Download coordinates as: Babinda is a rural town and locality in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia.
[2][3] Babinda and Tully annually compete for the Golden Gumboot, an award for Australia's wettest town.
The Bruce Highway enters the locality from the south (Mirriwinni), passes through the town, and exits to the north (Bellenden Ker).
[9] Other sources, however, claim it is a Yidinji word for water, possibly referring to the high rainfall of the area.
It was a snowball march to recruit men into the Australian Imperial Force during World War I at a time when enthusiasm to enlist had waned after the loss of life in the Gallipoli campaign.
The march began at Mooliba with 4 men, passing through Babinda, Aloomba, Gordonvale, and Edmonton, and ending in Cairns 60 kilometres later with 29 recruits.
[citation needed] On Sunday 18 March 1917, Bishop John Heavey laid the foundation for Babinda's Catholic Church.
[20] On 10 March 1918, a cyclone badly damaged the town with some reports saying that no building was left standing.
[27] On Sunday 9 July 1922, Heavey officially opened and blessed the rebuilt Catholic church.
[29] On 25 January 1926, the Sisters of Mercy opened St Rita's Catholic primary school, conducing classes for an initial 34 students inside the church.
[30]The Babinda War Memorial was unveiled by the chairman of the Cairns Shire Council Seymour Warner on 25 April 1927.
[37] The majority of residents (79.7%) were of Australian birth, with other common census responses being Italy (2.7%) and New Zealand (2.0%).
[37] The age distribution of Babinda residents was skewed slightly higher than the greater Australian population.
[5] Babinda has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: The local newspapers are The Cairns Post or the Wet Tropic Times.
The annual Harvest Festival is celebrated in October and features some unusual events including the Sugar Bowl competition, the Gumboot Toss and the Umbrella Toss (reflecting Babinda's connection to the sugar industry and its wet weather).
[75] Babinda has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with humid and persistently wet weather.