Watsonville 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

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 ...

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 , establishe ...

, Australia. In the Watsonville had a population of 191 people.

Geography

Watsonville is south-west of Cairns via 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 Nat ...

Gillies Range Road The Gillies Highway is a road that runs from Gordonvale in the Cairns Region through the Gillies Range (part of the Great Dividing Range) to Atherton in the Tablelands Region, both in Queensland, Australia. It is also known as the Gillies Ra ...

, State Route 25 (bypassing Atherton) and the Herberton Petford Road. From further west it can be accessed from the

Burke Developmental Road The Burke Developmental Road is a Queensland (Australia) developmental road. It links Cloncurry and Normanton in a south–north direction, then turns to the north-east north of Normanton for before turning south-east till Dimbulah, where it ...

at Petford. The locality is bounded to the east and south by the Great Dividing Range with a number of named peaks within the locality: * Cave Hill () * Lion Mountain () * Mount Empress () * Rocky Bluff () * Specimen Hill () * Wallum () * Western Hill ()

History

Watsonville is a former mining town. The town was named after Robert H. Watson, a tin prospector, who discovered a local deposit on 19 February 1881. The town was surveyed by William J. White on 9 March 1882. Watsonville State School opened circa 1882 and closed circa 1943. It was located on the block surrounded by Ann, Mary, Ethel and Edith Streets (). Although historically and currently Watsonville is with the Shire of Mareeba, between 2008 and 2013 Watsonville (and all other parts of the Shire of Mareeba) was within 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 ...

, an unpopular decision that was reversed in 2014. At the Watsonville recorded a population of 344. In the Watsonville had a population of 191 people.

Heritage listings

Watsonville has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * north-west of Watsonville: Rocky Bluff Battery and Township

Education

There are no schools in Watsonville. The nearest government primary schools are Herberton State School in neighbouring

Moomin The Moomins ( sv, Mumintroll) are the central characters in a series of novels, short stories, and a comic strip by Finnish writer and illustrator Tove Jansson, originally published in Swedish by Schildts in Finland. They are a family of white ...

to the south-east, Atherton State School in neighbouring Atherton to the north-east, and

Irvinebank State School Irvinebank State School is a heritage-listed state school at High Street, Irvinebank, Queensland, Irvinebank, Shire of Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Robert Ferguson (architect), Robert and John Ferguson (architect), John Fe ...

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 ...

to the south-west. The nearest government secondary schools are Herbert State School (to Year 10) in

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 ...

to the south-east and Atherton State High School in Atherton. However, for some students, these schools may be too distant in which case

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

and boarding school are options.

Attractions

Watsonville Pioneer Cemetery is on Watsonville Cemetery Access Road to the north-west of the town ().

References

External links

* * {{authority control Towns in Queensland Shire of Mareeba Localities in Queensland