The emerging timber and agricultural industry was hampered by poor shipping service associated with difficulties maintaining the nearby harbour at Mourilyan.

[3] The Jubilee Bridge was officially opened on 28 September 1923 by the Queensland Premier Ted Theodore who was driven in a car through the ribbon.

The Chairman of the Johnstone Shire Council, Leontine Joseph Duffy, announced the bridge had cost £32,000 of which £20,000 was spent in Innisfail.

Funding must not have been available as it was not until 1949 that the council attempted to build the footbridge but was then unable to obtain the required steel in post-World War II Australia.

[12] The new bridge was opened on 3 September 2011 with a ceremony attended by the then Premier, Anna Bligh, Queensland MP, Curtis Pitt and local Mayor Bill Shannon.