page_title: Atherton Performing Arts Theatre
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Atherton Performing Arts Theatre / History
caption_attribution_description: English: EXTERIOR OF AN "IGLOO" STORAGE SHED OF THE 13TH AUSTRALIAN ADVANCE ORDNANCE DEPOT
context_page_description: Atherton Performing Arts Theatre is a heritage-listed former military depot and now theatre at 6 Silo Street, Atherton, Tablelands Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1943. It is also known as Atherton WWII Igloo. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 9 October 2015.
context_section_description: The steel-framed "igloo" located in Silo Road, Atherton, currently used as a theatre by Atherton Performing Arts (APA) Inc., is an American Rolling Mill Company (ARMCO) hut, erected c. 1943 at the 13th Australian Advance Ordnance Depot at Tolga. Although the term "igloo" is widely used to describe any corrugated iron-clad building with a roof that forms a complete arch to the ground, in the Queensland context it has been more specifically applied to buildings with open-lattice box truss arches made of nailed hardwood timber. Although originally intended to be covered with camouflage netting and used as aircraft hideouts, in Queensland these igloos were sheeted with iron and used as warehouses, hangars, workshops and recreation halls.
  In 1947 the igloo was purchased by the Atherton Tableland Maize Marketing Board and was moved to its current location for use as a workshop, and the neighbouring gabled-roof workshop building was probably built at this time. The buildings later functioned as an Atherton Shire Council Depot from c. 1958 to 1979, before the igloo was refurbished as a theatre in 1982–83. The igloo is rare surviving built evidence of an important military facility, and helps demonstrate the impact of World War II (WWII) on the Atherton Tablelands, when the area was a major training and rest and rehabilitation centre for the Australian Imperial Force during the Pacific Campaign of World War II (WWII). The igloo's original steel segmented-arch frame is also a rare surviving wartime example of its type.
  Atherton, the main centre on the Tablelands, was originally known as Prior's Pocket after Thomas Prior, a timber getter who was the first European to camp there permanently. The town, surveyed in 1885, was a staging post for Cobb and Co. coaches between the tin fields of Herberton (established 1880) and Port Douglas, and the Tablelands railway arrived from Cairns in 1903. Although timber drew many settlers to the area, the maize industry opened up the Atherton Tablelands to agriculture, and was the dominant agricultural industry of the southern Atherton Tablelands up until WWII. Chinese settlers were instrumental in setting up the industry during the late 19th century, but with the inception of the Soldier Settler Scheme in 1917, they were displaced by European farmers.
  The Atherton Tableland Maize Board was constituted on 31 August 1923 under the Primary Products' Pools Act 1922. In 1924, the board erected three storage cluster silo complexes at Kairi, Tolga and Atherton (the latter included a drying plant); but only the Kairi Maize Silos survive. Despite the silos, the industry struggled. The state of the industry improved somewhat when the Maize Board in 1936 began manufacturing poultry rations, and the "Athmaize" brand of stock and poultry feeds was introduced. Newspaper articles also refer to "Athmaze". In 1993, due to deregulation of the maize industry, the Board was dissolved and its assets and liabilities were transferred to the Athmaize Producers' Cooperative Association on 1 March 1994. Athmaize went into liquidation in 2002. The maize industry continues as a small section of the local economy, and dairy farming is now Atherton's main industry.
  The Atherton Tablelands was disrupted by a massive influx of military forces during WWII. United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) units were based at Mareeba from mid-1942, along with a US hospital and US Anti-Aircraft units. During 1943 USAAF units at Mareeba airfield were replaced with Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) units. From December 1942 the headquarters of the Australian Army in north Queensland transferred from Townsville to the Atherton Tablelands, and the main administrative base was established around Atherton and the nearby settlement of Tolga. The Headquarters of the 1st Australian Army was in Atherton, and the HQ of 1st Australian Corps was at Tolga. The terrain and climate of New Guinea meant that Australian troops had to be regularly rested and rehabilitated. The Atherton Tablelands was chosen for this purpose as it was close to New Guinea, near the
caption: Igloo of the 13th Australian Advance Ordnance Depot, Tolga, 1943
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