Peel Island Lazaret was opened in 1907 and closed in 1959. The lazaret was established to enable leprosy patients to the completely segegrated from the rest of society.

Most of the buildings remain including patients’ huts, dining room, staff quarters and the cemetery. Patients were segregated into three areas: white males, white females and coloured.

Huts for ‘Coloured’ patients. These huts were of built of corrugated iron with earth floors.

Huts for white females. These huts differed from the male huts with a kitchenette.

Lazaret cemetery. For many patients, once they were sent to the island, they spent the rest of their lives there.

Location

Old Rainworth Fort is located 10 kilometres of Spring in central Queensland. Before visiting the place in June 2013, I was a little skeptical about the claims of being a ‘fort’. But even a short assessment proved otherwise. This building was clearly built as a fortified structure. Openings on only one side and slits in the walls at two levels.

Significantly this building was erected after the major conflict at the nearby Cullinlaringo station when 19 Europeans were killed in October 1861.

Main internal space with stairs to loft.

Loft space. Note the slits around the top of wall.

The only openings were on the eastern with timbers doors and presumably originally timber shutters.

Location

Scattered throughout rural Queensland are concrete silos used for fodder.

The Department of Agriculture and Stock promoted the construction of silos for preserving fodder for dairy cows from the 1900s. The silos worked on the principle of storing fodder and eliminating as much air as possible to retard decomposition. The Department recommended that the concrete silo was ‘par excellence the one to construct for permanency and utility above all others’. The Department prepared standard plans for the construction of concrete silos.

The cost of construction was prohibitive for most farmers and so only a relatively small number were built. Most survive as they have been too difficult to demolish.

Silo on farm in Boonah district

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Standard plan prepared by Department of Agriculture and Stock

The Rockhampton Botanic Gardens has long been regarded as one of the finest regional botanic gardens in Australia. It was established in 1873 and the first Curator was James Edgar. Edgar planted an extensive experimental gardens in the tradition of economic botany to investigate suitable plants for the tropical environment. He also planted avenue of Bunya trees and Royal Cuban palms which are still prominent in the gardens.

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Location

Boondooma homestead is located in the South Burnett, west of Murgon and 80 km south of Mundubbera.

Boondooma run was established in 1847. The main house, constructed of slab timbers, was erected in the mid 1850s. The house survives substantially intact. Other early buildings on the site include a stone store, c. 1858.

It is a rare and intact example of a early Queensland homestead.

Boondooma homestead was acquired by the Wondai Shire Council in 1975. It is now managed and maintained by a very active committee and group of volunteers. For more information, check the website.

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Location