FDA Carstens Memorial

About

FDA Carstens Memorial is a heritage-listed memorial at Macrossan Street, Port Douglas, Shire of Douglas, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1907 to 1908 by Melrose & Fenwick (Townsville). It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 9 September 2003.

The memorial was erected c. 1907 –08 to honour Friederich Detleip Andreas Carstens, a Port Douglas publican and former Douglas Divisional Board Chairman. It was commissioned and paid for by his widow, Pauline Carstens, and presented c. 1907 –08 to Douglas Shire Council as a public memorial drinking fountain. The work was carried out by the prominent Townsville-based monumental masonry firm of Melrose and Fenwick, who designed, constructed and supplied memorials and headstones throughout North Queensland in the first half of the 20th century.

FDA Carstens was born on 9 August 1838 in Olpinitz, Denmark, to wealthy parents. He was well educated, attending the Heidelberg University in Germany. As a young man he developed health problems, and decided to immigrate to Queensland to a more congenial climate. In 1866 he commenced business in Brisbane as a general merchant. He then moved with his first wife Catherine to Dalby and built a hotel there. He also operated a successful butchery in Dalby, buying out his competitor. At Dalby he commenced his career in public life, being elected a member of the Dalby municipal council. Continued ill health prompted a move to North Queensland, where he purchased a hotel at Herberton, on the Atherton Tablelands, prior to moving to Port Douglas in 1886 where he purchased the Exchange Hotel. The Exchange was the leading hotel in Port Douglas; the only two-storeyed hotel in town, boasting the only underground cellar. The Carstens resided on the premises.

FDA Carstens very quickly engaged in local politics. He served on the Douglas Divisional Board in 1888 and again 1891–1898, and on the Douglas Shire Council 1903–06. From 1893 to 1898 he served as the Chairman of the Douglas Divisional Board and was instrumental in the establishment of the Mossman Central Mill and the Port Douglas and Mossman tramway. Fellow councillors almost unanimously regarded Carstens as fair minded, energetic and having the best interests of the district at heart.

In 1895, as Divisional Board Chairman, Carstens stridently advocated for the tramway, extracting a loan of £ 22,000 from a reluctant government. The construction of a tramway between Mossman and Port Douglas serviced both communities, and allowed expansion of the district's agricultural and sugar industry. Carstens was actively involved in other community organizations, and served as Chairman of the Port Douglas Hospital Committee in 1892–1893. His personal interest in horse racing led him to become secretary of the Jockey Club.

Carstens' wife Catherine died at age 56 in 1895, and in 1897 he married Pauline Pratt. There were no children from either marriage.

Between 1899 and 1903 Carstens journeyed overseas, touring Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Denmark. Upon his return he served on the Douglas Shire Council until his death, after a long illness, in 1906.

After Carsten's death his widow commissioned North Queensland's leading monumental masonry firm Melrose and Fenwick Ltd. of Townsville, to construct a public monument to honour the memory of her husband. No expense was spared when she ordered the memorial. It was made of imported Italian Carrara marble, and featured carved lion heads on all four sides, two of which were drinking founts, and a life-size bust of her husband. The structure was made in block sections with pipes inserted into the base and then shipped and reassembled in Port Douglas. Mrs Carstens presented it to the Douglas Shire Council c. 1907 –1908 and it was erected in the centre of the main street of Port Douglas, opposite the Exchange Hotel.

Around the same time Pauline Carstens also erected a very ornate and expensive gravestone on her husband's grave. It is the only grave in the Port Douglas cemetery to have a small marble border surrounding the plot with a jacquard marble and granite covering to the plot. The headstone is a large, detailed and ornate angel carved from Carrara marble.

In 1911, five years after Carstens' death, a cyclone crossed the coast causing extensive damage to the buildings of Port Douglas, including the top floor of the Exchange Hotel. Amidst the chaos, the monument stood firm and unscathed. Upon reconstruction the Exchange Hotel second story was never re-built.

Very little is known about the circumstance of presenting the memorial to the Douglas Shire Council or the arrangement made by Pauline Carstens for the memorial to be placed in a public thoroughfare. Douglas Shire Council minute books reputedly were destroyed in a fire c. 1908 and again by the 1911 cyclone. There are very few remaining copies of the local newspapers, the Port Douglas and Mossman Record or the Post Douglas and Mossman Gazette, for the period between 1905 and 1910.

By the late 1960s, the marble bowls beneath the founts had been removed and the fountain no longer functioned. The late 20th century North Queensland tourism boom, however, sparked renewed interest in the conservation of the memorial. In 1999 the Douglas Shire Council, in collaboration with the Port Douglas Restoration Society Incorporated, began to explore ways in which to conserve the monument. A report was commissioned and under the guidance of a restoration consultant, Mr. Peter Maxwell, the marble was cleaned. It was decided that the water feature would not be restored to working order due to the difficulties of replacing or cleaning the internal piping without damaging the stone.

The FDA Carstens Memorial is located on a traffic island in the centre of Macrossan Street, Port Douglas, in the principal business precinct between Grant and Wharf Streets. The monument is positioned approximately 90 metres (300 ft) from Grant Street and 190 metres (620 ft) from Wharf Street. The island that it stands on is approximately 10 by 6 metres (33 ft × 20 ft).

The memorial comprises a square base with truncated corners, square pedestal, a shaft in the form of a Grecian column, and bust, all in Carrara marble, and stands approximately 5 metres (16 ft) high to the top of the bust. The whole rests on a concrete plinth.

The pedestal features a lion head and leaded inscriptions on each of the four sides. On the northern face the inscription reads:

A vigorous advocate of the construction of the Mossman Tramway. Chairman of the Port Douglas Hospital Committee. 1892–1893.

Above the lion head on this face is the lettering "Carstens Memorial". The lettering on the southern face reads:

The inscription above the eastern lion head reads "IN MEMORIAM" and below the lion head:

The western face reads above the lion head "FDA Carstens" and below the lion head:

Elected to the Douglas Divisional board 1888, 1891–1893, Chairman 1893–1898, member of the Douglas Shire Council 1903–1906.