Goldsborough is a

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

in 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. H ...

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 , establishe ...

, Australia. In the , Goldsborough had a population of 929 people.

Geography

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 . Locatio ...

flows from the south to the north-east of the locality, forming its northern boundary. The river which is at 20–60 metres above sea level forms a north–south valley through the locality with mountainous land rising on the east (to an unnamed peak of 560 metres) and to Mount Mac (just beyond the locality's western boundary at 900 metres). The most northerly part of the locality is somewhat lower (100–140 metres above sea level) and is freehold, containing the residential component of the locality and some agriculture use. Further south, the land to the west of the Mulgrave River is freehold but is mostly undeveloped apart from some residential and agriculture use along the river, while the land to the east of the river is undeveloped and forms part of the

Wooroonooran National Park Wooroonooran National Park (Aboriginal for "Black Rock") is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 1,367 km northwest of Brisbane, between Innisfail and Cairns. The park is one of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area series of national p ...

, which is part of the

Wet Tropics World Heritage Area 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 ...

. Road access into Goldsborough is via the

Gillies Range Road 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 ...

which passes through neighbouring Little Mulgrave to the north of the locality. There is road access to the areas using for housing and agriculture, but beyond that there are only a few tracks through the mountainous terrain.

History

The Goldsborough Valley is the traditional country of the Dulabed Malanbarra Yidinji speaking clan, part of the

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 ...

. In 1879, W Diecke discovered gold near the Mulgrave River resulting in a goldrush for a few years. Alluvial gold was found in the Mulgrave River and its tributaries, the Toohey and Butcher Creeks. Two settlements formed, one called Top Camp on Butcher Creek and the other called Lower Camp or Fanning Town on Toohey Creek. Fanning Town was named after police magistrate Major Matthew Patrick Boyle Fanning but was later renamed Goldsborough. The Mulgrave goldfield yielded 3894 ounces of gold between 1879 and 1886, and by the early 1990s no more gold was found and many storekeepers in the settlements moved to the better located Gordonvale. As a result of the gold rush, large quantities of valuable red cedar trees (''

Toona ciliata ''Toona ciliata'' is a forest tree in the mahogany family which grows throughout southern Asia from Afghanistan to Papua New Guinea and Australia. Names It is commonly known as the red cedar (a name shared by other trees), toon or toona (al ...

'') were found in the forests, attracting

loggers Lumberjacks are mostly North American workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to loggers in the era (before 1945 in the Unite ...

in the 1880s. By the early 1890s little red cedar remained in the area. Some farmers and graziers were also attracted into the area including grazier Frank Kearney after whom

Kearneys Falls The Kearneys Falls is a cascade waterfall on a tributary of the Mulgrave River, in the Wooroonooran National Park, in the Goldsborough Valley of Far North region of Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Aust ...

and Kearneys Flat were named.

Education

There are no schools in Goldsborough but there are primary and secondary schools in neighbouring Gordonvale.

Amenities

Goldsborough Community Church is at 10-12 Aitken Close (). It is part of the Wesleyan Methodist Church.

References

External links

{{Cairns Region Cairns Region Localities in Queensland