Douglas Shire Historical Society

The Courthouse Museum was opened after the annual maintenance with even the Chinese temple panels having been refurbished.  Thanks to a very generous and welcome donation from John and Jocelyn White, the Society now have a portable wheelchair ramp available to access the Court House Museum.  Opening times remain Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays between 10am and 1pm and there is always a knowledgeable volunteer available to answer questions.  In Mossman, in partnership with the Mossman Library, the Society has celebrated HeritageWeek with an historic walk around the township of Mossman.  They have been a busy group at the moment with their April meeting taking the form of a trip to Daintree.  The day involved a visit to Sally and Peter Maher at River View in Daintree to see their display of collctables.  Peter cranked up his 1913 International portable engine, which delighted the gentlemen on the tour.  Then the tour did a walk around the town following the Society's historic posts before having lunch then returning to Mossman.  The Society's foundation Life Member Mr Noel Weare was recntly awarded a RADF grant from the Douglas Shire Council to travel to Brisbane to do research at the Queensland State Archives.  While there, he met with Dr Jonathan Richards, a professional researcher and avid historian who is researching North Queensland history.  He was able to collect some 1500 page images in the six days spent there, most of which will assist in research for the manuscript for the complete history of the 1879 Port Douglas Court House building.  Thanks to the Douglas Shire Council for assisting Noel in his far-reaching research.  The Society also mounted a Heritage Week display which will run for a month in the Shire Council building foyer.  The Society is also very pleased to see the local schools' interest in local history.  The Port Douglas school visited the Museum recently where secretary Annette Anich gave a talk and the Daintree school children walked the Heritage Trail in that village.  Some new information on the Port Douglas Chinese history was revealed at a presentation by Jacky Tam of the Cairns & District Chinese Association at the May meeting held in the Port Douglas CWA rooms.