National Trust Heritage Centre

About

Take a trip back in time. Visit our 1880s workers cottage and 'Currajong' - a fine villa residence, both in a beautiful garden setting.

Story

The National Trust Heritage Centre provides an opportunity to see what life was like when it was slower.

The Heritage Centre was created in the 1970s as a means of rescuing Townsville buildings which otherwise would have been lost. Its key structure is the late nineteenth century residence ‘Currajong’, furnished to show the gracious style of living of that era. Following its relocation to the present site, ‘Currajong’ was restored to its pre-Second World War appearance, because much had been preserved under later additions and alterations. The Worker’s Cottage and the Farmhouse were relocated to the site when threatened by urban expansion.

The Centre displays three typical north Queensland houses:

A worker's dwelling.
The Worker’s Dwelling is the oldest identified residence of its kind in Townsville.

The Worker’s Dwelling is low-set, has two rooms, a front verandah and an enclosed rear verandah.

A villa residence - Currajong.
‘Currajong’ is a large, single-storey timber residence with wide verandahs.

With its furniture and collection, ‘Currajong‘ shows the lifestyle of families prominent in the history of north Queensland.

A 1920s farmhouse.
The Farmhouse is high-set on timber stumps with its two rooms separated by a passageway, and features verandahs all round, the rear one now enclosed.

The Farmhouse is representative of the houses on farms that once surrounded and sustained Townsville.