A small north Queensland sugar town is the last place someone might expect to find the oldest known traditional Japanese home in the world — outside Japan that is.
And yet, a sloping tiled roof peeking above a hedge is the first giveaway of an intriguing story that spans 135 years.
"It was a space like no other space I'd ever been into," Jan Cattoni said.
She has been living in the "Japanese House" with her architect husband Hugh Markwell since 2007, when he inherited it from his late mother.
The home was built in Kobe and shipped to New Farm in Brisbane in 1887 by District Court Judge George Paul, who had hoped to import similar buildings as a business venture.
"He was really impressed with the architecture and thought they were perfect for the climate in Brisbane," Mr Markwell said.
"They took two years to build it in Brisbane, and essentially, they didn't sell any.
"It was just too weird for people I think."
The single-storey house features sliding and removable walls, intricate paper screens and decorated roof tiles.
After a series of eccentric occupants, the building became the home of the Country Women's Association in Brisbane.
It was put up for public auction in 1962.
"It was going to get knocked down, and my mother was bidding against the local demolition yard," Mr Markwell said.
"She got it for 600 pounds."
The house was dismantled and moved 1,500 kilometres north to Ingham, where it became the Markwell family home.
The building has no windows.
Mr Markwell recalled finding the house "a bit scary" as a child who was afraid of the dark.
"From what we know, this is the only [house of its kind] outside of Japan," he said.
Over the decades, the house fell into a state of disrepair.
Mr Markwell said he and Ms Cattoni packed up their lives and moved back to Ingham when his mother died unexpectedly 15 years ago.
"When we first moved here, the leaky roof was leaking terribly – water was just pouring through the roof and never in the same place," Ms Cattoni said.
"The house itself was beautiful, but the restoration has been daunting. It's been a massive undertaking."
The couple rejected a multi-million dollar offer to purchase the property.
Instead, they have spent years working with Japanese craftsmen to repair and retile the roof, using thousands of original tiles.
Those repairs alone have cost more than $300,000.
"I don't believe that we could have found that that kind of expertise in Australia," Ms Cattoni said.
"Our main job was the roof – if we did nothing else, we would have preserved this house for at least another 100 years."
With the roof work complete and the external walls repaired, the next step in the restoration process was the interior, which Ms Cattoni said would be "loads of fun".
"It's quite dark inside, there's these lovely wooden surfaces, and the outside world is framed through the doorways, through the latticework," she said.
"Every direction you turn in, you see something different."
Bringing the house back to its former glory has been a long-term labour of love for the couple, who admit the work is far from over.
Eventually, they would like to make the property more accessible to the public and use it as a creative space.
Ms Cattoni – a filmmaker – has been capturing the restoration process and hopes to one day make a documentary about the house and its history.
"We did consider Grand Designs, but there'd be no end point," she laughed.
"The history of it is so incredible, and I think it's a testament of friendship between Japan and Australia that pre-empted the Second World War.
"We're very lucky to have this experience of living here."