It is comprised of 21 D-shaped arches aligned at 1.5m intervals; with the feet of the arches set into the concrete slab. Each arch has eight 7ft 5in (2.26m) long, heavy gauge steel members of an 8x2in (20x5cm) channel (C)-section. The members are fastened to each other by a cleat and interlock at an angle – creating the overall, semi-circular form. The interlocking joints are each secured by nuts and bolts. Metal battens connect the external cladding to the arches.
\nThe interior is divided into areas established by the building’s functioning as a performing arts hall. These areas include: a foyer, kitchen and office space at the southwest end; an auditorium and stage area in the centre; and a backstage area with dressing rooms at the northeast end. Separated from the external structure, modern lightweight partitions define each of the spaces. The floor of the auditorium is lined in modern carpet, and the modern stage area is raised with a timber structure.
\nGabled-roof workshop (former) (not of state heritage significance)
The gabled-roof workshop has a corrugated metal-clad gable roof and a concrete slab floor. The interior comprises a single, open space that is two-storeys in height. At the rear of the workshop is a later skillion-roofed section, which includes a corrugated metal-clad passageway from the igloo, and a toilet wing with concrete block walls and a concrete slab floor.
The steel-framed ‘igloo’ located in Silo Road, Atherton, currently used as a theatre by Atherton Performing Arts (APA) Inc., is an American Rolling Mill Company (ARMCO) hut,[1] erected c1943 at the 13th Australian Advance Ordnance Depot, Tolga. In 1947 the ARMCO hut (referred to from this point on as the ARMCO igloo) was purchased by the Atherton Tableland Maize Marketing Board and was moved to its current location for use as a workshop, and the neighbouring gabled-roof workshop building was probably built at this time. The buildings later functioned as an Atherton Shire Council Depot from c1958 to 1979, before the igloo was refurbished as a theatre in 1982-3. The ARMCO igloo is rare surviving built evidence of an important military facility, and helps demonstrate the impact of World War II (WWII) on the Atherton Tablelands, when the area was a major training and rest and rehabilitation centre for the AIF during the Pacific Campaign of World War II (WWII). The igloo’s original steel segmented-arch frame is also a rare surviving wartime example of its type.
\nAtherton, the main centre on the Tablelands, was originally known as Prior's Pocket after Thomas Prior, a timber getter who was the first European to camp there permanently. The town, surveyed in 1885, was a staging post for Cobb and Co. coaches between the tin fields of Herberton (established 1880) and Port Douglas, and the railway arrived from Cairns in 1903.[2] Although timber drew many settlers to the area, the maize industry opened up the Atherton Tablelands to agriculture, and was the dominant agricultural industry of the southern Atherton Tablelands up until WWII. Chinese settlers were instrumental in setting up the industry during the late 19th century, but with the inception of the Soldier Settler Scheme in 1917, they were displaced by European farmers.[3]
\nThe Atherton Tableland Maize Board was constituted on 31 August 1923 under the Primary Products’ Pools Act 1922.[4] In 1924, the board erected three storage cluster silo complexes at Kairi, Tolga and Atherton (the latter included a drying plant); but only the Kairi Maize Silos [QHR 602631] survive.[5] Despite the silos, the industry struggled. The state of the industry improved somewhat when the Maize Board in 1936 began manufacturing poultry rations, and the 'Athmaize' brand of stock and poultry feeds was introduced.[6]
\nThe Atherton Tablelands was disrupted by a massive influx of military forces during WWII. United States Army Airforce (USAAF) units were based at Mareeba from mid-1942, along with a US hospital and US Anti-Aircraft units.[7] From December 1942 the headquarters of the Australian Army in north Queensland transferred from Townsville to the Atherton Tablelands, and the main administrative base was established around Atherton and the nearby settlement of Tolga.[8] The terrain and climate of New Guinea meant that Australian troops had to be regularly rested and rehabilitated. The Atherton Tablelands was chosen for this purpose as it was close to New Guinea, near the port of Cairns, was suitable for jungle warfare training, and was mostly malaria-free.[9]
\nThe troops resting and training on the Tablelands had to be housed and supplied, and so, as an important part of Australian wartime strategy, a huge schedule of construction work (the ‘Atherton Project’) commenced, to accommodate units from the 6th and 7th Divisions of the Second Australian Imperial Force (AIF) returning from New Guinea – and the 9th Division (AIF) returning from the Middle East – plus other fighting units. The project constructed tent encampments, hutments, mess kitchens, hospitals and storage sheds, under the direction of the Allied Works Council (AWC),[10] which formed in February of 1942 to co-ordinate and facilitate the needs of Australian and US military forces in Australia during the war.[11] The AWC’s work on defence projects in Queensland, including roads and airfields, was carried out by US Army engineers, the Queensland Main Roads Commission (MRC), and contractors drawing on conscripted civilian labour from the Civil Constructional Corps (CCC), established in April 1942.[12]
\nUp to 100,000 troops were present on the Tablelands. Units of the three AIF infantry divisions camped at Danbulla, Kairi, Millstream, Ravenshoe, Tinaroo, Wondecla and Wongabel between early 1943 and 1945, and all three divisions were on the Tablelands at one time in late 1944.[13] In Atherton, the Barron Valley Hotel briefly acted as a headquarters for General Blamey, commander-in-chief of the Australian Military Forces,[14] and in November 1943 a large timber-framed igloo warehouse (now the Merriland Hall [QHR 602016]) was erected at the Atherton Showground for the Australian Army Canteen Services (AACS).[15]
\nThe Atherton Performing Arts theatre was constructed as part of the 13th Australian Advanced Ordnance Depot (13 AAOD) at Tolga, the largest Australian Army storage and repair centre on the Tablelands. Built to supply equipment and weapons to the troops, 13 AAOD was established on the west side of Tolga early in 1943.[16] In February 1943, a schedule of Atherton Tablelands projects included ten 100ft x 40ft (30.5m x 12.2m) ‘ARMCO huts’ at Tolga.[17] According to a report on an October 1944 visit to 13 AAOD by the Joint Parliamentary War Expenditure Advisory Committee, by then the installation consisted of about 170 buildings, including 18 large igloo stores about 200ft x 100ft (61m x 30.5m),[18] 10 steel-framed ARMCO buildings and 22 steel-framed Sidney Williams buildings.[19]
\n13 AAOD was divided into four depots, including a Returned Stores Depot (RSD).[20] It also included a salvage area, a vehicle park; and workshops.[21] Just to the north was 7 Australian Advanced Ammunition Depot.[22]
\nThe ARMCO igloos at 13 AAOD were probably built in Australia. The American Rolling Mill Company (ARMCO Steel Corporation from 1948) was formed in 1899, to produce rolled steel. The company’s first factory was in Middleton, Ohio, and its first overseas factory opened in 1914 in Brazil.[23] In 1936 the Australian Government announced that ARMCO would join with Lysaght to establish a £1,000,000 company in Australia. This decision was touted as a success for the government’s ‘trade diversion policy’, which aimed to encourage car manufacture in Australia, as ARMCO and John Lysaght Ltd would manufacture steel motor body panels.[24] An ARMCO works was constructed at Port Kembla in 1938, and opened in January 1939.[25]
\nDuring WWII, ARMCO (Australia) Pty Ltd manufactured circular corrugated steel pillboxes, and large culvert pipes for use by the Australian armed forces.[26] In addition, ARMCO ammunition storage huts, with a curved structure of heavy gauge corrugated steel designed to be covered in earth, were constructed at Darra and Mount Coot-tha (Brisbane) and Burua (Gladstone).[27] ARMCO also produced igloo-style huts, with a 100ft x 40ft (30.5m x 12.2m) floor area. These were advertised for use storing wool, wheat, farm produce or general merchandise, with the claim that ‘ARMCO pre-fabricated huts are weather and vermin-proof, economical and durable’.[28] ARMCO also produced gable-roofed huts, and these – plus the ARMCO igloos – were advertised well into the post war period, in various spans and lengths.[29]
\nWhile ARMCO huts could be purchased new after the war, civilians also purchased and removed used buildings from former military facilities. All the igloos at 13 AAOD were removed after the closure of the depot in 1946, including the 10 ARMCO igloos, and the area reverted to farm and grazing land, although many of the slabs of the large timber-framed igloos are still visible.[30] An advertisement for a February 1947 auction of 55 buildings at 13 AAOD and 7 Australian Ordnance Vehicle Park at Tolga, by the Commonwealth Disposals Commission, listed six Sidney Williams buildings of various sizes, five 200ft x 100ft igloos, (61m x 30.5m) two 100ft x 60ft (30.5m x 18.3m) igloos, and ‘five ARMCO All-Steel Igloos, overall 101ft x 40ft, approximately half terne and half black iron’.[31] Another four ARMCO igloos, 100ft x 50ft (sic), were advertised for auction in April 1947.[32]
\nOne of the ARMCO igloos from 13 AAOD was purchased by the Atherton Tableland Maize Board, which had been renamed the Atherton Tableland Maize Marketing Board by January 1947.[33] The Maize Board had been considering obtaining a steel framed igloo since September 1945, to expand its mash manufacture.[34] Such an igloo at Tolga was soon inspected by board members and deemed suitable, and at the October monthly meeting of the board the acquisition of a nearby site, for relocation of the igloo, was discussed.[35] Although an application from the Maize Board for a government loan to purchase the igloo was withdrawn in early 1946, due to the cost of disassembly and re-erection,[36] the purchase later went ahead, and by June 1947 the ARMCO igloo purchased at Tolga was being erected in Atherton ‘for a workshop and storage for the field working plants’.[37]
\nSurvey plans reveal the ARMCO igloo’s current site in Silo Road, Atherton, was part of a larger allotment obtained by the Atherton Tableland Maize Board during 1946.[38] This allotment was subdivided in 1949, and the igloo site was later occupied by the Athmaize Workshop Co-op Association Ltd.[39]
\nThe relocated ARMCO igloo began its new life as part of a workshops complex for farming equipment. The workshops were opened on 8 October 1947 at an annual meeting of maize growers. It was noted that the ‘workshops were ‘installed under cover of a reconstructed igloo and are adjacent to the Board’s offices’.[40] The manager of the Board (WJ Brett) said the workshops had been equipped with modern machinery and competent staff; charges on repairs to grower’s machinery would be kept to a minimum, and the onus was on maize growers to ‘use the shops for all their repair work’.[41] No mention is made of the adjacent gabled workshop building on the northwest side of the ARMCO igloo, but it may have been erected at the same time the ARMCO igloo was re-erected.[42] Another metal-clad, gable-roofed building, adjacent to the igloo on the southeast side, was constructed on the site between 1949 and 1951,[43] but was demolished after 2013. The workshops complex was used by the Maize Marketing Board for almost 11 years.
\nBetween approximately 1958 and 1979 the site was used by the Atherton Shire Council as a depot.[44] A Reserve for Local Government Purposes was gazetted in September 1958,[45] and again in 1973, after the northeast corner of the site was excised.[46]
\nThe current use of the ARMCO igloo and the attached gabled building, as a theatre and props store respectively, resulted from the formation of the Atherton Performing Arts (APA) group in June 1979, when the Atherton Choral Society and Atherton Players combined.[47] APA was granted a lease of the workshops c1981.[48] The igloo was cleaned and refurbished, with removable additions, lighting and internal fixtures. A stage was built inside the igloo in 1982, and plans from that year include an office and kitchen (taking up half of the igloo’s floor-to-ceiling space) at the front (southwest end) of the igloo, either side of an entry foyer, with a lighting gallery above. The stage area in the rear (northeast) half of the igloo had a backstage area behind it, with two dressing rooms in the rear corners. Apart from new double doors at the front and rear of the igloo, a new exit to the northwest side of the front half of the igloo passed over a drain and between the rear of the adjacent gable roofed building and a ‘future toilet block’.[49] An exit is also shown on the northwest side at the rear of the igloo. A roller door was later added on the southeast side, at the rear of the igloo, about 1997.
\nIn the 1982 plan, new sliding glass windows were to be added to either side of the rear doors, and new glass louvre panels above the doors (to supplement the existing two windows); while the front elevation was to be re-sheeted, with two new sliding glass windows to be added either side of the front doors, and one sliding glass window above the doors (replacing the original two windows). Neither of these configurations match the existing window arrangements in 2015 at either end of the igloo. The 1982 plans do not show the ventilators that currently exist along apex of the igloo.
\nThe additions indicated on the 1982 plan were implemented in stages. In 1983 the roof metal was replaced at the front of the igloo, and a mezzanine floor for lighting was added at the front, while theatre lighting and auditorium carpet were later added. The kitchen was installed in the late 1980s;[50] dressing rooms, a makeup area and upstairs wardrobe areas were added in 1998, and a new backstage area was opened in 1999. New interlocking theatre seating was installed in 2009, and new carpet in 2011.[51] In its ongoing role, the ARMCO igloo has been used for youth theatre, concerts, plays, musicals, poetry, play readings and musical instrumental events, as well as regular Eisteddfods (festivals of literature, music and performance, originating in Wales).
\nOf the 10 ARMCO igloos erected at 13 AAOD, the APA theatre igloo is the last known surviving example on the Atherton Tablelands. The segmented-arch frame profile differs from the other steel-framed igloo types erected in WWII Queensland, such as Nissen or Quonset huts. Another ARMCO igloo, of the same size and framework structure, survives at Dutton Street in Cairns, and this may also have been moved from 13 AAOD.[52] Two other 100ft x 40ft (30.5m x 12.2m) ARMCO igloos, located at Ergon Energy’s McLeod Street Depot, Cairns were demolished in 2007. [53] A third igloo at the McLeod Street depot (frame type unconfirmed) survives, measuring 100ft x 60ft, (30.5m x 18.3m).
\nOther WWII igloos survive on the Tablelands at the Malanda Showgrounds (former theatre igloo, from Danbulla);[54] Rocky Creek (theatre igloo, timber frame) [QHR 601815]; and Wondecla (theatre igloo, timber frame); along with larger timber framed igloos at Mareeba (Beck’s aero museum); and Atherton (Merriland Hall) [QHR 602016]. There is also a steel-framed igloo at Malanda (a Mitre 10 store in 2015), which is possibly a larger (100ft x 60ft) ARMCO, but it was purchased post-war in a kit form;[55] and a steel-framed igloo (purchased in kit form, post-war)[56] exists on Railway Lane in Atherton (about 120ft x 90ft [136.5m x 27.4m]).
\nThe ARMCO igloo and the adjacent gabled roof former workshop building are the last remnants of the Atherton Tableland Maize Marketing Boards’ complex in Atherton, as the silos and office were demolished between 2002 and 2010. The theatre buildings are now surrounded on three sides by car parking for the Silo Shopping Centre, located on the opposite side of Silo Road.
","criteria":"The Atherton Performing Arts Theatre (WWII Igloo) (1943), a rare surviving building from the 13th Australian Advanced Ordnance Depot (13 AAOD) at Tolga, is important in demonstrating the role of the Atherton Tablelands as the principal Australian base for all three Australian Imperial Force (AIF) infantry divisions during the Pacific Campaign of World War II (WWII). The concentration of Australian Army units on the Atherton Tablelands from early 1943 was an important part of Australia’s military strategy, and 13 AAOD was the largest supply depot for those units.
\n
The igloo’s relocation to the site of the Atherton Tableland Maize Marketing Board’s workshops in 1947 illustrates the common post-war practice of selling ex-military buildings for removal and civilian reuse.
The igloo is rare as one of two known surviving examples of an igloo-style 100ft x 40ft (30.5m x 12.2m) ARMCO hut, erected and used in Queensland during WWII. In retaining its steel segmented-arch frame in its original form, it is important in demonstrating the prefabricated and portable framing system of an igloo-style ARMCO hut.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D","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"}, {"heritage_type":"State Heritage","site_id":null,"place_ref":650282,"name":"Atherton Arboretum","alternate_name":"Tropical Forest Research Station (former) Arboretum, Atherton | CSIRO Tropical Forest Research Centre","street_address":"47-67 Maunds Road","suburb":"ATHERTON","lga":"TABLELANDS REGIONAL COUNCIL","register_entry_date":"2024-08-02","description":"[Note, as the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation (the Department) has been unable to access the place, the following description is based on information provided to the Department and publicly available sources].
\nThe Atherton Arboretum (established 1971) is a large, living arboretum, primarily containing a collection of tropical forest plants, in Atherton, northern Queensland. The arboretum stands on a part of a 3.64ha corner allotment, bounded by Maunds Road (east), Grove Street (north) and residential properties (west and south). The arboretum is generally concentrated in the north and northeast ends of the site, with a smaller area of plantings along the southeastern side, and centrally at the southern end of the site (between buildings)[82]. Smaller areas of plantings formerly located along the southern, southwestern and western sides and adjacent to some buildings are no longer extant [83].
\nThe arboretum contains a variety of plants (primarily trees), most of which are typically endemic to Australian rainforests and sclerophyll forests. The plants are arranged within a 10m by 10m grid, which references a database in which specimen information is recorded. The arboretum retains approximately 889 plant specimens, including 422 species from 78 family groups [84]. The most highly represented family groups in the arboretum include: Myrtaceae (myrtles, 185 specimens), Lauraceae (laurels, 92 specimens), Arecaceae (palms, 53 specimens), Sapindaceae (soapberries, 55 specimens), Euphorbiaceae (euphorbias / spurges, 43 specimens), and Proteaceae (such as proteas, waratahs, banksias, grevilleas and silky oaks, 42 specimens) [85]. The specimens are tagged with a number that correlates to an accompanying database listing their taxon names, planting dates, locations of original collection, plant identification numbers in relation to the Tropical Rainforest Key, and plot numbers that correlate to the specimen locations within the grid map. An undetermined number of tags are no longer attached to trees. Of the 360 grid plots across the site, 163 contain a documented arboretum planting.
\nThe arboretum accommodates a number of plant species recognised as threatened (including being classified as ‘critically endangered’, ‘endangered’, ‘vulnerable’ and ‘near threatened’ in their natural habitats) in Queensland and Australian legislation, and a number of plants have restricted distributions outside of a cultivated setting [86]. Specimens recorded in the arboretum’s plant schedule (last updated 2014), and classified as such in 2024 include [87]:
\nFeatures of the Atherton Arboretum of state-level cultural heritage significance include:
\nFeatures Not of State-level Cultural Heritage Significance
\nFeatures of the Atherton Arboretum not of state-level cultural heritage significance are:
\nAssociated built features outside of heritage boundary include:
\nThe Atherton Arboretum was first planted in 1971 as part of the Tropical Forest Research Station, a joint Federal and State government initiative for the scientific research of North Queensland’s tropical rainforests. The planting of the Arboretum at Atherton was initiated by the station’s botanists to provide a ‘living library’ of tropical rainforest flora to assist scientists, both staff at the station and visiting researchers. Important discoveries of species unknown through non-indigenous knowledge, or their first systematic description and documentation, were made by the scientists on expeditions to often very remote rainforest locations, with seed and plant samples brought back to the station to be included in the herbarium. Plants in the Arboretum were derived from these samples and planted within an organised grid layout across the site and recorded in a database.
\nIn 1975 the station became the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Institute Organisation (CSIRO) Tropical Forest Research Centre and continued its research into tropical forest flora, among other scientific endeavours. Throughout this time the Arboretum was added to and carefully maintained. The centre became important in the scientific community for advancing tropical rainforest knowledge with many new, rare and endangered species identified and researched by the scientists at the station. The Tropical Forest Research Centre closed in 2022.
\nEuropean Settlement and Tropical Rainforests
\nPrior to European colonial settlement, its associated dispossession of the land that was central to life and spiritual beliefs, and destruction of traditional ways of life, the area now known as the Atherton Tablelands was and remains the traditional land of the Wadjanbarra Yidi People, one of the Rainforest Aboriginal Peoples of the Wet Tropics region, who have lived continuously in the rainforests for at least 5000 years. By developing specialised techniques, Rainforest Aboriginal People were able to process toxic and other plants for food which allowed them to permanently inhabit a tropical rainforest environment. This is unique in Australia. [1]
\nIn North Queensland, tropical rainforests were found on the coastline, fringing the Great Barrier Reef, and stretching inland approximately 70km.[2] From the 1860s rainforests were visited by European exploration parties, followed by timber getters attracted to the area by the density and size of the trees, in particular the prized Red Cedar (Toona Ciliata) and the Kauri Pine (Agathis Robusta).[3] By the 1870s the rainforests of the area were being exploited in the race for highly sought-after and profitable timbers. It was also the time when land began to be opened for closer settlement, resulting in further rainforest destruction to make way for pastoral and agricultural settlement on the Tablelands.[4]
\nOf Queensland's natural resources, timber was the most obvious and abundant to the first Europeans, and the timber industry played a vital role in the economic development of the state, while also providing its most important building material.[5] Significant wastage of precious timbers occurred through both timber felling and land clearing in the late 19th century in North Queensland. Initially, transporting felled timber to the coast was very difficult as there were only primitive roads. Instances of great waste occurred when timber getters began floating logs down the river systems to the coast during the wet season, resulting in the destruction and loss of much of the timber.[6] In the lower coastal areas, large-scale clearing of rainforest occurred when sugar plantations were established in the late 19th century; while on the higher ranges of the Tablelands, piles of cleared timber were simply burnt to make way for dairy and agricultural farms.[7]
\nAtherton, which takes its name from pastoralist John Atherton, was originally known as Prior's Pocket after Thomas Prior, a timber getter who was the first European to camp there permanently. The settlement grew to accommodate men engaged in lumbering operations.[8] From the mid-1890s Atherton's settlement increased and it became firmly established as the main centre on the Tablelands. Atherton provided the surrounding mining population with the bulk of its produce and its importance as a regional centre was cemented by the arrival of the railway from Cairns in 1903.[9]
\nRainforest botany and research
\nThe rainforests of North Queensland were recognised as botanically rich. Botanists accompanied exploration parties to North Queensland as early as the late 18th century, with plant samples collected and sent to European botanical collections.[10] The first Queensland Colonial Botanist, Walter Hill (appointed in 1859), accompanied George Elphinstone Dalrymple’s North-East Coast Expedition to North Queensland in 1873, collecting extensively from the rainforest.[11]
\nGovernment Botanist of Victoria, Ferdinand von Meuller, organised several early North Queensland settlers to collect specimens from the rainforest to send to him in Melbourne for study. In 1864 Meuller sent collector, John Dallachy, to North Queensland where he set up his base in the fledgling town of Cardwell. From there Dallachy spent the next seven years exploring the rainforest and extensively collecting specimens for Meuller. Unfortunately, in 1871, Dallachy contracted a fever and died while exploring the Herbert Vale area.[12]
\nIn 1881, Frederick Bailey was appointed to the role of Queensland’s Colonial Botanist and in 1889 accompanied Archibald Meston on his Bellenden Kerr exploration party to North Queensland where he collected and observed the flora of the region.[13] In the same year, the newly formed Department of Agriculture established the Kamerunga State Nursery in Cairns to experiment and trial tropical crops that may have commercial potential. Ebenezer Cowley was appointed the nursery’s first overseer in 1899 and became a prolific specimen collector in the rainforests of the Barron River, Cooktown, Daintree River, Port Douglas, and the Torres Strait. The specimens were subsequently sent to Bailey in Brisbane where they were added to the Queensland Herbarium.[14]
\nHerbariums had long been established in Europe, with famous ones, such as Kew Gardens in London, storing specimens from all over the world. In Australia, the Melbourne Herbarium (1853), under von Meuller, was the largest collection in Australia by the late 19th century. Plant samples were collected in the field, sent back to the herbarium, where they would be preserved, mostly by drying, mounted on sheets of paper, studied, categorised, and stored. Each specimen, known as a voucher specimen, included information about the plant’s identification, and where and when it was found. The Queensland Herbarium was first established by Walter Hill in 1859.[15]
\nThe North Queensland Naturalists’ Club (established in 1932), founded the North Queensland Herbarium in 1933, following encouragement by the then Queensland Government Botanist, CT White, to ‘form a local herbarium, and to collect plants assiduously … In this way, working in the rich flora of North Queensland, you cannot fail to make quite extensive additions to the knowledge of our flora, because the flora of North Queensland is far from being completely known’.[16] The collection was housed in the Cairns Botanic Gardens (QHR 602541). The club's collection grew from around 1,600 specimens in 1937 to about 5,000 in 1950, with an estimated final collection size of around 10,680 specimens.[17]
\nIn the 1890s there was increased concern from the colonial Government that revenue was being lost to unregulated timber exploitation. The creation of the Forestry Branch in 1900 within the Lands Department represented a shift in approach.[18] Subsequently, during the early 20th century, State Government concern grew in relation to the depletion of native timber supplies. Under Norman Jolly and then Edward Harold Fulcher Swain as Director of Forests (1911-18, and 1918-32 respectively), the Queensland Government established native softwood (hoop pine, Araucaria cunninghamii) plantations and attempted to regenerate native forest areas. Offices were established in six forestry regions: Atherton, Brisbane, Bundaberg-Rockhampton, Gympie, Maryborough, and Dalby.[19] Additionally, arboretums were established for experimentation of commercial timber species at Atherton, Dalby, Imbil, Warwick, Benarkin, Mackay and Rockhampton.[20]
\nIn Atherton, the Queensland Forestry Branch was established ca. 1914, with their offices located in Main Street.[21] Its responsibility was to manage indiscriminate logging throughout the tropical north. By 1914 reforestation was also carried out in an effort to regenerate the fine rainforest timber trees lost over the years. Silvicultural experiments saw the establishment of several timber plantations by the Forestry Branch in North Queensland. Additionally, scientific research programs were undertaken at the Atherton office to study rainforest trees and broaden the list of possible logging species, forest management planning, yield planning, forest hydrology and fire management practices.[22]
\nIn 1960, Forestry was made its own department.[23] By this time there were comparatively more careful controls placed on logging operations. Appointed foresters were trained in ‘tree marking’, and worked with the logging operations to identify tree species that were permitted to be felled, of which there was approximately 160 types. The forester ‘recorded the species, the size of the tree, gave it a number and indicated the direction in which it should be felled’.[24] Work undertaken at the Atherton forestry office assisted the foresters in the identification of rainforest trees.[25]
\nDevelopment of Ecological Research and Environmental Awareness
\nAlthough some of North Queensland’s rainforest flora had been collected and studied over the years, by the 1960s scientists realised that there were many unidentified and potentially undiscovered species of both flora and fauna. This was also the time when ecological science, that ‘pointed to the interrelated character of the natural world and conceptualised the environment in terms of ecological systems’,[26] was given more focus by scientific bodies and governments and drew greater awareness from the public.[27]
\nFrom the mid to late 1940s, the CSIRO appointed scientists to research rainforests in North Queensland, in particular tree and plant species that may have pharmaceutical benefits for humans, under the Australian Phytochemical Research Program. Leading this was ecologist, Dr Len Webb, who had begun carrying out surveys of the rainforests in 1944. By the early 1950s Webb and assistant ecologist, Geoff Tracey, were collecting specimens from the rainforests surrounding the Atherton Tablelands and sending them for study to the CSIRO laboratories, to universities, and to international herbariums, with the Courier-Mail reporting in 1953, ‘Since Mr Webb and forestry workers began their collections in the rainforests, 110 alkaloids alone, 60 new ones, have been discovered there (morphine, cocaine and strychnine are alkaloids)’.[28] Webb and Tracey were pioneers in rainforest ecology in Australia.[29]
\nThe CSIRO, initially the Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry in 1920, and renamed the CSIRO in 1949, was established primarily to undertake scientific research relating to Australia’s primary and secondary industries. Its headquarters were initially in Melbourne; however, by 1927, there were 53 staff working throughout Australia. Fields of research included: animal and plant pests and diseases; fuel issues; food preservation; forest products; building materials; wool textiles; coal; assessment of land resources; atmospheric pressures; and metallurgy.[30]
\nAdditionally, within the Federal Government’s Forestry and Timber Bureau was the Forest Research Institute, with the head office located in Canberra. Research carried out by the institute was in silviculture and forest management and protection. By 1970 six regional research stations had been established in: Hobart (Tasmania), Mount Gambier (South Australia), Kelmscott (Western Australia), Traralgon (Victoria), Darwin (Northern Territory), and Atherton (Queensland). The Forestry and Timber Bureau’s Annual Report states that ‘at each of these stations the research programme is concentrated on problems which are of particular concern in, though not necessarily limited to, the region in which the station is situated’.[31] In Atherton, this was the study of North Queensland’s tropical rainforest timbers.
\nEnvironmental awareness in Australia grew in the 1960s and into the 1970s. In Queensland the fight to save the Great Barrier Reef from mining, oil drilling and over-fishing saw a national campaign for its protection led by increasingly influential environmental groups including the Australian Conservation Foundation, Queensland Wildlife Preservation Society, and the Queensland Littoral Society (renamed the Australian Marine Conservation Society). Public support grew and the 'Save the Reef' campaign attracted broad political support. The campaign’s success saw the establishment of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 by the Whitlam Federal Government, resulting in the formation of the world's largest marine protected area jointly administered by the State and Federal Governments.[32]
\nPublic concern over the depletion of Australia’s rainforests was also increasing. In Queensland, the State Government was resource and development driven, and considered the protection of the north’s rainforests from clearing for sugarcane, cattle, logging, and property development, anti-progressive. Environmental groups, including the Committee for the Preservation of Tropical Rainforest, founded by Queensland artist and environmental activist, John Büsst, and the Wildlife Preservation Society, established in 1963, by ecologist, Dr Webb and renowned Australian writer, Judith Wright, began pressuring the Federal Government for greater protection of the rainforests.[33]
\nIn 1965, following lobbying by the Committee for the Preservation of Tropical Rainforest, environmental groups convinced the Federal Government to engage Webb and Tracey to undertake the first systematic vegetation survey of North Queensland's rainforests. Joined by University of Queensland zoologists, Dr Jiro Kikkawa and Ian Straughan, the team spent two weeks in the northern lowland rainforests.[34] The survey resulted in the first ever scientific reference to the international significance of Queensland's lowland rainforests; the first proposal for protection of the full range of North Queensland forests; and the first actual protection of lowland tropical Queensland rainforest, albeit far less than that nominated for protection by Webb and Tracey.[35]
\nEstablishment of Tropical Forest Research Station, Atherton
\nIn the late 1960s an agreement was reached between the Queensland Department of Forestry and the Commonwealth’s Forestry and Timber Bureau to establish a research facility to study Queensland’s tropical forests.[36] In 1969, the Commonwealth Government’s Civil Works Program’s ‘proposed new works’ allocated $225,000 for the ‘erection of forestry research station’ in Atherton.[37] A 3.64 ha site in Atherton was purchased in 1970 by the Commonwealth on which the Tropical Forest Research Station was to be established. The site was formerly part of open farmland and building work began in 1970.[38] Prior to this, in January 1969, the Department of National Development sent the proposal for the station’s establishment to the Department of Works, and outlined the specific research activity that the station would be undertaking:
\nIn February 1970 Minister for National Development, the Hon. Reginald William Swartz, announced the establishment of the research station to the press:
\nA $225,000 Federal-state forest research station will be in operation at Atherton, in North Queensland, by the end of the year… It would cover the ecology of rain forests, the physical and chemical properties of rain forest soils, and the fertility levels of plant nutrients.[40]
\nBuilding work on the station began in early 1970 and on 21 October 1971 the Tropical Forest Research Station was officially opened by the Minister for National Development, with a plaque unveiled commemorating the event. The newly built research facility fronted Maunds Road and was a u-shaped timber building surrounded by covered walkways and an eastern courtyard. The design of the building is attributed to the Commonwealth of Australia Department of Works, Queensland Branch.[41] Included within the building was an herbarium.
\nThe first Officer in Charge of the Tropical Forest Research Station was scientist, Dr Geoff Stocker (1971-1985), and the first senior Botanist, Dr Bernard Hyland (1971-2002). Technical Officers with varying scientific backgrounds also made up the station’s research staff, and ‘the very structure of the research station was from its inception, built around three formal forest research groups, notably Botany, Ecology, and Soils Groups, each headed by professional appointments and supported by technical teams’.[42]
\nDevelopment of the Arboretum and herbarium
\nAn integral part of the research station was the establishment of a Tropical Rainforest Arboretum:
\nThe establishment of the Arboretum was from the outset of the research station in 1971, a definite and formal research project, with the considered objective of creating an accessible, living reference to the tropical forest flora of Australia’s northeastern rainforests and associated forest types.[43]
\nFormer scientists working at the station have stated that the purpose of planting the Arboretum at the station was:
\nTo support the development of systematic methods of rainforest tree identification and to create an easily accessible living resource to study the tropical moist forest flora of north Queensland. At that time, much of north Queensland was unexplored by western botanical science and field locations were remote, with limited access, particularly in the monsoon season. The establishment of an Arboretum at QRS would allow the continued study of newly discovered plants without needing to revisit remote and restricted locations in difficult, adverse conditions.[44]
\nThe first plantings were carried out in 1971 in the northeast corner of the site and followed a planned grid layout of 10m-by-10m plots that eventually covered much of the site not occupied by buildings, auxiliary structures, and driveways.[45]
\nAn arboretum is a collection of cultivated trees and plants propagated for scientific research, conservation and/or educational purposes.[46] The term ‘arboretum’ was first used in England in the mid 19th century when important arboretums were established including at Kew Gardens and Derby. In the United States of America arboretums were also established, including the world-renowned Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum, established in 1872.[47] In Australia, several arboretums were established in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania, to research the success of various cultivated softwood pine-tree species for commercial plantations.[48] Characteristics shared by many arboretums include an ordered arrangement of plantings (often with an accompanying grid/site map), botanical labels placed on plants (which may reference an accompanying inventory), and associated voucher specimens retained in an herbarium.
\nThe Queensland Acclimatisation Society established several gardens that contributed to the development of the fledgling agricultural industry. It imported plants that had commercial potential and conducted experiments to determine if they could be adapted to Queensland's tropical and sub-tropical climate. The first garden was planted in early 1860s in Bowen Hills (QHR 601523), moving to a site in the outer Brisbane suburb of Lawnton in 1915 (QHR 602703). In 1921, the Sherwood Arboretum (QHR 602456) was established in Brisbane for the scientific study of forest timbers and public recreation, and in 1927 the Pechey Forestry Arboretum (QHR 601882) was established by the Forestry division of the Queensland Government to study viable commercial trees for logging.[49]
\nAn important component of the Atherton research station was its herbarium, which occupied the southwest corner of the main building. It was a long, rectangular room with a line of benches built along the south wall with an extensive set of windows for the provision of natural light. A series of movable shelving units stood in the middle of the room and stored the herbarium specimens.[50] The herbarium was a pivotal part of the research facility. As in other herbariums, the Atherton Research Station’s herbarium housed an extensive collection of voucher specimens studied by the scientists at the station, and informed the identification of new and rare species in Queensland forests.[51]
\nEssential to the scientific research being carried out at the station, field expeditions to often very remote rainforests were undertaken to gather plant material and other data. Contributing to this, between 1971 and 1980 twenty research plots measuring 0.5ha each were established in a range of forest areas from Mackay to Cape York Peninsular, for the collection of ecological and growth data. The plots were ‘specifically planned, long-term research plots designed to examine natural processes in rainforests rather than responses to, or suitability for, timber extraction’.[52] The strategy used for the research at the forest plots was:
\nSpecimens and plant material was brought back from field expeditions to the Atherton station for further scientific research, where they ‘were confirmed and processed by the botanist and staff, for the inclusion in the station’s herbarium, often including species with rare or remote distributions’.[54] Each voucher specimen would be allocated a universal herbarium number (internationally unique) ‘which presents a permanent and verifiable record of the associated living specimen’.[55]
\nFollowing best practice principles, triplicate voucher specimens of a particular plant included in the herbarium would be sent to other herbariums throughout the world, for example to the Herbarium Australiense (established in the early 1930s and renamed the Australian National Herbarium in 1984) in Canberra, to Kew in the UK, and to Leiden in Holland. Additionally, the Atherton Herbarium was included within the Australian National Herbarium as the country’s tropical plant herbarium. By 2007 (prior to the herbarium collection being integrated into the Australian Tropical Herbarium, and relocated to James Cook University, in Cairns) the herbarium held more than 120,000 voucher specimens housed at the research station.[56]
\nThe herbarium had a direct relationship with the Arboretum as many of the plants brought back from field expeditions were initially cultivated from seeds and cuttings (propagules) to a sapling stage in the station’s nursery and glasshouse, and then planted in the Arboretum for further study, to eventually ‘see them flower and fruit themselves over time, a living experiment if you like’.[57]
\nThe methodology used to plant the Arboretum was based on both ecological and practical factors. Within a grid, trees were planted so there would be space between to avoid growth competition, as well as for the crown and canopy development when the trees matured, as ‘you might plant a huge tree, then a medium tree, then a small tree around that particular grid so it didn’t cause problems in the future’.[58] Consideration of maintenance, such as irrigation and mowing, was also taken into account when planting.[59] According to scientists who worked at the station, the rationale behind the plantings:
\nwere subject at the time to thorough project planning and proper consideration of both scientific objectives and practical limitations. Practical, geographic constraints conferred by the nature and accessibility of the forest locations and the functional and biological diversity of the forest biota represented, ultimately determined the methods used to establish this living library on a scientifically sound and taxonomically reliable basis.[60]
\nWhere possible, up to three individuals of each species were established, subject to availability, each in different parts of the grid, in a bid to address potential effects of micro-site variability and to help counter any localised losses.[61]
\nThe plantings throughout the Arboretum were systematically recorded on a grid map with accompanying database, which recorded the taxon name, plot location, date planted, where it had been collected from, tag number, and the Plant Identification number in the Tropical Rainforest Key.[62]
\nThe Tropical Rainforest Key, first published in 1971, had been compiled by Dr Hyland, the senior Botanist at the Atherton Research Centre (1971-2002). Initially called ‘A Card Key to the Rain Forest Trees of North Queensland’, its original intention was to provide foresters with an accurate and extensive means of identifying trees in North Queensland’s rainforests. Over the years, through extensive botanic research, Dr Hyland added to the key, and it became the most comprehensive information system on North Queensland’s rainforest flora. Many of the specimens grown in the Arboretum provided botanic information used to develop this tool.[63]
\nCSIRO Tropical Forest Research Centre 1975-2022
\nIn 1975 the ownership of the research station was transferred to the CSIRO and its name changed to the CSIRO Tropical Forest Research Centre, under the Division of Forest Research.[64] Intensive scientific research continued at the centre and the Arboretum was continuously added to over the years, expanding across the site and following the grid layout. Most specimens in the Arboretum are endemic to the rainforests of North Queensland and the savannahs of Cape York Peninsula. Due to the very restricted distributions in the forests, some plants in the Arboretum are likely to be the only known existing cultivated specimens.[65]
\nThe Arboretum was an invaluable resource to the scientists working at the centre. The field expeditions to the remote rainforests could only be undertaken at certain times of the year due to the monsoon season and were not frequent.[66] The Arboretum allowed researchers to study living rainforest species throughout the year and closely observe plants flowering and fruiting, which often proved difficult to do in the wild.[67] In 1984, The Bulletin included a feature on the important work being carried out by the CSIRO at the Atherton centre:
\nThe team of six scientists, plus support staff is regarded as the only effective rainforest research group in Australia and probably the best in the world…simply because there is nowhere else with wet tropical rainforest, decent laboratory facilities and a stable political situation which allows continuous work by experienced staff. As rainforests are becoming a major international concern, the CSIRO has encouraged a flow of overseas visitors to admire the Atherton project.[68]
\nThe research centre and Arboretum became internationally renowned in the rainforest science community, with many researchers and students visiting it to study various aspects of tropical rainforest flora:
\nThe CSIRO research centre was acclaimed, for everyone around the world came and based their research, as it was the only place in the world where you could do that, so we had up to fifty people there at some stages just running around doing research.
\nA lot of really important scientists from around the world came and did short stints… a lot of them did use the arboretum just to help identify plants, as each specimen in the arboretum has a tag and an associated name, herbarium lodgement number, so you could look up the herbarium and see that ‘Atherton’ has a specimen of xyz and they could go out and see what it looked like in the real world.
\nAll the researchers used the arboretum as a library, if you like, a museum, to help with their research.[69]
\nFears for the destruction of Australia’s natural environment gained impetus in the early 1980s as conservation movements became better organised, increasingly vocal, and more influential; in Tasmania the proposed damming of the Franklin River triggered a large opposing protest movement that was successful when the Federal Government intervened and stopped the project in 1983.[70] In Queensland, the construction of the 34km Bloomfield to Cape Tribulation Road between 1983-84, through the Daintree Rainforest, triggered protests from environmental activists who were ultimately unsuccessful in stopping it.[71]
\nAlthough the protests failed to stop the road being built, requests for the nomination of the rainforests of North Queensland to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) for entry on the World Heritage List were made to the Federal Government. After considerable pressure from these groups, in 1984 the Australian Heritage Commission engaged the Rainforest Conservation Society of Queensland, led by Dr Aila Keto, to detail the significance of North Queensland’s rainforests. A detailed report was produced, Tropical Rainforests of North Queensland: Their Conservation Significance, A Report to the Australian Heritage Commission by the Rainforest Conservation Society of Queensland, which would ultimately form part of the nomination for World Heritage listing.[72] On 23 December 1987 the Commonwealth Government presented the nomination to the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee; and in December 1988, the Wet Tropics of Queensland were officially inscribed on the World Heritage List.[73]
\nAt the time, the Atherton CSIRO centre was at the forefront of rainforest research in the country. The ongoing studies in fields such as ecosystems, botany, soils, and fauna carried out over the years, as well as the extensive knowledge and experience held by the scientists at the centre, attested to this. According to scientists who worked at the facility, core data from research carried out there was provided for both the report and the nomination with contributors including Bernard Hyland, Geoff Stocker, Tony Irvine, Geoff Tracey, Graham Harrington.[74]
\nOver the years many journal articles and publications were written by the scientists working at the centre to share scientific data with the international science community, including publications in Biotropica, Commonwealth Forestry Review, and Journal of the Arnold Arboretum:
\nThe extensive list of scientific research publications and other outputs of the research station…clearly attests to a total research focus on the scientific understanding of the region’s forests, their taxonomic diversity and ecological functioning. This understanding over time, has proven almost exclusively of benefit to both forestry and to conservation management, including for enhanced, scientifically based protection of the region’s tropical rainforests, their diversity and functional relationships with the environment.[75]
\nSeveral editions of the Tropical Rainforest Key with the inclusion of additional information were also published.[76] The Atherton Arboretum was referred to in the Royal Australian Institute of Parks and Recreation's 1985 publication A Report on the Collection of Native Plants in Australian Botanic Gardens and Arboreta, that states that the collection is an important one and does not function as a public garden, but as part of the research facility.[77] In 1991 the CSIRO Tropical Forest Research Centre Arboretum Guide was compiled at the centre.[78]
\nIn 2007 the herbarium collection held at the centre was integrated into the Australian Tropical Herbarium and relocated to James Cook University, in Cairns. At that time the Atherton herbarium held more than 120,000 voucher specimens.[79]
\nIn 2009, the CSIRO website described the Atherton Arboretum as having ‘1300 trees, shrubs and vines representing approximately 550 species … documented in a database and readily available booklet’. It was ‘set up to showcase the diversity of plants in tropical Australia and allow easy access to these plants. Researchers, students, schools, naturalists and all members of the community are encouraged to use the facility’.[80]
\nThe Atherton Arboretum, planted continuously by the scientists at the centre from 1971, retained approximately 1190 plant specimens, including 539 species from 91 family groups. It is a living library of tropical rainforest flora that has assisted scientists, both staff at the station and visiting researchers, with important research on Tropical Forest plants. Important discoveries of unknown species were made by the scientists on expeditions to often very remote rainforest locations, with seed and plant samples brought back to the station, cultivated, and planted in the Arboretum. A number of plant species within the Arboretum are recognised in state and national legislation as being near threatened, vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered, and some of the plantings are likely to be the only known existing cultivated specimens in the world. In 2022 the CSIRO Tropical Forest Research Centre was closed, and the site sold to a private owner.
\nIn June 2024, the remaining sections of the Atherton Arboretum contain approximately 889 plant specimens, including 422 species from 78 family groups.[81]
","criteria":"Atherton Arboretum (initial planting in 1971), located on the site of the former Atherton Tropical Forest Research Centre, is important in demonstrating the evolution of the scientific study of Queensland’s natural environment. Using samples collected by scientists from northern Queensland, that were propagated and planted at the research centre, the arboretum is a living collection of rainforest trees, and includes specimens that are threatened in their natural habitat.
\nAn initiative of both Australian and Queensland Government forestry departments (from 1971), and then as part of a CSIRO research centre (from 1975), the Atherton Arboretum represents the intensive collection and scientific study of specimens planted in the arboretum, which greatly advanced knowledge of Queensland’s tropical rainforest flora including its taxonomic identification and analysis.
|Atherton Arboretum is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of its class of cultural place – an arboretum – through its being a living collection of cultivated plants specifically established for the purpose of scientific research; its ordered plant layout (in this case a 10m by 10m grid, originally set out by point marker posts); and its labelled botanical specimens (numbered tags that reference an accompanying database). Retaining a high degree of integrity, the arboretum comprises a comprehensive and large collection of tropical plant species, some of which are listed threatened species in national and state legislation.
\nThe arboretum is unique in representing a large proportion of the Wet Tropic rainforest tree flora, gathered together on the one site in a living, systematic, and fully documented design for scientific research.
","criteria_letters":"Criterion A | Criterion D","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"} ]}