Cairns Customs House
| Cairns Customs House | |
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Cairns Customs House, now Cafe China, 2015
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| Location | 6A-8A Abbott Street, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia |
| Coordinates | 16°55′25″S 145°46′45″E / 16.9235°S 145.7791°ECoordinates: 16°55′25″S 145°46′45″E / 16.9235°S 145.7791°E |
| Design period | 1919 - 1930s (interwar period) |
| Built | 1936 - 1937 |
| Official name: Cairns Customs House (former) | |
| Type | state heritage (built) |
| Designated | 21 October 1992 |
| Reference no. | 600377 |
| Significant period | 1930s, 1940s |
| Significant components | customs house, shed/s, trees/plantings, garage, store - bond |
| Builders | Watkins & Deal |
 Location of Cairns Customs House in Queensland
Location of Cairns Customs House in Queensland
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Cairns Customs House is a heritage-listed former customs house and now restaurant at 6A-8A Abbott Street, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Robert Henry Bowen and built from 1936 to 1937 by Watkins & Deal. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
The former Cairns Customs House was erected in 1936-37 by the Australian Government through the Public Works branch of the Department of the Interior, largely as an employment-generating initiative during the Great Depression. It was the third customs house on the site.
The customs reserve at Cairns was the first land surveyed after proclamation of the port of Cairns on 1 November 1876. The reserve of just over 1.2 hectares included the whole of the land bounded by Abbott, Spence and Wharf Streets and the Esplanade.
By July 1877 the first customs buildings were completed at what was then known as Trinity Bay, but the site was not proclaimed a customs reserve (temporary) until 1886. The buildings faced the Esplanade, and included a customs house, bond store and the sub-collector of customs' residence.
In 1889 a new, single-storeyed timber building with a frontage to Abbott Street replaced the first customs house, which was converted to a bond store. In the same year the site was proclaimed a permanent reserve for customs purposes.
As part of the Federation of Australia, the customs reserve became the property of the Australian Government, and was occupied by the Department of Trade & Customs. In 1905 it was subdivided into three allotments, two being revested with the state government. Allotment 2, with frontages to the Esplanade and Abbott Street, became customs reserve R.293. This site contained the 1889 customs house and a bond store (1876 customs house). The latter was extended in the early part of the twentieth century.
The present Customs House was constructed on the site during the large-scale interwar redevelopment of Cairns, in which the city centre was virtually rebuilt. This building boom was in part a consequence of severe cyclone damage suffered by the city in 1920 and 1927. Also it was a reflection of a developing economy sustained by the introduction of a post-1918 Soldier Settlement Scheme to the Atherton Tableland, and the opening of the North Coast rail link between Cairns and Brisbane in 1924. Cairns became the northern terminus of the coastal railway, and functioned as a service town for sugar, mining, maize, dairying, timber and fruit growing.
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