The Cardwell Pioneer Tours are currently operating every Monday and Thursday morning from 10am at the Visitor Information and Heritage Centre located in Cardwell. The tour incorporates all the buildings in the historic precinct and takes visitors on a fascinating journey of the area’s colourful history as they move through each building. The tour begins at the old Bush Telegraph building which was the Telegraph and Post Office and explains how Cardwell was founded in 1864 as the first port in North Queensland. Over in the Courthouse visitors can gain an understanding of the old judicial system. Several interesting items are on display including the original straight-jackets used in Tully to restrain the more energetic offenders. The old lock-up building was still in use during the1980s at the Cardwell Police Station. The final building is the old Shire Hall which the community used for a multitude of purposes included balls and other formal social events. The tour concludes on the balcony of the Visitor Information Centre where visitors can enjoy a complementary Devonshire Tea while taking in one of the best views in North Queensland overlooking Hinchinbrook Island, Gould Island and the Family Islands
Date: 16/10-11/12/26
The Brigalow Arts Festival is the Banana Shire’s largest exhibition of visual arts in a professionally judged open art award. 2026 will mark the festival’s 30th anniversary. The festival program also offers artists and arts enthusiasts the opportunity to take part in networking events, practical workshops and to enhance skills in creative business development.
The exhibition component of the Brigalow Arts Festival is suitable for artists of any career stage across all artistic mediums. Categories encompass painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, digital arts, textiles, sculpture and decorative arts.
For artists, the Brigalow Arts Festival is the perfect way to build an audience, receive award recognition, sell works and exhibit in a professional gallery environment. For audiences, it is the ideal way to experience a cross-section of local arts, support artists and discover the stories that are being told in our region.
A convergence of art, innovation and creativity
A showcase of art in all its forms; conferences, innovation and ideas
A focus on sustainability and how working creatively, we can secure the future.
A platform for all that is possible.
The astonishing things which happen when innovative people connect and combine.
A community of artists, innovators, creators and visionaries.
A culture that cares and embraces possibility, is inclusive and celebrates together.
A culture that acknowledges the planet that we are part of and that sustains us.
Pivotal in the creation of civilisations.
Essential for human life