Herberton Historic Village – Cairns Atherton Tablelands

Live the folklore and romance of yesterday's Australian pioneers in every piece of the eye-opening private collection at Herberton Historic Village on the Cairns Atherton Tablelands, an entire village of shops and stores lovingly re-stored and re-created as they were over 100 years ago.

Take a pew behind a desk in the old schoolhouse, lean up at the old bar of the antique pub and spin a few porkies with your mates. Enjoy a nice cup of tea and scones in the Bakerville Tearooms and re-live that pioneering feeling.

Herberton Historic Village

 

The award-winning Herberton Historic Village is more than a vintage precinct – it's a tangible experience of things you may remember seeing and playing with from your childhood days when things were simple. The Herberton Historic Village collection currently features over 50 original out house buildings with intact interior displays, original machinery and vehicles, plus thousands of antique items and period memorabilia. The Herberton Historic Village display is regarded as the most significant ever assembled in Queensland, and offers unlimited opportunities for amazing photography. The Herberton Historic Village is also a very popular location for those antique and sepia Wedding photography images.

Many of the village buildings 'met' for the first time when they arrived at the Atherton Tablelands property from around the region during the 1970s. Now, they're kindred spirits, enjoying their twilight years together and sharing the bonds of past centuries. If they could talk, just imagine the stories that might be whispered back and forth between these old walls.

The Tin Pannikin Pub is the only ring-in, a replica of cartoonist Ken Maynard's Ettamogah Pub. Everything else in the village dates back from Herberton's foundation years and almost all the buildings are as they were originally constructed. Regular maintenance keeps them sturdy and secure and in some cases modern lighting, safety grills screens and steps have been installed for visitor's safety.

Beyond this, the buildings and thousands of original items displayed in and around them reflect everyday life in Cairns Tropical North Queensland as it was from the 1880s onward. Each is a testament to an era that is long gone but still vividly alive in our memories.

The Herberton Historical Village owes its existence firstly to Herberton's pioneers and then to a long list of dedicated residents who followed them. It exists today because of two couples: inspired collector Harry Skennar and his wife Ellen and present owners Craig and Connie Kimberley who continue the tradition and restoration with the keen support of the local Atherton Tablelands community.

Events on the Cairns Atherton Tablelands

See below for an examlpe of an event held on the Ciarns Atherton Tablelands

Visit Herberton Historic Village For Pioneers Weekend 7-8 May 2011

Visitors are treated to a special version of the golden olden days when Herberton Historic Village presents its annual Pioneer Weekend on 7-8 May 2011. The field day format showcases the unique aspects of this vintage village as experts in their fields make the stores; displays and machinery of yesterday come alive before visitor's eyes. The village staff have assembled an impressive brace of experts eager to demonstrate on the day, and are themselves kitted out in olden-day costumes to add to the authenticity of the inaugural event.

 Guests will be able to watch the saddlers ply their craft, pat the pack mules, see miners tin panning for gold and the windmill working, the workman's tools in use, the axe men wood chopping, and the garage mechanics bringing the engines of old to roaring life. For some lively action and fun a roaming barbershop quartet, a brass band and a bush poet will entertain and there'll even be a free sausage sizzle. Normal admission prices apply for Saturday and Sunday of Pioneers Weekend (also Mothers Day weekend).

Where is Herberton Historic Village

6 Broadway, Herberton QLD 4887 Tel: +61 7 40962002

Herberton Historic Village is located just outside the township of Herberton. High on the Cairns Atherton Tablelands, a scenic 90 minutes drive from the city of Cairns.