The Shire of Walsh was a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia, located to the south-west of the town Cairns.

History

The

Woothakata Division #REDIRECT 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 ...

, based in the mining town of Thornborough on the Hodginson goldfield, was created on 11 November 1879 as one of 74 divisions around Queensland under the ''Divisional Boards Act 1879''. On 15 May 1889, the tin-mining area at Stannary Hills and

Irvinebank Irvinebank is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Irvinebank had a population of 125 people. Geography The Great Dividing Range forms the south-eastern and southern boundary of the ...

and its hinterland in and around the

Walsh River The Walsh River is a river located on the Cape York Peninsula of Far North Queensland, Australia. The headwaters of the river rise in the locality of Watsonville on the Atherton Tableland approximately north of Herberton and then flow in a ...

(an area of 4110 sq miles) were severed from Woothakata Division to create Walsh Division. It takes its name from the Walsh River, which, in turn, was named after

William Henry Walsh William Henry Walsh (18 December 1823 – 5 April 1888) was an Australian pioneer pastoralist or squatter and politician in early Queensland. He was a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1859-1859, Member of the Queensland Leg ...

, a pastoralist and the Queensland Parliamentary Secretary for Public Works (1870-1873). With the passage of the ''Local Authorities Act 1902'', the Walsh Division became the Shire of Walsh on 31 March 1903. On 16 December 1908, a small part of

Shire of Woothakata 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 fr ...

was transferred to the Shire of Walsh, which was then split with one part being proclaimed the new Shire of Chillagoe, based at

Chillagoe Chillagoe is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Chillagoe had a population of 251 people. It was once a thriving mining town for a range of minerals, but is now reduced to a small z ...

. In 1927, the offices of the Walsh Shire were in

. On 25 June 1932, the Shires of Walsh and

merged into the Shire of Woothakata, which was renamed 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 f ...

on 20 December 1947.

Chairmen

* 1897: S. Bennett * 1908: Thomas Martin Delugar * 1927: J. O'Keefe

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh Shire Former local government areas of Queensland 1932 disestablishments in Australia