FDA Carstens Memorial

In the heart of Port Douglas, on Macrossan Street, is a substantial marble memorial. It commemorates Friederich Detleip Andreas Carstens, a Port Douglas publican and Divisional Board Chairman (Mayor). The five metre high Carrarra marble memorial, created by Townsville monumental masons Melrose and Fenwick, comprises a square base and pedestal featuring a lion’s head on each face which once spouted water; a shaft in the form of a Grecian column and a bust of Carstens. The memorial was commissioned by his second wife Pauline after his death in 1906. Danish-born Carstens came to Queensland in 1863. He established a mercantile business in Brisbane, before moving to Dalby with his first wife Catherine, built a hotel in 1869 and served on the municipal council. He briefly relocated to Herberton and then to Port Douglas in 1886, purchasing the best hotel in town – The Exchange. Catherine died in 1895 and he married Pauline in 1898. Again, Carstens served with the local council, where he was instrumental in establishing the Mossman Central Mill and the Port Douglas to Mossman tramway.