Fairymead House is a Queensland-style two-storey timber plantation house built in 1890 for the Young brothers, who established the Fairymead Sugar Mill north of Bundaberg. Relocated to the Botanic Gardens in 1989 and restored as a small museum, it tells the story of sugar production in the region — a story that includes the largely-forgotten blackbirding of South Sea Islanders to work in the cane fields from the 1860s to 1904.
The displays are mixed — period furniture upstairs, more substantial historical exhibits downstairs — but the building itself is the main thing: a fine example of a Queenslander adapted for tropical living. Modest admission. Combined ticket with Hinkler Hall available.