A part of army life has always been to complain about the food. However troops sent to Queensland during World War II benefited greatly from the early development of experimental farms throughout the state by the government’s agricultural branch.

Farming had commenced on the Atherton Tableland by the 1880s and a few experimental nurseries and field sites were established in north Queensland to quarantine and disseminate seed and plant material and help farmers develop new skills and knowledge. Increasing demand for government-operated agricultural research centres resulted in the establishment of eight state farms Queensland-wide between 1897 and 1920, including two in north Queensland at Home Hill and Kairi.

The Kairi Research Station today forms a complex of farmed land, buildings and other structures that covers 244 hectares on the banks of Lake Tinaroo. Only a few structures of the early State Farm era survive. They include twin grain silos of concrete construction erected in 1918, a timber dairy shed alongside, and the foundations of No.1 Poultry Shed, the northern-most of four built at the farm, during World War II to produce fresh eggs for troops on the Tableland.