Chinese market gardeners moved into the area in the late 1870s, after exhausting their chances on the goldfields,[opinion] leased small plots from the landowners, successfully growing rice, bananas, pineapples and other tropical crops.

[citation needed] The need for transport of large volumes of ore from the mines to the coastal ports resulted in the construction of a railway line from Cairns to Herberton, (now the Tablelands railway line).

The first 13 km (8.1 mi) of this railway runs from Cairns to Redlynch crossing over Freshwaster Creek.

[5] A rice mill was established on the Lower Freshwater Creek and was being successfully operated by local man, Joseph Kipling in 1891.

[12] It is at 25 Vallely Street (16°52′53″S 145°42′43″E / 16.8815°S 145.7119°E / -16.8815; 145.7119 (Mason Memorial Methodist Church (former))) and is now in private ownership in use as a house.

[13] On Sunday 20 November 1938, Bishop John Heavey officially opened and blessed the new Sacred Heart Catholic Church.

[25][26] The Freshwater branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association meets at the CWA Hall on the corner of Kamerunga Road and Old Smithfield Road (opposite the Freshwater railway station, 16°52′53″S 145°42′37″E / 16.8815°S 145.7102°E / -16.8815; 145.7102 (CWA Hall)).

In 1940, the railway square became available for recreational use and the CWA purchased the present site for their hall.