Bloomfield is a town in the

Shire of Cook The Shire of Cook (The Shire) is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia. The Shire covers most of the eastern and central parts of Cape York Peninsula, the most northerly section of the Australian mainland. It covers an area ...

and a coastal

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

which is split between the Shire of Cook and the

Shire of Douglas The Shire of Douglas is a Local government in Australia, local government area in Far North Queensland, Far North Queensland. It is located on the coast north of the city of Cairns, Queensland, Cairns. The shire, administered from the town of Mo ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. The neighbourhood of Ayton is within the locality (). In the , Bloomfield had a population of 204 people. The neighbourhood of China Camp is an abandoned

tin mining Tin mining began early in the Bronze Age, as bronze is a copper-tin alloy. Tin is a relatively rare element in the Earth's crust, with approximately 2 ppm (parts per million), compared to iron with 50,000 ppm. History Tin extraction and use can ...

area within the locality ().

Geography

The locality of Bloomfield is geographically divided into a northern section in the Shire of Cook and a southern section in the Shire of Douglas. The narrow boundary between the two sections is about in width and follows Granite Creek, a tributary of the

Bloomfield River The Bloomfield River is a river located in the Wet Tropics of Far North Queensland, Australia, noted for its Bloomfield River cod fish species, found only in the river. Course and features The river rises in the Great Dividing Range below Zi ...

which passes through the locality to its mouth at the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down the Australian northeast coast. Most of it is protected by the Fre ...

. Much of the northern section of Bloomfield is within the

Ngalba Bulal National Park Ngalba Bulal is a national park in the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. In 2015, Cedar Bay National Park became the Mangkalba (Cedar Bay) section of the Ngalba Bulal National Park. Geography The park is northwest of Brisbane, south of ...

. Much of the southern section of Bloomfield is within the Ngalba Bulal National Park and the

Daintree National Park The Daintree rainforest is a national park in Far North Queensland, Australia, northwest of Brisbane and northwest of Cairns. It was founded in 1981 and is part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland. In 1988 it became a World Heritage Site. The par ...

. Although Bloomfield () is officially the population centre, in practice, there is little there apart from the school. Most of the development is in Ayton, on the northern bank of the Bloomfield River near its mouth.

History

'' Yalanji'' (also known as ''Kuku Yalanji'', ''Kuku Yalaja'', ''Kuku Yelandji'', and ''Gugu Yalanji)'' is an

Australian Aboriginal language The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stretches north to the Torres Strait, and west to the Gulf C ...

. The traditional language region is

Mossman River The Mossman River is a river located in the Cape York Peninsula of Far North Queensland, Australia. The headwaters of the river rise under Devils Thumb on the Mount Carbine Tableland in the Great Dividing Range. The river flows through a dee ...

in the south to the

Annan River The Annan River ( Kuku Nyungkal: ''Yuku Baja'') is a river located in the Wet Tropics of Far North Queensland, Australia. Course and features The river rises in the Yorkey Range below Mount Romeo near , north-northwest of . The river flows g ...

in the north, bordered by the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

in the east and extending inland to west of Mount Mulgrave. This includes the local government boundaries of the

, the

and the

Aboriginal Shire of Wujal Wujal The Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Shire is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is managed as a Deed of Grant in Trust under the ''Local Government (Community Government Areas) Act 2004''. Geography It is on the east coast of ...

and the towns and localities of

Cooktown Cooktown is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. Cooktown is at the mouth of the Endeavour River, on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland where James Cook beached his ship, the Endeavour, for repairs ...

, Mossman, Daintree,

Cape Tribulation Cape Tribulation is a headland and coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas in northern Queensland, Australia. In the , Cape Tribulation had a population of 118 people. Geography The locality is north of Cairns. It is within the Daintree Na ...

and

Wujal Wujal Wujal Wujal is a rural town and locality in the Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Shire, Queensland, Australia. In the , Wujal Wujal had a population of 282 people. It is an Aboriginal community. The community of Wujal Wujal is located in the Cape York r ...

. It includes the head of the

Palmer River The Palmer River is a river located in Far North Queensland, Australia. The area surrounding the river was the site of a gold rush in the late 19th century which started in 1873. Course and features The headwaters of the Palmer River rise in ...

, the

, China Camp, Maytown, and Palmerville. The town and locality are named after the Bloomfield River. View of the Bloomfield River Sugar Company Mill, circa 1887

View of the Bloomfield River Sugar Company Mill, circa 1887

The Bloomfield River Sugar Company was established in 1882 by Frederick Bauer and his two sons. They established a sugarcane plantation that they called Vilele. The sugar mill they constructed did its first full-scale crush in 1885. In 1886 they built a saw mill and had of tramway built from portable track. The sugar mill closed in 1890 as it proved to be not economic. Ayton Provisional School opened on the road from

circa 1897. On 1 January 1909 it became Ayton State School. It 1924 it was closed due to low student numbers. Bloomfield River State School opened on 16 July 1952. In the 2011 census, Bloomfield had a population of 403 people. Prior to the deamalgamation of Shire of Douglas on 1 January 2014, Bloomfield was split between

and

Cairns Region The Cairns Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Queensland, Australia, centred on the regional city of Cairns. It was established in 2008 by the amalgamation of the City of Cairns and the Shires of Douglas and Mulgrave. ...

. In the , Bloomfield had a population of 204 people.

Facilities

Cook Shire Council The Shire of Cook (The Shire) is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia. The Shire covers most of the eastern and central parts of Cape York Peninsula, the most northerly section of the Australian mainland. It covers an ar ...

operates a public library in Ayton.

Education

Bloomfield River State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 3202 Rossville-Bloomfield Road (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 41 students with 6 teachers and 9 non-teaching staff (5 full-time equivalent). The nearest secondary school is in Cooktown (approximately 1 hour away).

Geography

History

Facilities

Education

See also

References

Further reading