Labs, offices, arboretum: CSIRO lists vacant Atherton site
One of the many labs
The CSIRO has listed its vacant Atherton site for sale, 18 months after the research agency announced that its scientists would be relocated to Townsville.
Established in 1971, the Maunds Rd site was home to the Tropical Forest Research Centre and featured a rainforest arboretum.
It also had a herbarium and student accommodation.
The CSIRO Atherton site has been listed for sale
The shock announcement that it would be closed was made in June 2021, with then Industry, Science and Technology Minister Christian Porter confirming the jobs would be relocated to Townsville’s James Cook University CSIRO precinct.
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The Atherton CSIRO labs after the shock announcement.
Other agencies such as Terrain NRM, Cape York NRM and Barron River Catchment Care have also vacated the site.
The substantial site has many buildings
The 3.64ha site has now been listed for sale by tender with First National Real Estate Atherton.
“Known as the CSIRO site, this property features 1802sq m of buildings offering various uses,” the listing says.
“Primarily used as a research facility the buildings, which contain laboratories, offices, warehouses, residential and miscellaneous uses, are accompanied by sprawling parklike grounds and the arboretum, which was used to study flora native to tropical Far North Queensland.”
The arboretum encompasses approximately four acres of the site, the listings says.
Building one contains offices, a laboratory and the herbarium and was built in the 1970s.
Another 370sq m building houses offices, labs and a meeting room.
One of the offices
There is also garage and workshop with two offices, a double-storey accommodation building configured for students that includes kitchen facilities, another building containing laboratories and offices, a fuel storage building, poison storage facility, lean-to shed, green house and potting shed.
The majority of the buildings are airconditioned and up to building codes.
“Future uses may include boarding/farm worker accommodation, caravan park, residential development, commercial retail development, university of vocational study, education or school site,” the listing says.
FEBRUARY 2, 2000: CSIRO scientists Dr Victoria Gordon & Dr Paul Reddell with deadly native idiot fruit in the Atherton area of Cairns, Pic Steve Brennan. Queensland
An Open Day at CSIRO Atherton in 2011. Pic Tom Lee
