Ravenshoe ( ) is a rural town and

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

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 ...

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 , Ravenshoe had a population of 1,400 people.

Geography

Ravenshoe is 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 ...

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 ...

. It is located south west of the regional centre,

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 ...

. At above sea level, Ravenshoe is the highest town in Queensland, with Queensland's highest pub "The Ravenshoe Hotel" (formerly the "Tully Falls Hotel" until 2014) and highest railway station. It also has the

Millstream Falls The Millstream Falls ( Aboriginal: ''Yindinji''), a tiered plunge waterfall on The Millstream, is located in the UNESCO World Heritagelisted Wet Tropics in the Far North region of Queensland, Australia. Location and features The Millstream ...

, the widest waterfall in Australia. Traditionally the main industry in Ravenshoe was timber, but since 1987, when the government made of surrounding rainforest world heritage listed, the main industries have been tourism, beef and dairy farming.

History

StateLibQld 2 293691 Lumber yards at a Ravenshoe sawmill, 1934

The traditional owners of the land in the Ravenshoe district are the Jirrbal people who speak a dialect of the

Dyirbal language Dyirbal (also ''Djirubal'') is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken in northeast Queensland by the Dyirbal people. In 2016, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that there were 8 speakers of the language. It is a member of the sm ...

. The site of the present day Ravenshoe was first settled by

pastoralists Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as "livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The animal s ...

prior to 1881 but when stands of red cedar (''

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 (also ...

'') trees were found at nearby Cedar Creek, the mining entrepreneur, John Moffat purchased the pastoral properties in 1897. A village called Cedar Creek was established. By 1910, the nearby mining town of

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 ...

has been connected by railway to

and Cedar Creek had been renamed Ravenshoe. The name is supposed to have been chosen because a copy of

Henry Kingsley Henry Kingsley (2 January 1830 – 24 May 1876) was an English novelist, brother of the better-known Charles Kingsley. He was an early exponent of muscular Christianity in an 1859 work, ''The Recollections of Geoffry Hamlyn''. Life Kingsley wa ...

's novel '' Ravenshoe'' was found discarded nearby. Ravenshoe State School opened on 5 February 1912. It expanded to offer secondary schooling on 3 February 1958. By 1912, Ravenshoe had a store, a school, the Club Hotel and a population of 1,000 people. The timber industry was by now supplying Queensland maple (''

Flindersia brayleyana ''Flindersia brayleyana'', commonly known as Queensland maple, maple silkwood or red beech, is a species of tree in the family Rutaceae and is Endemism, endemic to northern Queensland. It has Pinnation, pinnate leaves with between six and ten l ...

''), oak ('' Argyrodendron peralatum'') and black walnut (''

Endiandra globosa ''Endiandra globosa'' is a medium-sized Australian rainforest tree. Despite the common name of black walnut, this tree is unrelated to northern hemisphere walnuts, and is a Laurel. The black walnut is restricted to riverine rainforest. Growi ...

''). Geraldton Road State School opened on 1916. It closed on 1960. Chilverton State School opened on 31 July 1916. It closed on 1 July 1956. On 11 December 1916 Ravenshoe was finally connected with Cairns by the

Tablelands railway line The Tablelands railway line is a railway line in North Queensland, Australia. It was opened in a series of sections between 1887 and 1916. It commences at Cairns and at its maximum extent, reached Ravenshoe at the southern end of the A ...

. Horse Shoe Bend State School opened in 1917. It closed in 1925 due to low student numbers. The school reopened in 1929 and closed in 1952. Vine Creek State School opened on 10 September 1936. It closed on 16 August 1945. The school was at 620 Tully Falls Road (). Roads connected Ravenshoe with Atherton and Innisfail by 1936 and by 1949 there were three

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

s, two

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

s, two

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

s, a

guest house A guest house (also guesthouse) is a kind of lodging. In some parts of the world (such as the Caribbean), guest houses are a type of inexpensive hotel-like lodging. In others, it is a private home that has been converted for the exclusive use o ...

and two

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

es. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as part of the Atherton Project, tent encampments were established by 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 ...

( 6th and

7th 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube (algebra), cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion ...

Divisions) near Ravenshoe, Wondecla and Wongabel. The Ravenshoe Parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns was established in 1949. St Teresa's Catholic School was established in 1950 by the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...

. The single-room school building was the former Catholic Church at Irvinebank which was relocated to Ravenshoe. On opening there were 60 children enrolled from Years 1 through 7. In 1978 the Sisters of Mercy ended their role in the school, being replaced by

lay Lay may refer to: Places *Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada *Lay, Loire, a French commune *Lay (river), France *Lay, Iran, a village *Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community People * Lay (surname) * ...

teachers. St Barnabas' School was established in 1953 by the Bush Brotherhood of St Barnabas.

Reginald Halse Sir Reginald Charles Halse KBE CMG (16 June 1881 – 9 August 1962) was the Bishop of Riverina from 1925 to 1943 and then Archbishop of Brisbane until his death in 1962. Halse was educated at St Paul's School, London and Brasenose College, O ...

Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane The Archbishop of Brisbane is the diocesan bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane, Australia, and ''ex officio'' metropolitan bishop In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (al ...

unveiled a plaque on 27 September 1952 to mark the site of the new school, a block of land in anticipation of the school offering agricultural subjects. It closed on 31 October 1990. In 1992, the

Queensland Education Department The Department of Education is a ministerial department of the Queensland Government responsible for the administration and quality of education in Queensland, Australia. The department is composed of two separate portfolios, Education Queen ...

purchased St Barnabas' to establish a separate secondary campus for Ravenshoe State School. Tully Falls State School opened on 9 August 1953. It closed on 31 December 1955. The railway service from Atherton to Ravenshoe closed in 1988, following the designation of 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 ...

as a

UNESCO World Heritage Site 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 ...

. The Ravenshoe Library opened in 1992 and had a major refurbishment in 2017. At the , the town of Ravenshoe had a population of 860. This figure refers to the immediate township area only. The locality has a population of 1,442.

2015 cafe explosion

Ravenshoe became national news after a vehicle ran into a gas cylinder at the Grigg Street 'Serves You Right Cafe' on 9 June 2015. In the resulting explosion and fire 20 people were hospitalised, 8 critically injured. Two people, the manager of the cafe and an 82-year-old Silver Valley resident, later died from their burns. there were still 7 people listed as critical with burn injuries. Five of them were females aged 43, 51, 59 and 75, and three males aged 56, 59 and 69. All were treated in

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 ...

, while the driver of the vehicle that caused the explosion, with a broken spine and burns, was also listed as critical and treated in

Attractions

Natural attractions

Ravenshoe is located close to waterfalls, crater lakes, swamps, water holes, rainforests and historical landmarks. There is also a diverse variety of plants and animals, including 12 species of possum, 8 species of kangaroo and abundant bird life. In 2005,

Malaan National Park Maalan National Park is a national park in the Tablelands Region of Far North Queensland, Australia. There are two sections to the park. The largest section occupies the western third of Beatrice and the eastern fringe of Ravenshoe on the Athert ...

was declared over forests which were previously known as Dirran State Forest.

Bushwalking

Misty Mountain Wilderness trails are a network of extensive walking tracks that traverse

Tully Gorge National Park Tully Gorge is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 1,338 km northwest of Brisbane. The park forms part of the Wooroonooran Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because it supports populations of a range ...

and

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 ...

. There are bushwalks to the

as well as Little Millstream Falls.

Steam railway

From time to time, a steam train runs between Ravenshoe and the nearby town of Tumoulin, carrying locals and tourists to and from the local markets.

Other attractions

Ravenshoe has a number of galleries and creative industries, reflecting the nature of the locals. The

Windy Hill Wind Farm Windy Hill Wind Farm is a wind power station near Ravenshoe on the Atherton Tableland, Queensland, Australia. It has 20 wind turbines with a generating capacity of 12 MW of electricity, providing enough power for about 3,500 homes. The c ...

owned by Queensland Government's Transfield Services Infrastructure Fund (together with the Koombooloomba hydroelectric dam) generates enough electricity to power several towns.

Amenities

Ravenshoe has a butcher, bakery, an IGA supermarket, Cornetts Supermarket, two cafes, several craft shops, a Vinnies op-shop, a post office, a medical centre, a newsagency, a

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

, a Home hardware store, two

pubs A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, two tyre shops, two salons, four fuel outlets, two caravan parks, a

laundromat A self-service laundry, coin laundry, laundromat, or coin wash is a facility where clothes are washed and dried without much personalized professional help. They are known in the United Kingdom as launderettes or laundrettes, and in the Unit ...

Bendigo Bank Bendigo and Adelaide Bank is an Australian financial institution, operating primarily in retail banking. The company was formed by the merger of Bendigo Bank and Adelaide Bank in November 2007. Before the merger, Bendigo Bank delivered its pr ...

and

National Australia Bank National Australia Bank (abbreviated NAB, branded nab) is one of the four largest financial institutions in Australia (colloquially referred to as "The Big Four") in terms of market capitalisation, earnings and customers. NAB was ranked 21st-la ...

branches, two real estate agencies and three schools and a community kindergarten. The Ravenshoe Millstream Country Club has a 9-hole golf course which is claimed to be the highest golf club in Queensland. Camping and caravan accommodation are available on site, for casual golfers. The Tablelands Regional Council operate a public library at 24 Moore Street. The Ravenshoe 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 15 Herbert Street. St Teresa of the Child Jesus Catholic Church is at 2 Moffatt Street. It is within the Ravenshoe 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 ...

which is administered from the Malanda Parish.

Education

Ravenshoe State School is a government primary and secondary (Prep-12) school for boys and girls. In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 420 students with 46 teachers (41 full-time equivalent) and 34 non-teaching staff (23 full-time equivalent). The school has two campuses; a primary (Prep-6) campus at Ascham Street () and a secondary (7–12) campus at Moore Street (). It includes a

special education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

program operating at the Moore Street campus. St Teresa's School is a Catholic primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 6 Moffatt Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 103 students with 12 teachers (9 full-time equivalent) and 10 non-teaching staff (5 full-time equivalent).

References

External links

*
Town map of Ravenshoe, 1972Tablelands siteVisitors Centre
{{authority control Towns in Queensland Populated places in Far North Queensland Tablelands Region Localities in Queensland