Fantome Island

In January 1940, a train carrying 49 people who were afflicted with leprosy arrived in North Queensland in a transfer from the Peel Island lazaret (or leprosarium) in Moreton Bay, to Fantome Island, near Palm Island. 

Fantome Island Lazaret, c.1940.
Photo: Father Tom Dixon, in "From the Frontier: A Pictorial History of Queensland"

They were moved because medical and government officials of the day decided that Peel Island should only be used to treat “white” patients with leprosy, and chose Fantome Island as the location to isolate “coloured” patients suffering from the disease.

The majority of these “coloured” patients - as they were referred to - were of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island origin, although some were South Sea Islanders or Chinese.

There were already 25 Indigenous patients at the hospital when the Peel Island group arrived at Fantome Island, which meant the new lazaret had to cope with 74 patients, all before it was even fully completed.

Remarking on the transfer to Fantome Island, the State Government Minister for Health, Mr Hanlon, said that now that only white patients (26 of them) remained at Peel Island, he would be able to make big improvements to the lazaret there, “which obviously could not be undertaken while mixed races were there.”

The improvements intended for the Peel Island facility meant that, “all the minor privileges of civilised life – electric lights, reticulated water supply, radio, and other entertainment facilities on a broader scale – could be provided.”

Establishing a lazaret on Fantome Island was touted as an “important step in the investigation and treatment of leprosy” among the Indigenous population. At this time, Fantome Island was already in use as an isolation hospital for treating Indigenous patients with sexually transmitted illnesses. The leprosarium was to be located on the opposite side of the island.

Queensland Director-General of Health and Medical Services, Sir Raphael Cilento’s official view was that as the majority of the “coloured lepers” from Peel Island were originally from the North Queensland region, it was in their own best interests to be moved to Fantome Island, nearer to their “tribal origins”.

View of Fantome Island, no date.
Photo: CityLibraries Townsville Local History Collection.

In truth, Cilento believed that moving the Indigenous “lepers” to Fantome Island would save the government money. At Peel Island the cost of caring for a leprosy patient was £70 per annum, whereas Cilento anticipated that patients at Fantome Island would only cost the government £12 - £15 per annum.

In February 1940, four nuns from the Catholic missionary order of Our Lady Help of Christians arrived in Townsville by train, en route to Fantome Island, to commence work at the lazaret.  Mother Peter, Sisters Agnes, Catherine and Bernadette spent several months at Peel Island undergoing training in the treatment of leprosy before travelling north.

Fantome Island, no date.
Photo: CityLibraries Townsville Local History Collection. 

The Peel Island patients arrived at Fantome Island with a police escort and were also accompanied by Matron O’Brien from the Peel Island lazaret.  Matron O’Brien was appalled at the poor quality of the food provided to the patients when they arrived, and complained in a report about her trip that the patients had not been fed any green vegetables during her month-long stay.

This does not seem to have been a concern to the Superintendent, Mr F.H. Julian though, and poor nutrition may well have contributed to the 14 deaths that occurred at the lazaret on Fantome Island by the end of 1940.

The lazaret remained in use until 1973.

Townsville's Cultural Coming of Age - The Civic Theatre

The idea for a cultural precinct for Townsville was first raised almost forty years ago, when the City Council built the Civic Theatre at Reid Park.

The vision for a cultural complex alongside the Civic Theatre, first put forward 40 years ago, that was never built.
Photo: Trisha Fielding.

The Council hoped to develop a facility alongside the theatre that within just ten years would include a large restaurant, coffee shop, cocktail lounge, rehearsal rooms, teaching studios, meeting rooms and theatre workshops.

Although the ambitious plan never came to fruition, when the Civic Theatre opened on 31 March 1978, it was seen as a mark of Townsville’s cultural coming of age. Widely considered to be one of the most advanced, versatile and best equipped theatres in Australia, city leaders dubbed it the “People’s Theatre”.

The Townsville City Council’s City Architect, Mr Nigel Daniels was appointed in April 1973 to design the theatre and research visits were made to other theatres in capital cities and provincial centres in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and the ACT.  In October that same year, the site at Boundary Street, adjacent to Ross Creek, was selected.

Alderman Sheila Keeffe addressing visitors during construction of the Civic Theatre, 1977.
Photo: CityLibraries Townsville Local History Collection.

It was November 1975 before tenders were called, and in February the following year, the quote of just over $2.9 million from John Holland Constructions Pty Ltd was accepted. Overall, the whole project - including consultants’ fees, preparation of the site, landscaping and provision of car parking facilities – cost $4.5 million.

Daniels’ theatre design could seat 1,066 people when seats were placed over the orchestra pit, or 1,004 if the pit was in use.  At the time it was a truly modern, and compact design, with no dress circle or gallery, and no aisles either. Daniels’ other design work included the Long Tan Memorial Swimming Pool and the Flinders Mall.

It was hoped that the Civic Theatre would create larger audiences, better presentation standards and greater opportunities for local writers, directors, actors, singers, dancers and musicians. 

With those goals in mind, the theatre was built to satisfy presentation needs in two specific fields.  First, as a training and performing centre for local groups to present drama, ballet, pop, choral and classical music concerts and band shows; and second, as a top venue for national and world class professional companies touring from the capital cities and overseas.

Civic Theatre, Townsville.
Photo:  CityLibraries Townsville Local History Collection. 

But the theatre also represented a milestone for Townsville - the moment where Townsville’s cultural life would no longer be stunted by its isolation from the capital cities with larger facilities.

On the day of its opening, the Townsville Daily Bulletin reported that, “Local people and visitors, with some justification, see the Civic Theatre as a further symbol of Townsville’s growing status as one of the most rapidly developing and progressive provincial cities in Australia.”

Proof of the new theatre’s potential popularity was obvious on opening night, when Brian May and the Melbourne Show Band played to a full house.

The Bulletin reported that, “Townsville people, with a reputation for being conservative with their applause went wild for the Showband and clapped like they rarely have before.”

Townsville Mayor Alderman Perc Tucker said of the Civic Theatre, “It is pleasing to realise that it will be a source of enjoyment, pleasure and pride, not only for Townsville people at this time, but also for generations of citizens in the years to come.”