On 6 June, 2024, it was announced that Joe Caddy, formerly Vicar general of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, has been appointed as bishop of Cairns.

The Vicariate consisted of all the land in Queensland north of the line starting at Cape Hinchinbrook and then west to the border with South Australia (now Northern Territory).

[4][5][6][7] An initial attempt to install Italian priests from the Pontifical Seminary of the Apostles Saints Peter and Paul of Rome was a failure; mainly due to cultural and language issues with both the indigenous and predominantly Irish lay population.

A short term under Monsignor Paul Fortini followed, marked by his clash with the laity in Herberton which he then placed under interdict in 1883; this meant that sacraments could not be celebrated in that town.

[8][9] The growth of pastoral industries and mining in the interwar years led to the expansion of the Vicariate west across the Atherton Tablelands and the creation of an additional nine parishes; and eventual establishment as a suffragan diocese in 1941.