Queensland Heritage Awards 2026 Winners

Winners of the Queensland Heritage Awards 2026 have been revealed at a ceremony at Brisbane’s Tattersall’s Club on May 20, celebrating the state’s most significant heritage projects.

The annual awards presented by the National Trust of Australia (Queensland) celebrate the architects, conservationists, councils, researchers and community groups helping protect Queensland’s cultural identity.

Winning projects spanning the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, regional Queensland and some of the state’s most historically significant sites.

Taking out the night’s highest honour – the prestigious John Herbert Memorial Award – was Emma Scragg, Architect for Monto Open Doors in the North Burnett region, around 200 kilometres west of Bundaberg, recognised for transforming local history into an engaging heritage experience, reconnecting communities with their past.

Other major winners included the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service for the adaptive reuse of Building 11 at the historic Cape Pallarenda Quarantine Station in Townsville, and Andrew Ladlay Architect for the conservation of the iconic Gympie Memorial Bandstand.

First Nations heritage was also recognised, with the Bunya to the Bay Project awarded top honours for its work preserving and sharing important cultural knowledge and stories connected to Country across southeast Queensland.

Judge and National Trust of Australia (Queensland) Board Director Fiona Gardiner PSM said the standard of this year’s entrants was deeply encouraging: “It was a great privilege to be a judge of these awards, and it was very heartening to see the breadth and depth of the nominations and the work that’s being done throughout Queensland.”

National Trust of Australia (Queensland) Board Director and Awards Judge Stuart Lummis said the calibre of this year’s winners was exceptional. “What an incredible challenge it was to judge this year – the quality and variety of outstanding entries was truly extraordinary across the board!”

FULL LIST – Queensland Heritage Awards 2026 Winners

SIGNIFICANT PROJECTS 2019–2022
Winner: Cultural Heritage Services / Sunshine Coast Council – Sunshine Coast
Project: Sunshine Coast Heritage Plan

High Commendation 1: Urbis – Brisbane

High Commendation 1 project title: Heritage Lanes

ADAPTIVE REUSE
Winner: Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service – Townsville
Project: Cape Pallarenda Quarantine Station, Building 11 Adaptive Reuse

High Commendation 1: Phillips Smith Conwell Architects – Warwick

High Commendation 1 project title: Warwick Police Facility Upgrade

FIRST NATIONS
Winner: Stanley River Environmental Education Centre C/O Australian Heritage Specialists Pty Ltd Centre – Brisbane
Project: Bunya to the Bay Project

High Commendation 1: University of Queensland, Anthropology Museum – Brisbane

High Commendation 1 project title: Kirrenderri, Heart of the Channel Country Touring Exhibition

HERITAGE REPORTS · RESOURCES · PUBLICATIONS
Winner: Dr Lisa Marie Daunt
Project: Constructing Faith in the Antipodes: Modern Church Architecture in Queensland 1945–1977

High Commendation 1: Brisbane City Council – Heritage Policy – Brisbane

High Commendation 1 project title: Heritage Guides – Painting and Fencing

High Commendation 2: UQ School of Architecture, Design and Planning

High Commendation 2 project title: Queensland Architects 1823-1895

INTERPRETATION · EXHIBITION · TOURS · COLLECTIONS · INTERIORS · OBJECTS
Winner: Emma Scragg, Architect
Project: Monto Open Doors – North Burnett Region

High Commendation 1: Brisbane City Council Heritage Policy – Brisbane

High Commendation 1 project title: Brisbane River Heritage Trail

LANDSCAPE
Winner: Climate Vulnerability Index – Lamington, Springbrook, Mount Barney & Main Range
Project: CVI Gondwana Rainforests – Queensland Section

BUILT CONSERVATION
Winner: Andrew Ladlay, Architect – Gympie
Project: Gympie Memorial Bandstand Conservation

High Commendation 1: DM2 Architecture – Brisbane

High Commendation 1 project title: University of Queensland Mayne Medical Roof Replacement

High Commendation 2: Queensland Heritage Restorations – Brisbane

High Commendation 2 project title: Conserving the Mount Crosby Workers’ Dwellings

High Commendation 3: Nev Paterson & Sons Pty Ltd t/a NPS Commercial Builders – Brisbane

High Commendation 3 project title: Conservation & Reconstruction of the Welsh Slate Roof – St John’s Cathedral, Webber House