Kuranda is a rural town and

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

on the

Atherton Tableland The Atherton Tableland is a fertile plateau, which is part of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia. It has very deep, rich basaltic soils and the main industry is agriculture. The principal river flowing across the plateau is the B ...

in the

Shire of Mareeba The Shire of Mareeba is a Local government in Australia, local government area at the base of Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, inland from Cairns, Queensland, Cairns. The shire, administered from the town of Mareeba, Queensland, Mare ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. It is from

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

, via the

Kuranda Range road The Kuranda Range road is an informally named section of the Kennedy Highway in Queensland, Australia. The road traverses the Macalister Range near Cairns (). The section of road connects Smithfield, a suburb of Cairns in the Cairns Region w ...

. It is surrounded by tropical rainforest and adjacent to 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 ...

World Heritage listed

Barron Gorge National Park Barron Gorge National Park is a protected area in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It lies predominantly within the locality of Barron Gorge. Geography The park is 1,404 km northwest of Brisbane and from Kuranda. Barron Gorg ...

. In the , the locality of Kuranda had a population of 3,273 people. The town of Myola is also located within the locality of Kuranda ().

Geography

Kuranda is positioned on the eastern edge of the

where the Barron River begins a steep descent to its coastal floodplain. The area is an important

wildlife corridor A wildlife corridor, also known as a habitat corridor, or green corridor, is a designated area habitat (ecology), that connects wildlife populations that have been separated by human activities or structures, such as development, roads, or land ...

between the Daintree/ Carbine Tableland area in the north and Lamb Range/Atherton Tableland in the south, two centres of

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

. Parts of Kuranda, particularly along its eastern edge, are protected within the

Kuranda National Park Kuranda National Park is a national park in Far North Queensland, Australia. Like many national parks in the area it belongs to the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. The park protects an important wildlife corridor in which rainforest and open ...

and

. Both national parks belong to 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 ...

. Barron Gorge Forest Reserve and Formatine Forest Reserve have been established in the south of Kuranda. Closer to the centre of the town is Jumrum Creek Conservation Park where a near threatened, endemic frog species Ranoidea myola is protected. An elongated dam created by a weir built for a power station was constructed in 1935 and is used to today for recreation. Myola is in the north of the locality beside the Barron River, upstream from the town of Kuranda. The climate of Kuranda is

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southeast Florida, United States ...

History

The rainforest around Kuranda has been home to the

Djabugay people The Djabugay people (also known as Djabuganydji or Tjapukai) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people who are the original inhabitants of mountains, gorges, lands and waters of a richly forested part of the Great Dividing Range including ...

for over 10,000 years. Europeans began to explore and develop the area from the nineteenth century. The Speewah massacre occurred in the mid-1890s, when settler

John Atherton John Atherton (1598 – 5 December 1640) was the Anglican Bishop of Waterford and Lismore in the Church of Ireland. He and John Childe (his steward and tithe proctor) were both tried and executed for buggery in 1640. Life and death Early li ...

sent native troopers as revenge for the death of a bullock. The name ''Kuranda'' is derived from Yindinji word, ''kuran'' referring to the acorn leafed plant ('' Helmholtzia acorifolia'').

Djabugay The Djabugay people (also known as Djabuganydji or Tjapukai) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people who are the original inhabitants of mountains, gorges, lands and waters of a richly forested part of the Great Dividing Range including ...

(also known as Djabuganjdji, Tjupakai) is a language of Far North Queensland, particularly the area around the Kuranda Range and Barron River Catchment. The Djabugay language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of

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. ...

. The name ''Myola'' comes from its railway station, which was named on 15 December 1891 by the

Queensland Railways Department Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Queensland Rail is owned by the Queensland Government, and operates both suburban and interurban rail services in South East Queensland, as well as long-distance passenger t ...

using an Aboriginal word indicating ''main camp'' or ''elders' camp''. Kuranda was first settled in 1885 and surveyed by Thomas Behan in 1888. Construction of the railway from

to Myola (later Cairns 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 895 people. Geography Herberton is on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland. It is situate ...

) began in 1887 and the line reached Kuranda in 1891. The current railway station was completed in 1915. Kuranda Post Office opened on 25 June 1891 (a Middle Crossing

receiving office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

had been open from 1888). Kuranda State School opened on 24 October 1892. It was renamed Kuranda District State School on 8 July 2002. It was at 14-22 Arara Street (). In 2007, it was amalgamated with Kuranda District State High School to create Kuranda District State College at the Myola site. Kuranda District State School's website was archived. The Arara Street site was purchased by the Mareeba Shire Council (now the Tablelands Regional Council) to redevelop as community facilities. Between 1912 and 1913

Eric Mjöberg Eric Georg Mjöberg (6 August 1882 – 8 July 1938) was a Swedish Zoology, zoologist and Ethnography, ethnographer who led the first Swedish scientific expeditions to Australia in the early 1900s, and worked in Indonesia. The plant ''Vaccinium ...

lead an expedition to Queensland in which the Kuranda Aboriginal people were observed. Although coffee was grown around Kuranda in the early twentieth century, timber was the town's primary industry for a number of years. Kuranda has been known as a tourist destination since the early 1900s. It was both the rainforest and local Aboriginal culture which attracted people to the area. St Saviour's Anglican Church was built in 1915. Its colourful glass windows were added in 2002. Queensland State Archives 1244 The Gardens Fairyland Kuranda NQ c 1935

Queensland State Archives 1244 The Gardens Fairyland Kuranda NQ c 1935

In the 1930s, the Fairyland Tea Gardens were developed as a tourist attraction to experience the local rainforest. Clohesy River Provisional School opened on 21 August 1933 and closed in 1939. The

Barron Gorge Hydroelectric Power Station The Barron Gorge Hydroelectric Power Station (or Barron Gorge Hydro) in Queensland, Australia is an electricity power station commissioned in 1963 with a maximum capacity of . It is in the locality of Barron Gorge in the Wet Tropics World Heri ...

was built nearby in the 1960s. From the 1970s onwards, Kuranda promoted itself as the 'village in the rainforest'. The concept served two purposes. It attracted those seeking a

bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a ...

enclave in which to reside as well as a being a tourist promotional strategy. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Kuranda was popular with alternative lifestylers, a theme that still runs through the local community today. Tourism became the backbone of the local economy. Kuranda Library opened in 1996 and underwent a major refurbishment in 2015. Kuranda State High School opened on 22 January 1998 at 260 Myola Road in Myola. In 2007, Kuranda District State School and Kuranda State High School amalgamated to form Kuranda District State College, by expanding the Kuranda State High School site at Myola. Kuranda State High School's website was archived. Cairns Rudolf Steiner School opened on 29 January 2002 in Stratford in

. It subsequently relocated to Kuranda and was renamed Cairns Hinterland Steiner School. Although historically and currently Kuranda is in the

, following a rationalisation of local government areas, between 2008 and 2013 all of the Shire of Mareeba was within the

Tablelands Region The Tablelands Region is a Local government in Australia, local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia inland from the city of Cairns, Queensland, Cairns. Established in 2008, it was preceded by four previous local government areas ...

. This decision was unpopular with the residents of the shire and was reversed following a vote by residents with the reinstatement of the Shire of Mareeba on 1 January 2014. In recent times, Kuranda remains a sleepy little tourist town, renowned for its arts and

souvenir shop A gift shop or souvenir shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs, memorabilia, and other items relating to a particular topic or theme. The items sold often include coffee mugs, stuffed animals, toys, t-shirts, postcards, handmade collections ...

Demographics

In the , the locality of Kuranda had a population of 2,966 people. In the , the locality of Kuranda had a population of 3,008 people. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 14.9% of the population. 67.0% of people were born in Australia. The next most common country of birth was England at 5.7%. 80.4% of people spoke only English at home. The most common response for religion was No Religion at 39.2%. In the , the locality of Kuranda had a population of 3,273 people.

Heritage listings

Kuranda has a number of

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and human-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In ma ...

sites: *

Cairns-to-Kuranda railway line The Cairns-to-Kuranda Railway is a heritage-listed Track (rail transport), railway line from the Cairns Region to the Shire of Mareeba, both in Queensland, Australia. It commences at Redlynch, Queensland, Redlynch, a suburb of Cairns and trave ...

(operated as the

Kuranda Scenic Railway The Kuranda Scenic Railway is a tourist railway service in Australia 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 o ...

) including the

Kuranda railway station 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 A ...

Kuranda Fig Tree Avenue Kuranda Fig Tree Avenue is a heritage-listed avenue of trees at Coondoo Street, Kuranda, Shire of Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1931. It is also known as Avenue of Ficus Microcarpa and Ficus Obliqua trees. It was added to the ...

, Coondoo Street ()

Amenities

Mareeba Shire Council operate a public library in Kuranda at 18-22 Arara Street (). The Kuranda Historical Society was established in 2017 and seeks to collect and display items of historical interest relating to the Kuranda area. The Kuranda Media Association publish a monthly newspaper called "The Kuranda Paper". The Kuranda 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 the CWA Hall on the corner of Barang Street and Thongon Street. St Christopher's Catholic Church is at 20 Barang Street. It is within the Kuranda Parish of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns The Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns is 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 elevated to a diocese in 1941. It ...

and is administered from the Atherton Parish.

Education

Kuranda District State College is a government primary and secondary (Prep-12) school for boys and girls at 260 Myola Road (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 366 students with 37 teachers (33 full-time equivalent) and 32 non-teaching staff (21 full-time equivalent). It has a special education program. Cairns Hinterland Steiner School is a private primary and secondary (Prep-11) school for boys and girls at 46 Boyles Road (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 165 students with 18 teachers (17 full-time equivalent) and 17 non-teaching staff (11 full-time equivalent).

Fauna

The nocturnal frog species '' Litoria myola'' is only found in the vicinity of a few creeks near Kuranda. The area boasts a rich diversity of invertebrate fauna including Australia's largest species of mantids, phasmids, spiders, moths and butterflies all found in Kuranda.

Attractions

The

Skyrail Rainforest Cableway Skyrail Rainforest Cableway is a scenic tourist cableway running above the Barron Gorge National Park, in the Wet Tropics of Queensland’s World Heritage Area in Australia. It operates from the Smithfield terminal () in Cairns to the ...

is a scenic tourist

cableway Cable transport is a broad class of transport modes that have cables. They transport passengers and goods, often in vehicles called cable cars. The cable may be driven or passive, and items may be moved by pulling, sliding, sailing, or by driv ...

running above the

in the

’s

World Heritage Area World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritage ...

, one of the oldest tropical rainforests in the world. It operates from the Kuranda terminal at 4 Arara Street () to the Smithfield terminal in

. The

is a scenic tourist railway journey through the Barron Gorge National Park from the Kuranda railway station () to the

Cairns railway station Cairns railway station is a railway station in the Cairns CBD in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, serving the city of Cairns. The station is the terminus of the North Coast railway line from Brisbane and the terminus for the Tablel ...

. A popular day trip from Cairns is the combined railway-and-cableway round trip to Kuranda. Coondoo Street is Kuranda's main street with shops, galleries and various old and shadowy trees. St. Saviour's Anglican Church at 7 Coondoo Street () is known for its colourful glass windows. The gardens surrounding St Christopher's Catholic Church in Barang Street and the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Barron Falls Road are good locations to observe tropical birds. In the northern part of Kuranda close to Therwine Street a Japanese plane wreck can be seen in the bushes. The ''Kuranda Koala Garden'' is a small local wildlife park which keeprs koalas, wombats, kangaroos, wallabies, pademelons, bettongs, potoroos, bilbies, bandicoots, possums, gliders, frogmouth owls, freshwater crocodiles, lizards, pythons, turtles and frogs. KurandaMainSt.jpg, Coondoo Street St Saviour's Anglican Church, Kuranda, 2015.JPG, St. Saviour's Church KurandaChurch.jpg, St. Saviour's Church KurandaTownCentre.jpg, Therwine Street KurandaWreck1.jpg, Japanese plane wreck KurandaWreck2.jpg, Japanese plane wreck KurandaAdventistChurch.jpg, Adventist Church

References

External links

*
Town map of Kuranda, 1980Kuranda - Village in the Rainforest
- The Sydney Morning Herald: Traveller {{authority control Towns in Queensland Populated places in Far North Queensland 1888 establishments in Australia Populated places established in 1888 Localities in Queensland