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Situated on the Bruce
Highway between Maryborough and Bundaberg, and three and a
half hours car journey from Brisbane, is the
National Trust town of Childers, the southern most township
of Central Queensland.
The scenic township with a population of
approximately 4300 residents is positioned on
rolling hills of red
soil overlooking avocado farms
and thousands of hectares of
sugar cane, one
of the major crops grown in the area.
Watch out for the cane trains as you travel
through the area as many of the tracks cross the roads.
Visitors can step back in history as they visit
the town's many historical buildings - some dating back to
Queensland's early pioneering days when the Childers area
was first explored by Europeans in the 1850s. The name of the town
of Childers is not known for sure but it is said to come from
either the village of Childre in Oxfordshire (there are also other
Oxfordshire names in the area including Abingdon, Didcot and the
Isis River) or named after the Rt Hon Hugh Childers,
Auditor-General of Victoria.
The best place to start is at Gaydon's
building (1894) in Churchill Street is the home of
Childers Pharmaceutical
Museum, The museum is believed to be the only one of its
kind in Australia featuring displays of dental paraphernalia and
medicines. The building is now the home of Mawara Aboriginal & Islander
Arts & Crafts.
In 1902 a fire broke out near the Grand
Hotel and destroyed the shops down the main street to about
where Dimmeys
now stands.
Subsequent rebuilding in the distinctive architecture of the
day using brick has changed the appearance of Childers from a
pioneer frontier town of timber and iron structures to the
cosmopolitan appearance of of the early 1900's which has
given an amazing variety of old world architectural styles, so
when visiting, make sure that you take the National Trust walk,
maps are available at the museum or just take a stroll along the
Leopard tree lined streets.
One of the more interesting buildings on the walk
is the Olde
Butcher Shop (1896) which although unoccupied at the moment,
is much the same as
when it traded and has many of the original
fixtures remaining, including the original brass window
frames. It
was the first tiled butchers shop outside Brisbane and escaped the
fire of 1902.
The two
storey R.S.L. club was built in 1901 for the Commercial Bank
of Sydney. The building was purchased in 1940 and carefully
restored by the RSL. 
On the corner of Churchill Street and Ashby lane
you will find Childers Travel, formerly the Queensland National
Bank. The
building still houses some of the original bank furnishings.
Many of the buildings along this side of the road still maintain
supported awnings, pediments and urns on the fascias including the
site of the former Union
Bank which later became the ANZ
and shifted to a new building a couple of doors along.
The Palace
Hotel (formally the Backpackers) was built around the
turn of the century, and was recently at the heart of Queenslands
worst fire, where 15 young backpackers lost their lives. The
building was restored and has now be reopened and is your first stop Tourist Information Centre
and upstairs houses the Memorial to the Backpackers who lost their
lives, the building also houses the towns only Art
Gallery.
Pause and take time to reflect on the town's
wonderful heritage, click on the orange links for the buildings
history.
Childers is also an access point to the Burnett
hinterland.
This site is a combination of information about Childers as
it is today, including businesses, services, clubs, medical,
emergency and schools and their history, along with many
recent and old photos of buildings and events. DISCLAIMER
: Photos used in this site have been sent or given to me from
various sources in good faith, if we are displaying a photo to which
you hold copyright and wish the photo to be removed, please contact
me with location and copyright details and I will remove immediately
with apologies. If you have
photo of which you think may be of
interest to the site, please contact me discountprint@hotkey.net.au
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Map of Childers
There are very few Bank ATMs on the Highway between Brisbane and
Rockhampton and Childers boasts to have two of them, one at the
Commonwealth Bank and the other at the ANZ.
A view towards Maryborough
A View over Huxley Road
Further up Churchill Street you will find the Isis
Shire
Council Chambers and adjacent you will
find Soldiers Room Memorial (below) which
opened on Anzac
Day 1926.
The building shape forms a Maltese Cross.
Outside,
a World War II Howitzer 210mm Mauser Cannon rests in the the council grounds.
The cannon was restored and re-sited
on November 11th 2001.
The
Childers Multicultural Food and Wine
Festival is the towns biggest
annual event
attracting thousands of visitors who will
eat
good food, listen to good music
and be overall entertained.
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