The shire, administered from the town of Mossman, covers an area of 2,428 square kilometres (937.5 sq mi),[2] and existed as a local government entity from 1880 until 2008, when it was amalgamated with the City of Cairns to become the Cairns Region.

The language region includes areas within the local government area of Shire of Douglas and Shire of Cook, particularly the localities of Mossman, Daintree, Bloomfield River, China Camp, Maytown, Palmer, Cape Tribulation and Wujal Wujal.

The traditional language region is Mossman River in the south to the Annan River in the north, bordered by the Pacific Ocean in the east and extending inland to west of Mount Mulgrave.

On 15 March 2008, under the Local Government (Reform Implementation) Act 2007 passed by the Parliament of Queensland on 10 August 2007, the Shire of Douglas merged with the City of Cairns to form the Cairns Region.

Despite strong opposition from many parties, on 9 March 2013 the citizens of the former Douglas shire voted in a referendum to de-amalgamate.