Bedarra Island Villa Rebuilt

Architecture - by Open Journal

Located off the coast of Mission Beach around 150 kilometers south of Cairns, Bedarra Island is an isolated and virtually uninhabited island among among the Family Islands National Park.

Australian landscape artist Noel Wood visited the island in the late 1930s and built himself a residence on the island, where he lived and worked for more than 50 years until the 1990s.

In 2002, the Villa was renovated and re-incarnated as a holiday retreat until 2011, when Cyclone Yasi struck – destroying a large part of the original residence built by Wood and leaving a mess of debris over the island.

Clearing and re-construction took place over the year following, and working with designer Robert Davidov, proprietors Terry Kaljo and Matthew Fleming of Contemporary Hotels rebuilt a new residence at Bedarra, which welcomed its first guests in 2012.

The New Bedarra Island Villa maintains many of the original building’s original features, including a gin and cognac bottle feature wall, a stone fireplace, bamboo paneling and a collection of original bamboo furniture items handmade by Wood himself.

Bedarra Island post Cyclone Yasi, 2011