When you think of Far North Queensland or Tropical North Queensland in Australia, you tend to think of rainforests, reefs and crocodiles. You don’t think that one of the towns, [clickToTweet tweet=”Innisfail, lays claim to be the Art Deco Capital of Australia” quote=”Innisfail, lays claim to be the Art Deco Capital of Australia”].
Getting to Innisfail
We drove 88kms south from Cairns wending our way through sugar plantations and past cane trains, which carry the canes to the sugar mills. These sugar mills were blowing their sweet smelling smoke into the air. We passed banana plantations and tried to find the elusive cassowary, which is why this part of the Queensland is called the Cassowary Coast. The iconic Great Barrier Reef and the World Heritage Wet Tropics Rainforest border the Cassowary Coast where Innisfail is located.
Arriving in Innisfail
And then we arrived at Innisfail. Innisfail is located 5 kms from the coast and is situated where the North and South Johnstone Rivers meet. This is a pretty town with palm trees, and people sitting outside in the sunshine. It is a pretty town.
The Esplanade runs along the riverfront and is a very popular meeting place. The surprise came when we saw the buildings. This is art deco heaven.
Innisfail, The Art Deco Capital of Australia
Innisfail claims to be The Art Deco Capital of Australia, and this came about because of the vagaries of nature. As one of Australia’s wettest towns, Innisfail was hit by a devastating cyclone in 1918 and had to be rebuilt. It was rebuilt in the art deco style, a style popularized after World War 1. It was again severely hit when Cyclone Larry struck the town in 2006 causing enormous damage, but this gave the town the opportunity to be revitalized and preserved.
Innisfail is a very multicultural town, and this can be seen in the Art Deco architecture and Streamline Moderne architecture. You can see examples of the multiculturalism of the town in the different styles of Art Deco like Spanish, Sicilian, Moroccan, and the Italian facades.
Fly to Cairns with TigerAir Australia from any capital city.
Train to Innisfail from Cairns Central Station.
Drive to Innisfail, Queensland – 88kms, 1 hour
Bus, Greyhound Australia from Cairns to Innisfail
As a past resident I’m thrilled to see all the beautiful old buildings brought to life in such amazing colours, especially the Shire Hall where our teenage years were spent dancing, in particular jiving and doing the twist on the fantastic dance floor.
I loved hearing this about the Shire Hall at Innisfail. Jiving on the dance floor would have been amazing.
What a fascinating little place. I love art deco architecture so would love to check this out one day
It was a unique find, I knew nothing about it really other than Gordon had gone their as a child and said it always rained there. We had glorious weather and discovering these buildings was special.
Interesting. Similarly, New Zealand’s art deco capital was also rebuilt after a natural disaster, although it was an earthquake in the similar time period. Beautiful town. I enjoy art deco architecture.
That would be Napier if I am correct and I did read that it was much like Innisfail – Art Deco after a natural disaster.
What a fabulous place! From your photos the architecture here looks very familiar to the Art Deco I know in England but MUCH more colourful. Is the difference down to the English reserve I wander?
I am not sure Kathryn, but I think more to do with our multicultural Innisfail is, and there are many forms of Art Deco based on the heritage of the people.
What fabulous architecture! The colours are fantastic and it is so well looked after. And I have to confess – I didn’t expect rainforest, so thank you for making me look at the atlas!
This is an amazing part of the world. There are World Heritage Rainforests, Wetlands, the Great Barrier Reef, sugar cane farms and a lot more. To have an art deco place just adds to the diversity of Tropical North Queensland.
I am meeting up with a couple Aussie friends in San Francisco tomorrow, and can’t wait to see if they’ve heard of Innisfail. Lovely photos. Thanks for providing fodder for my trivia quiz.
They will have but it is not as well known as Cairns, Port Douglas and Kuranda.
Wow! I didn’t know about Innisfail at all and I love art deco! It looks so colourful too! Definitely adding this to a future road trip if ever we get back over to Australia, thank you!
I have a lot more coming up from this road trip through the Atherton Tablelands; places I knew little about myself.
Art Deco is not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of Australia: Thanks for the post and pics!
That’s why I found it unique to write about also. However in saying that, there are many towns and cities in Australia with some excellent art deco buildings, though I did read that we were ‘late to the party’