Vandals deface Townsville’s iconic Herveys Range Heritage Tea Rooms

The owner of Townsville’s iconic Herveys Range Heritage Tea Rooms broke down in tears after discovering that vandals had spray-painted their building with racial slurs and rude graffiti. WARNING: OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE

Herveys Range Heritage Tea Rooms owner Desley Ralph was reduced to tears to find the cafe had been vandalised on Sunday. Picture: Shae Beplate.

The tranquil setting of Townsville’s beloved Herveys Range Heritage Tea Rooms was shattered over the weekend when vandals defaced the iconic building with offensive graffiti, including racial slurs and explicit images.

Cafe owner Desley Ralph was left in tears upon discovering the extent of the damage, which occurred sometime between 5pm and 11pm on Sunday.

A staff member who lives on-site first noticed the vandalism around 11pm when he smelled paint fumes while taking out the rubbish.

It wasn’t until the next morning, in the light of day, that the full extent of the graffiti was realised.

Mrs Ralph was picking up supplies when she received a photo of the graffiti.

“I was about to walk into Coles, and I literally sat down and cried,” she recalled.

“It’s all over the side of the building at the front entrance where you walk inside. Thankfully, there was nothing else damaged.”

The graffiti included the n-word repeated three times, alongside vulgar images and the word LGBT that was crossed out.

“While it’s childish, it’s still very explicit,” Mrs Ralph said.

The Herveys Range Heritage Tea Room was vandalised on Sunday. Picture: Supplied

“It’s hate speech, and in a place where people just come to relax, meet with their friends and getaway from it all.

“It’s just so senseless and totally beyond me why they feel the need to be doing something like that all the way out here.

“It’s not as if it’s on a playground or a toilet or somewhere in town where people hang out and do stupid things.

“Why do you have to come this far out of town and do something like this? It’s not right.”

The Heritage Tea Rooms, originally the Eureka Hotel, have been perched atop the range west of Townsville since 1865.

It is one of the last remaining slab-sided inns from North Queensland’s cart and bull era.

Because the cafe is heritage-listed, they now face the challenge of repairing the damage through the proper channels, a process complicated by its protected status.

“I’ve got to find out what my options are to cover it up or repair it,” Mrs Ralph said.

Herveys Range Heritage Tea Rooms owner Desley Ralph was reduced to tears to find the cafe had been vandalised on Sunday. Picture: Shae Beplate.

“Obviously, we’ll have to cover it up because it’s so offensive. We’ll probably throw a tarpaulin over it so that our customers aren’t confronted by it every time they come in over the next couple of days.”

Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto was shocked to hear the iconic tea rooms had been defaced.

“After a weekend of carjacking, break and enters and stolen car escapades conducted by Townsville’s youth crime cohorts, this is the icing on the cake,” he said.

“Imagine being a business owner struggling to keep up and having to wake up to this absolute garbage painted across your heritage-listed building.”

If you have any information that may help police with their investigations, contact Policelink on 131 444

Originally published as Vandals deface Townsville’s iconic Herveys Range Heritage Tea Rooms