It is also known as Anton Breinl Centre and James Cook University Department of Public Health and Tropical Medicine Building.

[1] The building that houses the Australian Institute of Tropical Medicine was opened on 28 June 1913 by the Queensland Governor Sir William MacGregor.

[2][1] MacGregor was a medical doctor and had a keen interest in tropical medicine as a practitioner in the Seychelles, Mauritius, Fiji, British New Guinea, and the Lagos Colony.

According to late nineteenth century thinking and beliefs the tropics were seen as unsuitable for white people because of confused notions about race, place and causes of disease.

Anglican Bishop Frodsham of Townsville led the campaign after a member of his staff died from an unknown disease.

He gained local support and in 1907 Gordon Ross, Medical Superintendent of the first Townsville Hospital, recommended to the Department of Health that a pathologist be employed to research and treat patients with a number of tropical diseases.

While generally the medical profession hoped that the inaugural doctor would be Australian, Dr Anton Breinl, an Austrian, was appointed.

He was an exceptional medical scientist who had received awards for his contribution to tropical medicine, particularly for his work with Harold Wolferstan Thomas, on a cure for sleeping sickness.

[1] By 1911 Breinl was able to show the need for more staff and better premises when the Australian Government gave approval for expanded research into physiological and anthropological problems associated with white people living in the tropics.

Breinl had to assume the role of Medical Superintendent of the Townsville Hospital and Quarantine Officer while at the same time continuing his research at the institute.

In early January 1916 Breinl resigned from the position of Quarantine Officer after becoming embroiled in a bitter public controversy over his Sudeten ancestry.

While many in the community supported Dr Breinl and valued his work, others called for his deportation or suggested that he be confined behind "barbed wire".

After the institute was absorbed into the newly established Commonwealth Department of Health, Breinl lost control, completely, of the direction of research.

About 1990, the Angelo Gabrielli Research Laboratory was installed as a memorial, with assistance from Townsville Mount Stuart Lions Club.

A plaque within the corridor says the 'Anton Breinl Centre for Tropical Medicine was officially opened by the Honourable Neal Blewett, Minister for Social Security on 2 July 1992'.

[1] In 2004, the Anton Breinl Centre moved to the main campus of James Cook University to a new building in the Medical School precinct.

[1] The Australian Institute of Tropical Medicine Building was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.