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Early Aboriginal camp photograph in fold out views of Cairns dated 1908, sold by chemist R. Craig's mixed business ,below, which also purveyed stationery and newspapers , the building displaying the year 1883. In 1926 the business was run by the founder's son-Gordon Craig, popular in sporting and social circles, which dispensed Dr Koch's fever mixtures ; agencies it held were for Kodak and Anderson's Seeds .
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Heritage listed Central Hotel , above , today , incorporating art nouveau and Federation style , the distinctive building was designed by the Melbourne and North Queensland architectural firm of Tunbridge,Tunbridge and Lynch. It was built in 1908-1909 for the self made dynamic businessman , William John Munro . Born in New Zealand about 1864 of Scottish parents, he spent some early years in Victoria and made his way to the Queensland mining town of Herberton, then Cairns in the l880s .
Munro became prominent in many fields - the sugar industry , mining , dairying , had several large pastoral properties and was a partner in an export meatworks .
Strongly connected with the Masonic movement , Cairns Freemasons Centre above, he was chairman of the Cairns Shire Council , president of the Liberal Union , once chaired a wild political meeting at which a " disgraceful and unmanly" group made senseless and indecent interjections , a " fusillade of eggs" thrown at newspaper reporters and others on the platform .
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When built , the Central Hotel, with decorative parapets, asymmetrical combinations of piers surmounted by cupolas , was described as palatial and the most impressive building in Cairns . The dining room , which could accommodate 100, boasted a domed roof and a glass verandah front . First lessee of the hotel was James Watters, former mine host of the Federal Hotel .
The sudden death of Munro, aged 48 , in Sydney , where he went for medical treatment , shocked Cairns . Flags on public buildings and ships in port flew at half mast. His embalmed body , in a lead casket , was brought back to Cairns by ship for a huge funeral for a "true blue son of Cairns ." Special trains were provided for the hundreds of mourners from Herberton and Babinda . Mounted police took part in the entourage along with townspeople, many Masons, employees from near and far , the town band .
Across the road from the Central Hotel is another heritage listed building , the above Boland's Centre , designed by Edward Gregory Waters of Cairns and completed the year before the start of World War l for Irish immigrant Michael Boland who came to Melbourne in 1881 , worked in an uncle's store in Queanbeyan , NSW, then headed for Cairns where he became a leading merchant , involved in civic affairs , an alderman and director of the Penny Savings Bank, still operating .
From an impoverished background, Boland supported workers' rights, the Labour Party and early unionism. He was also associated with the local Chinese community, in 1904 giving money for repairs to one of the temples.
An interesting aspect of the construction of the building, which introduced the department store to Cairns , is that a nearby swamp was drained and because of the nature of the site it was built on a floating platform . The English firm of Dorman , Long and Co supplied prefabricated steel work for the building. It was Dorman, Long which later supplied steel for the Sydney Harbour Bridge . The David Jones department store chain established a branch in the building.
Adding to the architectural interest in Cairns at the busy intersection , part of the area which became known as the golden block , is the former ( now empty ) office of the Adelaide Steamship Company , shown below , a company with a colourful past , previously covered in this blog .
From an impoverished background, Boland supported workers' rights, the Labour Party and early unionism. He was also associated with the local Chinese community, in 1904 giving money for repairs to one of the temples.
An interesting aspect of the construction of the building, which introduced the department store to Cairns , is that a nearby swamp was drained and because of the nature of the site it was built on a floating platform . The English firm of Dorman , Long and Co supplied prefabricated steel work for the building. It was Dorman, Long which later supplied steel for the Sydney Harbour Bridge . The David Jones department store chain established a branch in the building.
Adding to the architectural interest in Cairns at the busy intersection , part of the area which became known as the golden block , is the former ( now empty ) office of the Adelaide Steamship Company , shown below , a company with a colourful past , previously covered in this blog .
