Tully is a 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
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. It is adjacent to the
Bruce Highway
The Bruce Highway is a major highway in Queensland, Australia. Commencing in the state capital, Brisbane, it passes through areas close to the eastern coast on its way to Cairns in Far North Queensland. The route is part of the Australian Na ...
, approximately south of
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 ...
by road and north of
Townsville
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...
. At the , the population was 2,390.
Tully is perhaps best known for being one of the wettest towns in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and home to the 7.9 metre tall
Golden Gumboot
The Golden Gumboot is a competition between the Far North Queensland towns of Tully, Innisfail, and Babinda in Australia for the wettest town of Australia. These towns are located in the Wet Tropics and on land that was previously covered ...
.
The
Tully River
The Tully River is a river located in Far North Queensland, Far North Queensland, Australia.
Course and features
The Tully River rises in the Cardwell Range, part of the Great Dividing Range on the northern boundary of the Kirrama State Fores ...
(previously known as the Mackay River) was named after
Surveyor-General
A surveyor general is an official responsible for government surveying in a specific country or territory. Historically, this would often have been a military appointment, but it is now more likely to be a civilian post.
The following surveyor gen ...
William Alcock Tully
William Alcock Tully (14 March 1830 – 26 April 1905) was a Surveyor General of Queensland, (then a colony, now a state of Australia).
Early life
Tully was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of William Tully, a captain in the Royal Navy, and hi ...
in the 1870s. The town of Tully was named after the river when it was surveyed during the erection of the
sugar mill
A sugar cane mill is a factory that processes sugar cane to produce raw or white sugar.
The term is also used to refer to the equipment that crushes the sticks of sugar cane to extract the juice.
Processing
There are a number of steps in pro ...
in 1924 (although the river does not flow through the town or the locality). During the previous decade, a settlement known as Banyan had grown up on the other side of Banyan Creek.
Tully is one of the larger towns of 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 ...
. The economic base of the region is agriculture:
sugar cane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalks t ...
and
banana
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...
s are the dominant crops. The sugar cane grown at the many farms in the district is processed locally at the Tully Sugar Mill, and the
raw sugar
Brown sugar is unrefined or partially refined soft sugar.
Brown Sugar may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Brown Sugar'' (1922 film), a 1922 British silent film directed by Fred Paul
* ''Brown Sugar'' (1931 film), a 1931 ...
produced is shipped elsewhere for further refining.
History
![Cardwell Shire Council Chambers, circa 1930](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Cardwell_Shire_Council_Chambers%2C_circa_1930.jpg)
Dyirbal (also known as Djirbal) 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 Tully and
Tully River
The Tully River is a river located in Far North Queensland, Far North Queensland, Australia.
Course and features
The Tully River rises in the Cardwell Range, part of the Great Dividing Range on the northern boundary of the Kirrama State Fores ...
Catchment extending to the
Atherton Tablelands. The Dyirbal language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of
Cassowary Coast Regional Council
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 ...
and
Tablelands Regional Council
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 ...
.
The Tully River area was slowly settled once Cardwell, to the south, was established. The river was renamed in 1872 in honour of
William Alcock Tully
William Alcock Tully (14 March 1830 – 26 April 1905) was a Surveyor General of Queensland, (then a colony, now a state of Australia).
Early life
Tully was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of William Tully, a captain in the Royal Navy, and hi ...
, then under-secretary for public lands and chief commissioner of crown lands in Queensland and later
Surveyor General of Queensland
Surveyor General of Queensland is a position originally created for the colony of Queensland, now a state of Australia. The position was the most senior surveyor within the Queensland Public Service.
List of Surveyors General of Queensland
See ...
. The first settlers were the nephews of
James Tyson
James Tyson (8 April 1819 – 4 December 1898) was an Australian pastoralist. He is regarded as Australia's first self-made millionaire. His name became a byword for reticence, wealth and astute dealing.
Early life
James Tyson was born about ...
, who raised
beef cattle
Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production (as distinguished from dairy cattle, used for milk production). The meat of mature or almost mature cattle is mostly known as beef.
In beef production there are three main stages: cow-calf operat ...
. It was not until the government constructed a
sugar mill
A sugar cane mill is a factory that processes sugar cane to produce raw or white sugar.
The term is also used to refer to the equipment that crushes the sticks of sugar cane to extract the juice.
Processing
There are a number of steps in pro ...
in 1925 that the town began to develop.
Augustinian priests based in
Innisfail began to conduct Roman Catholic services in Tully in 1926.
Vicar Apostolic of Cooktown John Heavey
John Alphonsus Heavey (1868-1948) was a Roman Catholic bishop in Queensland, Australia. He was the Vicar Apostolic of Cooktown and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Cairns.
Early life
Heavey was born on 13 November 1868 in Roundwood, County Wick ...
laid the foundation stone for a church dedicated to
St Clare of Montefalco on 7 May 1926. St Clare's Catholic School was established in 1928 by the
Sisters of the Good Samaritan
The Congregation of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, colloquially known as the "Good Sams", is a Roman Catholic congregation of religious women commenced by Bede Polding, OSB, Australia’s first Catholic bishop, in Sydney in 1857. The congreg ...
. A separate Tully Parish of the Roman Catholic Vicariate Apostolic of Cooktown (now the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns) was established in 1935.
Tully was originally within the Cardwell Division, which became the Shire of Cardwell in 1903. The first headquarters for the division/shire were in older town of
Cardwell. In 1929, the decision was taken to relocate the shire council's headquarters to the newer but more populous town of Tully. The first council meeting held in Tully was on 27 June 1929. A new shire chambers was built in 1930 on the south-east corner of Bryant and Morris Streets.
Tully remained the administrative centre for the
Shire of Cardwell
The Shire of Cardwell was a local government area of Queensland. It was located on the Coral Sea coast about halfway between the cities of Cairns and Townsville. The shire, administered from the town of Tully, covered an area of , and existed a ...
, until the shire was amalgamated into 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 ...
in 2008. The regional council has its headquarters in
Innisfail.
At the , Tully had a population of 2,436,
and at the , the population was 2,390.
In 2019, Tully became the inaugural winner of a Loud Shirt Day competition to find Queensland's Loudest Town. Inspired by a local story, and facing strong competition from other regional Queensland towns, members of the community rallied together to raise $13,410 to support services provided to young people with hearing loss.
Heritage listings
Tully 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:
* 17 Mars Street:
Tully State School
* 69 Bryant Street:
Tully Court House
Climate
Owing to its strong exposure to the southeasterly
trade winds
The trade winds or easterlies are the permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisph ...
, Tully has a
tropical rainforest climate
A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical 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 southea ...
(
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
''Af''). With an average annual rainfall exceeding , and the highest-ever annual rainfall in a populated area of Australia ( in 1950), Tully is arguably the wettest town in Australia. However, a rivalry exists between Tully and the nearby town of
Babinda
Babinda is a rural town and locality in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Babinda had a population of 1,253 people.
Geography
Babinda is located south of Cairns.
The town is noted for its proximity to Queensla ...
for that title. Although Tully's average rainfall is less than that of Babinda, a giant gumboot (the "
Golden Gumboot
The Golden Gumboot is a competition between the Far North Queensland towns of Tully, Innisfail, and Babinda in Australia for the wettest town of Australia. These towns are located in the Wet Tropics and on land that was previously covered ...
") was erected in Tully in 2003, as a monument to the town's high rainfall. It also serves as a museum, documenting past floods, as well as displaying the rainfall for the current year.
Cyclone Yasi
Buildings in Tully were badly damaged by
Cyclone Yasi
Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi () was a powerful and destructive tropical cyclone that made landfall in northern Queensland, Australia in early 2011, causing major damage to the affected areas. Originating as a tropical low near Fiji on 26 Jan ...
on 3 February 2011.
According to residents, Tully was "...a scene of mass devastation". An unknown number of homes were completely destroyed as intense winds, estimated at , battered the area. Many other homes not destroyed sustained severe façade and or roof damage. As daybreak came, reports from the town stated that about 90 percent of the structures along the main avenue sustained extensive damage.
Agriculture
In March 2015, a farm at Tully tested positive for the soil-borne
Panama disease
Panama disease (or Fusarium wilt) is a plant disease that infects banana plants (''Musa'' spp.). It is a wilting disease caused by the fungus ''Fusarium oxysporum'' f. sp. ''cubense'' (Foc). The pathogen is resistant to fungicides and its cont ...
.
Follow-up testing confirmed the results. One of the strains of the disease affects all types of bananas and has previously only been detected in the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
. Harvesting continued on the property with strict protocols allowing the farm to continue to operate and distribute product without posing a threat.
Outside experts were brought in to review
Biosecurity Queensland
The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries is a department of the Queensland Government which aims to maximise the economic potential for Queensland's primary industries on a sustainable basis through strategic industrial development. The sect ...
's performance 15 February to 24 May, 2021. Their assessment credits BQ with quick and effective response which is being emulated by other countries. Thus far TR4 continues to be contained to the Tully Valley only and containment is thought to be possible as long as accidental human movement and transport in flowing water can be halted.
Amenities
The Cassowary Coast Regional Council operates the
Dorothy Jones Library at 34 Bryant Street, Tully.
The Tully 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 at 5 Plumb Street.
St Claire of Montefalco Catholic Church is at 13 Mars Street. It is within the Tully 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 ...
.
Transport
Tully Railway Station is a prominent station on the main
North Coast Railway Line, situated just over halfway between
Townsville
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...
and
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 ...
. By 10 December 1924, Tully was connected with both Townsville and
Innisfail.
Schools
Tully State High School
Tully State High School has serviced students in the Tully district (comprising
Cardwell,
Kennedy
Kennedy may refer to:
People
* John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), 35th president of the United States
* John Kennedy (Louisiana politician), (born 1951), US Senator from Louisiana
* Kennedy (surname), a family name (including a list of persons with t ...
,
Mission Beach,
Wongaling Beach
Wongaling Beach is a tropical beachside coastal town and locality in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Wongaling Beach had a population of 1,245 people.
Geography
The locality takes its name from th ...
, Tully, Feluga,
El Arish
ʻArish or el-ʻArīsh ( ar, العريش ' , ''Hrinokorura'') is the capital and largest city (with 164,830 inhabitants ) of the North Sinai Governorate of Egypt, as well as the largest city on the entire Sinai Peninsula, lying on the Mediter ...
and various other small centres) since its establishment in 1964. Tully State High School has an enrolment of approximately 630 students. As of 2016, Richard Graham is the principal of the school.
Tully State High School has been accredited as a Centre of Excellence in Mathematics, Science and Technology and is also one of only a few Reef Guardian schools. The campus is situated on extensive grounds, 38 hectares, and includes an
aquaculture
Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...
centre, a worm farm, an
arboretum
An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, man ...
, a
herd
A herd is a social group of certain animals of the same species, either wild or domestic. The form of collective animal behavior associated with this is called ''herding''. These animals are known as gregarious animals.
The term ''herd'' is ...
of cattle and several sports fields.
The high school was partially destroyed by
Cyclone Yasi
Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi () was a powerful and destructive tropical cyclone that made landfall in northern Queensland, Australia in early 2011, causing major damage to the affected areas. Originating as a tropical low near Fiji on 26 Jan ...
in 2011. B Block was completely destroyed and G Block was damaged. Both have since been rebuilt.
Tully State School
Tully State School caters to the educational needs of the town's primary school children. When erected in 1924, it was known as Banyan Provisional and has since gone through a number of name changes: Tully Provisional (1925); Tully State School (1926); Tully State Rural School (1934); Tully State Rural and High School (1951); and reverted to Tully State School in 1964. The school's current motto is "Work well and succeed".
St. Clare's Parish School
St. Clare's Catholic Primary School is a Catholic
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
.
Sport
Tully is the hometown to Indigenous boxer and 2008 Olympian,
Paul Fleming Paul Fleming may refer to:
* Paul Fleming (footballer) (born 1967), English professional footballer
*Paul Fleming (poet) (1609–1640), German poet
* Paul Fleming (boxer) (born 1988), Australian Olympic boxer
*Paul Fleming (restaurateur), American ...
.
Tully Tigers
Tully is a town and locality in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It is adjacent to the Bruce Highway, approximately south of Cairns by road and north of Townsville. At the , the population was 2,390. Tully is perhaps best kn ...
, is the local Rugby League club. One of their most famous juniors is former Cowboys forward
Peter Jones. Tully was once one of the biggest sporting hubs in Far North Queensland, but since the economic crisis has hit, they are looking for more and more ways to support their clubs.
Tully is the last place reclusive
All Black
The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...
rugby player
Keith Murdoch
Sir Keith Arthur Murdoch (12 August 1885 – 4 October 1952) was an Australian journalist, businessman and the father of Rupert Murdoch, the current Executive chairman for News Corporation and the chairman of Fox Corporation.
Early life
Murdoc ...
has been sighted.
Attractions
The
Golden Gumboot
The Golden Gumboot is a competition between the Far North Queensland towns of Tully, Innisfail, and Babinda in Australia for the wettest town of Australia. These towns are located in the Wet Tropics and on land that was previously covered ...
is in the park on corner of Butler Street and Hort Street. Built in 2003, the Gumboot is 6.1 metres long and 7. 9 metres high; the height corresponds to highest annual rainfall in a populated area of Australia, which occurred in Tully in 1950. There is an internal spiral staircase to the top of the boot which provides views of the town. A fiberglass green tree frog is climbing the side of the boot. There is a museum beside the boot with the history of the town's floods.
Military
The Australian Army's
Combat Training Centre – Jungle Training Wing (CTC-JTW), is located on the outskirts of Tully. JTW are the Australian Army’s experts in jungle warfare, their primary role is to deliver basic and advanced jungle warfare training to dismounted
Combat Team A combat team is temporary grouping of military organizations of differing types to accomplish a defined mission or objective. Usage varies between commonwealth nations, where the term applies to a sub-unit level grouping, and the United States, wh ...
sized organizations. JTW are also heavily engaged in international exercises, often providing training to regional allies as their level of expertise is highly regarded in the international military community.
See also
*
Kareeya Hydro Power Station
The Kareeya Hydro Power Station near Tully in Queensland, Australia in a hydroelectric power station that began generating power in 1957. It has a capacity of which is fed into the National Electricity Market. The power station is owned by ...
*
List of tramways in Queensland
List of tramways in Queensland provides three separate lists, each in alphabetical order of the key identifier. They are:
* Non sugar cane tramways, ordered by Tramway Name as contained in Wikipedia articles.
* Sugar cane tramways, ordered by Sug ...
References
External links
University of Queensland: Queensland Places: TullyTully Sugar Limited
{{authority control
Towns in Queensland
Populated places in Far North Queensland
Cassowary Coast Region
Localities in Queensland