On our recent trip north of the border we did meet a few ‘shady Queenslanders’ but also got the chance to see so many of these beautiful old Queenslander homes as well.
Being from Sydney, what really stood out to us was the age of most of the houses in the small country towns with most of them exceeding 50 years. Compared to most suburbs in Sydney where inflated property prices keep our housing stock in a revolving door of knock-down, rebuild or renovate to match the house price to the land value, it was a real contrast. It felt like stepping back in time in most of these towns.
The interesting take away for us was to observe houses built prior to air conditioning in climates where air conditioning would be a no-brainer these days. So essentially these houses are the OG passive houses because there was no “active” conditioning available.
Large wrap around balconies seen on many Queenslanders not only create shade for the internal rooms but also provide outdoor living spaces for homeowners to enjoy out of the sun (and rain in the wet season).
Adjustable external shade blinds which sit proud of each of the windows create shade for the windows without blocking essential air flow in and out.
Even the pubs were designed with coolth in mind with large wrap around balconies producing a double whammy of shade for the patrons on the top floor as well as the pub-dwellers on the footpath out the front!
