Why these Far North buildings lie languishing and abandoned
Unfinished building projects litter the Far North landscape. Discover the heartbreaking stories behind some of the region’s most mysterious properties.
Cairns
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EVERY building tells a story.
From an abandoned bunker at Trinity Beach to languishing Tablelands “castle” there’s no shortage of failed construction projects spanning the breadth of the Far North landscape.
Going head to head with Mother Nature’s fury in an often oppressive tropical climate also plagued by cyclones, idealists with grand architectural dreams have much to contend with.
Add in financial difficulty or ill health and the dream of a tropical sanctuary can turn into a heartbreaking story of an unfulfilled dream.
Here is a list of the Far North construction dreams that kicked off but were never completed.
TRINITY BEACH BUNKER
Shrouded in mystery, the concrete bunker standing sentinel over Trinity Beach has been the subject of innuendo and rumour for almost 40 years.
Eerie ruins and a rumour about the death of a construction worker when a concrete truck careered off a steep cliff have captured the imagination of many.
It has been labelled “the Bunker” and “the German’s house” but for property owner Robert Zmeskal, the ruins of what was planned as a grand Beverly Hills-style mansion are a poignant reminder of what could have been.
Mr Zmeskal emigrated from Austria with his grandmother and mother to settle in Sydney when he was three years old.
With a grand vision in his head, Mr Zmeskal drew his own plans for a turreted concrete house complete with a rooftop swimming pool. But after completing a huge concrete driveway and a small centre section of the house, the developer fell on hard times.
“The pilot strike happened and I was relying on Cairns going forward. For a long time it didn’t, then I had to wait for a time for my finances,” he said.“ And by that time, I had lost interest.”
So the building sat as a target for vandals, neglected and forgotten for nearly 40 years.
The house has been on and off the market for $1m since 2010 but has never sold.
MIRRIWINNI MANSION
Every year thousands pass by the ruins of an old mansion on the Bruce Highway at Mirriwinni and wonder about the chain of events that led to the building being abandoned.
Many fascinated by the two storey block ruin stop to get photos of the half-finished house and a bride and groom have even had wedding pictures taken with the house in the background.
Fabled stories of a family tragedy circulated after construction stopped and the house was listed for sale in 2016, but the reality is a little less dramatic.
After more than 400 days on the market five years ago listing agent Brian Bolton said the owners withdrew the house for sale.
“It’s a bit an icon,” he said.
“It was planned to be a family home and things changed for them, but they may continue to build.”
A neighbour, who asked not to be named, said the groundwork for the building was completed by February 2011.
“And on the eve of (Cyclone Yasi) they had one wall up,” he said.
“That wall is still standing so it obviously didn’t make a difference and now she is pretty well just derelict.”
One neighbour speculated property owners were relying on the proceeds of the banana crop to finish the build.
When the crop was destroyed by cyclonic winds the property owners didn’t have the means to complete the project, the neighbour said.
The house is now a permanent reminder of a family’s dream that never became a reality.
MILLAA MILLAA CASTLE
Eerie ruins of a grand mansion have captured the imaginations of those driving along the Malanda-Millaa Millaa Road for almost 15 years.
The history behind the destruction of the double-storey concrete house has been shrouded in mystery – its owner the subject of rumour and speculation.
But supernatural stories and secret underground rooms belie a reality slightly less fanciful but nonetheless tragic.
The property, once a working dairy farm, was acquired by Yugoslav immigrant Andy Markovic after his arrival in Australia.
A concreter by trade, Mr Markovic began modifications to an existing timber house by digging out underneath the house and adding another storey, complete with a castle-like turret in the western corner.
Tablelands historian Petrina Callaghan said what was envisaged as an Australian utopia in God’s country of the Atherton Tablelands didn’t exactly go to plan.
“They just thought it was going to be a promised land but underestimated our rules and regulations,” she said.
“I don’t think he could quite get his head around that.”
It’s understood the house set on 195.39Ha has been sold for farming after Mr Markovic died in 2020.
BUCHAN POINT VILLA
A 10-storey apartment complex taking in a magnificent vista from Buchan Point was the dream of developer Leigh Ratcliffe.
However the stalled project sits century atop a steep cliff overlooking the Coral Sea mostly forgotten and slowly being reclaimed by vigorous tropical vegetation.
Multiple dwellings were first approved under a superseded planning scheme by then Cairns City Council in 2004 and soon after massive Roman style arches were built at the entrance to the subdivision.
In 2008 a request to extend a building deadline was knocked back by council.
A confusing minefield of applications, approvals and appeals surrounding the proposed development have been compounded by the transferring of Buchan Point from the Doulas Shire Council to Cairns Regional Council in 1995 and ultimately became the subject of a Planning and Environment Court battle.
In efforts to extend development consent in 2017 Mr Ratcliffe stated in a council document “continued effects of the economic downturn as the primary reason for the delays in (the) approved development proceeding.”
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