Surprise home of Australia’s first Japanese consulate under offer
A historic home in a regional city that was the site of Australia’s first Japanese consulate is now under offer after being listed for $2.2 million. Find out where.
A historic home that was the site of Australia’s first Japanese consulate is now under offer after being listed for $2.2 million.
Located at 11-13 Victoria Street in North Ward, a suburb in the garrison city of Townsville, the landmark residence, known as Kardinia, was built in the 1880s.
It housed the Japanese Consulate from 1896 to 1908 before it moved to Sydney.
Thirty-four years later, Townsville, a vital airbase and port during WWII, was attacked by Japanese flying boats on three consecutive nights in July 1942.
Today, Townsville has two sister cities in Japan - Shunan and Iwaki.
“Subsequent owners have been the Green family (associated with the Townsville Bulletin), and Paul and June Tonnoir who meticulously restored this unique colonial villa,” the listing by Janice Gallagher of Janice Gallagher Real Estate says.
“Kardinia is one of Townsville’s finest examples of 19th century architecture, representing a significant slice of North Queensland’s historical, diplomatic, cultural and social life.”
Located on the crest of Stanton Hill with views to Pallarenda, Magnetic Island and Cape Cleveland, Kardinia sits on a 1429sq m block.
It has four bedrooms, a library, a formal lounge and dining room, a family room, a timber galley kitchen, wide verandas, high ceilings, chandeliers, timber floors, French doors, and period features.
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“As the first Japanese consulate in Australia, it was connected with important events in Australian-Japanese trade and diplomatic relations, and illustrates the important connection between Japanese migration and North Queensland in the late 19th/early 20th centuries,” the Queensland Heritage Register says.
“The place is significant for its strong associations with several prominent people in Townsville, including police magistrate John Graham Macdonald and newspaper editor and proprietor David Green, and for its associations with the work of the Japanese government in establishing consular services for its nationals resident in North Queensland.”
Originally published as Surprise home of Australia’s first Japanese consulate under offer