Cairns Yacht Club House well known to locals as "The Aquatic".

Here are the facts:

March 2008

1. The Aquatic Building is substantially that of the  Cairns Rice Milling Company building constructed on this site in 1895.
2. The Cairns Aquatic Club was founded on 30^th March 1908 and will be 100 years old on 30^th March 2008.
3. In 1917 the Cairns Aquatic Club purchased the Cairns Rice Milling Company building and as well as a Sailing Club was using the premises to manufacture equipment for the Red Cross Hospitals across Australia for wounded soldiers returning from the WW1... 75 of their members were called to war.
4. During WW2 the Royal Australian Navy commandeered the Aquatic Club House and the Club’s Starting Boat “The Magenta”. The Aquatic was in the thick of shipping, with the Coral Sea Battle and the role of the Catalina Flying Boat Squadrons. 72 of their members were called to war, 6 died of wounds.
5. All other yachts not used by the Navy had to be made unassailable as a burnt earth policy because everyone fully expected to be over run by the invading Japanese. The Navy allowed the upstairs portion to remain operational for R & R purposes.
6. Cairns Aquatic Club sailing members who were ineligible for war service formed the Australian Navy Auxiliary Patrol and serviced the Anti Submarine Boom Net
7. The Cairns Aquatic Club ladies and friends again supported the Australian Red Cross and sustenance for service men and women in WW2. Providing welcome home and transport to those fortunate enough to return. See  The Aquatic at War
8. In 1958 the club changed the name to Cairns Sailing Club
9. In 1981 the club changed its name again to The Cairns Yacht Club.
10. In 1996 Peddle Thorpe Architects reported: “The Cairns Yacht Club House is unique as it is probably the earliest surviving timber framed public building in Cairns, if not the whole of North Queensland.”
11. In 2002 the Cairns Historical Society nominated the Club House on its site for Queensland State Heritage.
12. Located at No. 4 Wharf Street Cairns opposite the Cairns Reef Casino.
    The real property description is : Lot 10 on SP113633
    Lot 15 on SP1122865 and delineated on  plan especially commissioned by the Environmental Protection Agency IS174589 to facilitate the Nomination to State Heritage. (Everyone thought it was going to be protected.)
13. On 12^th December 2003 the Queensland Heritage Council met in Brisbane to decide the Nomination. IT FAILED. See what the people think:
14. The land on which the building is located belongs to the Cairns Port Authority.
15. The Cairns Port Authority is an autonomous Corporation owned by the Queensland State Government.
16. The Cairns City Council has no jurisdiction over Port Authority land.
17. Under the Law any permanent structure built on a parcel of land is considered to be part of the land. Hence when you sell your home the records show it is as a sale of land. (The building may be demolished or changed.)
18. In 2004 The Cairns Port Authority moved to obtain a Section 32 order under the State Heritage Act preventing any further nominations of the Cairns Yacht Club House and the site for 5 years. (2009) it is now called a Certificate of Immunity. (C of I)  There has only ever been three issued in Queensland’s history and the Aquatic is one of them.
19. This of course does not prevent the people who requested the C of I, (the CPA) from demanding that the building be removed forthwith.  That's why they requested and obtained the Memorandum of Agreement from the Cairns Yacht Club.
20. Ironically, there is no provision under the old Act for even the CPA to remove the order. However, The Hon Paul Lucas a Minister in The Queensland Parliament stated that it was possible for the Parliament to pass an act to preserve Historic Buildings if it so chose.
21. The Aquatic Club House is owned by the Cairns Yacht Club.   Unless they give permission the CPA cannot demolish the building or forcibly remove it unless the Cairns Yacht Club Inc. fail to comply with the Memorandum of Agreement they have been forced to sign.
22. So for it to be saved, as a Heritage Building, three things have to happen.
23. An entity must purchase the building from the Cairns Yacht Club, on its present site and the CPA allow a moratorium for it to remain there till the C of I expires, then a new Nomination for Heritage may be lodged or
24. The CPA allows the new owners to renovate the building and give them a decent lease.

NOTE: There is no way for the Cairns Yacht Club (The Club) to retain the premises They haven’t been seen to fight for the place, so they don't have sympathetic Public support any more, it has fallen away with time, just as CEO Brad Geatches predicted it would.. Ironically, that was because the CYC was unfairly gagged by the Memorandum. So when the prospective purchaser for the land dropped financially dead, the CPA found itself between thousands of angry Cairns residents, a moral dilemma and a hard place. 

After going to such lengths to have the Aquatic removed and build a new , so called,  seven million dollar complex in the eastern precinct for the "Cairns Yacht Club", the dilemma worsened.

It turns out that the Cairns Yacht Club Inc. Committee will only get a small area in which to conduct meetings. The rest of the complex is for Toilet and Shower facilities for the Mariner residents, something the CPA has been dragging its feet on for years. The Restaurant and Bar are let to commercial operators. There is no adequate parking facilities, no dance floor, no CYC Bar, No CYC Bistro. Patrons will have to park 300 metres away in the Council Car Park and pay.

I am an just ordinary citizen, I am not a member of the Cairns Yacht Club. I was the chair of the Cairns Heritage Group. Our group think the Cairns Yacht Club and the people of Cairns has beed shafted big time.  I have all the documentary evidence. Copies of the manuscripts letters from members of the Heritage Council, statements from Yacht Club Committee Members, photos, wartime history, The Cairns Historical Society, The Australia Heritage Trust supporting us, photos from the Australian War Museum, opinions from the Environmental Defenders Office, and opposition Attorney General, Lawrence Springbord and much more.

With good will on all sides, I think the place could have been saved, I believe it is worth saving and I know the History embodied in its 100 year frame is something that the Citizens of Cairns and the millions of Tourists yet to come here could ill afford to lose.  We have documentary evidence that the Cairns Port Authority, the local member, The Hon Desley Boyle, The Hon Paul Lucas, The Hon Anna Bligh, The Mayor Kevin Byrne, Tourism North Queensland, Advance Cairns and the Government all physically advocated and voted for the Aquatic Club House to be demolished.

They only see dollars, not History and as you can see the CPA has already demolished part of the main wharf, Hales Wharf and Platypus Jetty.  Whites Shed has been allowed to demolish itself.  The CYC will move out the building will be disconnected from power and removed, the land sold to the next willing carpetbagger and a multi story lump of concrete  erected to completely wall off what's left of our views of Trinity Inlet

RIP.

Yours sincerely,

Rob Williams j.p.(Qual.) ALA.

28 Lake Placid Road

Caravonica 4878 Qld

05032008