Cairns Technical College and High School Building 1.47

Cairns Technical College and High School Building is a heritage-listed state school at Sheridan Street, Cairns North, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Nigel Laman Thomas of the Department of Public Works (Queensland) and built from 1939 to 1941 by day labour. It is also known as Block A of Cairns State High School. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 9 May 2014.HistoryThe Cairns Technical College and High School building was constructed in 1941 as a purpose-designed facility for state-run secondary and technical education in Cairns. It was designed by the Department of Public Works as part of the Queensland Government's unemployment relief program during the 1930s and was built using day labour during a period of pronounced construction in Cairns. This commanding, three-storey brick building at the corner of Sheridan and Upward Streets is an important element in the city's streetscape.Trinity Bay, traditional country of the Yirrganydji people, was chosen as the port for the Hodgkinson goldfield in 1876. The first settlers arrived in October that year and Cairns became a port of entry on 1 November 1876. Its future as a regional centre was almost stifled by competition from Port Douglas; however, the announcement of Cairns as the preferred terminus for a railway in September 1884 assured its future as the main settlement and port for far north Queensland. It was declared a municipality (the Borough of Cairns) in 1885.