Cairns 150

    What’s on at the Cairns Museum

    Throughout 2026, the Cairns Historical Society and Cairns Museum are presenting a series of exhibitions, public lectures and events as part of the city-wide Cairns 150 celebrations.

    This program forms part of a city-wide celebration marking a significant moment in Cairns’ history. It brings together exhibitions, talks and events that reflect how the city has grown, changed and been shaped by the people who call it home.

    Below you’ll find details of what’s on at the Cairns Museum during this milestone year, including exhibitions on display, upcoming talks and how to visit.

    Group of Italian migrant adults and children standing among harvested sugarcane, Far North Queensland, late nineteenth or early twentieth century.
    Child riding a small goat-drawn cart on a Cairns street, with timber houses and picket fences in the background, early twentieth century
    Large crowd gathered in central Cairns, with horse-drawn carts, shops and public buildings visible, early twentieth century.

    In recognising 150 years since the establishment of the colonial township of Cairns, we acknowledge the Gimuy Walubara Yidinji, Buluwai, Djabugay and Yirrganydji peoples as the traditional custodians, and that their histories extend far beyond 1876.

    Exhibitions

    Cairns 150 exhibitions are presented in the Museum’s ground floor gallery and are included with standard Museum admission. Visitors can also explore four permanent galleries across three levels, tracing Cairns’ journey from a small port town to a modern tropical city.

    10 Jan – 2 Mar | Yirrganydji: Saltwater Art | Patricia Singleton

    Patricia Singleton is Land and Sea. Growing up in saltwater country in Cairns, she listened to stories of family and ancestors from a young age, sketching and drawing the world around her. Drawing on a lifetime of artistic and curatorial practice, this exhibition presents new works alongside earlier pieces, shared through deeply personal storytelling and creative expression.

    7 Mar – 4 May | Twin Beginnings: First Colonial Settlement at Smithfield | Dr Sarah Collins

    This exhibition explores the first settlement of Cairns through the lens of Smithfield township, the short-lived settlement established on the Barron River in 1876. It examines the lives of the township’s early settlers through themes including gender, nationality, ethnicity, religion, occupation, mobility, and kin and fictive-kin relationships.

    9 May – 6 Jul | Fostering the Junior Performing Arts: 70 Years of Cairns Eisteddfod | Cairns & District Junior Eisteddfod Association

    For more than seventy years, the Cairns and District Junior Eisteddfod has played a vital role in nurturing young talent across dance, music, speech, drama and literacy. This exhibition celebrates the creativity of Cairns through photographs, costumes, trophies, shields and programs that reflect generations of local performers.

    11 Jul – 7 Sep | Marsh’s Butcheries: A Fourth Generation Butchery | Louise and Nick Marsh

    After a successful night of cards in the early 1920s, Fred Marsh Senior purchased a 50 per cent share in the Carman Family Butchery, a significant step up from his days as a horse boy. Another lucky win soon followed, allowing Fred to buy out the business entirely. In 1926, the Marsh butchery legacy began. Four generations and one hundred years later, the family business continues.

    12 Sep – 9 Nov | Decades of Dedication: CAFNEC’s Legacy of Environmental Stewardship | Cairns & Far North Environment Centre

    The environmental activism movement that emerged in Cairns during the 1980s reflects the community’s deep connection to the natural environment. This passion has shaped, and continues to shape, the region’s commitment to conservation. This exhibition explores the lasting impact of locally led environmental advocacy and introduces some of the people and organisations who helped position the region as a global symbol of natural and cultural value.

    14 Nov – 8 Mar 2027 | Future Tense | Cairns Historical Society

    This exhibition explores the recent past through a lens of technological change, evolving communication and the rise of plastic. Drawing on artefacts and stories from the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, Future Tense examines life in Cairns during the Anthropocene and beyond.

    Public lectures

    Across 2026, our public lecture series delve into key moments, places and stories from Cairns’ past, led by historians, researchers and local contributors. Lectures take place at the Cairns Museum on Saturday afternoons and are free to attend, however registration is required.

    21 February 2026
    When two worlds collide: contact in the Cairns region | Dr Alice Buhrich and Dr Sandi Robb
    From the Indian Empire to Far North Queensland: Indians in Cairns | Dr Sandi Robb

    18 April 2026
    The History of Cairns from 1876 to 1896 Will Always Be a Moving Feast | Michael Brumby
    Not for the faint hearted: Women of FNQ | Dr Jan Wegner

    20 June 2026
    Meston’s Wet Dream in the Scottish Tropics | Dr Jonathan Richards
    William Bairstow Ingham: Cairns’ first entrepreneur | Dr Sarah Collins

    15 August 2026
    Roads to Cairns from the mining fields, 1876–1877 | Dr Ruth Kerr OAM
    The Cannon Family | David Cannon

    17 October 2026
    Recent Archaeological Investigations of Chinese Gold Mining Communities in the North | Dr Kevin Rains
    Architecture of Cairns | Roger Mainwood

    Community partnerships

    Many of the exhibitions and events presented at the Cairns Museum have been developed in partnership with community groups, local families, historians and individual storytellers.

    These collaborations bring together objects, images, memories and research to share Cairns’ history from many perspectives and reflect the lived experiences of the people who call this region home.

    Speaker at a podium during the Cairns 150 launch event, with Cairns 150 banners and audience members in the foreground