Cairns (, ) is a city in
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, on the tropical north east coast of
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 population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years.
[ The city is the 5th-most-populous in Queensland, and 15th in Australia.
The city was founded in 1876 and named after Sir William Wellington Cairns, following the discovery of gold in the ]Hodgkinson river Hodgkinson is an English language, English-language surname, and may refer to:
*Alan Hodgkinson (1936–2015), English footballer
*Albert Hodgkinson (1897–1975), English recipient of the Distinguished Conduct Medal
*Alison Hodgkinson, South Africa ...
. Throughout the late 19th century, Cairns prospered from the settlement of Chinese immigrants who helped develop the region's agriculture. Cairns also served as a port for blackbirding ships, bringing slaves and indentured labourers to the sugar plantations of Innisfail. During World War II, the city became a staging ground for the Allied Forces in the Battle of the Coral Sea
The Battle of the Coral Sea, from 4 to 8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces of the United States and Australia. Taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, the batt ...
. By the late 20th century the city had become a centre of international tourism
International tourism is tourism that crosses national borders. Globalisation has made tourism a popular global leisure activity. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual en ...
, and in the early 21st century has developed into a major metropolitan city
A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications.
A big ci ...
.
Cairns is a popular tourist destination because of its tropical climate
Tropical climate is the first of the five major climate groups in the Köppen climate classification identified with the letter A. Tropical climates are defined by a monthly average temperature of 18 °C (64.4 °F) or higher in the cool ...
and access to tropical rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...
, one of the seven natural wonders of the world
Various lists of the Wonders of the World have been compiled from antiquity to the present day, in order to catalogue the world's most spectacular natural features and human-built structures.
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the o ...
.
History
Prior to British settlement, the Cairns area was inhabited by the Gimuy Walubara Yidinji people,[ who still claim their native title rights. Yidinji (also known as Yidinj, Yidiny, and Idindji) 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 ...
. Its traditional language region is within the local government areas of 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. ...
and Tablelands Region
The Tablelands Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia inland from the city of Cairns. Established in 2008, it was preceded by four previous local government areas which dated back more than a century. On 1 January ...
, in such localities as Cairns, Gordonvale
Gordonvale is a rural sugar-growing town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality situated on the southern side of Cairns, Queensland, Cairns in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Gordonvale had a populati ...
, and the Mulgrave River
The Mulgrave River, incorporating the East Mulgrave River and the West Mulgrave River, is a river system located in Far North Queensland, Australia. The -long river flows towards the Coral Sea and is located approximately south of .
Location ...
, and the southern part of the Atherton Tableland
The Atherton Tableland is a fertile plateau which is part of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia.
The principal river flowing across the plateau is the Barron River. It was dammed to form an irrigation reservoir named Lake Tina ...
including Atherton and Kairi. The area in which the city is located is known in the local Yidiny language as Gimuy, and the clan who inhabited the region before colonisation are the Gimuy-walubarra clan.
From 1770 to the early 1870s the area was known to the British simply as Trinity Bay. The arrival of beche de mer
Sea cucumbers are marine animals of the class Holothuroidea. They can be used as food, in fresh or dried form, in various cuisines. In some cultural contexts the sea cucumber is thought to have medicinal value.
The creature and the food product ...
fishermen from the late 1860s saw the first European presence in the area. On the site of the modern-day Cairns foreshore, there was a large native well which was used by these fishermen. A violent confrontation occurred in 1872 between local Yidinji people
The Yidiny (also spelt Yidindj, Yidinji or Yidiñ), are an Aboriginal Australian people in Far North Queensland. Their language is the Yidiny language.
Language
The last fluent speakers of Yidiny were Tilly Fuller (d. October 1974), George Dav ...
and Phillip Garland, a beche de mer fisherman, over the use of this well. The area from this date was subsequently called Battle Camp. In 1876, hastened by the need to export gold mined from the Hodgkinson goldfields on the tablelands to the west, closer investigation by several official expeditions established its potential for development into a port. Brinsley G. Sheridan surveyed the area and selected a place further up Trinity Inlet known to the diggers as Smith's Landing for a settlement which he renamed Thornton. However, after Native Police
Australian native police units, consisting of Aboriginal troopers under the command (usually) of at least one white officer, existed in various forms in all Australian mainland colonies during the nineteenth and, in some cases, into the twentie ...
officers Alexander Douglas-Douglas
Alexander Douglas Douglas (7 February 1843– 5 February 1914) was a naval officer, an inspector in the Native Police and a chief inspector of police in Queensland.
Early life
Douglas was born on 7 February 1843 at St Helier, Channel Islands, so ...
and Robert Arthur Johnstone
Robert Arthur Johnstone (1843 – 16 January 1905) was an officer in the Native Police paramilitary force which operated in the British imperial colony of Queensland. He was stationed at various locations in central and northern Queensland betw ...
opened a new track from the goldfields to Battle Camp, this more coastal site became preferable. Battle Camp was renamed Cairns in late 1876 in honour of the then Governor of Queensland, William Cairns. The site was predominantly mangrove
A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...
swamps and sand ridges. Labourers gradually cleared the swamps, and the sand ridges were filled with dried mud, sawdust from local sawmills, and ballast from a quarry at Edge Hill.
The Cairns Parish of the Roman Catholic Vicariate Apostolic of Cooktown (now the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns is a diocese of the Catholic Church located in the state of Queensland, Australia. It is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Brisbane. The diocese was erected as a vicariate apostolic in 1877 and was ...
) was established in 1884.
Debris from the construction of a railway to Herberton
Herberton is a rural town and locality in the Tablelands Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Herberton had a population of 855 people.
Geography
Herberton is on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland. It is situa ...
on the Atherton Tableland, a project which started in 1886, was also used. The railway opened up land later used for agriculture on the lowlands (sugar cane, corn, rice, bananas, pineapples), and for fruit and dairy production on the Tableland. The success of local agriculture helped establish Cairns as a port, and the creation of a harbour board in 1906 supported its robust economic future.
The Wharf Estate Cairns went on sale in Brisbane via auction on 19 February 1889 by John Macnamara & Co. Land Auctioneers. The land was part of the place known as the Railway Reserve. The sale was described by the Auctioneers as the 'largest ever yet held in Northern Queensland'.
On 25 April 1926 (ANZAC Day
, image = Dawn service gnangarra 03.jpg
, caption = Anzac Day Dawn Service at Kings Park, Western Australia, 25 April 2009, 94th anniversary.
, observedby = Australia Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Cook Islands New ...
), the Cairns Sailors and Soldiers War Memorial was unveiled by Alexander Frederick Draper
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
, the mayor of the City of Cairns.
During World War II, the Allied Forces used Cairns as a staging base for operations in the Pacific, with United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
and Royal Australian Air Force
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
operational bases (now the airport), as well as a major military seaplane base, Naval Base Cairns
Naval Base Brisbane was a major United States Navy base built in the early part of World War II at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. At first, operated as a base for patrol aircraft and convoy escort aircraft to protect the last leg of the Pacific ...
, in Trinity Inlet, and United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
and Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...
bases near the current wharf. Combat missions were flown out of Cairns in support of the Battle of the Coral Sea
The Battle of the Coral Sea, from 4 to 8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces of the United States and Australia. Taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, the batt ...
in 1942. Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
and White Rock south of Cairns were major military supply areas and U.S. Paratrooper
A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during World ...
s trained at Gordonvale
Gordonvale is a rural sugar-growing town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality situated on the southern side of Cairns, Queensland, Cairns in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Gordonvale had a populati ...
and the Goldsborough Valley
Goldsborough is a locality in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Goldsborough had a population of 929 people.
Geography
The Mulgrave River flows from the south to the north-east of the locality, forming its northern boundary. T ...
. A Special Forces training base was established at the old " Fairview" homestead on Munro's Hill, Mooroobool. This base was officially known as the Z Experimental Station
The Z Experimental Station (ZES) was established in July 1942 at Munro Terrace, Mooroobool, Queensland, Mooroobool, Cairns, Queensland, Australia, jointly by Secret Intelligence Australia and the Inter-Allied Services Department. The building ch ...
, but referred to informally as "The House on the Hill".
After World War II, Cairns gradually developed into a centre for tourism. The opening of the Cairns International Airport in 1984 helped establish the city as a desirable destination for international tourism
International tourism is tourism that crosses national borders. Globalisation has made tourism a popular global leisure activity. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual en ...
.
In the the urban area of Cairns had a population of 144,730 people.
The population in June 2019 was 153,951.[ Estimated resident population, 30 June 2019.]
Demographics
According to the 2016 census of population, there were 144,787 people in Cairns (Significant Urban Area).
* Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 8.9% of the population.
* 67.9% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 4.0%, New Zealand 3.1%, Papua New Guinea 1.5%, Philippines 1.2% and Japan 1.1%.
* 76.9% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Japanese 1.6%, Mandarin 0.8%, Italian 0.7%, Korean 0.7% and German 0.6%.
* The most common responses for religion were No Religion 32.1%, Catholic 22.4%, Anglican 13.2%, Not stated 12.2% , Uniting Church: 3.6%.[ Material was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.]
Geography
Cairns is located on the east coast of Cape York Peninsula
Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...
on a coastal strip between 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 ...
and the Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...
. The northern part of the city is located on Trinity Bay and the city centre is located on Trinity Inlet
The Trinity Inlet is an oceanic inlet which serves as the port for the city of Cairns, Queensland, Australia. The city centre is on the western bank where the inlet meets the Coral Sea.
Location and features
The Trinity Inlet is located in ...
. To the south of the Trinity Inlet lies the Aboriginal community of Yarrabah
Yarrabah (traditionally ''Yagaljida'' in the Yidin language spoken by the indigenous Yidinji people is a coastal town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Aboriginal Shire of Yarrabah, Queensland, Australia. In the , the local ...
. Some of the city's suburbs are located on flood plains. The Mulgrave River
The Mulgrave River, incorporating the East Mulgrave River and the West Mulgrave River, is a river system located in Far North Queensland, Australia. The -long river flows towards the Coral Sea and is located approximately south of .
Location ...
and Barron River flow within the greater Cairns area but not through the Cairns CBD
Cairns City is a coastal suburb at the centre of Cairns in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It is also known as the Cairns Central Business District (CBD). In the , Cairns City had a population of 2,737 people.
Geography
The suburb ...
. The city's centre foreshore is located on a mud flat.
Urban layout
Cairns is a provincial city, with a linear urban layout that runs from the south at Edmonton to the north at Ellis Beach. The city is approximately from north to south; it has experienced a recent urban sprawl
Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...
, with suburbs occupying land once used for sugar cane farming.
The ''Northern Beaches'' consist of a number of beach communities extending north along the coast. In general, each beach suburb is at the end of a spur road extending from the Captain Cook Highway
The Captain Cook Highway is a short, regional highway in Queensland which originates in Cairns and terminates in Mossman, where it joins Mossman-Daintree Road, continuing to Daintree.
The Captain Cook Highway is used to connect the CBD of Ca ...
. From south to north, these are Machans Beach, Holloways Beach, Yorkeys Knob, Trinity Park, Trinity Beach, Kewarra Beach, Clifton Beach, Palm Cove
Palm Cove is a suburb of Cairns in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Palm Cove had a population of 2,059 people.
It is named after the palm trees that line the beach.
Geography
Palm Cove is located in Far North Queensland ...
, and Ellis Beach.
The suburb of Smithfield is inland against the mountains of the Great Dividing Range, between Yorkeys Knob and Trinity Park. It serves as the main hub for the Northern Beaches, with a modern shopping arcade, called Smithfield Shopping Centre.
South of Smithfield and inland from the Northern Beaches along the edge of the Barron River flood plain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
are the suburbs of Caravonica, Kamerunga, Freshwater
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...
, and Stratford. This area is sometimes referred to as Freshwater Valley, though it is actually the lower part of Redlynch Valley; further up the valley are the suburbs of Redlynch, on the western side of Redlynch Valley, and Brinsmead on the eastern side. Stratford, Freshwater, and Brinsmead are separated from Cairns city by Mount Whitfield (elevation ) and Whitfield Range. Crystal Cascades and Copperlode Falls Dam are also behind this range. ( Kuranda, a town on the Barron River on the western side of the Macalister Range, forms part of the Cairns economic catchment but is in the Tablelands local government area and is not part of the Cairns urban area.)
The city centre of Cairns is adjacent to the suburbs of Cairns North
Cairns North is a coastal suburb of Cairns in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Cairns North had a population of 5,191 people.
Geography
The suburb is bounded to the north by the Cairns Airport, to the east by Trinity Bay ( ...
, and Parramatta Park, Bungalow
A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas.
The first house in England that was classified as a b ...
, Portsmith
Portsmith is a suburb of Cairns in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Portsmith was 195.
History
Portsmith is situated in the Yidinji traditional Aboriginal country. The origin of the suburb name is from ...
, and close to Westcourt, Manunda
TSMV ''Manunda'' was an ''Australian'' registered and crewed passenger ship which was converted to a hospital ship in 1940. During the war ''Manunda'' saw service in both the Middle East and Pacific Campaigns, specifically New Guinea. She resum ...
, Manoora, Edge Hill, Whitfield, Kanimbla, City View, Mooroobool, Earlville, Woree
Woree is a suburb of Cairns in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the Woree had a population of 4,821 people.
Geography
The Bruce Highway goes between Bald Hills in Brisbane to Woree and is long. The highway goes through Woree both ...
and Bayview Heights. The small suburb of Aeroglen is pressed between Mount Whitfield and the airport, on the Captain Cook Highway between Cairns North
Cairns North is a coastal suburb of Cairns in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Cairns North had a population of 5,191 people.
Geography
The suburb is bounded to the north by the Cairns Airport, to the east by Trinity Bay ( ...
and Stratford.
''Southside Cairns'', situated in a narrow area between Trinity Inlet
The Trinity Inlet is an oceanic inlet which serves as the port for the city of Cairns, Queensland, Australia. The city centre is on the western bank where the inlet meets the Coral Sea.
Location and features
The Trinity Inlet is located in ...
to the east and Lamb Range to the west, includes the suburbs of White Rock, Mount Sheridan
Mount Sheridan el. is a prominent mountain peak overlooking Heart Lake in the Red Mountains of Yellowstone National Park. The peak is named in honor of General Philip H. Sheridan, U.S. Army, one of the early protectors of the park.
History
...
, Bentley Park and Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
. The townships of Goldsborough, Little Mulgrave, and Aloomba are near Gordonvale
Gordonvale is a rural sugar-growing town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality situated on the southern side of Cairns, Queensland, Cairns in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Gordonvale had a populati ...
, on the Mulgrave River. This area is serviced by the Bruce Highway
The Bruce Highway is a major highway in Queensland, Australia. Commencing in the state capital, Brisbane, it passes through areas close to the eastern coast on its way to Cairns in Far North Queensland. The route is part of the Australian Na ...
. Several other small towns and communities within Cairns' jurisdiction are sparsely located along the Bruce Highway, the furthest being Bramston Beach, south of the Cairns CBD
Cairns City is a coastal suburb at the centre of Cairns in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It is also known as the Cairns Central Business District (CBD). In the , Cairns City had a population of 2,737 people.
Geography
The suburb ...
; the largest of these townships is Babinda
Babinda is a rural town and locality in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Babinda had a population of 1,253 people.
Geography
Babinda is located south of Cairns.
The town is noted for its proximity to Queensl ...
, about from the city.
Climate
Cairns experiences a tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
climate
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologic ...
, specifically a tropical monsoon climate
An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ...
(Am) under the Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
. A wet season
The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the sea ...
with heavy monsoonal downpours runs from November to May, with a relatively dry season
The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The te ...
from June to October, though light showers occur during this period. Cairns' mean annual rainfall is just under , although monthly totals in the wet season from December to April can exceed , with the highest monthly rainfall being recorded in January 1981, where over of rain fell. In contrast, as little as fell in the record dry calendar year of 2002.
Babinda
Babinda is a rural town and locality in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Babinda had a population of 1,253 people.
Geography
Babinda is located south of Cairns.
The town is noted for its proximity to Queensl ...
, a town to the south of the city, is Australia's wettest town, recording an annual rainfall of over .
Cairns has hot, humid summers and very warm winters.[ Mean maximum temperatures vary from in July to in January. Monsoonal activity during the wet season occasionally causes major ]flooding
A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrolog ...
of the Barron and Mulgrave Rivers, cutting off-road and rail access to the city. Cairns has 97.0 clear days, annually. Dewpoint in the wet season (summer) averages at . The average temperature of the sea ranges from in July to in January.
Tropical cyclones
Like most of North and Far North Queensland, Cairns is prone to tropical cyclones, usually forming between November and May.
Notable cyclones that have affected the Cairns region include:
* Cyclone Yasi
Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi () was a powerful and destructive tropical cyclone that made landfall in northern Queensland, Australia in early 2011, causing major damage to the affected areas. Originating as a tropical low near Fiji on 26 Janu ...
, 2011
* Cyclone Larry
Severe Tropical Cyclone Larry was a tropical cyclone that made landfall in Australia during the 2005–06 Southern Hemisphere tropical cyclone season. Larry originated as a low pressure system over the eastern Coral Sea on 16 March 2006, and wa ...
, 2006
* Cyclone Abigail, 2001
* Cyclone Steve
Tropical Cyclone Steve was a tropical cyclone that affected northern Australia from 27 February 2000 until 11 March 2000. Cyclone Steve was noted for its longevity and traversal of northern and western Australia. It impacted on regions of north ...
, 2000
* Cyclone Rona, 1999
* Cyclone Justin, 1997
Facilities
The City Library, operated by the Cairns Regional Council
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. ...
, opened in 1979 and is situated at 151 Abbott Street. A major refurbishment was undertaken in 1999 and a further minor refurbishment was implemented in 2011. Public accessible wifi is available. Current Library services and collections can be accessed from the Cairns Libraries website.
Heritage listings
Cairns has a number of heritage-listed
This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many ...
sites, including:
* Cairns-to-Kuranda railway line
The Cairns-to-Kuranda Railway is a heritage-listed railway line from the Cairns Region to the Shire of Mareeba, both in Queensland, Australia. It commences at Redlynch, a suburb of Cairns and travels up the Great Dividing Range to Kuranda wi ...
* Abbott Street: Dr EA Koch Memorial
* Abbott Street: Barrier Reef Hotel
Barrier Reef Hotel is a heritage-listed hotel at Abbott Street, Cairns City, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Lawrence and Lordan in conjunction with Richard Hill built in 1926 by Carl Peter Jorgensen. It wa ...
* Abbott Street: Bishop's House
* Abbott Street: St Monica's High School Administration Building
* 6A-8A Abbott Street: former Cairns Customs House
Cairns Customs House is a heritage-listed former customs house and now restaurant at 6A-8A Abbott Street, Cairns City, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Robert Henry Bowen and built from 1936 to 1937 by Watkin ...
* 38 – 40 Abbott Street: Cairns Court House
* 151 Abbott Street: Cairns City Council Chambers
Cairns City Council Chambers is a heritage-listed former town hall and now council library at 151 Abbott Street, Cairns City, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Hill & Taylor and built from 1929 to 1930 by Alex M ...
* 179 Abbott Street: St Joseph's Convent
* 183 Abbott Street: St Monica's War Memorial Cathedral
* Collins Avenue, Edge Hill: Flecker Botanical Gardens
Flecker Botanic Gardens is a heritage-listed botanic garden at Collins Avenue, Edge Hill, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1886 to 1960s. It is now known as Cairns Botanic Gardens, and also known as Edge Hill Nursery, and Fitzalan's ...
* Collins Avenue, Edge Hill: WWII RAN Fuel Installation
* Grafton Street: Cairns Control Room, World War II Volunteer Defence Corps
* 99 Grafton Street: former Cairns Chinatown
The Cairns Chinatown Building is a heritage-listed commercial building at 99 Grafton Street, Cairns City, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from to and is one of the last remaining buildings from the Cairns Chinatown ...
*28D Grove Street, Parramatta Park: Grove Street Pensioners' Cottages
* Lake Street: Bolands Centre
Bolands Centre is a heritage-listed department store at Lake Street, Cairns City, Queensland, Cairns City, Cairns, Queensland, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. Designed by Edward Gregory Waters and built in 1912, the Centre was ho ...
* 37 Lake Street: former Adelaide Steamship Co Ltd Building
Adelaide Steamship Company Ltd Building is a heritage-listed office building at 37 Lake Street, Cairns City, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1910 by Wilson & Baillie. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Regist ...
* 39 – 49 Lake Street: former Central Hotel
* 87 Lake Street: Hides Hotel
* 93–105 Lake Street: former School of Arts
* 399 Kamerunga Road, Redlynch: Xavier and Sadie Herbert's Cottage
* 127–145 McLeod Street, Cairns North: McLeod Street Pioneer Cemetery
* 180 McLeod, Cairns North: Herries Private Hospital
* Minnie Street: St Monica's Old Cathedral
* 8 Minnie Street: Cairns Masonic Temple
* Sheridan Street, Cairns North: Cairns Technical College and High School Building
* The Esplanade: Cairns War Memorial
* 51 The Esplanade: former Mulgrave Shire Council Chambers
Mulgrave Shire Council Chambers is a heritage-listed former town hall at 51 The Esplanade, Cairns City, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Charles Dalton Lynch & Walter Hunt and built from 1912 to 1913 by Wils ...
* 183–185 The Esplanade, Cairns North: Floriana
Floriana ( mt, Il-Furjana or ''Il-Floriana''), also known by its title Borgo Vilhena, is a fortified town in the South Eastern Region area of Malta, just outside the capital city Valletta. It has a population of 2,205 as of March 2014. Floriana i ...
* Wharf Street: Cairns Wharf Complex
Cairns Wharf Complex is a heritage-listed wharf at Wharf Street, Cairns City, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1910 to 1948. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 17 December 1999.
History
Cairn ...
* 29 Wharf Street: former Jack and Newell Building
Governance
Cairns is part of the 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. ...
local government area
A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...
which is governed by a Regional Council. The Council consists of a directly elected mayor and 10 councillors, elected from 10 single-member divisions (or wards) using an optional preferential voting {{short description, Election systems
Preferential voting or preference voting (PV) may refer to different election systems or groups of election systems:
* Ranked voting methods, all election methods that involve ranking candidates in order of pr ...
system. Elections are held every four years.
The Cairns Region consists of three former local government areas. The first was the original City of Cairns, consisting of the Cairns City region as listed above. The second, which was amalgamated in 1995, was the Shire of Mulgrave (comprising the other areas, namely the Northern Beaches, Redlynch Valley and Southside). The town of Gordonvale was once called Nelson. The third area is 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 ...
, which amalgamated in 2008 during major statewide local government reforms.
At the time of the 1995 amalgamation, Cairns City had a population of approximately 40,000 and Mulgrave Shire had a population of approximately 60,000. Both local government authorities had chambers in the Cairns CBD. The old Cairns City Council chambers has been converted into a new city library. In a controversial decision, new Council chambers were constructed on previously contaminated land in the mainly industrial suburb of Portsmith.
Cairns has three representatives in the Queensland Parliament
The Parliament of Queensland is the legislature of Queensland, Australia. As provided under the Constitution of Queensland, the Parliament consists of the Monarch of Australia and the Legislative Assembly. It has been the only unicameral s ...
, from the electoral districts of Barron River, Cairns
Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...
and Mulgrave. The city is represented in the Federal Parliament
The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor-gen ...
by representatives elected from the districts of Leichhardt Leichhardt may refer to:
* Division of Leichhardt, electoral District for the Australian House of Representatives
* Leichhardt Highway, a highway of Queensland, Australia
* Leichhardt Way, an Australian road route
* Leichhardt, New South Wales, inn ...
and Kennedy.
Economy
Cairns serves as the major commercial centre for the Far North Queensland and Cape York Peninsula Regions. It is a base for the regional offices of various government departments.
Tourism
Tourism plays a major part in the Cairns economy
An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...
. According to Tourism Australia
Tourism Australia is the Australian Government agency responsible for promoting Australian locations as business and leisure travel destinations. The agency is part of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and employs 187 staff (inclu ...
, the Cairns region is the fourth-most-popular destination for international tourists in Australia after Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. While the city does not rank amongst Australia's top 10 destinations for domestic tourism, it attracts a significant number of Australian holiday makers despite its distance from major capitals. There is also a growing interest in Cairns from the Chinese leisure market with regular scheduled direct flights from Chinese cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou. During the 2013 Chinese Lunar New Year period alone, Cairns saw 20,000 Chinese holidaymakers flying in on chartered flights.
The city is near the Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...
, the Wet Tropics of Queensland
The Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site consists of approximately 8,940 km2 of Australian wet tropical forests growing along the north-east Queensland portion of the Great Dividing Range. The Wet Tropics of Queensland meets all f ...
, and the Atherton Tableland
The Atherton Tableland is a fertile plateau which is part of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia.
The principal river flowing across the plateau is the Barron River. It was dammed to form an irrigation reservoir named Lake Tina ...
. Great Barrier Reef tours that operate from Cairns are very popular and hence Cairns is also considered as the gateway to Great Barrier Reef.
The Cairns esplanade
An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cle ...
includes a swimming lagoon with adjoining barbecue areas. In May 2003, the then Cairns Mayor Kevin Byrne declared that topless
Toplessness refers to the state in which a woman's breasts, including her areolas and nipples, are exposed, especially in a public place or in a visual medium. The male equivalent is barechestedness, also commonly called shirtlessness.
Expose ...
sunbathing is permitted here. Many leisure activities are conducted in this area, including flea market, sports classes and many more.
Commercial
Several shopping centres of various sizes are located throughout Cairns. The largest of these are Cairns Central
Cairns Central Shopping Centre is in Cairns City, Cairns, Far North Queensland, Australia. It is Cairns' biggest shopping centre. The centre was opened in late 1997 and is the second multi-story shopping centre in northern Queensland. The sh ...
shopping centre, located in the central business district (CBD), and Stockland Cairns, located in the suburb of Earlville. In Westcourt, one of the city's oldest shopping centres has been refurbished, with the city's first DFO. To service the needs of suburbs further from the city centre, shopping complexes are also located at Mount Sheridan, Redlynch, Smithfield, and Clifton Beach.
In 2010, the state government opened the second stage of William McCormack Place, an A$80 million office building credited as the first 6-star green star-rated building in the city.
Media
''The Cairns Post
''The Cairns Post'' is a major News Corporation newspaper in Far North Queensland, Australia, that exclusively serves the Cairns area. It has daily coverage on local, state, national and world news, plus a wide range of sections and liftouts c ...
'' is a daily newspaper published in the city; a weekly paper, ''The Cairns Sun'', is also published. ''The Courier-Mail
''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, ...
'' is a daily Queensland-wide newspaper published in Brisbane. ''The Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
'' newspaper also circulates widely. The ''Cairns Bulletin
''The Cairns Bulletin'' was an independent newspaper in circulation in Cairns. It covered the Cairns area from Palm Cove in the north to Gordonvale
Gordonvale is a rural sugar-growing town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality si ...
'' is an independent newspaper in circulation in the Cairns area.
Cairns is served by five television stations, three commercial television stations (WIN Television
WIN Television is an Australian television network owned by WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single television station covering the Wollongong region. The WIN Netwo ...
, Seven Queensland
STQ is an Australian television station, licensed to, and serving the regional areas of Queensland. The station is owned and operated by the Seven Network from studios located in Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast. The callsign STQ stands for ' ...
and Southern Cross 10
10 Regional is an Australian television network owned by Southern Cross Austereo that is broadcast in Queensland, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and South Australia. The network is the primary affiliate of Network 10 i ...
) which are regional affiliates of the three Australian commercial television networks ( 10, Seven
7 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
7 or seven may also refer to:
* AD 7, the seventh year of the AD era
* 7 BC, the seventh year before the AD era
* The month of
July
Music Artists
* Seven (Swiss singer) (born 1978), a Swiss recording artist ...
and Nine
9 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
9 or nine may also refer to:
Dates
* AD 9, the ninth year of the AD era
* 9 BC, the ninth year before the AD era
* 9, numerical symbol for the month of September
Places
* Nine, Portugal, a parish in the ...
), and public broadcasters the ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
and SBS services.
All three main commercial networks produce local news coverage - Seven Queensland
STQ is an Australian television station, licensed to, and serving the regional areas of Queensland. The station is owned and operated by the Seven Network from studios located in Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast. The callsign STQ stands for ' ...
and WIN Television
WIN Television is an Australian television network owned by WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single television station covering the Wollongong region. The WIN Netwo ...
both air 30-minute local news bulletins at 6pm each weeknight, produced from newsrooms in the city but broadcast from studios in Maroochydore
Maroochydore ( ) is a coastal town in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia.
The town was subdivided from the Cotton Tree reserve by Surveyor Thomas O'Connor in 1903. The land was acquired from William Pettigrew who had a timber de ...
and Wollongong
Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...
respectively. Southern Cross 10 airs a regional Queensland news updates of '' 10 News First''.
Cairns radio stations include a number of public, commercial and community broadcasters. The ABC broadcasts ABC Far North, ABC Radio National
Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2.
History
1937: Predecessors an ...
, ABC NewsRadio
ABC NewsRadio, since 2017 broadcast under the ABC News brand and for a short time known as ABC News on Radio, is a 24-hour news radio service broadcast by the Australian public broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). ABC ...
, ABC Classic FM
ABC Classic, formerly ABC-FM (also ABC Fine Music), and then ABC Classic FM, is an Australian classical music radio station available in Australia and internationally. Its website features classical music news, features and listening guides. ...
and the Triple J
Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...
youth network. Commercial radio stations include Star 102.7, 4CA 846 AM, Hot FM, Sea FM
Sea FM was an Australia, Australian radio network, consisting of stations in Queensland and NSW owned by Southern Cross Austereo. Some Sea FM stations were later sold to meet media ownership requirements. Prime Media Group Limited, Prime Televis ...
and 104.3 4TAB sports radio, while the community radio stations are 4CCR-FM, 101.9 Coast FM, Orbit FM 88.0FM & 87.8FM and 4CIM 98.7FM.
Industry and agriculture
The land around Cairns is still used for sugar cane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalks t ...
farming, although this land is increasingly under pressure from new suburbs as the city grows. The Mulgrave Sugar Mill
The Mulgrave Sugar Mill is a sugar mill in Gordonvale, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It commenced operations in 1896. It is operated by MSF Sugar, a subsidiary of the Mitr Phol Group. It is also known as Mulgrave Central Mill.
History ...
is located in Gordonvale ().
The Barron Gorge Hydroelectric Power Station is located nearby on the lower Barron River, and provides green power
Green Power is a non-governmental organisation in Hong Kong founded in 1988, concerned with the city's environmental issues.
Activities and works
Environmental education
Green Power established the first Green Schools Network in Hong Kong ...
.
Transport
Cairns is an important transport hub in the Far North Queensland region. Located at the base of Cape York Peninsula, it provides important transport links between the Peninsula and Gulf of Carpentaria
The Gulf of Carpentaria (, ) is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea). The northern boundary is ...
regions, and the areas to the south of the state. Cairns International Airport is essential to the viability of the area's tourism industry.
Roads
The Bruce Highway
The Bruce Highway is a major highway in Queensland, Australia. Commencing in the state capital, Brisbane, it passes through areas close to the eastern coast on its way to Cairns in Far North Queensland. The route is part of the Australian Na ...
runs for from Bald Hills on the City of Brisbane's northern boundary, and terminates in Woree
Woree is a suburb of Cairns in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the Woree had a population of 4,821 people.
Geography
The Bruce Highway goes between Bald Hills in Brisbane to Woree and is long. The highway goes through Woree both ...
, a southern suburb in Cairns. The Captain Cook Highway
The Captain Cook Highway is a short, regional highway in Queensland which originates in Cairns and terminates in Mossman, where it joins Mossman-Daintree Road, continuing to Daintree.
The Captain Cook Highway is used to connect the CBD of Ca ...
(also referred as the Cook Highway) commences at Aeroglen, a northern suburb of Cairns, and runs for approximately northwest to Mossman.
A need for future upgrades to the Bruce Highway to motorway standards through the southern suburbs to Gordonvale has been identified in regional planning strategies to cope with increasing congestion from rapid population growth. This will result in overpasses at all major intersections from Woree to Gordonvale. The motorway will divert from Bentley Park to Gordonvale, bypassing Edmonton to reduce the effects of road noise on residential areas.
The Kennedy Highway
The Kennedy Highway is a highway in northern Queensland, Australia. It runs as National Route 1 for approximately 243 km from Smithfield, on the northern outskirts of Cairns, to the Gulf Developmental Road in the vicinity of Forty Mile S ...
commences at Smithfield on the Barron River flood plain north of Cairns, and ascends the Macalister Range to the township of Kuranda. The highway then extends to the town of Mareeba
Mareeba is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Mareeba in Far North Queensland, Australia. Between 2008 and 2013, it was within the Tablelands Region. The town's name is derived from an Aboriginal word meaning ''meeting of the waters'' ...
on the Atherton Tableland
The Atherton Tableland is a fertile plateau which is part of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia.
The principal river flowing across the plateau is the Barron River. It was dammed to form an irrigation reservoir named Lake Tina ...
, and continues to communities of Cape York Peninsula.
The Gillies Highway
The Gillies Highway is a road that runs from Gordonvale in the Cairns Region through the Gillies Range (part of the Great Dividing Range) to Atherton in the Tablelands Region, both in Queensland, Australia. It is also known as the Gillies Ra ...
commences at the township of Gordonvale, and ascends the Gillies Range (part of the Great Dividing Range) to the town of Atherton on the Atherton Tableland, passing through the township of Yungaburra
Yungaburra is a rural town and locality in the Tablelands Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Yungaburra had a population of 1,239 people.
Geography
Yungaburra is on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland.
The lan ...
on the way.
The controversial private road, Quaid Road
Southedge-Wangetti Road Corridor (formerly and unofficially Quaid Road) is a stretch of road in Far North Queensland. It links the Captain Cook Highway at Wangetti on the coast just north of Cairns, to the Mulligan Highway at Southedge, just ...
, was constructed in 1989 through what is now a Wet Tropics World Heritage Area
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
, and links Wangetti, on the coast just north of Cairns, to Southedge, just south of Mount Molloy. The road is not open to the public and is not used for general traffic.
Bus
A public bus transit network exists within the city, with two transit hubs located within the CBD: the Cairns Central
Cairns Central Shopping Centre is in Cairns City, Cairns, Far North Queensland, Australia. It is Cairns' biggest shopping centre. The centre was opened in late 1997 and is the second multi-story shopping centre in northern Queensland. The sh ...
Railway Station precinct, and the Cairns City Bus Station located within the Lake street and Shield street area, through which all bus lines operate and provide linkage to taxi, ride share and intercity rail services. The transit network includes most parts of the city, from Palm Cove
Palm Cove is a suburb of Cairns in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Palm Cove had a population of 2,059 people.
It is named after the palm trees that line the beach.
Geography
Palm Cove is located in Far North Queensland ...
in the north, Gordonvale
Gordonvale is a rural sugar-growing town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality situated on the southern side of Cairns, Queensland, Cairns in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Gordonvale had a populati ...
in the south and Redlynch to the west. It is managed throughout the city by Translink Translink (or TransLink) may refer to:
* TransLink (British Columbia), the public transport operator in Vancouver, Canada
* Translink (Northern Ireland)
Translink is the brand name of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company (NITHCo), a ...
: through a service contract with the Sunbus Cairns company, however the Go Card
The ''go'' card is an electronic smartcard ticketing system developed by Cubic Corporation, which is currently used on the TransLink public transport network in South East Queensland. To use the ''go'' card, users hold the card less than 10&n ...
ticketing system has not been implemented in the region. A smaller shuttle bus
A shuttle bus is a bus that travels a shorter route in comparison to most bus routes. Typically, shuttle buses travel in both directions between two points. Shuttle buses are designed to transport large groups of people who are all travellin ...
service, ''Jon's Kuranda Bus'' runs between Cairns and Kuranda alongside other private coach services. The main bus hubs in the Cairns CBD are the Cairns City bus station, opened in 2014, and at Cairns Central
Cairns Central Shopping Centre is in Cairns City, Cairns, Far North Queensland, Australia. It is Cairns' biggest shopping centre. The centre was opened in late 1997 and is the second multi-story shopping centre in northern Queensland. The sh ...
, the former servicing almost all bus lines in Cairns.
Cairns is served by long-distance coaches to Brisbane, and regional cities to the south. Coaches also operate west to Mount Isa
Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive single mines in world history, bas ...
via Townsville
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...
, and to Alice Springs
Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...
and Darwin in the Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
.
Taxis and transportation network companies
Cairns also has a major taxi company, Cairns Taxis, which services the Cairns region. Uber
Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package ...
was introduced to the region in March 2017, servicing the greater region. Ola launched in February 2020.
Rail
Cairns railway station
Cairns railway station is a railway station in Cairns City, Queensland, Australia, serving the city of Cairns. The stations is the terminus of the North Coast line from Brisbane and the terminus for the Tablelands railway line to the Atherto ...
is the terminus for Queensland's North Coast railway line, which follows the eastern seaboard from Brisbane. Services are operated by Queensland Rail
Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Owned by the Queensland Government, it operates local and long-distance passenger services, as well as owning and maintaining approximately 6,600 kilometres of track and relate ...
(QR) and include the high-speed Diesel Tilt Train
The Diesel Tilt Train is the name for three high-speed tilting train services, operated by Queensland Rail on the North Coast line from Brisbane to Cairns as part of its Spirit of Queensland service.
History
In August 1999, a contract was awar ...
. Freight trains also operate along the route, with a QR Freight handling facility located at Portsmith.
Pacific National Queensland (a division of Pacific National
Pacific National is one of Australia's largest rail freight businesses.
History
In February 2002, National Rail Corporation, National Rail's freight operations and rollingstock (owned by the Government of Australia, Federal, Government of New ...
, owned by Asciano Limited
Asciano Limited was an Australian freight logistics company, operating in railway freight and shipping. Asciano was demerged from Toll Holdings in 2007, and owned Patrick Corporation and Pacific National as subsidiary companies. Asciano specialis ...
) operates a rail siding at Woree. It runs private trains on the rail network owned by the Queensland State Government and managed by QR's Network Division.
The Kuranda Scenic Railway
The Kuranda Scenic Railway is a tourist railway service that operates along the heritage-listed Cairns-to-Kuranda railway line. Constructed in 1891, the line runs from Cairns, Queensland, over the Great Dividing Range to the town of Kuranda o ...
operates from Cairns. The tourist railway ascends the Macalister Range and is not used for commuter services. It passes through the suburbs of Stratford, Freshwater (stopping at Freshwater Station) and Redlynch before reaching Kuranda.
Freight services to Forsayth were discontinued in the mid-1990s. These were mixed freight and passenger services that served the semi-remote towns west of the Great Dividing Range. There is now a weekly passenger-only service, ''The Savannahlander
The Savannahlander is an Australian passenger train service (primarily serving tourists) that operates in Far North Queensland. It travels on the Tablelands railway line and the Etheridge railway line from the coastal city of Cairns to Forsay ...
'', that leaves Cairns on Wednesday mornings. The Savannahlander is run by a private company, Cairns Kuranda Steam Trains.
Cairns is served by a narrow gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
cane railway (or cane train) network that hauls harvested sugar cane to the Mulgrave Sugar Mill
The Mulgrave Sugar Mill is a sugar mill in Gordonvale, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It commenced operations in 1896. It is operated by MSF Sugar, a subsidiary of the Mitr Phol Group. It is also known as Mulgrave Central Mill.
History ...
located in Gordonvale. The pressure of urban sprawl on land previously cultivated by cane farmers has seen this network reduced over recent years.
Airport
Cairns International Airport is north of Cairns City between the CBD and the Northern Beaches. The domestic terminal at Cairns Airport underwent an extensive redevelopment which began in 2007 and was completed in 2010.
The airport has a domestic terminal, an international terminal, and a general aviation area. The airport handles international flights, and flights to major Australian cities, tourist destinations, and regional destinations throughout North Queensland. It is an important base for general aviation serving the Cape York Peninsula and Gulf of Carpentaria communities. The Cairns airport is also a base for the Royal Flying Doctor Service
The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an air medical service in Australia. It is a non-profit organisation that provides emergency and primary health care services for those living in rural, remote an ...
.
Port
The Cairns Seaport, located on Trinity Inlet, is operated by the Cairns Port Authority.
It serves as an important port for tourist operators providing daily reef trips. These consist of large catamarans
A Formula 16 beachable catamaran
Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States
A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-stab ...
capable of carrying over 300 passengers, as well as smaller operators that may take as few as 12 tourists. Cairns Port is also a port of call for cruise ships
Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "s ...
, such as Captain Cook Cruises, cruising the South Pacific Ocean. It also provides freight services to coastal townships on Cape York Peninsula, the Torres Strait
The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, the northernmost extremity of the Australian mai ...
and the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Yearly cargo through the port totals 1.13 million tonnes. Almost 90% of the trade is bulk cargoes – including petroleum, sugar, molasses, fertiliser and LP gas. A large number of fishing trawlers
A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets tha ...
are also located at the port. There is also a marina that houses private yachts and boats used for tourist operations.
The Trinity Wharf has recently been the subject of a major redevelopment to improve the area for tourist and cruise ship operations. The freight wharves are located to the south of Trinity Wharf further up Trinity Inlet.
Defence facilities
The Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...
has a base in Cairns (). The base has a complement of 900 personnel, and supports nine vessels, including:
*Three ''Armidale''-class patrol boats of ''Ardent'' Division.
*Two ''Cape''-class patrol boats.
Four ships of the Royal Australian Navy Hydrographic Service
The Australian Hydrographic Service (formerly known as the Royal Australian Navy Hydrographic Service) is the Australian Commonwealth Government agency responsible for providing hydrographic services that meet Australia's obligations under the SO ...
.
*Two ''Leewin''-class hydrographic ships.
*Two ''Paluma''-class survey ships.
Previously four of the six ''Balikpapan''-class landing craft where based before their decommissioning
Porton Barracks, in the outlying suburb of Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
, is home to the Australian Army
The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...
's 51st Battalion, Far North Queensland Regiment. Delta Company from the Townsville
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...
based 31st/42nd Battalion, Royal Queensland Regiment
The 31st/42nd Battalion, Royal Queensland Regiment (31/42 RQR) is a Reserve infantry battalion of the Australian Army. One of three battalions of the Royal Queensland Regiment, it was formed in early 2008 through the amalgamation of the 31st Batta ...
is also based here. Both units are components of the Australian Army Reserve
The Australian Army Reserve is a collective name given to the reserve units of the Australian Army. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, the reserve military force has been known by many names, including the Citizens Forces, the Citizen ...
.
Sister cities
* Lae
Lae () is the capital of Morobe Province and is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located near the delta of the Markham River and at the start of the Highlands Highway, which is the main land transport corridor between the Highl ...
, Papua New Guinea (Morobe Province
Morobe Province is a province on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital and largest city is Lae. The province covers 33,705 km2, with a population of 674,810 (2011 census), and since the division of Southern Highlands P ...
) since 1984
* Minami, Japan (Tokushima Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Tokushima Prefecture has a population of 728,633 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,146 km2 (1,601 sq mi). Tokushima Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the north, E ...
) since 1969
* Oyama, Japan (Tochigi Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,943,886 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,408 Square kilometre, km2 (2,474 Square mile, sq mi). Tochigi ...
) since 15 June 2006
* Riga
Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...
, Latvia since 1990
* Scottsdale, Arizona
, settlement_type = City
, named_for = Winfield Scott
, image_skyline =
, image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg
, image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg
, nick ...
(USA) since 1987
* Sidney, British Columbia
Sidney is a town located at the northern end of the Saanich Peninsula, on Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It's 1 of the 13 Greater Victoria municipalities. It has a population of approximately 11,583. Sidney is l ...
(Canada) since 1984
* Zhanjiang
Zhanjiang (), historically spelled Tsamkong, is a prefecture-level city at the southwestern end of Guangdong province, People's Republic of China, facing Haikou city to the south.
As of the 2020 census, its population was 6,981,236 (6,994,832 ...
, People's Republic of China (Guangdong province
Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
) since 2005
A selection of memorabilia and artefacts relating to Cairns Sister Cities is displayed at Cairns City Library.
Education
Cairns has numerous primary and secondary schools. Separate systems of private and public schools operate in Queensland. There are 20 state primary schools and 16 state high schools operated by the Queensland state government Department of Education within the Cairns City Council
The City of Cairns was a local government area centred on the Far North Queensland city of Cairns. Established in 1885, for most of its existence it consisted of approximately around Cairns itself, with much of the metropolitan area being l ...
area, including 6 schools in the predominantly rural areas south of Gordonvale.
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
schools are operated by Catholic Education Cairns. The Catholic system encompasses nineteen primary schools, six secondary colleges and one P-12 college. The oldest Marist Brothers
The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic religious institute of brothers. In 1817, St. Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from France, founded the Marist Brother ...
college in Cairns is St Augustine's, which is a secondary college. there were almost 6,700 primary students and 4,000 secondary students enrolled in the Roman Catholic school system.
There are also four other independent schools – Peace Lutheran College, Trinity Anglican School
Trinity Anglican School (TAS) is an Independent Anglican School in Far North Queensland, Australia which opened on 25 May 1983. It has three campuses set over two grounds. TAS White Rock caters for students from Kindergarten through to Year 12, ...
, Freshwater Christian College and Redlynch State College.
There is also Hinterland Cairns Steiner School, which is independent.
The Cairns Campus of James Cook University
James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairn ...
is located at Smithfield. CQUniversity Australia has established a study centre in Cairns. The city also hosts a TAFE
Technical and further education or simply TAFE (), is the common name in English-speaking countries in Oceania for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational cours ...
college, and a School of the Air
School of the Air is a generic term for correspondence schools catering for the primary and early secondary education of children in remote and outback Australia where some or all classes were historically conducted by radio, although this is n ...
base, both located in the inner suburb of Manunda.
Health
The Cairns Hospital
Cairns Hospital, known as the Cairns Base Hospital between 1932 and 2013, is the largest major hospital in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is located at 165 The Esplanade, Cairns North, Cairns. The hospital offers general services to Cair ...
is situated on the Cairns Esplanade and is the major hospital for the Cape York Peninsula area. The smaller Cairns Private Hospital is located nearby. A new building was completed in 2015 to provide up to 168 more beds.
Cairns is a base for the Royal Flying Doctor Service
The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an air medical service in Australia. It is a non-profit organisation that provides emergency and primary health care services for those living in rural, remote an ...
, which operates clinics and provides emergency evacuations in remote communities throughout the region.
Sport and recreation
Association football, Australian rules football, and rugby
Cairns is home to Far North Queensland Heat, who play in the 2nd tier of association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
in Australia. They compete in the NPL Queensland which is one tier under the A-League
A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...
. The team has represented the city nationally previously at the 2014 FFA Cup
The 2014 FFA Cup was the inaugural season of the FFA Cup, the main national soccer knockout cup competition in Australia. 631 teams in total from around Australia entered the competition. Only 32 teams competed in the competition proper (Round o ...
. The team competes at Barlow Park
Barlow Park is a multi-sports facility and stadium in Parramatta Park, Queensland, Parramatta Park, Cairns, Queensland, Australia.
The Park is home of Cairns District Rugby League, Far North Queensland Rugby Union, Cairns District Rugby Union, C ...
. The Cairns region has a large association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
community with a local competition which spans from Port Douglas
Port Douglas is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Douglas, Queensland, Australia, approximately 60 km north of Cairns. In the , Port Douglas had a population of 3,504 people. The town's population can often double, however, with the in ...
to Innisfail and west to Dimbulah
Dimbulah is a town and locality in Far North Queensland, Australia, from Cairns by road, on the Atherton Tableland. It is within the local government area of Shire of Mareeba (between 2008 and 2013, it was within the Tablelands Region). In ...
.
Notable association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
players from the region include Socceroos
The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is affiliated with ...
Frank Farina
Frank Farina OAM (born 5 September 1964) is an Australian football (soccer) coach and former player who played as a forward.
His playing career spanned Australia, Belgium, France, Italy and England, and was a major player for the Australia ...
, Steve Corica
Stephen Christopher Corica ( born 24 March 1973) is an Australian association football manager and former player. He is the current manager of Australian club Sydney FC.
A technically gifted and skillful attacking midfielder during his playing ...
, Shane Stefanutto
Shane Stefanutto (born 12 January 1980) is an Australian former professional footballer who is the Technical Director of Brisbane Roar. He previously played for Brisbane Strikers, Lillestrøm, Lyn, North Queensland Fury, Brisbane Roar, Olympic ...
and Michael Thwaite
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name "Michael"
* Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...
.
Cairns has a seven-team Australian rules football competition between teams from the Cairns and Port Douglas region. AFL Cairns currently hosts one AFL game each season. There is also an AFL Masters
Variations of Australian rules football are games or activities based on or similar to the game of Australian rules football, in which the player uses common Australian rules football skills. They range in player numbers from 2 (in the case of ki ...
team that is based in Cairns, they are known as the Cairns Stingers.
The Northern Pride Queensland Cup
The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League (QRL) and is contested by four ...
rugby league team played their first season in 2008, and act as a feeder team to the North Queensland Cowboys
The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL).
Sinc ...
who play in the National Rugby League
The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...
. Cairns is represented by 11 Senior clubs, most notably ''Brothers Cairns'', ''Ivanhoes Knights,'' ''Cairns Kangaroos, Edmonton Storm'' and ''Southern Suburbs Cockatoos'' in the Cairns District Rugby League. Cairns also hosts growing bases for Rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
.
Other sports
There is a baseball league at Trinity Beach. Cairns also has a National Basketball League ( NBL) team, the Cairns Taipans
The Cairns Taipans are an Australian professional basketball team based in Cairns, Queensland. The Taipans compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Cairns Conventio ...
whose home court is the Cairns Convention Centre, known as ''The Snakepit'' during Taipans home games.
In 1965 the City of Cairns Open
The City of Cairns Open is a professional and amateur golf tournament. It was briefly part of the PGA Tour of Australia's calendar.
History
The City of Cairns Open began in 1965. It is held at Cairns Golf Club in Cairns, Australia. In the late ...
, a professional golf tournament, was inaugurated. Significant golfers like Randall Vines
Randall Vines (born 6 June 1945) is an Australian professional golfer. Vines was one of the top Australian golfers of his generation, winning a number of worldwide tournaments. He may be best remembered for his sterling 1968 season which include ...
and Vic Bennetts
Vic Bennetts (born May 1944) is an Australian professional golfer. Bennetts had an excellent amateur career through the 1960s, becoming the first golfer to win the New South Wales Junior Championship three times. Bennetts turned pro in 1968 and ...
won the event. In the mid-1970s it evolved into an amateur event. In modern times, the week-long event encompasses four tournaments, including a mixed team event and separate men's and women's tournaments.
Cairns is a major international destination for water sports
Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a s ...
and scuba diving
Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...
due to its close proximity to the Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...
. Other recreational activities popular with tourists include whitewater rafting
Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...
, skydiving
Parachuting, including also skydiving, is a method of transiting from a high point in the atmosphere to the surface of Earth with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or parachutes.
For ...
, hang gliding
Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...
, kitesurfing
Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wak ...
and snorkelling
Snorkeling ( British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped breathing tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, ...
.
Sporting facilities
Notable sporting grounds include Barlow Park
Barlow Park is a multi-sports facility and stadium in Parramatta Park, Queensland, Parramatta Park, Cairns, Queensland, Australia.
The Park is home of Cairns District Rugby League, Far North Queensland Rugby Union, Cairns District Rugby Union, C ...
, Parramatta Park, Cazaly's Stadium
Cazalys Stadium is a sports stadium in Cairns, Queensland, Australia. It is situated in the suburb of Westcourt. The stadium is named after the social club which abuts the oval, Cazalys, which itself was named after Australian rules footballe ...
, the Cairns Convention Centre, and the Cairns Hockey
Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
Centre. The Cairns Showground is used for sports as well, as the Cairns Show and funfairs.
Amenities
Established in 1978, the Cairns & District Chinese Association is an arts and heritage organisation seeking to preserve the Chinese culture and heritage of Cairns and North Queensland and enriching the contemporary cultural, social and economic diversity of the community. The society organises events such as the Chinese New Year Festival
Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Sinophone, Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly r ...
, organises Lion dance F
Lion dance () is a form of traditional dance in Chinese culture and other Asian countries in which performers mimic a lion's movements in a lion costume to bring good luck and fortune. The lion dance is usually performed during the Chinese New ...
rs and dragon boat
A dragon boat is a human-powered watercraft originating from the Pearl River Delta region of China's southern Guangdong Province. These were made of teak, but in other parts of China, different kinds of wood are used. It is one of a family of t ...
racing, maintains the Lit Sung Goong Temple, and offers Chinese language classes and social group activities.
Established in 1989, the Cairns and District Family History Society maintains a library of world-wide genealogy
Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...
material at 271 Gatton Street, Westcourt. The society publishes new genealogical resources based on collecting and indexing family information relating to Far North Queensland.
The Cairns Historical Society operates the Cairns Museum and Cairns Historical Society Resource Centre at the former Cairns School of Arts
Cairns School of Arts is a heritage-listed former school of arts and now the Cairns Museum at 93-105 Lake Street, Cairns City, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Tunbridge, Tunbridge & Lynch and built from 1907 ...
building on the corner of Lake and Shields Streets in Cairns City.
The Cairns branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association
The Queensland Country Women's Association (QCWA) is the Queensland chapter of the Country Women's Association in Australia. The association seeks to serve the interests of women and children in rural areas in Australia through a network of loca ...
meets at 264 Grafton Street, Cairns North
Cairns North is a coastal suburb of Cairns in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Cairns North had a population of 5,191 people.
Geography
The suburb is bounded to the north by the Cairns Airport, to the east by Trinity Bay ( ...
.
St Monica's Catholic Cathedral is at 183 Abbott Street. It is within the Cairns Cathedral Parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns is a diocese of the Catholic Church located in the state of Queensland, Australia. It is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Brisbane. The diocese was erected as a vicariate apostolic in 1877 and was ...
.
Indigenous languages and representation
The Yidiny language
Yidiny (also spelled Yidiɲ, Yidiñ, Jidinj, Jidinʲ, Yidinʸ, Yidiń ) is a nearly extinct Australian Aboriginal language, spoken by the Yidinji people of north-east Queensland. Its traditional language region is within the local government area ...
is a prominent language of the Cairns area.[
Irukandji language (also known as Yirrgay, Yurrgay, Yirrgandji, Djabuganjdji and Yirgay) is a language of ]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 ...
, particularly the area around the Kuranda Range Kuranda may refer to:
Places
* Kuranda, Queensland, a town on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland, Australia
** Kuranda Butterfly Farm, the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary, situated in the centre of Kuranda Village
** Kuranda Fig Tree Ave ...
and Lower Barron River. The Irukandji language region includes the landscape within Cairns Regional Council
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. ...
.
Yumplatok
Torres Strait Creole ( tcs, Yumplatok), also known as Torres Strait Pidgin, Brokan/Broken, Cape York Creole, Lockhart Creole, Kriol, Papuan, Broken English, Blaikman, Big Thap, Pizin, and Ailan Tok, is an English-based creole language (a varie ...
(also known as Torres Strait Creole and Broken) is a contemporary Torres Strait Island language originating in the Torres Strait
The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, the northernmost extremity of the Australian mai ...
. The contact with missionaries and others since the 1800s has led to the development of a pidgin language
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...
, which transitioned into a creole language
A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable natural language that develops from the simplifying and mixing of different languages into a new one within a fairly brief period of time: often, a pidgin evolved into a full-fledged language. ...
and now has its own distinctive sound system, grammar, vocabulary, usage and meaning. Torres Strait Creole is spoken by most Torres Strait Islanders and is a mixture of Standard Australian English
Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language; while Australia has no official language, Englis ...
and traditional languages. It is an English-based creole; however, each island has its own version of creole. Torres Strait Creole is also spoken on the Australian mainland
Mainland Australia is the main landmass of the Australian continent, excluding the Aru Islands, New Guinea, Tasmania, and other Australian offshore islands. The landmass also constitutes the mainland of the territory governed by the Commonwea ...
, including Northern Peninsula Area Region
The Northern Peninsula Area Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia, covering areas on the northwestern coast of Cape York Peninsula. It was created in March 2008 out of three Aboriginal Shires and two autonomous Isl ...
and coastal communities such as Cairns, Townsville
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...
, Mackay Mackay may refer to:
*Clan Mackay, the Scottish clan from which the surname "MacKay" derives
Mackay may also refer to:
Places Australia
* Mackay Region, a local government area
** Mackay, Queensland, a city in the above region
*** Mackay Airpor ...
, Rockhampton
Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...
and Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
.[
There are four ]Traditional Owner
Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...
groups representing the rights and interests of the peoples of the Cairns region. The Dawul Wuru (Yirrganydji) Aboriginal Corporation represents Traditional Owners in the area between Cairns and Port Douglas. Native title rights have been granted to the Djabugay people
The Djabugay people (also known as Djabuganydji or Tjapukai) are a group of Australian Aboriginal people who are the original inhabitants of mountains, gorges, lands and waters of a richly forested part of the Great Dividing Range including t ...
over land and waters within the Barron Gorge National Park
Barron Gorge National Park is a protected area in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It is predominantly within the locality of Barron Gorge.
Geography
The park is 1,404 km northwest of Brisbane and from Kuranda. Barron Gorge ...
near Kuranda. The Gunggandji
The Guŋgañji, also transcribed Gungganyji, Gunggandji, Kongkandji, and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Queensland.
Language
The Guŋgañji speak Gungay, a dialect of the Yidiny language.
Country
Norman T ...
people hold rights over more than on the Yarrabah Peninsula. The fourth group represents the Yidinji clans, and comprises Gimuy Walubara Yidinji, Dulabed Malanbarra and Yidinji, Mandingalbay Yidinji and Wadjanbarra Tableland Yidinji.
Notable people
* Gavin Allen
Gavin Allen (born 30 March 1965) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He played club football in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership for Fortitude Valley and in the NSWRL premiership for the St. ...
, Queensland and Brisbane Broncos Rugby League player
* Christine Anu, pop singer
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
and actress
* Aron Baynes, basketball player in the NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
* Daniel Boyd, contemporary artist
* Leonard John Brass
Leonard John Brass (17 May 1900 – 29 August 1971) was an Australian and American botany, botanist, plant collecting, botanical collector and explorer.
Early life
Brass was born at Toowoomba, Queensland. He was trained at the Queensland Herbar ...
, botanist
* Mark 'Yank' Cantoni, rugby league player
* Kev Carmody
Kevin Daniel Carmody (born 1946), better known by his stage name Kev Carmody, is an Aboriginal Australian singer-songwriter and musician, a Murri man from northern Queensland. He is best known for the song "From Little Things Big Things Grow", ...
, singer-songwriter, born in Cairns
* Terence Cooper
Terence Cooper (5 July 1933 – 16 September 1997) was a British film actor, best known for his roles in Australian and New Zealand television and film.
Biography
Born in 1933 at Carnmoney, a district of the modern-day borough of Newtownabbey ...
, film actor, artist
* Courtenay Dempsey
Courtenay Dempsey (born 28 August 1987) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Early life
Dempsey was born in Mount Isa[Essendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCracken family in their A ...]
* Charlie Dixon, AFL footballer, Port Adelaide Football Club
Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where they are nicknamed ...
* Catriona Gray
Catriona Elisa Magnayon Gray (; born 6 January 1994) is a Filipino-Australian model, singer, beauty queen, television personality, youth advocate and arts ambassador best known for having been crowned Miss Universe 2018. She is the fourth Fi ...
, Miss Universe
Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...
winner
* Ben Halloran, footballer for Adelaide United
Adelaide United Football Club is a professional Association Football, soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under North American professional sports league organization#Systems ar ...
* Ken Ham
Kenneth Alfred Ham (born 20 October 1951) is an Australian Christian fundamentalist, young Earth creationist and apologist, living in the United States. He is the founder, CEO, and former president of Answers in Genesis (AiG), a Christian apolo ...
, creationist
Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation. Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary'' says that creationism is 'th ...
and religious activist
* Tracey Hannah, downhill mountain biker
* Jarrod Harbrow, AFL footballer, Gold Coast Football Club
The Gold Coast Suns is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast in the suburb of Carrara.
The club has been playing in the AFL since th ...
* Xavier Herbert
Xavier Herbert (born Alfred Jackson; 15 May 190110 November 1984) was an Australian writer best known for his Miles Franklin Award-winning novel '' Poor Fellow My Country'' (1975). He was considered one of the elder statesmen of Australian li ...
, writer
* Justin Hodges
Justin Hodges (born 25 May 1982) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. A Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representative , Hodges started his career in the Natio ...
, international Rugby League player
* Erin Holland, an Australian singer and Television Host
* Nathan Jawai
Nathan Leon Jawai (born 10 October 1986) is an Australian professional basketball player for the Darwin Salties of the NBL1 North. Standing at 209 cm, he plays at the power forward and centre positions.
Early life
Born at the Royal Hospi ...
, professional basketball player, first indigenous Australian to play in NBA
* Danilo Jovanovitch
Danilo Jovanovitch (3 September 1919 – 17 September 2015) was an Australian poet, actor and singer. He appeared in the Australian feature films ''40,000 Horsemen'', '' Gone to the Dogs'' and ''Ants in His Pants''. His published poetry antholo ...
, poet
* Susan Kiefel
Susan Mary Kiefel (; born 17 January 1954) is the chief justice of Australia, in office since 30 January 2017. She has served on the High Court since 2007, having previously been a judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland and the Federal Cou ...
, Chief Justice, High Court of Australia
The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution.
The High Court was established fol ...
* Richard Ash Kingsford
Richard Ash Kingsford (1821–1902) was an alderman and mayor of Brisbane Municipal Council, a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, Australia, and a mayor of Cairns, Queensland.
Early life and education
Richard Ash Kingsford was ...
, Mayor of Brisbane, first Mayor of Cairns
* Emma Louise
Emma Louise Lobb (born 16 July 1991), who performs as Emma Louise, is an Australian indie pop singer-songwriter from Cairns. She is best known for her 2011 debut single "Jungle". Two studio albums, '' Vs Head vs Heart'' (March 2013) and '' Supe ...
, musician
* Rayleen Lynch, retired Australian basketball player
* Rhyse Martin
Rhyse Martin (born 1 March 1993) is a Papua New Guinea international rugby league footballer who plays as a forward for the Leeds Rhinos in the Super League.
He previously played for Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the NRL.
Background
Mart ...
, Rugby League player, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...
* Grant McLennan
Grant William McLennan (12 February 19586 May 2006) was an Australian alternative rock singer-songwriter-guitarist. He co-founded the Go-Betweens with Robert Forster in Brisbane in 1977. In addition to his work with the Go-Betweens (1977–89, ...
, musician, The Go-Betweens
The Go-Betweens were an Australian indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1977. The band was co-founded and led by singer-songwriters and guitarists Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, who were its only constant members throughout it ...
* Isabel Lucas
Isabel Lucas (born 29 January 1985) is an Australian actress and model. She is mainly known for her roles in '' Home and Away'' (2003–06), '' Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' (2009), ''Daybreakers'' (2009), ''The Waiting City'' (2009), ' ...
, actress
* Ryan McGoldrick, Rugby League player, Castleford Tigers
The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England, that compete in the Super League, the top-level professional rugby league club competition in the Northern Hemisphere. The club have competed i ...
* Nate Myles
Nate Myles (born 24 June 1985) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s, he last played for the Melbourne Storm in the National Rugby League. A Queensland State of Origin and Australia national represen ...
, international Rugby League player
* Johnny Nicol, musician
* Danielle Oke, artist
* Wilma Reading, singer
* Adam Sarota
Adam Tomek Sarota (born 28 December 1988) is an Australian association football, footballer who plays as a Midfielder#Central midfielder, central midfielder.
Career Club Brisbane Roar
Sarota was named A-League National Youth League, National Yo ...
, international football player
* Xavier Savage, Rugby League player
* Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow (born 5 September 2001), also known by the nickname of "Hammer", is an Australians, Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Dolphins (NRL), Dolphins in the National Rugby League. He has also ...
, Rugby League player
* Michael Thwaite
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name "Michael"
* Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...
, footballer for Liaoning Whowin
Liaoning Football Club (), officially known as Liaoning Hongyun (), was a professional association football club with a long history in Chinese football. The club can predate their formation to 1953, when Shenyang government sports body joined ex ...
, and occasional Socceroo
The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is affiliated wi ...
* Brenton Thwaites
Brenton Thwaites (born 10 August 1989) is an Australian actor. Beginning his career in his home country in 2011, he had a starring role on the series ''Slide'' and later appeared on the soap opera ''Home and Away''. Since moving to the United S ...
, actor
* Rhys Wakefield
Rhys Wakefield is an Australian actor and director, known for his roles in Australian TV series '' Home and Away'', the feature film ''The Black Balloon'' (2008) and in season 3 of HBO's ''True Detective'' in 2019.
Wakefield's debut feature ...
, actor
* Naomi Wenitong
Naomi Sky Wenitong (born 1982) is an Australian singer-songwriter based in Cairns, Queensland. Under the name, Nay, she is a member of hip hop group, The Last Kinection, alongside her older brother, Joel "Weno" Wenitong, and Jacob "DJ Jaytee" T ...
, member of former pop and R&B duo Shakaya
Shakaya are an Australian girl group formed in Cairns, Queensland in 2002 by Simone Stacey and Naomi Wenitong. The two met in 1999 while studying an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music course and they had both been writing individually ...
.
* Shim Jake, member of the South Korean group Enhypen
Enhypen (; ja, エンハイプン; ''Enhaipun''; stylized as ENHYPEN) is a South Korean boy band formed by Belift Lab, a joint venture between CJ ENM and Hybe Corporation, through the 2020 survival competition show '' I-Land''. The group is c ...
* Grant Patterson
Grant Patterson (born 19 May 1989) is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, his second games, he won a silver and bronze medal.
Personal
Patterson was born on 19 May 1989 and is from Cairns, Queensland. He attended ...
, Paralympic swimmer
Gallery
File:Dawn, the Esplanade, Cairns, QLD.JPG, View of the pier and Esplanade at dawn
File:Esplanade, Cairns, 2015 (02).JPG, City centre
File:Glass bottom boats & Semi sub.JPG, Glass bottom boats and a Semi submarine at Green Island, Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...
, outer Cairns
File:Jack Barnes Bicentennial Mangrove Boardwalk.jpg, Jack Barnes Bicentennial Mangrove Boardwalk
File:Great Barrier Reef Ferry.JPG, A Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...
ferry, Green Island, outer Cairns
File:Kuranda Scenic Railway Cairns.JPG, Kuranda scenic railway, Kuranda
File:Mossman River and Gorge.JPG, Mossman river and Gorge, 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 ...
, outskirts of Cairns
File:Moved Termite Mounts Mareeba.JPG, Moved termite mounds, Mareeba, Queensland
Mareeba is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Mareeba in Far North Queensland, Australia. Between 2008 and 2013, it was within the Tablelands Region. The town's name is derived from an Aboriginal word meaning ''meeting of the waters'' ...
, outskirts of Cairns
File:QLD Rescue Helicopter.JPG, Queensland rescue Helicopter, Green Island, Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...
, outskirts of Cairns
File:Marine Stingers Sign Cairns.JPG, Marine stingers sign, Trinity beach, Cairns
File:Hastings Reef.jpg, Hastings Reef
Cairns-copperlode.JPG, City landscape
See also
Notes
References
External links
Cairns City Council Website
University of Queensland: Queensland Places: Cairns
Cairns Local Information Website
Watch historical footage of Cairns and Far North Queensland
from the National Film and Sound Archive
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...
of Australia's collection.
Cairns
– Tourism Australia
*
* Freeman, Jennifer
The Collinson Index
State Library of Queensland
The State Library of Queensland is the main reference and research library provided to the people of the State of Queensland, Australia, by the state government. Its legislative basis is provided by the Queensland Libraries Act 1988. It contai ...
log post, 2 September 2011
{{Authority control
1876 establishments in Australia
Cairns Region
Coastal cities in Australia
Fishing communities in Australia
Populated places established in 1876
Port cities in Queensland
Queensland in World War II