History of Cairns
[1] Traditional local Aboriginal stories recall hunting and fishing on land that once extended past Green Island during a time of lower sea levels.
The article, by J. S. V. Mein, a ships commander appointed to set up a bêche-de-mer plant at Green Island,[11] helped increase southern awareness of the northern location.
Announcement of this location in September 1873 by James Venture Mulligan resulted in an influx of prospectors, which became the basis for the first large non-indigenous populations to inhabit Far North Queensland.
Sub-Inspector Alexander Douglas-Douglas of the Native Police led a party to cut an access track in three days, from the tableland to the coast through 32 kilometres (20 mi) of thick lawyer vine scrub.
[16] Around the same time, another group led by prospector William "Bill" Smith travelling from the Hodgkinson goldfields, cut an alternate route to the coast at Trinity Inlet.
[37] In December 1893, thirty Aboriginal people arrived at the Gribble outstation seeking a safe place to live, which is considered to be the unofficial foundation of the Yarrabah mission settlement.
[44] These memoirs, later collectively published under the title, Spinifex and Wattle,[45] were significant because of the details given of many Aboriginal customs observed by Johnstone in the Trinity Bay and Barron River area during the Dalrymple expeditions of 1872–1873.
"[50] In July 1912, the brick and timber Cairns District Hospital was opened, which helped foster the town's self-reliance to cope with medical emergency, particularly in a tropical environment.
[59] The extensive 33-year-old East Trinity dairying, timber and agricultural estate of Glen Boughton, located directly across the inlet from Cairns City, never recovered from its losses.
[67] The outbreak of World War II in 1939 increased demand for a suitable road to the tableland via Kuranda, as an emergency evacuation route in the event of hostile invasion.
[72] This work cleared Cairns of many mosquito breeding grounds, the source of numerous fever outbreaks, and contributed significantly to the knowledge, control, and treatment of tropical insect-borne infectious diseases.
[76] Further enhancing accessibility to Cairns, a second plane service, Trans Australia Airlines, joined passenger carrier, Australian National Airways, for regular domestic flights in 1949.
Located in the Smiths Creek area, in a former navy store with a floor space of 9,100 metres (29,900 ft), the cannery was initially successful, but succumbed to financial problems and closed in 1957.
[83] Several years of significant advancement followed for tourist facilities and publicity, starting with the 1953 release of There's A Future For You in Far North Queensland, an 8 mm film produced by Cairns printer, Bob Bolton.
[85] Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Cairns in March 1954 was enthusiastically attended by an estimated 40,000 people, twice the official population, showing their loyalty to the British monarch.
In November, the Olympic torch arrived in Cairns from Darwin, and was carried first by an Australian-born Greek, Constantine Verevis, and then by Anthony Mark, a north Queensland runner especially chosen to represent the Aboriginal people of Australia.
[100] The station was recognised as a necessity to provide coverage of a 25-degree blind spot in the Townsville section of the Queensland Coast warning system after an unpredicted 1958 cyclone inflicted extensive damage to the town of Bowen.
[103] The release of the first issue of printer Bob Bolton's glossy large-format colour tourism magazine, The North Queensland Annual, in 1966 was a major advance for promoting the local area.
[109] In 1972, a group of young people started a hippie colony at Weir Road, Kuranda near Barron Falls National Park after earlier attempts at Holloways Beach in 1967–71.
[110][111] The commune lasted only a few years before it was abandoned, with some determined individuals setting up splinter colonies at more isolated North Queensland areas, including Cedar Bay National Park, from which they were later evicted.
[112] Construction of the statue was unwittingly approved by the Council because an officer did not realise its proposed height had been provided in metric units, rather than imperial feet and inches.
[113] The Royal Australian Navy had a presence in Cairns, operating a Patrol Boat Facility from a warehouse in Grafton Street, under the satellite command of HMAS Penguin in Sydney.
In his address, Mr Whitlam stated that Cairns was in a unique position to absorb ideas and styles from three cultures – European, Aboriginal, and Torres Strait Islander.
[117] Construction of two modern bridges at Stratford and Kamerunga, in 1977 and 1980 respectively, helped alleviate serious traffic disruption between Cairns and the Northern Beaches during the wet season when the Barron River's lengthy Tableland catchment area is inundated.
There were three major applications from developers in Cairns; the biggest involved reclamation work to create an artificial peninsula from the Esplanade for a marina, which was costed at $300 million.
[124] The 1987 founding of the Tjapukai Dance Theatre in Kuranda had far-reaching benefits for the commercial tourism potential of Cairns, and the cultural pride of the local indigenous population.
In February, a lengthy boardwalk through the mangrove swamps on the approach to Cairns airport was opened, allowing visitors to comfortably experience the natural environment that surrounded the first Aboriginal and European settlers.
[130] Early in 1993, local chiropractor Harald Falge created the Street Level Youth Care organisation, run by volunteers to assist the homeless with food, blankets, and other needs.
[131] In 1994, construction began for the 7.5 km (4.7 mi) Sky Rail scenic cableway from Cairns to Kuranda over World Heritage rainforest, which opened in 1995, further promoting ecotourism in the region.
[151] In the same year, the local Djabugay rainforest Aboriginal group were given native title over Barron Gorge National Park, the first such claim to be recognised in Queensland, and the first in Australia to be granted out of court.
