Macalister Range is a coastal

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

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. ...

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. In the , Maclister Range had no population.

Geography

As the name suggests, Macalister Range is a long narrow mountainous locality containing the mountain range of the same name. The north of the locality extends to 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 ...

, but the bulk of the locality sits as the backdrop to Cairns' Northern Suburbs on the coastal plain. Therefore the locality ranges from 0 metres above sea level (at the Coral Sea) through to 630 metres at Saddle Mountain with the bulk of the locality at altitudes of 200–400 metres. The locality consists mainly of undeveloped heavily forested land, most of which is within two national parks. At the far north of the locality, the land is within the

Macalister Range National Park Macalister Range National Park is a Protected areas of Queensland, protected area of Queensland in Australia. It is within the locality of Wangetti, Queensland, Wangetti in the Shire of Douglas and within the Macalister Range, Queensland, Macalist ...

while the bulk of the remainder is 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 ...

. There is a small area of freehold land immediately west of Palm Cove, which is undeveloped. There are also some small areas reserved for other purposes by the Queensland Government, such as the Kuranda State Forest. There is no public access to the Macalister Range National Park as it protects important cassowary habitat and, although there is limited access to Kuranda National Park, the protected area mostly occurs outside of the locality of Macalister Range. Looking Down From Skyrail

The only roads in Macalister are not to provide access to the locality but to connect areas outside the locality. 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 ...

runs along the coastline at the Coral Sea in the far north of the locality, while 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, Queensland, Smithfield, a suburb of Cairns ...

(the unofficial name of a segment of 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 ...

) connects the suburb of Smithfield in Cairns with Kuranda 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 ...

in the

Shire of Mareeba The Shire of Mareeba is a local government area at the base of Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, inland from Cairns. The shire, administered from the town of Mareeba, covered an area of , and existed as a local government entity from ...

. 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 ...

passes over the southern end of Macalister Range; it commences at Smithfield on the coastal plain up to Barron Gorge and then to Kuranda.

History

Irukandji (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 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. ...

. The locality takes its name from the mountain range, which was in turn named after

Arthur Macalister Arthur Macalister, (18 January 1818 – 23 March 1883) was three times Premier of Queensland, Australia. Early life Macalister was born in Glasgow, Scotland, son of John Macalister, a cabinet maker, and his wife Mary, ''née'' Scoullar. M ...

, the Premier of Queensland from 1866 to 1867 and from 1874 to 1876.

References

External links

{{Cairns Region Cairns Region Coastline of Queensland Localities in Queensland