Delve into region’s history
Plenty to learn at museums
MUSEUMS are great places to explore and spend time in, particularly when the weather is not on your side. They provide incredible insight into a destination, and context into a local culture. There are museums dotted right across the Far North, each with its own allure. Here are some of the best to check out:
CAIRNS MUSEUM
You may remember the old Cairns Museum, when it was little more than a bunch of bookshelves and display cases, upstairs in the School of Arts building. The redeveloped museum is a wonder to behold.
There is now an emphasis on interactivity, with historic photos of the city able to be viewed on 80s-style viewfinders; a huge interactive digital map of the city where you can click on locations and find out the stories behind various suburbs; and even a bag of sugar you can attempt to hoist, like you are a turn-of-the-century wharfie loading a ship.
HERBERTON HISTORIC VILLAGE
If you were able to access a time machine and zap yourself back to the 1880s, no doubt your surroundings would look like the Tableland’s open air pioneer museum. Buildings and thousands of original items have been preserved, replicated and rebuilt to ensure visitors feel exactly what it was like living in Herberton in the late 1800s. The tin mining town has shops, a pub, bank, chemist, grocer, printer and garage among more than 50 restored buildings.
You can easily spend an entire day absorbing what everyday life was like in Far North Queensland more than 130 years ago.
JAMES COOK MUSEUM
Housed in a 19th century nun’s convent in the middle of Cooktown, this is the place you want to go if you want to learn anything about Captain James Cook.
Several galleries showcase Captain Cook’s arrival, the discoveries the Endeavour’s team made along its historic voyage, and the changing face of Cooktown.
The highlight is easily the original anchor and cannon from the Endeavour, jettisoned from the Tall Ship in 1770 and only retrieved from the Great Barrier Reef 200 years later.
THE AUSTRALIAN ARMOUR AND ARTILLERY MUSEUM
You can find the largest private collection of tanks in the southern hemisphere in this gigantic museum at Smithfield. The museum displays more than 150 armoured vehicles and artillery from the 1800s to the present day.
You can also ride around in a tank behind the museum, and try your hand at the shooting gallery.