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Atherton, in the heart of the fertile Atherton Tablelands near Cairns, was home to a thriving Chinese community from the 1880s to the mid-1900s. The remains of Atherton's Chinatown are now an archaeological site featuring the community's place of worship, the Hou Wang Temple, which has been conserved and restored.
Guided tours take visitors through the Queensland National Trust-owned temple which was used as a place of worship until the early 1970s. Built in 1903, the temple is the only surviving timber and iron Chinese temple in Queensland, and has been conserved with $1.3M from the Queensland Heritage Trails Network.
Most of its fittings, including the carvings and items used for worship were specially made in China and have even survived a major cyclone in 1956, which blew the front section of the temple down.
The Hou Wang Temple is part of a complex which also includes a Chinese museum and gift shop, where visitors enter the site.
The museum features interactive displays of Atherton’s Chinese heritage, along with a prized collection of original artefacts including musical instruments, a maize husker and crusher and historic photographs of the once bustling Chinatown.
The Atherton temple is the only one outside China dedicated to Hou Wang. |
