What makes a queenslander

How did they make it work? Don't miss out on the headlines from Brisbane News. Followed categories will be added to My News. The charming, inter-war Queenslander on a corner sloping block in Auchenflower was visible from vantage points across the gully and up the hill towards Paddington. Keen to create a vegetable garden and an outdoor play space, they were determined to limit the size of any rear extension. Looking back into our history there were plenty of practical reasons for elevating the homes: to keep residents cool in summer, to allow easy construction on sloping land, to avoid floods, and to keep the timber away from termites.

Under the house used to be a place for playing out of the sun, hanging the washing and a bed for the dog or even a not-so-welcome relative. Are these still Queenslanders? During our early years there were plenty of variations on timber home designs. Those built from to are often called Colonials for our time as a colony. Vernacular architecture is best described as a traditional or indigenous type of architecture, one that has evolved over time in response to local climatic, environmental, building resources and cultural human needs.

It is reflective of a very specific local context and is a functional and practical design response. In Queensland, timber and iron vernacular houses emerged in the midth century as a response by European migrants to the new subtropical climate.

Wide verandas provided relief from the lengthy, hot summer days, punctuated by heavy afternoon downpours of rain. The classic Queenslander is typically a single detached house made of timber and iron, and located on a separate block of land. The floor plan consists of four or six rooms, which branch off a centrally located corridor, and which are adorned by external shading verandas.

Queenslanders are ideally located on the peaks of hills, which allow for both views and cooling ventilation. They are purposefully designed at a human scale and to provide a sense of place in the Queensland context. British colonial traditions previously developed in India and elsewhere influenced the adoption of extensive deep shading external verandas on two, three or four sides of the typical Queenslander.

The veranda provides a unique multi-purpose space, which is neither indoors nor outdoors. Often used as an extension of the indoor living space, verandas have also been adapted to act as sleep-out areas, or protected areas to hang the laundry.

Queensland has five of Australia's eleven World Natural Heritage areas. More than half of Queensland's population lives outside the greater metropolitan area of Brisbane—a large proportion compared with the rest of highly urbanised Australia. About one third of Queenslanders are migrants or the children of migrants.

Most settlers in Queensland during the 19th century were from Britain and Europe. In recent years there has been an increasing number of new settlers from South-East Asia.

Queensland is home to more than 4 million people.