Queensland State Archives posted a photo:
Taken from the Cairns Post, Friday 6 January 1928:
A CASUAL STROLL
THE ESPLANADE AT NIGHT.
A REVERIE.
There are times when the commercial brilliance of Abbott-street palls on one, and the yearning for quiteness cannot be denied. One then thinks of the Esplanade with the waves gently lapping against the immovable concrete of the retaining wall. Murray Prior frowns down from across the bay, while in the distance, stretching as far as the eye can see, twinkle the leading lights, like jewels in some monarch’s diadem.
To the right, the Aquatic Hall is a blaze of light. There hearts are free. Sorrows disappear in the tripping of the light fantastic, and artificial passions are engendered in the shuffling grotesqueries of the imported Charleston. Just in front, a cheerful inebriate gnaws hungrily at the remains of a pig’s trotter, mumbling to himself the while he tries to recapture the glow