Babinda State Hotel

Babinda State Hotel is a heritage-listed hotel at 65-85 Munro Street, Babinda, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Department of Public Works (Queensland) and built from 1916 to 1917 by day labour. It is also known as Babinda Hotel. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 22 February 2002.HistoryThe Queensland Government constructed the Babinda State Hotel in the town of Babinda between 1916 and 1917. It was the only hotel at the time constructed and operated by the Queensland Government under the Labor Government's State Enterprises scheme.The town of Babinda was first established in. The township's first entry in Pugh's Almanac describes Babinda as a small township of 100 people on Mulgrave Railway, in a district mainly devoted to sugar-growing, distant 30 miles from Cairns. Between 1914 and 1915 the population of Babinda rose rapidly due to the construction of the Babinda Central Sugar Mill. The town was surveyed for future development in 1915, and private owners bought allotments and began to build homes and businesses. Gradually government facilities were established to serve the local community including a post office, courthouse, police station and state school.From 1915 the Labor Government, led by TJ Ryan and encouraged by wartime restrictions, food shortages and the consequent high prices, established a series of state-run businesses to compete with private sector business. The idea of state enterprises was not new. During the 19th century governments had operated railways and post offices as monopolies, but the general public accepted these as legitimate areas of government. The new state enterprises were distinctly different and designed to directly compete with private enterprise in order to provide the basic necessities at reasonable prices. The first foray into state enterprises was the establishment of the state butchers shops in 1915. This was followed by the establishment of state pastoral stations, fish supply shops, saw mills, produce agencies, cold stores and mines. Despite the good intentions of the government, the state enterprises lost money except for their one success story, the State Hotel at Babinda.