A new lookout has been completed in Barcaldine, outback Queensland, connecting existing tourist buildings the Tree of Knowledge memorial (2009) and The Globe Hotel (2016).
Designed by M3 Architecture and Brian Hooper Architect for Barcaldine Regional Council, the Globe Lookout is the third and final project of the 15-year Barcaldine masterplan, completing the region’s “tourism trifecta”.
The Tree of Knowledge site is said to be the birthplace of the labour movement in Australia. It was formerly home to a heritage-listed tree, a 200-year-old ghost gum, that was allegedly poisoned and killed in 2006. Located in front of the Barcaldine train station, the tree provided a meeting place for the workers of the 1891 Shearer’s Strike, becoming an icon of the Labor Party and Trade Unions.
The Tree of Knowledge Memorial, by M3 Architecture and Brian Hooper, was officially opened in May 2009, and pays tribute to the history of Barcaldine. The trunk and root ball of the deceased ghost gum remains enclosed within the memorial structure.
The second stage of the masterplan, the Globe Hotel, completed in 2016, transformed a 1910 pub into a contemporary outback tourism hub, with an information centre, history room, and a commercial tenancy. The project received a National Award for Public Architecture at the 2017 National Architecture Awards.
The Globe Lookout, in the outback Queensland town of Barcaldine, is the third in a series of tourist attractions built for local council.
Image:
Christopher Frederick Jones
Finally, the recently-completed Globe Lookout offers visitors an observation post over the Central Queensland landscape. “These three projects share a layered design approach that uses space, framing, and materials to reference and reinterpret the region’s vernacular architectural heritage,” a spokesperson for M3 Architects said.
According to M3 Architecture director Michael Lavery, Barcaldine is known as “the garden town of the west”, due to its location over two artesian wells, providing an oasis in the arid landscape. The architecture of the lookout borrows its form from elevated, rural water tanks, incorporating oversized lattice detailing and a raised walkway connecting to the hotel’s first-floor veranda.
Lavery said the materials for the lookout hold low embodied carbon, comprising mostly steel and timber with very little concrete. Materials were selected so the structure could be built by local tradespeople, reducing contractor mileage and supporting the local economy and community.
The renewal of Main Street Barcaldine – which included the long-term redevelopment of the Tree of Knowledge and Globe Hotel – received the Queensland Minister’s Award for Urban Design in 2019.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
