Ayr is a rural town and

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

in the

Shire of Burdekin The Shire of Burdekin is a local government area located in North Queensland, Australia in the Dry Tropics region. The district is located between Townsville and Bowen in the delta of the Burdekin River. The shire covers an area of . It has e ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. It is the centre of a sugarcane-growing region and the administrative centre for the

Burdekin Shire Council The Shire of Burdekin is a local government area located in North Queensland, Australia in the Dry Tropics region. The district is located between Townsville and Bowen in the delta of the Burdekin River. The shire covers an area of . It has e ...

. In the , the locality of Ayr had a population of 8,603 people.

Geography

Ayr is located south of

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

on 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 Natio ...

and away from the (smaller) town of

Home Hill Home Hill is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Shire of Burdekin, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Home Hill had a population of 2,876 people. At the delta of the Burdekin River, it is a sugarc ...

. It is north of Bowen and north of Mackay. Ayr is located near the delta of the

Burdekin River The Burdekin River is a river in North and Far North Queensland, Australia. The river rises on the northern slopes of Boulder Mountain at Valley of Lagoons, part of the western slope of the Seaview Range, and flows into the Coral Sea at Upsta ...

. It is within the

Burdekin Shire The Shire of Burdekin is a Local government in Australia, local government area located in North Queensland, Australia in the Dry Tropics region. The district is located between Townsville and Bowen, Queensland, Bowen in the River delta, delta ...

, which produces the most sugar cane per square kilometre in Australia, accessing underground water supplies and water from the

Burdekin Dam The Burdekin Falls Dam, also known as the Burdekin Dam, is a concrete gravity dam with an uncontrolled spillway across the Burdekin River in the Whitsunday Region, Queensland, Australia. Built for the purpose of irrigation, the reservoir is cal ...

to irrigate crops when rains fail. Mirrigan is a neighbourhood within the locality (). It takes its name from the former Mirrigan railway station () which was assigned by the

Queensland Railways Department Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Queensland Rail is owned by the Queensland Government, and operates both suburban and interurban rail services in South East Queensland, as well as long-distance passenger t ...

on 10 September 1914. It is an Aboriginal name meaning star. Parkside is a neighbourhood within the south-east of the town (). Ayr railway station () is on the North Coast railway line and is a passenger stop for the

Spirit of Queensland The Spirit of Queensland is a Queensland Rail long distance passenger rail service. It is operated by a Diesel Tilt Train, diesel-powered Tilt Train that runs five times a week on the North Coast railway line, Queensland, North Coast line betw ...

. Kalamia Sidings railway siding point is on the Kalamia Sugar Mill's cane tramway ().

Climate

Ayr experiences a

tropical savannah 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 ...

(

Koppen Koppen is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Dan Koppen (born 1979), American football offensive lineman * (1929–1990), German literary scholar * (1855–1922), German author * Otto C. Koppen (1901–1991), American aircraf ...

: Aw), with a short

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the rainy season or monsoon season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least one month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used a ...

from December to April and a long

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The t ...

from May to November. The average annual rainfall is , primarily concentrated in the austral summer. Extreme temperatures in Ayr have ranged from on 2 July 1984 to on 7 January 1994.

History

Aboriginal history

Biri (Birri) is a language of Central and North Queensland. Biri refers to a language chain extending from Central Queensland towards Townsville and is often used as a universal name for other languages and/or dialects across the region. The language area includes the towns of Bowen, Ayr, Collinsville and Nebo.

British exploration

The first British exploration of the area occurred in 1839 during the third voyage of HMS ''Beagle'' where Captain

John Clements Wickham John Clements Wickham (21 November 17986 January 1864) was a Scotland, Scottish explorer, naval officer, magistrate and administrator. He was first lieutenant on during its Second voyage of HMS Beagle, second survey mission, 1831–1836, un ...

travelled 10 miles up the waterway later known as the

. His progress was stopped by a fishing weir built by the local Aboriginal people that spanned the river. Interview with Natives of Wickham River

In 1843, during the surveying voyage of HMS ''Fly'', Lieutenant John Ince,

Joseph Jukes Joseph Beete Jukes (10 October 1811 – 29 July 1869), born to John and Sophia Jukes at Summer Hill, Birmingham, England, was a renowned geologist, author of several geological manuals and served as a naturalist on the expeditions of (under th ...

and Frederick Evans sailed up the river near to where the town of Ayr is now located. They encountered two large tribes of Aboriginal people with whom they had friendly interactions, exchanging items and participating in an apparent

Welcome to Country A Welcome to Country is a ritual or formal ceremony performed as a land acknowledgement at many events held in Australia. It is an event intended to highlight the cultural significance of the surrounding area to the descendants of a particular A ...

ceremony. Artist,

Harden Sidney Melville Harden Sidney Melville (1824–1894UK General Register Office, 1894 registration district Edmonton, sub-district Hornsey, county of Middlesex. Volume no. 3a, page no. 144. Number 469, death certificate application number 11412490-4.) was an Eng ...

was also present, later drawing a depiction of the meeting. Shipwreck survivor

James Morrill James Lewis Morrill (September 24, 1891 – July 1979) was a professor and academic administrator who served as the president of the University of Wyoming and the University of Minnesota. He attended Ohio State University for his undergradua ...

lived with Aboriginal people in the region for seventeen years from 1846 when he was washed ashore on a makeshift raft. Morrill lived a traditional Aboriginal lifestyle and later made a culturally and historically important record of his experiences. In 1859, Henry Daniel Sinclair, James Gordon and Ben Poole conducted a sea voyage that examined the mouth of the Burdekin River. They travelled about 8 miles up the river but were afraid to explore further as they were wary of the resident Aborigines and had limited firearms.

George Elphinstone Dalrymple George Augustus Frederick Elphinstone Dalrymple (6 May 1826 – 22 January 1876) was a colonist, explorer, public servant and politician, member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. He founded the towns of Bowen and Cardwell, and pionee ...

led an overland expedition to the area in 1859 looking for land acquisitions and he returned again in 1860 as the head of a seagoing exploratory party. Dalrymple had several violent encounters with the local Aboriginal people during these expeditions. In 1862, Dalrymple made another journey to the lower Burdekin region concluding that the "richly grassed open forest country" would become "a most valuable addition to the pastoral and agricultural resources of the colony."

British colonisation

The area was opened up to pastoral squatting leases in 1861 and in that year Edward Spencer Antill (who was a son of the distinguished colonist

Henry Colden Antill Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainment ...

) arrived in the region to take up land. In 1862, he selected a large area of land along the lower Burdekin River for a

sheep station A sheep station is a large property ( station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sout ...

which he named Jarvisfield after the Antill family estate near Picton. Groups of armed settlers and

Native Police Australian native police were specialised mounted military units consisting of detachments of Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal troopers under the command of European officers appointed by British colonial governments. The units existed in va ...

started to force the Aboriginal people off the land around this time, with

documenting a massacre of a resident Burdekin River tribe. E.S. Antill bore a life-long scar on his forehead from a boomerang thrown at him during one of these episodes of frontier violence. Morrill attempted to negotiate a treaty between the British and the Aborigines whereby the coastal area on the north side of the Burdekin would be a reserve for the Indigenous people but this was ignored by the authorities. After E.S. Antill had become established, other colonists took up land in the region, namely John Graham MacDonald who formed the Inkerman Downs property with the financial backing of

Robert Towns Robert Towns (10 November 1794 – 11 April 1873) was a British master mariner who settled in Australia as a businessman, sandalwood merchant, colonist, shipowner, pastoralist, politician, whaler and civic leader. He was the founder of Townsvil ...

, and Edward Cunningham who formed Woodhouse station. In retribution for murders and cattle spearing, punitive expeditions by the Native Police led by Lieutenant John Marlow would "disperse" the local Aboriginal population. A township, named Wickham, was formed in the region in 1864 but was destroyed in 1870 during a flood. Robert William Graham formed the Lilliesmere run in 1876 and in 1881 the township of Ayr was laid out on this property by surveyor Ellis William Lymburner. Ayr was named after the Scottish town of

Ayr Ayr ( ; ; , meaning "confluence of the River Àir"), is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. A former royal burgh, today it is the administrative centre of South Ayrshire Council, and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With ...

, the birthplace of nineteenth-century

Queensland Premier The premier of Queensland is the head of government in the Australian state of Queensland. By convention the premier is the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The premier is appointed ...

, Sir Thomas McIlwraith. Ayr Post Office opened on 25 August 1883.

Sugarcane plantations and mills

Large scale cultivation of

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

began in the region in 1879 with the formation of the Burdekin Delta Sugar Company through the partnership of local landholders Robert William Graham and Archibald Campbell MacMillan. Their plantation was called Airdmillan and in 1883 the Airdmillan

sugar mill A sugar cane mill is a factory that processes sugar cane to produce raw sugar or plantation white sugar. Some sugar mills are situated next to a back-end refinery, that turns raw sugar into (refined) white sugar. The term is also used to refer ...

was built. Both the mill and the plantation became financially unviable in 1885 after the repatriation of kidnapped

South Sea Islander South Sea Islanders, formerly referred to as Kanakas, are the Australian descendants of Pacific Islanders from more than 80 islandsincluding the Oceanian archipelagoes of the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, the Gilbert Islands ...

labourers working on the plantation. Of the 532 Islanders brought to Airdmillan, 128 or 24% had died by 1885. In the 1890s, Airdmillan was subdivided and today much of the town of Ayr is located on what was once part of the Airdmillan estate. The nearby locality of Airdmillan is named after the plantation. Other colonists also established plantations and mills in the region during the 1880s. James Mackenzie formed the Seaforth estate and mill, while Colin Munro built the Drynie mill. In 1882, John Spiller and Henry Brandon established the Pioneer plantation which was soon sold to the Drysdale brothers. The Drysdales built the Pioneer Mill in 1884 and later constructed the Inkerman Mill in 1914. Charles and John Young formed the Kalamia plantation in 1882, the Kalamia Mill being operational two years later. Much of the labour on these plantations during the early years was performed by South Sea Islanders, many of whom died in the first year after being shipped in. At Kalamia and Pioneer, the death rate was 14%, and at Seaforth it was 26%. Islander labour in the region was discontinued in the early 1900s. The Pioneer, Kalamia and Inkerman mills are still operational and are owned by

Wilmar Sugar Wilmar Sugar Australia is a subsidiary of the Singapore-based company Wilmar International that incorporates sugar production business and renewable energy cogeneration. The principal product of Wilmar Sugar is raw sugar. By-products from the prod ...

Schools

Ayr State School opened on 15 November 1886. In 1928 it was expanded to include a secondary school. In 1937, the secondary school became a separate entity,

Ayr State High School Ayr State High School is a heritage-listed state secondary school at 82–90 Wickham Street, Ayr, Shire of Burdekin, Queensland, Australia. It is one of three high schools in Ayr, the others being Burdekin Catholic High School and Burdekin ...

. St Francis Primary School opened in 1912 operated by three

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 congrega ...

. The Ayr War Memorial Arch is the entrance to the Memorial Park and commemorates those who served in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. It was dedicated in November 1925 by the shire chairman, Councillor Barsby. In 1926 Annie Dennis founded the Burdekin Community Church as a

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

mission for

South Sea Islanders South Sea Islanders, formerly referred to as Kanakas, are the Australian descendants of Pacific Islanders from more than 80 islandsincluding the Oceanian archipelagoes of the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, the Gilbert Islands ...

. East Ayr State School opened on 8 August 1952. Ayr Opportunity School opened for children with disabilities in 1972. It was renamed Burdekin Special School in about 1985. In 2001 the name was changed to Burdekin School. Burdekin Catholic High School opened on 1 April 1974 in the

Marist tradition The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic religious institute of brothers. In 1817, Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from France, founded the Marist Brothers wi ...

. Burdekin Christian College was opened on 5 February 1982 by the Burdekin Community Church. Burdekin Library opened in 1984. In June 2018, the town become the centre of controversy when a racist poster was displayed in a shop window, asserting that foreigners and backpackers were not welcome. Within hours, Burdekin Shire Council Mayor Lyn McLaughlin condemned the people responsible for the poster.

Demographics

In the , the locality of Ayr had a population of 8,738 people. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 7.7% of the population. 82.4% of people were born in Australia. The next most common country of birth was Italy at 2.1%. 85.4% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Italian at 2.8%. The most common responses for religion were Catholic 37.3%, Anglican 15.7% and No Religion 15.0%. In the , the locality of Ayr had a population of 8,603 people.

Heritage listings

Ayr has a number of

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and human-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In ma ...

sites, including: * Ayr Post Office, 155 Queen Street * Ayr Court House, 163 Queen Street * Ayr Masonic Temple, 118–120 Macmillan Street (): *

82–90 Wickham Street * Burdekin Shire Council Chambers, 145 Young Street

Education

Ayr State School is a government primary (Preparatory to Year 6) school for boys and girls at 141 Graham Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 119 students with 14 teachers (11 full-time equivalent) and 17 non-teaching staff (10 full-time equivalent). East Ayr State School is a government primary (Preparatory to Year 6) school for boys and girls at 43–73 Ross Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 557 students with 47 teachers (40 full-time equivalent) and 22 non-teaching staff (15 full-time equivalent). It includes a special education program. St Francis' School is a Catholic primary (Preparatory to Year 6) school for boys and girls at 99 Edward Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 304 students with 20 teachers (17 full-time equivalent) and 17 non-teaching staff (11 full-time equivalent). Burdekin Christian College is a private primary and secondary (Preparatory to Year 12) school for boys and girls at 2–12 Melbourne Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 133 students with 13 teachers (12 full-time equivalent) and 10 non-teaching staff (8 full-time equivalent). Burdekin School is a special primary and secondary (Early Childhood to Year 12) school for boys and girls at 159 Young Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 17 students with 5 teachers (4 full-time equivalent) and 11 non-teaching staff (6 full-time equivalent).

is a government secondary (7 to 12) school for boys and girls at Cnr Edwards and Wickham Streets (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 480 students with 46 teachers (44 full-time equivalent) and 30 non-teaching staff (23 full-time equivalent). It has a special education program. Burdekin Catholic High School is a Catholic secondary (7 to 12) school for boys and girls at 45 Gibson Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 436 students with 40 teachers (39 full-time equivalent) and 23 non-teaching staff (19 full-time equivalent).

Facilities

Ayr is home to a small, state owned hospital. The one-storey building offers basic emergency care and has a helipad for more-serious emergencies.

Amenities

Ayr has range of shops and banks. The

operates a public library in Ayr at 108 Graham Street (). The Ayr 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 20 Chippendale Street. Burdekin Uniting Church has two churches, one at 130 Mackenzie Street () in Ayr and the other in Home Hill.

Sport

A wide variety of sports are played in Ayr, including touch football,

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

, soccer, tennis and golf.

Netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

and

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

(ping pong) are also popular. The Ayr Surf Life Saving club is small and well-established. Pioneer Park Speedway is a

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

venue to the west of the town on Bruce Highway. The track has been a significant venue for important speedway events, including qualifying rounds of the

Speedway World Championship The World Championship of Speedway is an international competition between the highest-ranked motorcycle speedway riders of the world, run under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). The first official championsh ...

and the final of the

Australian Solo Championship The Australian Individual Speedway Championship historically known as the Australian Solo Championship is a motorcycle speedway championship held each year to determine the Australian national champion. It is organised by Motorcycling Australia ...

Attractions

Alva Beach, also known as Lynch's Beach, is a popular area for fishing and swimming located east of Ayr.

Media

Published every Thursday, the ''Burdekin Local News'' is the region's only locally owned and independent newspaper distributed across the Burdekin region as well as Bowen and the Townsville CBD.

Transport

Ayr's main street, Queen Street, is a wide two-laned street. The A1 passes through the town. A mostly two-laned highway, it is the major road of the Burdekin, linking Ayr with nearby Brandon and

. Ayr Railway Station is the town's rail-transit stop with regular services from Brisbane to Cairns. While the town has no public transport, several bus routes pick up school children across the region.

Notable people

* Mark Allison: business executive *

Zachary Anderson Zachary Michael Anderson (born 30 April 1991) is a retired Australian professional football player who played as a centre back. He currently works for the Brisbane Roar FC as their Chief Operating Officer. Born in Queensland, Anderson made hi ...

: football player – ''

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Mar ...

'' * Tom Barton: politician * Lt Col Jim Bourke: soldier, decorated Vietnam veteran * George Brabon: cricketer * Tarin Bradford: rugby league player *

Nathan Burgers Nathan Burgers (born May 1979 in Ayr, Queensland) is an Australian professional field hockey goalkeeper. He played for Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory teams in national competitions. He has been a member of the Australia men's n ...

: field hockey player *

Patricia Cockrem Patricia "Trish" Cockrem (born 17 May 1961) is a former Australian women's basketball player.Patricia Co ...

: former Australian basketball player *

Mark Dalle Cort Mark Dalle Cort (born 19 May 1982 in Ayr, Queensland) was a professional rugby league footballer who most recently played for the Northern Pride RLFC in the Queensland Cup he previously played for St George Illawarra Dragons & North Queensland ...

: rugby league player * Mitchell Davey: motorcycle speedway rider * Matthew Ham: football player – ''

North Queensland Fury Northern Fury Football Club was an Australian professional soccer club based in Townsville, Queensland. The club was founded in 2008 and competed in the A-League under the name North Queensland Fury. On 1 March 2011, the club was removed from th ...

'' *

Jackie Huggins Jacqueline Gail "Jackie" Huggins (born 19 August 1956) is an Aboriginal Australian author, historian, academic, and advocate for the rights of Indigenous Australians. She has been active in the reconciliation movement, and was co-commissioner ...

: Aboriginal author and historian * Bob King: politician *

Vicky Kippin Victoria Anne Kippin (7 September 1942 – 24 March 2019) was an Australian politician. She was a National Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 1974 to 1980, representing the district of Mourilyan. Early life Kippin w ...

: politician *

Jeff Knuth Jeffrey Alan Knuth (born 9 March 1962) is an Australian politician. Biography Born in Ayr, Queensland, Ayr, Queensland, he was a painter and decorator before entering politics. In 1998, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland ...

: politician * Peter Lawlor: politician *

Michael Macklin Michael John Macklin (born 25 February 1943 in London) is an Australian former Franciscan friar, educator and fundraiser who was an Australian Democrats senator for Queensland (1981–1990). He later served as executive dean of the faculty of A ...

: politician *

Andrea McDonnell Andrea McDonnell (born 7 July 1960) is an Australian Paralympic table tennis player. She competed for Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. Personal McDonnell was born on 7 July 1960. She grew up in Townsville, Queensland and is one of six chi ...

: Paralympic table tennis player *

Andrew Meads Andrew Meads (born 2 February 1977) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. Primarily a , he was a foundation player for the North Queensland Cowboys and also had stints with the Balmain T ...

: rugby league player *

Shane Muspratt Shane Muspratt (born 13 April 1979 in Ayr, Queensland, Australia) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played for the North Queensland Cowboys and the Parramatta Eels in the NRL. Playing career Muspratt made his fir ...

: rugby league player * Johnny Nicol: jazz singer * Barry O'Rourke: politician *

Kel O'Shea Kelvin Joseph "Kel" O'Shea (13 July 1933 – 22 January 2015) was an Australian representative rugby league footballer, a second-rower from Queensland whose club career was played with the Western Suburbs Magpies in Sydney. He is rated am ...

: Australian representative rugby league player *

Ryan Phelan Ryan Phelan is an Australian television journalist, media personality and presenter. Phelan has previously presented news updates on ''The Morning Show'' and was co-host of ''The Daily Edition''. Career Phelan’s television career started ...

: journalist and television presenter * Patricia Taylor: Australian-born Canadian microbiologist and virologist, best known for her efforts in the Iranian hostage crisis. * Heath Tessmann: rugby union player * Don Walker: musician/songwriter – ''

Cold Chisel Cold Chisel are an Australian Pub rock (Australia), pub rock band, which formed in Adelaide in 1973 by mainstay members Ian Moss on guitar and vocals, Steve Prestwich on drums, Les Kaczmarek on bass and Don Walker (musician), Don Walker on pia ...

'' *

Karrie Webb Karrie Anne Webb (born 21 December 1974) is an Australian professional golfer. She plays mainly on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour, and also turns out once or twice a year on the ALPG Tour in her home country. She is a member of the World Golf Hall ...

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

, member of

LPGA The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly ...

Hall of Fame * Ray Wilkie: meterologist

References

External links

Burdekin Shire Council Website

University of Queensland: Queensland Places: Ayr

Annual reports Ayr Hospitals Board

State Library of Queensland State Library of Queensland (State Library) is the state public reference and research library of Queensland, Australia, operated by the Government of Queensland, state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, whi ...

{{authority control Towns in Queensland North Queensland Shire of Burdekin 1882 establishments in Australia Populated places established in 1882 Localities in Queensland