Barcaldine’s Tree of Knowledge is synonymous with history and hard yakka. Known as the site of the 1891 sheep shearer’s strike and the first reading of the Labour Party manifesto in 1892, its history and heritage is engraved within Australia’s history, with its influence still felt today.
Its poisoning led to a town’s rise as a tourist attraction, which saw a multitude of bold and unorthodox calls made to create an unlikely destination way out west where the rain don’t fall.
Celebrated Queensland architect Brian Hooper was in the central west at the time of the poisoning, working on a sports centre project that didn’t come to fruition. Council was handed a grant of $150,000 to preserve the tree, which Hooper says fell in his lap. His first act of business was a call to m3architecture Director Michael Lavery, who recalls his first impressions of the town.
“We jumped on a plane and I can remember we stayed our first freezing cold night in a little single skin hotel room with the cold air coming in through holes in the wall,” he says.
“One of the things that we noticed immediately was that even the little amount of traffic that was travelling through at that early hour of the morning. People who were interested in the tree and town would simply stop directly opposite the tree in the carpark that was right beside it, take their photograph and keep driving.
“And that convinced us immediately that before we did an individual project, we really needed to re-look at the town and look at what a master plan for the town could do to really encourage visitors to stop and stay a while.”
Barcaldine is described as one-side loaded, with the entirety of the town built to one side of the railway line, with a national highway that splits the main street. The only issue was that they planned to narrow that highway, in order to increase interaction with tourists, and remove the carpark in front of the Tree of Knowledge.
“Allowing everybody who visits to simply stop right there is doing a disservice to themselves and the town,” Lavery says.
“The master plan essentially sought to do something which country towns fight hard against, which was to remove cars in front of the most important parts, but provide them in front of the more significant retail and commercial portions of town, in order for people to walk through the town to visit the sites and then have a coffee and engage with the locals.
“We were effectively asking to narrow a national highway. And to the credit of everyone involved, that was something that was embraced.”
The call was an inspired one.
“If you look at the pragmatics of just the decision making behind removing the car parking from around the tree and making people stop and actually then spend money in town, you cannot fault those decisions,” Hooper says.
“There's an incredible amount that appeals to the tourist visitor where that economic benefit to the town cannot be understated.”
From the Tree of Knowledge project, the Barcaldine Master Plan was born, and from it, spawned the Globe Hotel and Globe Lookout, completed in 2016 and 2023 respectively. Hooper describes the Master Plan as a “baggy fit”, inspired by the rural everyday.
“I'd say the tree drove the master plan in a lot of ways, and giving back to the tree actually drove some of those master plan outcomes. We’ve remained interested in other sustainable type practices such as using local materials and local contractors, and that, of course, starts to drive language.
“The beautifully developed screen on the Globe Hotel is actually a reference to the fan lights above the old hotel rooms and also the road. I think part of that whole lattice work and that language is part, is part of that historical reference to the buildings.”
All three projects have assisted in a 300 percent growth in tourism for the dusty town out west. Lavery says the entire master plan is the embodiment of good design and relationships between practice and client.
“It's a great thing for both the practices and personal friendship. I have had different hats on in the last couple of years thinking about advocacy for the profession to be able to talk to clients and client groups about what our profession can do when we are given the right opportunity and we've got a client that brings trust with them,” he says.
“The master plan for the cultural aspects of the globe are still in place, and we’re keen to talk to (Barcardine) council about those other fund funding opportunities that come up.”
Hooper says the unlikely tourist hub is fast becoming an architectural haven.
“I think I could count on one finger a town with a population of 1,200 that has two nationally architecture awarded projects in one town within 100 metres of each other. I think that's telling of the client being able to put their trust in us and the vision and those projects as well.”
