Mareeba 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 ...

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 Co ...

, Australia. Between 2008 and 2013, it 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 ...

. The town's name is derived from an Aboriginal word meaning ''meeting of the waters''.

Geography

The town is above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...

on the confluence of the Barron River, Granite Creek and Emerald Creek. The town's main street is the

Mulligan Highway The Mulligan Highway is a state highway in Queensland, Australia. It runs for approximately 266 km between Mareeba and Cooktown, on the east coast of Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Q ...

which branches off from the

Kennedy Highway The Kennedy Highway is a highway in northern Queensland, Australia. It runs as National Route 1 for approximately 243 km from Smithfield, on the northern outskirts of Cairns, to the Gulf Developmental Road in the vicinity of Forty Mile S ...

when coming in from Cairns (63.3 km; 40 miles) away passing localities such as Speewah, Kuranda and Barron Gorge. The Tablelands railway line enters the locality from the north ( Biboohra), passes through the town, and exits to the west (

Chewko Chewko is a rural locality in the Shire of Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. In the Chewko had a population of 194 people. Geography Chewko has the following mountains: * Mount Abbot () * Mount Aunt () * Mount Uncle () Chewko railway stati ...

). The locality is served by the following railway stations (from north to south): * Floreat railway station, now abandoned () * Mareeba railway station () * Turkinje railway station, now abandoned () The

Lotus Glen Correctional Centre Lotus Glen Correctional Centre is an Australian prison facility located 14 km south of Mareeba and 20 km north of Atherton in the locality of Arriga in Far North Queensland. Lotus Glen provides a correctional service for high, medi ...

is located in Arriga, 14 km; 9 miles outside Mareeba.

History

Prior to European settlement, the area around Mareeba was inhabited by the

Muluridji people The Muluridji are an indigenous Australian people of the state of Queensland. Country The Muluridji had an estimated (Norman Tindale) of territory, starting from the headwaters of the Mitchell River northwards as far as Mount Carbine. The east ...

. They maintained a hunter/gatherer existence in the area between Mount Carbine, Mareeba, Rumula (near Julatten) and Woodville (near

Canoona Canoona is a rural locality in the Livingstone Shire, Queensland, Australia. In the , Canoona had a population of 81 people. It was the site of the first North Australian gold rush. Geography The Fitzroy River forms the southern boundary of t ...

), mainly concentrated between Biboohra and

Mount Molloy Mount Molloy is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Mount Molloy had a population of 254 people. It is a historic mining and timber town, north of Cairns in Queensland, Australia. ...

. In the local Aboriginal language, Mareeba means meeting of the waters - referring to the point at which the Barron River is joined by Granite Creek. On 26 May 1875 James Venture Mulligan became the first European officially to see the future site of Mareeba when he rode up the eastern bank of the Barron River, and passed the junctions of Emerald Creek and Granite Creek. The Mareeba area was first settled by Europeans in 1877 by

John Atherton John Atherton (1598 – 5 December 1640) was the Anglican Bishop of Waterford and Lismore in the Church of Ireland. He and John Childe (his steward and tithe proctor) were both tried and executed for buggery in 1640. Life and death Early l ...

, who arrived with cattle at Emerald End, which is just north of the town today. Mareeba quickly became a busy coach stop for

Cobb & Co Cobb & Co was the name used by many successful sometimes quite independent Australian coaching businesses. The first was established in 1853 by American Freeman Cobb and his partners. The name Cobb & Co grew to great prominence in the late 19th ...

on the road from

Port Douglas Port Douglas is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Douglas, Queensland, Australia, approximately 60 km north of Cairns. In the , Port Douglas had a population of 3,504 people. The town's population can often double, however, with the 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 situat ...

. When the

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

arrived in 1893, Mareeba grew into a busy town. Mareeba Post Office opened on 25 August 1893 (a

receiving office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional se ...

named Granite Creek had been open from 1891). A Mareeba Diggings Post Office opened by 1893 and closed in 1905. Mareeba State School opened on 28 August 1893. St Thomas of Villanova Catholic School opened on 1 January 1909. St Thomas' celebrated their centenary in 2009. The Mareeba parish of the Roman Catholic Vicariate Apostolic of Cooktown (now the Roman Catholic Diocee of Cairns) was established in 1911. From 1942 to 1945 during

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, up to 10,000 Australian and US service personnel used Mareeba Airfield as a staging post for battles in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...

and the

South West Pacific theatre The South West Pacific theatre, during World War II, was a major theatre of the war between the Allies and the Axis. It included the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies (except for Sumatra), Borneo, Australia and its mandate Territory of ...

. The Americans referred to it as Hoevet Field in honour of Major Dean Carol "Pinky" Hoevet who was killed on 16 August 1942. Units that were based at Mareeba included No. 5 Squadron of the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

(RAAF),

No. 100 Squadron RAAF No. 100 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) historic aircraft display squadron. It was originally formed as a bomber and maritime patrol squadron that operated during World War II. Raised in early 1942 from the remnants of a British ...

, the Australian 33rd Light Anti-Aircraft Battery, the 19th Bomb Group of the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

( USAAF), the 43rd Bomb Group USAAF and the 8th Fighter Group USAAF. For a period of two years during World War II, Mareeba State School was taken over by the army, so St Thomas’ Catholic School accommodated the entire school population of Mareeba. Mareeba Library opened in 1958. It underwent a major refurbishment in 1985.

Mareeba State High School Mareeba State High School is a school in Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. It currently has 730 students across the six grades and was established in 1960. Currently Scott Whybird is the principal. Mareeba State High School consists of four di ...

opened on 25 January 1960. Mareeba is also home to an

Albanian Australian Albanian Australians ( sq, Shqiptarë Australian) are residents of Australia who have Albanian heritage or descent; many are from Albania and North Macedonia but some are from Kosovo, Montenegro, Greece, Turkey, Bosnia and Italy. Albanian Austr ...

community that dates from the interwar period. Built by local Albanian Australians, the

Mareeba Mosque The Mareeba Mosque, officially known as the Mareeba and District Memorial Mosque, is a mosque located in Mareeba, a rural town in Queensland, Australia. The building contains a minaret, and an adjacent hall used for community functions that h ...

was opened on

Anzac Day , image = Dawn service gnangarra 03.jpg , caption = Anzac Day Dawn Service at Kings Park, Western Australia, 25 April 2009, 94th anniversary. , observedby = Australia Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Cook Islands Ne ...

, 1970 and is dedicated to Australian soldiers who lost their lives in war. On 24 January 2006 St Stephen's Catholic College opened after a nearly 10-year approval process regarding the provision of Catholic secondary education. At the 2006 census, Mareeba had a population of 6,806. In the 2011 census, Mareeba had a population of 10,181 people. In October 2011, most of the land (209 hectares; 516 acres) of the former state farm / research station at Kairi was sold by the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended f ...

, retaining only 26 hectares (65 acres). The sale of the land was to fund the establishment of the Agri-Science Hub at Peters Street in Mareeba. The hub focusses on agricultural research and development, together with education and training.

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairn ...

is a partner of the hub, researching

tropical agriculture Worldwide more human beings gain their livelihood from agriculture than any other endeavor; the majority are self-employed subsistence farmers living in the tropics. While growing food for local consumption is the core of tropical agriculture, ...

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 ...

and

biosecurity Biosecurity refers to measures aimed at preventing the introduction and/or spread of harmful organisms (e.g. viruses, bacteria, etc.) to animals and plants in order to minimize the risk of transmission of infectious disease. In agriculture, ...

. The hub opened on 16 December 2011. According to the , Mareeba includes the largest

Italian Australian Italian Australians ( it, Italiani Australiani) are Australians with Italian ancestry. Italian Australians constitute the sixth largest ancestry group in Australia, and one of the largest groups in the global Italian diaspora. At the 2021 ce ...

community of any suburb in Queensland, numbering 1,608 individuals and making up 10.8% of the town's population.

Heritage listings

Mareeba 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 i ...

sites, including: * 136 Walsh Street:

Mareeba Shire Hall Mareeba Shire Hall is a heritage-listed former town hall at 136 Walsh Street, Mareeba, Shire of Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Eddie Oribin and built from 1960 to 1961 by Ernest William Lepinath. It is also known as Form ...

* 167 Walsh Street:

Assay Office Assay offices are institutions set up to assay (test the purity of) precious metals. This is often done to protect consumers from buying fake items. Upon successful completion of an assay (i.e. if the metallurgical content is found be equal or bett ...

Climate

Mareeba has a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

: ''Aw''), somewhat modified by its elevation. Mareeba township's tagline reads "300 sunny days a year" because the town is in what is called a

rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is ca ...

and is sunnier than the wetter surrounding areas (such as Tully). Though despite its reputation as a sunny place, it only receives 61.8 clear days annually and 59.5 cloudy days.

Economy

Numerous

crops A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydroponi ...

are grown throughout

Mareeba Shire 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 from ...

, including

avocado The avocado (''Persea americana'') is a medium-sized, evergreen tree in the laurel family ( Lauraceae). It is native to the Americas and was first domesticated by Mesoamerican tribes more than 5,000 years ago. Then as now it was prized for ...

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in Sout ...

es,

lychee Lychee (US: ; UK: ; ''Litchi chinensis''; ) is a Monotypic taxon, monotypic taxon and the sole member in the genus ''Litchi'' in the Sapindus, soapberry family, ''Sapindaceae''. It is a tropical tree native to Southeast and Southwest China (t ...

longan ''Dimocarpus longan'', commonly known as the longan () and dragon's eye, is a tropical tree species that produces edible fruit. It is one of the better-known tropical members of the soapberry family Sapindaceae, to which the lychee and rambu ...

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 stalk ...

cashew The cashew tree (''Anacardium occidentale'') is a tropical evergreen tree native to South America in the genus ''Anacardium'' that produces the cashew seed and the cashew apple accessory fruit. The tree can grow as tall as , but the dwarf cul ...

macadamia ''Macadamia'' is a genus of four species of trees in the flowering plant family Proteaceae. They are indigenous to Australia, native to northeastern New South Wales and central and southeastern Queensland specifically. Two species of the genus ...

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", disting ...

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...

tea tree oil Tea tree oil, also known as melaleuca oil, is an essential oil with a fresh camphoraceous odor and a colour that ranges from pale yellow to nearly colourless and clear. It is derived from the leaves of the tea tree, '' Melaleuca alternifolia'', ...

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

and a variety of

vegetables Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems ...

and

tropical fruits A tropical fruit one that typically grows in warm climates, or equatorial areas. Tropical fruits Varieties of tropical fruit include: * Acerola ( West Indian Cherry or Barbados Cherry) *Ackee *Banana * Barbadine (granadilla; maracujá-açu ...

Poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for their eggs, their meat or their feathers. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes (which includes chickens, qu ...

and

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ...

are also common.

Tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

was once the main grown crop of the local economy, but is no longer grown within the Mareeba shire.

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

also contributes to the local economy.

Education

Mareeba has two primary schools, two secondary schools and a

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE (), is the common name in English-speaking countries in Oceania for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational cours ...

campus. There are also several day care centres in the town. * St Thomas of Villanova Parish School * Mareeba State School *

* St. Stephen's Catholic College * Tropical North Institute of TAFE

Health

Mareeba Hospital is in the Tablelands Health District. It provides 52 beds, with surgical, maternity, pediatric, outpatient, emergency and x-ray facilities.

Sports

Mareeba Gladiators are the local

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

team. The Gladiators participate in the Cairns District Rugby League competition. They last won the Premiership in 2007. The Mareeba United Football Club (

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

), known as the Mareeba Bulls is based at Borzi Park, Mareeba: the Bulls have dominated the local football scene for the past decade. The Bulls were Grand Final winners in 2003, premiers, Grand Final Winners and NQ Champions in 2004, FNQ premiers and NQ Champions in 2005, FNQ Grand final winners and 2006 and FNQ premier and NQ Champions in 2008. The sustained success of the Bulls has brought the title for Mareeba as 'Football Capital of North Queensland'. Then in 2009, the Mareeba Bulls entered the Queensland State League, as the FNQ Bulls, incorporating the entire FNQ Football area, being based at the Bulls home ground at Borzi Park, Mareeba. The club then returned to the FNQ premier league in 2013 after the demise of the QLD state league. In 2013 they exited the QSL to focus back on their regional competition and junior base and the success again returned in 2014 the club returned to the status of "Football Capital of North Queensland" bringing to the club nine pieces of silverware including the treble in the Premier and Reserve divisions, plus the double in the 2nd division, plus the Mazda Cup. In 2015, the Mareeba Bulls Premier side staged one of the best comebacks seen in FNQ Football history with a come from behind 3-2 win. Down 2-0 with a handful of minutes to go, the Bulls did the unthinkable and scored 3 goals in the space of 7 minutes. Both the Mareeba Karting Club and the Far North Queensland Motorcycle club hold monthly motor racing meetings at the Makotrac International Racetrack which is located five kilometres from Mareeba.

Amenities

Mareeba Shire Council 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 ...

operates a public library at 221 Byrnes Street. The library facility opened in 1958, with a major refurbishment in 1985 and minor refurbishment in 2013. The Mareeba 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 on the corner of Dempster Street and Wilkes Street. The Cairns Aerial Outpost branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association meets at 15 Wilson Street. St Thomas of Villanova's Catholic Church is at 59 Constance Street. St Stephen's College at Lot 3 McIver Road also has a Catholic Church. Both are within the Mareeba 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 ...

. The

is at 108 Walsh Street.

Media

Mareeba is serviced by the following radio stations: * 4AM 558 *

ABC Far North ABC Far North is an ABC Local Radio station based in Cairns. The station broadcasts to Far North Queensland. This includes the towns of Cooktown, Mossman, Innisfail, Weipa and up to the Torres Strait Islands. The station began broadcasting ...

720 *

ABC Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors a ...

105.1 *

ABC News Radio ABC News Radio is the news radio service of ABC Audio, a division of ABC News in the United States. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Skyview Networks, five minute newscasts on the hour and news briefs at half-pas ...

101.1 *

ABC Classic ABC Classic, formerly ABC-FM (also ABC Fine Music), and then ABC Classic FM, is an Australian classical music radio station available in Australia and internationally. Its website features classical music news, features and listening guides. I ...

105.9 *

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greater emphasis on broad ...

107.5 * Hit FM 103.5 *

KIK FM Darwin FM is a dance music station located in Darwin, Northern Territory Australia broadcasting on the frequencies 91.5 MHz, 88 MHz, and online. The first broadcast went to air in 1995 focusing on the club culture of the world. In 2001 a ...

88.7 *

Rhema FM Rhema FM is the name used for a number of Christian radio stations established with the help of, and assisted for many years by United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) in Australia. Each station is independent, being run and programmed locally with m ...

92.3 *

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations. The network dates back to ...

99.5

Hotels

Mareeba has three

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 re ...

s: * The Anthill * The Graham * The Gateway (known as The Peninsula Hotel before new owners renovated the building in 2015)

Attractions

Tourist attractions in the Mareeba Shire include the Golden Drop Mango Winery, Jaques Coffee Plantation, Coffee Works, Mareeba Heritage Museum, Mareeba Rock Wallabies and Granite Gorge Nature Park, Emerald Creek Falls, and Davies Creek Falls.

Events

The Mareeba Rodeo and Festival is held annually, with the first Affiliated Mareeba Rodeo held in July 1949 (which is now the home ground of the ''Gladiators''

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

team). The rodeo is hosted at the Kerribee Park Rodeo Grounds, located slightly out of town on route to Dimbulah. In 2014, the attendance was 13,000, almost double the town's normal population. A parade through the town is held, and the Rodeo Queen is crowned (the first Princess was crowned in 1959). A ute muster is often staged over the same weekend as the rodeo. In 1999 Mareeba District Rodeo Association Inc. celebrated their 50 years Golden Jubilee of the foundation of the Association and 20 years of the opening of "Kerribee Park". The FNQ Country Music Festival and Talent Search is held annually at Kerribee Park Rodeo Grounds. The event is hosted by the Walkamin Country Music Club. Each year on the third Sunday of January, St Thomas's Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of Santo Nino which celebrates

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

as a child. The event is of special significance to the

Filipino Australians Filipino Australians ( Filipino: ''Mga Australyanong Pilipino'') are Australians of Filipino ancestry. Filipino-Australians are one of the largest groups within the global Filipino diaspora. At the 2021 census, 408,836 people stated that they ha ...

. After the

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different ele ...

, there is a celebratory meal of

Filipino cuisine Filipino cuisine ( fil, lutong Pilipino/pagkaing Pilipino) is composed of the cuisines of more than a hundred distinct ethnolinguistic groups found throughout the Philippine archipelago. A majority of mainstream Filipino dishes that compose Fi ...

. Each year, on the second Sunday of September, St Thomas's Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of the Chain. The celebration begins with a procession through various streets of Mareeba and culminates in a fireworks display.

Photo gallery

File:Moved Termite Mounts Mareeba.JPG, Moved termite mounds, Mareeba File:Coffee Harvester Mareeba.JPG, Coffee bean Harvester, Mareeba

Notable residents

Aron Baynes Aron John Baynes (born 9 December 1986) is an Australian professional basketball player for the Brisbane Bullets of the National Basketball League (NBL). He played college basketball for Washington State University before starting his professi ...

(born 1986), Australian basketball player 2014 NBA champion * Harriet Brims (1864-1939), pioneer female commercial photographer *

Steven Ciobo Steven Michele Ciobo ( ) (born 29 May 1974) is a retired Australian politician who represented the Division of Moncrieff in the House of Representatives from the 2001 federal election until his retirement at the 2019 election. He was a membe ...

(born 1974), Australian politician * Tom Gilmore, Jr. (born 1946), Australian politician * Katie Page (born 1956), CEO of

Harvey Norman Harvey Norman is a large Australian-based, multi-national retailer of furniture, bedding, computers, communications and consumer electrical products. It mainly operates as a franchise, with the main brand and all company-operated stores owned ...

Ernest Riordan Ernest Joseph "Dick" Riordan (21 September 1901 – 9 December 1954) was a Miner, Wharf labourer, and member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. Early years Riordan was born at Mareeba, Queensland, to parents William Riordan and his wife ...

(1901-1954), Australian politician *

Chris Sheppard Chris Sheppard (born 16 March 1981) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, and former chief executive officer of Queensland Cup club Northern Pride. Sheppard played at NRL level for the North Queensland Cowboys and the ...

(born 1981), Australian

player *

Wayne Srhoj Wayne Srhoj (born 23 March 1982, in Mareeba) is an Australian footballer who plays for Mareeba Bulls FC in the Far North Queensland soccer zone. Club career Between summer of 2006 and February 2007, Srhoj and teammate Abiodun Agunbiade did no ...

(born 1982), Australian footballer * Deon St. Mor, Australian business owner and designer * Owsley Stanley, (1935-2011) American counter-culture figure of the 1960s (

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...

;

The Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, country, jazz, bluegrass, blues, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, world music, ...

References

External links

University of Queensland: Queensland Places: Mareeba

Mareeba State Primary School Website

Mareeba Heritage Centre Website

Mareeba Historical Society
{{authority control Towns in Queensland Populated places in Far North Queensland Shire of Mareeba Queensland in World War II Localities in Queensland