Mena Creek is a rural

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

Cassowary Coast Region The Cassowary Coast Region is a local government area in the Far North Queensland region of Queensland, Australia, south of Cairns and centred on the towns of Innisfail, Cardwell and Tully. It was created in 2008 from a merger of the Shire ...

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 , Mena Creek had a population of 244 people.

History

H. A. Noone an Irish resident of North Queensland since 1888 always had his eyes open for good timber for his saw mills, and just before 1900 his eyes turned towards Stewarts Creek (now Mena Creek) just 12 miles from Geraldton (now Innisfail). He saw that the area had huge stands of red cedar and would be a good area for cane farming. H. A. Noone realised that a single block had limited chance of survey and Government approval, so he formed a Settlement Group of 40 blocks of 160 acres and persuaded people to apply for the blocks. The authorities were impressed and the area was quickly surveyed and all 40 blocks were claimed. Then in a few years many farms in the area were cleared and H. A. began to focus on where to mill the sugar. The locality took its name from the nearby creek, which in turn acquired its name from two possible origins: * after local resident, (Philomena) ''Mena'' Fallon (née Noone) the youngest daughter of H. A. Noone a local cane farmer, who was the original settler in that area from around 1900. He encouraged settlement in the area, and built the first hotel there. The area was originally called Stewarts Creek but changed its name to Mena Creek due to confusion with Stewarts Creek in Townsville. With the need for a post office as the area developed, and mail confusion, Harry Noone had letterheads for Mena Creek created and after much haggling his request for Mena Creek was granted. * ''Mena'' Camp, Cairo, Egypt, near the Mena House Hotel, where the

First Australian Imperial Force The First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF) was the main expeditionary force of the Australian Army during the First World War. It was formed as the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) following Britain's declaration of war on Germany on 15 Aug ...

had a training camp from December 1914 to April 1915 in preparation for the ANZAC landing at

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

Mena Creek State School opened on 15 March 1920. Mena Creek Post Office opened on 10 February 1934. In the , Mena Creek had a population of 244 people.

Heritage listings

Mena Creek 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: * Mena Creek-Jappoon Road:

Paronella Park Paronella Park is a heritage-listed tourist attraction located at Mena Creek, Queensland, Australia, south of Cairns. It was designed and built between 1929 and 1935. History Paronella Park was built in the 1930s by José Paronella (ca.188 ...

Education

Mena Creek State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at Mena Creek Road (). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 38 students with 3 teachers (2 full-time equivalent) and 3 non-teaching staff (2 full-time equivalent). There is no secondary school in Mena Creek. The nearest secondary school is

Innisfail State College Innisfail State College is a government secondary school and technical college in Innisfail Estate, a suburb of Innisfail, Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It is a combined secondary school and TAFE facility which opened in 2010 ...

in Innisfail Estate to the north-east.

References

{{authority control Towns in Queensland Cassowary Coast Region Localities in Queensland