The Queensland National Bank building was constructed in 1891 and was sold to the Bank of New South Wales in 1935 for the sum of £500 ($1000).

The building operated as the Bank of New South Wales until 1980 when it became Westpac. Westpac sold the building in 2000 and opened a branch at the Post Office across the road.

Today, the old bank building, with its beautifully polished Red Cedar counters, displays a collection of amazing historical photos which give a good depiction of life in pioneering Cooktown. The photos were produced from old glass plate negatives which had been stored in the James Cook Museum, their significance and true value apparently unappreciated for some time.

Enquiries about the plates established that nobody knew who the plates originally belonged to, but that they were found by someone who was rummaging through the local dump who gave them to the Museum.

Remarkably, since the photos have been developed and put on display, a number of people depicted in the photographs have been identified.