Shifting priorities of shade and northern Australian architecture: Colonial settlement prior to the 1920s

Abstract

The primacy of sunlight over shade is a relatively recent historical phenomenon in Australian architecture. In this paper, it is argued that shade was a priority for northern Australian settlers in the state of Queensland and evident in their architecture until the 1920s when ideas about thermal comfort, race and climate elevated the desirability of sun exposure. This paper considers the cross-cultural exchange of colonial shade and the increasing avoidance of sun exposure linked to European beliefs about human health, derived from the field of tropical medicine and evidenced by northern Australian clothing styles and the Queensland house. Later sections consider the social and cultural underpinnings of a Modernist shift in architecture prioritizing sun exposure over deep shade. Finally, the paper will consider a refocus on shade provision since the 1990s, linked to rising rates of preventable skin cancer.