The northern part of the suburb is situated on the lower slopes (10–40 metres above sea level) of Mount Whitfield and Lumley Hill and is used for residential housing.

In early 1877, John Oldham built the Halfway House (also known as the Half-Way Hotel) on the bank of the Barron River.

In 1878, Samuel Cochrane became the first farmer in the area when he purchased Lot 160, 110 acres on the southern bank of the Barron River.

[6] In 1885, Parliament approved plans for the first section of the Cairns-Herberton railway from Cairns to Redlynch, and this led to increased interest in the area.

Surveyor Thomas Behan purchased a 13-acre lease with water frontage on the Barron, where he built a steam-powered rice mill (now the site of the Stratford Bowls Club) and a house, Cochrane opened the Lilybank Hotel, Alexander Finlayson opened the Range Hotel and store nearby, and Martin & Sons built the Union Sawmill on the river-bank.

[7] The land adjacent to Lily Bank farm was subdivided into 50 five- and ten-acre blocks and auctioned off as the River-View Estate.

[8] Construction of the railway began in April 1886, with the lines laid to the Five-mile Siding by June 1887, and passenger services commencing on 8 October 1887.

[9] In December 1887, William Henry Boden rented Behan's house at the Five-mile and applied for a publican's license to run the premises to be known as Stratford Hotel.

[15] At that time, Cairns was receiving shipments of explosives at the rate of 2,716 cases per annum and that the amount was increasing rapidly, due to demand from mining companies and merchants on the Atherton tinfields and Chillagoe copperfields.

By early 1940, the Government had made the decision to erect new magazine facilities, including caretaker's quarters, at Queerah, on the southern outskirts of Cairns.

[15] On 28 October 1951, St Augustine's Catholic Church was officially opened and blessed by the Bishop of Cairns, Thomas Cahill.