Milk & Beer in Malanda – the Heart of the Atherton Tablelands

Malanda, Atherton Tablelands
12

After days travelling in Central Australia over miles of red dirt and endless plains…

Barkly Tablelands

…we turned left at Charters Towers (135 km short of hitting the east coast) in tropical north Queensland

Atherton Tablelands

and entered the lush green world of the Atherton Tablelands.

Image: Atherton Tablelands

 What a different landscape!

Image: Atherton Tablelands Roads

Malanda, our destination, is synonymous with milk and cheese, and when you see this verdant landscape, it oozes contented cows.

In 1908 John English (the Malanda Hotel’s first publican) along with James Emerson saw the district’s dairy potential and herded over 1,000 cattle, 2,000 km from northern NSW to Malanda ~ Only half made the arduous journey that took over sixteen months, but from those that did survive, the local dairy industry was established and by 1919 Malanda had it’s own butter factory.

Image: Malanda Hotel

Malanda township was officially established in 1911 (just over 100 years ago) when the railway from Cairns arrived. It had crept its way up the range reaching Kuranda in 1890, Mareeba in 1893 and Atherton in 1903. (The line was sadly closed in 1964.)

Image: Malanda Hotel

While James English founded Malanda pub it was his wife Catherine and daughter Mary that ran the pub. Mary’s husband Jack Hanrahan bought the pub from James in 1923, but in 1976 it was repurchased by Tom English, the grandson of the original owner and is now run by his son, Michael and grandson, Jeffrey.

It was officially opened on Boxing Day 19011 ~

Malanda Hotel 1911

Below is a photo from this auspicious day.

Malanda Hotel 1911

“Most of the revellers came on a special train from Cairns. They enjoyed the wood chops and sports during the day, then they danced on the balcony all night. At 8am the next day, they caught the train back to Cairns.”

Malanda Hotel windows

Walking under the verandah down the main street, this is the view you get through the open windows of where people can take a refreshing drink.

Malanda Hotel

From the inside, you can imagine kicking back whilst striking up conversations with people you know as they pass running errands or picking up supplies.

Malanda Hotel Stairs

As you walk inside the Malanda Hotel, you feel little has changed since it opened. You are greeted by a magnificent staircase made from local silky oak milled at the Malanda sawmill.  There is a claim that with the stunning timber ballroom and staircase that the Malanda Hotel is Australia’s largest wooden structure!

Malanda Pub

The original stained glass doors off to the right lead you into the ‘Commercial Room’.

Malanda Hotel Bar

 

In commemoration of the opening of Malanda as a township in 1911 a picnic was held at the beautiful Malanda Falls.

Image: Malanda Falls 1911

 

Today, little has changed other than the road that now goes over a bridge.

Malanda Falls

 Have you ventured up onto the Atherton Tablelands?

Where did you go? What did you see?

Or is it still on the ‘One Day’ list? :)

 

Journey Jottings... highlights your holiday adventures

Charters Towers – Victorian Heritage

Charters Towers
12

Charters Towers in 1890 was Queensland’s second largest town (population 30,000) and referred to by locals as ‘the World‘, due to its cosmopolitan nature and the fact that anything one might desire was there, so why travel anywhere else!

In 1907 Charters Towers was proclaimed a city.

Today, about 8,000 people call Charters Towers home

(Charters Towers is 1,350km/850miles north west of Brisbane; 135km/85 miles inland from Townsville).

The story goes that on Christmas eve 1871 Jupiter Mossman, a 12 year old aboriginal boy was out with Hugh Mosman and two other prospectors when a flash of lightening caused their horses to bolt. Jupiter found not only their horses but a nugget of gold at Towers Hill.

Image: Historic Charters Towers

Charters Towers 130 years ago

The gold in this region proved to be double the grade to that found in the Victorian goldfields and 75% more than the WA goldfields.

  • By 1892, 217,000 ounces of gold was being extracted per year
  • By 1899 300,000 ounces of gold
  • Between the years 1872 – 1917 200 tonnes of gold had been mined.
Image: Royal Private Hotel, Charters Towers
The central precinct of Charters Towers is today classified as a conservation area, with sixty buildings listed on the Australian heritage register. Some of the best preserved Victorian buildings can be found in this central one mile square.
Royal Hotel, Charters Towers
The Royal Private Hotel is a classic with its cast iron lace-work framing the verandahs.
Royal Hotel, Charters Towers
Although today’s safety regulations have required a few modern additions!
 
Image: Bank of NSW, Charters Towers
Not surprisingly, with a town that exploded into life from massive money making ventures many of the classic austere buildings started off in the late 1800′s as banks ~
Such as Wherry House (above) that was originally the Bank of New South Wales in 1889.
City Hall, Charters Towers
And City Hall, built in 1891 originally housed the Queensland National Bank.
City Hall, Charters Towers
The Australian Bank of Commerce (below) was also built in 1891 but ceased to house the bank in 1931.
Australian Bank of Commerce, Charters Towers

 

The need to raise capital for the region’s deep reef gold mines resulted in Australia’s only regional stock exchange being opened in the town in 1890.
The Charters Towers Stock Exchange (pictured below) was designed by Sydney architect, Mark Day in 1888.

 

In the 1890′s it was connected to the outside world via three telegraph calls a day, five days a week!
Situated at the intersection of Mosman and Gill Streets it was at the heart of the town’s financial district.
The Charters Towers Stock Exchange operated for 26 years until diminishing gold returns and a decline in population saw its closure in 1916.

 

Stock Exchange, Charters Towers

 

Today, the stockbrokers offices have been converted into shops.
And an assay mining museum created for the town’s new focus – tourists.

 

The D.S & Co building (below) was occupied by Fossey’s until 1996 when Fossey’s and Target merged so the building now displays a slightly incongruous combination of a 21st century brand logo with early 20th century typography advertising the shops wares (or should that be wears!)
Charters Towers
Wares for sale: “Variety Girlswear, Hosiery, Babywear, Boyswear, Underwear, Mens wear, Manchester, Footwear, Ladies Fashions”
Charters Towers shop
A close up under the awning reveals Target’s shop-front with art-deco glass decoration forming a frieze along the top of the window.

 

Belle - Fashion Boutique, Charters Towers
More modest buildings now house cute boutiques with classic Australian bull-nosed corrugated awnings.
Charters Towers Clock Tower
In the centre of Gill Street is the Charters Towers Post Office that was built in 1892.
I love the old photograph (below) taken in the early 1900′s showing the same street ‘alive’ with horse drawn carts and some of the first automobiles.
Charters Towers Clock Tower
While the Post Office was built in 1892 the Clock Tower wasn’t added until six years later when it was imported from England in 1898.
Clock Tower Charters Towers
Although mining is still a part of Charters Towers’ life, with the aid of modern extraction methods, the huge surrounding Dalrymple Shire is primarily cattle country.

 

There is a hint of irony that just as the Stock Exchange back in the 1890′s needed to be connected to the outside world by telegraph to support the mining industry, that the modern day outback outfitter (pictured below) needs to be connected with the outside world via their website.

 

Charters TowersHaving driven for days across the Barkly Tablelands (in the camperbus pictured above) seeing only the occasional distant homestead…
Plotting our route
It was a surprise driving into Charters Towers 1,400km/870 Miles from the Three-ways junction off the north/south Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory, to find such an established old ‘city’ in this northern region of Queensland.

Charters Towers MuralIf you’re feeling tempted to visit but need an excuse, in the last week of April and first week in May, Charters Towers holds its annual ‘Ten Days in the Towers’ festival.

The historic town comes to life with a mixture of line dancing, bush poetry, talent quests and historic tours, as well as two country music festivals – the All Australian Jamboree and the Charters Towers Country Music Festival – where music can be heard wafting from the town’s many bars and venues, while buskers entertain passers-by on the streets of the central business district.

Charters Towers Mural

 

 Have you been to Charters Towers?

Were you surprised by its Victorian heritage?

Where have you witnessed some classic Australian Victorian architecture?

Do share in the comments below -

Journey Jottings... highlights your holiday adventures