It took Queensland farmer Francis Inderbitzin 10 years to save for her dream.

The remote town of Lakeland on Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula, which is home to 300 people, did not have a dedicated spiritual place to worship every Sunday.

But Mrs Inderbitzin wanted a chapel for the Tongan farm workers who have become the backbone of her family’s banana operation.

People sit on chairs under a small hilltop chapel with a cross on its roof, overlooking a rural landscape.

Members of the Tongan community gather for a Sunday service at St Mary Queen of Peace Chapel. (ABC Landline: Cameron Lang)

“A large part of Tongan culture is religion,” said Mrs Inderbitzin.

“They’d have the weekly services in our banana-packing shed and eventually moved to the town hall.

“But I just felt there was no spiritual atmosphere there, and I was hoping we could build a little chapel eventually.”

A dream decade in the making

Ten years later, on the family’s land, sits the small town’s only church, the St Mary Queen of Peace Chapel.

“It’s really uplifting us,” said Stewart Tautuaa, who has been working for the Inderbitzins for 15 years.

A bearded man in a white shirt stands in front of a chapel window with a stained-glass cross visible behind him.

Stewart Tautuaa has worked for the Inderbitzin family for 15 years. (ABC Landline: Cameron Lang)

“It’s just amazing we have a proper chapel to worship every Sunday, and I’m grateful for her and her family to make the dream come true.

“Every Sunday, it gives us time to think about Jesus Christ. When you think about him, you feel like you have another power for the following week.”

The Tongan workers came to Australia through the federal government’s PALM scheme.

A smiling couple stand outdoors on a hilltop with farmland stretching into the distance behind them.

Peter and Francis Inderbitzin built the chapel for their workers. (ABC Landline: Cameron Lang)

In December, nearly 30,000 workers from nine Pacific countries and Timor-Leste filled crucial gaps in agriculture, meat processing, and aged care.

The scheme aims to address labour shortages in rural and regional Australia and allow workers to develop their skills and send money home.

From the Pacific to Cape York

A flagship development program for the Pacific, the scheme has faced significant criticism for putting its participants in danger of exploitation.

Mrs Inderbitzin’s son, Peter Inderbitzin junior, said his family owed the expansion of its farming operation to its 130-strong Tongan workforce, which first started working in Lakeland in 2010.

Workers wearing hair nets and aprons stand beside a conveyor belt handling green bananas in a packing shed.

Tongan workers sort bananas at the Inderbitzin family’s packing shed. (ABC Landline: Cameron Lang)

“We couldn’t have got to where we are today [without them], they’ve played an integral role in helping us achieve that, we are very grateful,” he said.

“We want to be an employer of choice and be known for looking after our workers. It’s quite a commitment to leave your family and be away for months and months at a time, so we appreciate that very much.”

He organised the construction of a Swiss-inspired chapel at the top of Mount McLean, which he says, depending on where you are from, is either a very big hill or a very small mountain.

“Surely that view is the best of any church or chapel in the country,” he said.

A wide rural landscape stretches to the horizon at sunset, with trees and waterways visible below a hilltop.

The view from Mount McLean near Lakeland, where St Mary Queen of Peace Chapel overlooks farmland and bushland. (ABC Landline: Pip Courtney)

Mrs Inderbitzin wanted the chapel to be beautiful and serene and commissioned a range of stained-glass windows.

Small ones reference the family’s Swiss heritage, and a striking blue dove of peace, surrounded by yellow glass in the shape of a cross, bathes the pulpit in golden light.

Swiss touches

The Inderbitzens paid for 95 per cent of the chapel’s costs, a construction company donated the concrete and a local couple paid for the repair and refurbishment of vintage pews Mrs Inderbitzin sourced from a decommissioned church in Cairns.

When it opened last year, 200 people attended the blessing by two Catholic priests of the interdenominational and multicultural chapel.

Men and women sit closely together in wooden pews inside a small chapel.

The congregation listening to a Sunday morning sermon. (ABC Landline: Pip Courtney)

Every week, one of eight leaders is nominated to lead a Tongan service.

Mrs Inderbitzin attends most Sundays and says the singing and smiles make the wait worthwhile.

“I’d love to understand what they’re saying … I feel very emotional when they’re singing, and I think everybody does who comes here,” she said.

Elizabeth Napaa has worked for the family since 2010 and put her son through university to PhD level with her wages.

She says the congregation gives its all to the songs.

A man and woman stand outside a small chapel with a stained-glass cross glowing behind them.

Epalahame and Elizabeth Napaa at St Mary Queen of Peace Chapel in Lakeland, Queensland. (ABC Landline: Cameron Lang)

“Yes, that’s the number one in Tonga, when you go to church, everything is about the singing, it feels good to hear singing,” Mrs Napaa said.

Mrs Inderbitzin’s husband, Peter senior, is proud that his wife did not give up on her dream.

“It turned out to be even better than I ever thought, because there’s people going to church there during the week, they go up there to pray, it’s quite amazing, you know, it turned out to be very, very good,” he said.

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