Cairns (; ) is a city in the

Cairns Region The Cairns Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Queensland, Australia, centred on the regional city of Cairns. It was established in 2008 by the amalgamation of the City of Cairns and the Shires of Douglas and Mulgrave. ...

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, on the tropical north east coast of

Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns, Queensland, Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stret ...

. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after Sir William Wellington Cairns, following the discovery of gold in the Hodgkinson River. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the city became a staging ground for the Allied Forces in the

Battle of the Coral Sea The Battle of the Coral Sea, from 4 to 8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces of the United States and Australia. Taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, the battle ...

. By the late 20th century the city had become a centre of

international tourism International tourism is tourism that crosses national borders. Globalization has made tourism a popular global leisure activity. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual ...

. In the early 21st century, it has developed into a major regional city. The economy of Cairns is based primarily on tourism, healthcare and education, along with a major capacity in aviation, marine and defence industries. The city has a

gross regional product Gross regional domestic product (GRDP), gross domestic product of region (GDPR), or gross state product (GSP) is a statistic that measures the size of a region's economy. It is the aggregate of gross value added (GVA) of all resident producer unit ...

at about $12.2 billion as of 2024. The city is served by

Cairns International Airport Cairns Airport is an international airport in Cairns, Queensland, Australia. Formerly operated by the Cairns Port Authority, the airport was sold by the Queensland Government in December 2008 to a private consortium. It is the seventh busies ...

, the seventh-busiest airport in Australia. Cairns also has a major

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...

industry servicing both domestic and international markets, with terminals at Cairns Seaport and

Cairns Wharf Complex Cairns Wharf Complex is a heritage-listed wharf at Wharf Street, Cairns City, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1910 to 1948. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 17 December 1999. History Cairns ...

. Cairns is a major tourist destination, with access to two

UNESCO world heritage World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by int ...

sites; the

Daintree Rainforest The Daintree Rainforest, also known as the Daintree, is a region on the northeastern coast of Queensland, Australia, about , by road, north of the city of Cairns. Whilst the terms "Daintree Rainforest" and "the Daintree" are not officially def ...

as part of the

Wet Tropics of Queensland The Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site consists of approximately 8,940 km2 of Australian wet tropical forests growing along the north-east Queensland portion of the Great Dividing Range. The Wet Tropics of Queensland meets all f ...

, and the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

, one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

History

Prior to British settlement, the Cairns area was inhabited by the Gimuy Walubara Yidinji people, who still claim their native title rights. Yidinji (also known as Yidinj, Yidiny, and Idindji) is an

Australian Aboriginal language The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

. Its traditional language region is within the local government areas of

and

Tablelands Region The Tablelands Region is a Local government in Australia, local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia inland from the city of Cairns, Queensland, Cairns. Established in 2008, it was preceded by four previous local government areas ...

, in such localities as Cairns, Gordonvale, and the

Mulgrave River The Mulgrave River, incorporating the East Mulgrave River and the West Mulgrave River, is a river system in Far North Queensland, Australia. The -long river flows towards the Coral Sea and is located approximately south of . Location and feat ...

, and the southern part of the

Atherton Tableland The Atherton Tableland is a fertile plateau, which is part of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia. It has very deep, rich basaltic soils and the main industry is agriculture. The principal river flowing across the plateau is the B ...

including Atherton and Kairi. The area in which the city is located is known in the local Yidiny language as Gimuy, and the clan who inhabited the region before colonisation are the Gimuy-walubarra clan. NativeWellsCairns

From 1770 to the early 1870s, the area was known to the British simply as Trinity Bay. The arrival of

beche de mer Sea cucumbers are marine animals of the class Holothuroidea. They can be used as food, in fresh or dried form, in various cuisines. In some cultural contexts the sea cucumber is thought to have medicinal value. The creature and the food product ...

fishermen from the late 1860s saw the first European presence in the area. On the site of the modern-day Cairns foreshore, there was a large native well which was used by these fishermen. A violent confrontation occurred in 1872 between local

Yidinji people The Yidiny (also spelt Yidindj, Yidinji or Yidiñ), are an Aboriginal Australian people in Far North Queensland. Their language is the Yidiny language. Language The last fluent speakers of Yidiny were Tilly Fuller (d. October 1974), George Dav ...

and Phillip Garland, a beche de mer fisherman, over the use of this well. The area from this date was subsequently called Battle Camp. In 1876, hastened by the need to export gold mined from the Hodgkinson goldfields on the tablelands to the west, closer investigation by several official expeditions established its potential for development into a port. Brinsley G. Sheridan surveyed the area and selected a place further up Trinity Inlet known to the diggers as Smith's Landing for a settlement which he renamed Thornton. However, after

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 ...

officers Alexander Douglas-Douglas and Robert Arthur Johnstone opened a new track from the goldfields to Battle Camp, this more coastal site became preferable. The area was named Cairns in late 1876 in honour of the then Governor of Queensland, William Cairns. The site was predominantly

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

swamps and sand ridges. Labourers gradually cleared the swamps, and the sand ridges were filled with dried mud, sawdust from local sawmills, and ballast from a quarry at Edge Hill. Throughout the late 19th century, Cairns prospered from the settlement of Chinese immigrants who helped develop the region's agriculture. Soon after Cairns was established "a few entrepreneurial Chinese men began to experiment with crops such as cotton, tobacco, coffee, rice, sugar, and bananas, while market gardeners grew much needed fruit and vegetables. This marked the beginning of the agricultural industry, which became the dominant industry." "The growing agricultural industry in the Cairns region provided the impetus for Cairns Chinatown to develop as Chinese men turned to support industries such as market gardening and shop keeping. They were not only ex-miners, but a growing number of immigrants arriving directly from China to take advantage of the agricultural boom. In 1886 the Chinese population accounted for 60% of all farmers and 90% of gardeners, that is 795 cultivators and gardeners." As agricultural changes and the White Australia policy impacted the Chinese population of Cairns, including its once thriving Chinatown declined. A Police census stated the Chinese population of Cairns was 450 in 1909, a decrease of around 1,000 since 1901. "Grafton Street, Cairns was the historical site for Cairns Chinatown - the largest and longest running Chinese community outside Brisbane from the 1880s until the mid 1940s. Supporting a diverse population of Chinese settlers, entrepreneurs, women and families, ..." "From the early 1880s when the Lily Creek Chinese camp moved into Sachs Street, Chinatown was a busy and thriving community. According to Cathie May, the social structure of the community was divided according to place of origin with storekeepers on the eastern side of Sachs Street predominantly Sze Yap, and Chung Shan storekeepers and merchants on the western side. Nearly all Chinese immigrants to Cairns were from Guangdong Province in the Southern Delta area of China. Most came from Loong Dou, a small distinct district in Chung Shan, with a smaller group from Sze Yap or the "Four Districts" in Toishan. Some also came from Sam Yap or "Three Districts." " As the 20th century progressed the Cairns Chinatown declined. "Australian Born Chinese showed little interest in maintaining the Chinese enclave. Many were westernised having at least one European parent or grandparent, or had themselves grown up assimilated into the broader Cairns community through their experiences at school. Neither cultural tastes, nor race relations, provided an incentive for Australian born Chinese to remain living in Chinatown. The barriers causing racial residential segregation were removed and many families lived outside Chinatown." The Cairns Parish of the Roman Catholic Vicariate Apostolic of Cooktown (now the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns The Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns is 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 elevated to a diocese in 1941. It ...

) was established in 1884. Queensland State Archives 2220 Selectors Homestead 1897

Debris from the construction of a railway to

Herberton Herberton is a rural town and locality in the Tablelands Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Herberton had a population of 895 people. Geography Herberton is on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland. It is situate ...

on the Atherton Tableland, a project which started in 1886, was also used. The railway opened up land later used for agriculture on the lowlands (sugar cane, corn, rice, bananas, pineapples), and for fruit and dairy production on the Tableland. The success of local agriculture helped establish Cairns as a port, and the creation of a harbour board in 1906 supported its robust economic future. The Wharf Estate Cairns went on sale in Brisbane via auction on 19 February 1889 by John Macnamara & Co. Land Auctioneers. The land was part of the place known as the Railway Reserve. The sale was described by the Auctioneers as the 'largest ever yet held in Northern Queensland'. On 25 April 1926 (

ANZAC Day Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia, New Zealand and Tonga that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders "who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations" and "the contribution and ...

), the Cairns Sailors and Soldiers War Memorial was unveiled by Alexander Frederick Draper, the mayor of the

City of Cairns The City of Cairns was a local government area centred on the Far North Queensland city of Cairns. Established in 1885, for most of its existence it consisted of approximately around Cairns itself, with much of the metropolitan area being loca ...

. During World War II, the Allied Forces used Cairns as a staging base for operations in the Pacific, with

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 ...

and

Royal Australian Air Force The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...

operational bases (now the airport), as well as a major military seaplane base, Naval Base Cairns, in Trinity Inlet, and

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

and

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...

bases near the current wharf. Combat missions were flown out of Cairns in support of the

in 1942.

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

and White Rock south of Cairns were major military supply areas and U.S.

Paratrooper A paratrooper or military parachutist is a soldier trained to conduct military operations by parachuting directly into an area of operations, usually as part of a large airborne forces unit. Traditionally paratroopers fight only as light infa ...

s trained at Gordonvale and the Goldsborough Valley. A Special Forces training base was established at the old " Fairview" homestead on Munro's Hill, Mooroobool. This base was officially known as the Z Experimental Station, but referred to informally as "The House on the Hill". After World War II, Cairns gradually developed into a centre for tourism. The opening of the

in 1984 helped establish the city as a desirable destination for

particularly from the emerging Japanese market.

Demographics

In the , the urban area of Cairns had a population of 144,730 people. In the , the urban area of Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. * Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 9.7% of the population. * 68.2% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 4.0%, New Zealand 2.9%, Papua New Guinea 1.5%, Philippines 1.3% and India 1.2%. * 76.1% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Japanese 1.5%, Nepali 0.7%, Mandarin 0.7%, Punjabi 0.6%, and Creole languages 0.6%. * The most common responses for religion were No Religion 41.9%, Catholic 19.7%, Not stated 10.1%, Anglican 9.8%, other Christian 2.8%. Due to Far North Queensland's close proximity to

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to the Fiji Islands in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Vanu ...

, the region has a large number of people of Melanesian origin. Cairns notably has a large

Papua New Guineans The indigenous population of Papua New Guinea is one of the most heterogeneous in the world. Papua New Guinea has several thousand separate communities, most with only a few hundred people. Divided by language, customs, and tradition, some of t ...

community. Approximately 10,000

live in Cairns, more than anywhere outside of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

itself.

Geography

Cairns is located on the east coast of

Cape York Peninsula The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...

on a coastal strip between the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down t ...

and the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills. It runs roughl ...

. The northern part of the city is located on Trinity Bay and the city centre is located on

Trinity Inlet The Trinity Inlet is an oceanic inlet which serves as the port for the city of Cairns, Queensland, Australia. The city centre is on the western bank where the inlet meets the Coral Sea. Location and features The Trinity Inlet is located in the ...

. To the south of the Trinity Inlet lies the Aboriginal community of

Yarrabah Yarrabah (traditionally ''Jarrabah'' in the Gunggandji language spoken by the indigenous Gunggandji people) is a coastal town and locality in the Aboriginal Shire of Yarrabah, Queensland, Australia. It is an Aboriginal community. In the , t ...

. Some of the city's suburbs are located on flood plains. The

and Barron River flow within the greater Cairns area but not through the Cairns CBD. The city's centre foreshore is located on a mud flat.

Urban layout

Cairns is a provincial city, with a linear urban layout that runs from the south at Edmonton to the north at Ellis Beach. The city is approximately from north to south; it has experienced a recent

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted ...

, with suburbs occupying land once used for sugar cane farming. The ''Northern Beaches'' consist of a number of beach communities extending north along the coast. In general, each beach suburb is at the end of a spur road extending from the

Captain Cook Highway The Captain Cook Highway is a short, regional highway in Queensland that originates in Cairns and terminates in Mossman, where it joins Mossman-Daintree Road, continuing to Daintree. It is a state-controlled regional road (number 20A). The ...

. From south to north, these are Machans Beach, Holloways Beach, Yorkeys Knob, Trinity Park, Trinity Beach, Kewarra Beach, Clifton Beach, Palm Cove, and Ellis Beach. The suburb of Smithfield is inland against the mountains of the Great Dividing Range, between Yorkeys Knob and Trinity Park. It serves as the main hub for the Northern Beaches, with a modern shopping arcade, called Smithfield Shopping Centre. South of Smithfield and inland from the Northern Beaches along the edge of the Barron River

flood plain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

are the suburbs of Caravonica, Kamerunga,

Freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

, and Stratford. This area is sometimes referred to as Freshwater Valley, though it is actually the lower part of Redlynch Valley; further up the valley are the suburbs of Redlynch, on the western side of Redlynch Valley, and Brinsmead on the eastern side. Stratford, Freshwater, and Brinsmead are separated from Cairns city by Mount Whitfield (elevation ) and Whitfield Range. Crystal Cascades and Copperlode Falls Dam are also behind this range. ( Kuranda, a town on the Barron River on the western side of the Macalister Range, forms part of the Cairns economic catchment but is in the Tablelands local government area and is not part of the Cairns urban area.) The city centre of Cairns is adjacent to the suburbs of Cairns North, and Parramatta Park,

Bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and Roof window, windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide ve ...

Portsmith Portsmith is a Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb of Cairns in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Portsmith had a population of 314 people. Geography The suburb consists of two distinct areas: the north-western part ...

, and close to Westcourt,

Manunda TSMV ''Manunda'' was an ''Australian'' registered and crewed passenger ship which was converted to a hospital ship in 1940. During the war ''Manunda'' saw service in both the Middle East and Pacific Campaigns, specifically New Guinea. She resum ...

, Manoora, Edge Hill, Whitfield, Kanimbla, City View, Mooroobool, Earlville,

Woree Woree is a suburb of Cairns in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Woree had a population of 5,127 people. Geography The Bruce Highway goes between Bald Hills in Brisbane to Woree and is long. The highway goes through Woree b ...

and Bayview Heights. The small suburb of Aeroglen is pressed between Mount Whitfield and the airport, on the Captain Cook Highway between Cairns North and Stratford. ''Southside Cairns'', situated in a narrow area between

to the east and Lamb Range to the west, includes the suburbs of White Rock, Mount Sheridan, Bentley Park and

. The townships of Goldsborough, Little Mulgrave, and Aloomba are near Gordonvale, on the Mulgrave River. This area is serviced by 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 ...

. Several other small towns and communities within Cairns's jurisdiction are sparsely located along the Bruce Highway, the furthest being Bramston Beach, south of the Cairns CBD; the largest of these townships is Babinda, about from the city.

Climate

Cairns experiences a tropical climate, specifically a tropical monsoon (''Am'') under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

. A

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 ...

with heavy

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

al downpours runs from November to May, with a relatively

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 June to October, though light showers occur during this period. Cairns's mean annual rainfall is just under , although monthly totals in the wet season from December to April can exceed , with the highest monthly rainfall being recorded in January 1981, when over of rain fell. In contrast, as little as fell in the record dry calendar year of 2002. Cairns has hot, humid summers and very warm winters. Mean maximum temperatures vary from in July to in January. Monsoonal activity during the wet season occasionally causes major

flooding A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant concern in agriculture, civi ...

of the Barron and Mulgrave Rivers, cutting off-road and rail access to the city. Cairns has 97.0 clear days, annually. Dewpoint in the wet season (summer) averages at . The average temperature of the sea ranges from in July to in January.

Tropical cyclones

Like most of North and Far North Queensland, Cairns is prone to tropical cyclones, usually forming between November and May. Cyclones that have affected the Cairns region include: *

Cyclone Jasper Severe Tropical Cyclone Jasper was the wettest tropical cyclone in Australian history, surpassing Cyclone Peter, Peter of 1979. The third disturbance of the 2023–24 South Pacific cyclone season and the first named storm and severe tropical cy ...

, 2023 *

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 Janu ...

, 2011 *

Cyclone Larry Severe Tropical Cyclone Larry was a tropical cyclone that made landfall in Australia during the 2005–06 Southern Hemisphere tropical cyclone season. Larry originated as a low pressure system over the eastern Coral Sea on 16 March 2006, and ...

, 2006 * Cyclone Abigail, 2001 *

Cyclone Steve Tropical Cyclone Steve was a tropical cyclone that affected northern Australia from 27 February 2000 until 11 March 2000. Cyclone Steve was noted for its longevity and traversal of northern and western Australia. It impacted on regions of nort ...

, 2000 *

Cyclone Rona Severe Tropical Cyclone Rona ( JTWC designation: 20P) and Severe Tropical Cyclone Frank (JTWC designation: 22P; RSMC Nadi designation: 16F) were a pair of tropical cyclones that affected Queensland and New Caledonia during the 1998–99 Austral ...

, 1999 * Cyclone Justin, 1997

in December 2023 caused record flooding. The Barron River exceeded the March 1977 record of , making it the worst flooding event in Cairns since records began in 1915. (updated 18 Dec 2023)

Facilities

The City Library, operated by the

Cairns Regional Council The Cairns Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Queensland, Australia, centred on the regional city of Cairns. It was established in 2008 by the amalgamation of the City of Cairns and the Shires of Douglas and Mulgrave. ...

, opened in 1979 and is situated at 151 Abbott Street. A major refurbishment was undertaken in 1999 and a further minor refurbishment was implemented in 2011. Public accessible wifi is available. Current Library services and collections can be accessed from the Cairns Libraries website.

Heritage listings

Cairns 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: *

Cairns-to-Kuranda railway line The Cairns-to-Kuranda Railway is a heritage-listed Track (rail transport), railway line from the Cairns Region to the Shire of Mareeba, both in Queensland, Australia. It commences at Redlynch, Queensland, Redlynch, a suburb of Cairns and trave ...

* Abbott Street: Dr EA Koch Memorial * Abbott Street: Barrier Reef Hotel * Abbott Street: Bishop's House * Abbott Street:

St Monica's High School Administration Building St Monica's College Sr Cecilia Building is a heritage-listed part of the catholic school in Abbott Street, Cairns City, Cairns, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Vibert McKirdy Brown and built in 1941 by VW Doyle. This building was ...

* 6A–8A Abbott Street: former

Cairns Customs House Cairns Customs House is a heritage-listed former customs house and now restaurant at 6A–8A Abbott Street, Cairns City, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Robert Henry Bowen and built from 1936 to 1937 by Watki ...

* 38–40 Abbott Street: Cairns Court House * 151 Abbott Street:

Cairns City Council Chambers Cairns City Council Chambers is a heritage-listed former town hall and now council library at 151 Abbott Street, Cairns City, Queensland, Cairns City, Cairns, Queensland, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Hill & T ...

* 179 Abbott Street: St Joseph's Convent * 183 Abbott Street:

St Monica's War Memorial Cathedral St Monica's Cathedral (also known as St Monica's War Memorial Cathedral) is the cathedral of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Cairns. It is located at 183 Abbott Street, Cairns City, Cairns, Queensland, Australia. The cathedral was des ...

* Collins Avenue, Edge Hill:

Flecker Botanical Gardens Flecker Botanic Gardens is a heritage-listed botanic garden at Collins Avenue, Edge Hill, Queensland, Edge Hill, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1886 to 1960s. It is now known as Cairns Botanic Gardens. It was added to the Queensland ...

* Collins Avenue, Edge Hill: WWII RAN Fuel Installation * Grafton Street: Cairns Control Room, World War II Volunteer Defence Corps * 99 Grafton Street: former Cairns Chinatown *28D Grove Street, Parramatta Park: Grove Street Pensioners' Cottages * Lake Street: Bolands Centre * 37 Lake Street: former Adelaide Steamship Co Ltd Building * 39–49 Lake Street: former Central Hotel * 87 Lake Street: Hides Hotel * 93–105 Lake Street: former

School of Arts School of Arts or school of arts may refer to: *Art school, an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts *Mechanics' institutes, Victorian-era educational establishments formed to provide education, particularly in technical s ...

* 399 Kamerunga Road, Redlynch: Xavier and Sadie Herbert's Cottage * 127–145 McLeod Street, Cairns North: McLeod Street Pioneer Cemetery * 180 McLeod, Cairns North: Herries Private Hospital * Minnie Street: St Monica's Old Cathedral * 8 Minnie Street:

Cairns Masonic Temple Cairns Masonic Temple is a heritage-listed former masonic temple at 8 Minnie Street, Cairns City, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1934 to 1935. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 August 19 ...

* Sheridan Street, Cairns North: Cairns Technical College and High School Building * The Esplanade: Cairns War Memorial * 51 The Esplanade: former

Mulgrave Shire Council Chambers Mulgrave Shire Council Chambers is a heritage-listed former town hall at 51 The Esplanade, Cairns City, Queensland, Cairns City, Cairns, Queensland, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Charles Dalton Lynch & Walter ...

* 183–185 The Esplanade, Cairns North:

Floriana Floriana ( or ''Il-Floriana''), also known by its title Borgo Vilhena, is a Floriana Lines, fortified town in the Port Region, Malta, Port Region area of Malta, just outside the capital city Valletta. It has a population of 2,205 as of March 2014 ...

* Wharf Street:

* 29 Wharf Street: former Jack and Newell Building

Governance

Cairns is part of the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

which is governed by a Regional Council. The Council consists of a directly elected mayor and 9 councillors, elected from 9 single-member divisions (or wards) using an optional

preferential voting Preferential voting or preference voting (PV) may refer to different election systems or groups of election systems: * Any electoral system that allows a voter to indicate multiple preferences where preferences marked are weighted or used as cont ...

system. Elections are held every four years. The Cairns Region consists of three former local government areas. The first was the original

, consisting of the Cairns City region as listed above. The second, which was amalgamated in 1995, was the Shire of Mulgrave (comprising the other areas, namely the Northern Beaches, Redlynch Valley and Southside). The town of Gordonvale was once called Nelson. The third area is the

Shire of Douglas The Shire of Douglas is a Local government in Australia, local government area in Far North Queensland. It is located on the coast north of the city of Cairns, Queensland, Cairns. The shire, administered from the town of Mossman, Queensland, Mos ...

, which amalgamated in 2008 during major statewide local government reforms and then de-amalgamated in 2014. At the time of the 1995 amalgamation, Cairns City had a population of approximately 40,000 and Mulgrave Shire had a population of approximately 60,000. Both local government authorities had chambers in the Cairns CBD. The old Cairns City Council chambers has been converted into a new city library. In a controversial decision, new Council chambers were constructed on previously contaminated land in the mainly industrial suburb of Portsmith at 119-145 Spence Street. Cairns has three representatives in the

Queensland Parliament The Parliament of Queensland is the unicameral legislative body of the Australian state of Queensland. As provided under the Constitution of Queensland, the Parliament consists of the King, represented by the Governor of Queensland, and the ...

, from the electoral districts of Barron River,

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

and Mulgrave. The city is represented in the

Federal Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Parliament of the Commonwealth and also known as the Federal Parliament) is the federal legislature of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch of Australia (represented by the governor ...

by representatives elected from the districts of Leichhardt and

Kennedy Kennedy may refer to: People * Kennedy (surname), including any of several people with that surname ** Kennedy family, a prominent American political family that includes: *** Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (1888–1969), American businessman, investor, ...

Economy

Cairns serves as the major commercial centre for the Far North Queensland and Cape York Peninsula Regions. It is a base for the regional offices of various government departments.

Tourism

Tourism plays a major part in the Cairns

economy An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

. According to

Tourism Australia Tourism Australia is the Australian Government agency responsible for promoting Australian locations as business and leisure travel destinations. The agency is a corporate portfolio agency of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and ...

, the Cairns region is the fourth-most-popular destination for international tourists in Australia after Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. While the city does not rank amongst Australia's top 10 destinations for domestic tourism, it attracts a significant number of Australian holiday makers despite its distance from major capitals. There is also a growing interest in Cairns from the Chinese leisure market with regular scheduled direct flights from Chinese cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou. During the 2013 Chinese Lunar New Year period alone, Cairns saw 20,000 Chinese holidaymakers flying in on chartered flights. The city is near the

, the

, and the

. Great Barrier Reef tours that operate from Cairns are very popular and hence Cairns is also considered as the gateway to Great Barrier Reef. The Cairns

esplanade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cle ...

includes a swimming lagoon with adjoining barbecue areas. Cairns Esplanade Lagoon opened in March 2003. Though initially controversial, the 4800-square-metre pool has proved a very popular local attraction since its opening. In May 2003, the then Cairns Mayor Kevin Byrne declared that

topless Toplessness refers to the state in which a woman's breasts, including her areolas and nipples, are exposed, especially in a public place or in a visual medium. The male equivalent is known as barechestedness. Social norms around toplessness ...

sunbathing is permitted here.

Commercial

Several shopping centres of various sizes are located throughout Cairns. The largest of these are Cairns Central shopping centre, located in the central business district (CBD), and Stockland Cairns, located in the suburb of Earlville. In Westcourt, one of the city's oldest shopping centres has been refurbished, with the city's first DFO. To service the needs of suburbs further from the city centre, shopping complexes are also located at Mount Sheridan, Redlynch, Smithfield, and Clifton Beach. In 2010, the Queensland Government opened the second stage of William McCormack Place, an A$80 million office building credited as the first 6-star green star-rated building in the city.

Media

The Cairns Post ''The Cairns Post'' is a major News Corporation newspaper in Far North Queensland, Australia, that exclusively serves the Cairns area. It has daily coverage on local, state, national and world news, plus a wide range of sections and liftou ...

'', published by

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...

's News Corp. is the main daily newspaper published in the city. Widely available are also ''

The Courier-Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner norther ...

'', a daily newspaper published in Brisbane, and the national

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

'', which both are also published by News Corp. Cairns is served by five television stations, three commercial television stations (

WIN Television WIN Television is an Australian television broadcasting, Australian television network owned and operated by WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single television stat ...

Seven Queensland STQ is an Australian television station, licensed to, and serving the regional areas of Queensland. The station is owned and operated by the Seven Network from studios located in Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast. The callsign STQ stands for ...

and

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's UK & Australia division and is one of the five national free-to-a ...

) which are regional affiliates of the three Australian commercial television networks ( 10,

Seven 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has symbolic associations in religion, mythology, supers ...

and

Nine 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit Circa 300 BC, as part of the Brahmi numerals, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bot ...

), and public broadcasters the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

and SBS services. Of the three major commercial networks: *

Seven News Seven News (stylised 7NEWS) is the television news service of the Seven Network and, as of 2021, the highest-rating in Australia. National bulletins are presented from Seven's high definition studios in South Eveleigh, Sydney, while its flags ...

produces a half-hour local news bulletin for Cairns and Far North Queensland, airing each weeknight at 6pm. It is produced from a newsroom in the city and broadcast from studios in

Maroochydore Maroochydore ( ) is a coastal town in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the urban area of Maroochydore had a population of 63,673 people. The city was subdivided from the Cotton Tree reserve by Surveyor Thomas O'Conno ...

. *

WIN News ''WIN News'' is a local television news service in parts of regional Australia, produced by WIN Television. 14 regional bulletins and news update services are presented from WIN's headquarters in Wollongong, and until 2021 included production ...

airs a half-hour statewide news bulletin for

Regional Queensland Regional Australia is a socio-geographical definition used in Australia to describe populated regions outside of the major metropolitan areas (typically the capital city) in each state or territory, designed for censusing and promoting urbanized ...

, airing each weeknight at 5:30pm. Select local stories from Cairns is inserted into this bulletin, although local weather remains intact at the end of the bulletin as an opt-out window. It is produced from a newsroom in the city and broadcast from studios in

Wollongong Wollongong ( ; Dharawal: ''Woolyungah'') is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near water' or 'sound ...

. A dedicated local WIN News bulletin for Cairns was broadcast until 30th June 2021. *

airs short regional ''

10 News First 10 News First (set to rebrand as 10 News on 30 June 2025) is an Australia, Australian television newscast, produced by Network 10. The network's flagship news program airs at 5PM on weekday evenings covering local, national and world news, inc ...

'' updates throughout the day, broadcast from studios in

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

. Cairns radio stations include a number of public, commercial and community broadcasters. The ABC broadcasts ABC Far North,

ABC Radio National ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. ...

ABC NewsRadio ABC NewsRadio, since 2017 broadcast under the ABC News brand and for a short time known as ABC News on Radio, is a 24-hour news radio service broadcast by the Australian public broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). ABC ...

ABC Classic FM 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 ...

and the

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

youth network. Commercial radio stations include Star 102.7, 4CA 846 AM, Hot FM (now

Hit Network The Hit Network is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 41 radio stations broadcasting a hot adult contemporary music format, as well as 6 digital radio stations. Histor ...

Sea FM Sea FM was an Australian radio network, consisting of stations in Queensland and NSW owned by Southern Cross Austereo. Some Sea FM stations were later sold to meet media ownership requirements. Prime Television Limited purchased Sea FM Towns ...

(now

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 45 radio stations with flagship stations broadcasting a mainstream/classic rock music format in Sydney, Melbourne, and B ...

) and 104.3 4TAB sports radio, while the community radio stations are 4CCR-FM (Cairns FM 89.1), 101.9 Coast FM, Vision Christian Radio, Orbit FM 88.0FM & 87.8FM and 4CIM 98.7FM (Bumma Bippera Media).

Industry and agriculture

The land around Cairns is still used for

sugar cane 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 ...

farming, although this land is increasingly under pressure from new suburbs as the city grows. The Mulgrave Sugar Mill is located in Gordonvale (). The

Barron Gorge Hydroelectric Power Station The Barron Gorge Hydroelectric Power Station (or Barron Gorge Hydro) in Queensland, Australia is an electricity power station commissioned in 1963 with a maximum capacity of . It is in the locality of Barron Gorge in the Wet Tropics World Heri ...

is located nearby on the lower Barron River, and provides

green power Energy is sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Definitions of sustainable energy usually look at its effects on the environment, the economy, and so ...

Transport

Cairns is an important transport hub in the Far North Queensland region. Located at the base of Cape York Peninsula, it provides important transport links between the Peninsula and

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria is a sea off the northern coast of Australia. It is enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea, which separates Australia and New Guinea. The northern boundary ...

regions, and the areas to the south of the state.

is essential to the viability of the area's tourism industry.

Roads

The

runs for from Bald Hills on the

City of Brisbane The City of Brisbane is a local government area (LGA) which comprises the inner portion of Greater Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. Its governing body is the Brisbane City Council. The LGAs in the other mainland state capitals ...

's northern boundary, and terminates in

, a southern suburb in Cairns. The

(also referred as the Cook Highway) commences at Aeroglen, a northern suburb of Cairns, and runs for approximately northwest to Mossman. A need for future upgrades to the Bruce Highway to motorway standards through the southern suburbs to Gordonvale has been identified in regional planning strategies to cope with increasing congestion from rapid population growth. This will result in overpasses at all major intersections from Woree to Gordonvale. The motorway will divert from Bentley Park to Gordonvale, bypassing Edmonton to reduce the effects of road noise on residential areas. 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 Sc ...

commences at Smithfield on the Barron River flood plain north of Cairns, and ascends the Macalister Range to the township of Kuranda. The highway then extends to the town of

Mareeba Mareeba is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Mareeba in Far North Queensland, Australia. Between 2008 and 2013, it was within the Tablelands Region. The town's name is derived from an Aboriginal word meaning ''meeting of the water ...

on the

, and continues to communities of Cape York Peninsula. The

Gillies Highway 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. Its official name is Gillies Range ...

commences at the township of Gordonvale, and ascends the Gillies Range (part of the Great Dividing Range) to the town of Atherton on the Atherton Tableland, passing through the township of

Yungaburra Yungaburra is a rural town and locality in the Tablelands Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Yungaburra had a population of 1,272 people. Geography Yungaburra is on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland. The ...

on the way. The controversial private road, Quaid Road, was constructed in 1989 through what is now a Wet Tropics

World Heritage Area World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritage ...

, and links Wangetti, on the coast just north of Cairns, to Southedge, just south of Mount Molloy. The road is not open to the public and is not used for general traffic.

Bus

A public bus transit network exists within the city, with two transit hubs located within the CBD: the Cairns Central Railway Station precinct, and the Cairns City Bus Station located within the Lake street and Shield street area, through which all bus lines operate and provide linkage to taxi, ride share and intercity rail services. The transit network includes most parts of the city, from Palm Cove in the north, Gordonvale in the south and Redlynch to the west. It is managed throughout the city by Translink: through a service contract with the

Kinetic Group Kinetic Group (stylised as K''I''NET''I''C; formerly known as AATS Group) is an Australian-based multinational bus company that wholly owns a number of bus operations in Australia and New Zealand, including the SkyBus business, which operates ...

company, however the

Go Card Go, GO, G.O., or Go! may refer to: Arts and entertainment Games and sport * Go (game), a board game for two players * '' Travel Go'' (formerly ''Go – The International Travel Game''), a game based on world travel * Go, the starting position ...

ticketing system has not been implemented in the region. A smaller

shuttle bus A shuttle bus is a bus that travels a shorter route in comparison to most bus routes. Typically, shuttle buses travel in both directions between two points. Shuttle buses are designed to transport large groups of people who are all travelling ...

service, ''Jon's Kuranda Bus'' runs between Cairns and Kuranda alongside other private coach services. The main bus hubs in the Cairns CBD are the Cairns City bus station, opened in 2014, and at Cairns Central, the former servicing almost all bus lines in Cairns. Cairns is served by long-distance coaches to Brisbane, and regional cities to the south. Coaches also operate west to

Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive mines in world history, based on co ...

via

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 ...

, and to

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

and Darwin in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

Rail

Cairns railway station is the terminus for Queensland's North Coast railway line, which follows the eastern seaboard from Brisbane. Services are operated by

Queensland Rail Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Queensland Rail is owned by the Queensland Government, and operates both Commuter rail, suburban and Regional rail, interurban rail services in South East Queensland, as well ...

(QR) and include the high-speed Diesel Tilt Train. Freight trains also operate along the route, with a QR Freight handling facility located at Portsmith. Pacific National Queensland (a division of

Pacific National Pacific National is one of Australia's largest rail freight businesses. History In February 2002, National Rail Corporation, National Rail's freight operations and rollingstock, jointly owned by the Government of Australia, Federal, Governm ...

, owned by Asciano Limited) operates a rail siding at Woree. It runs private trains on the rail network owned by the Queensland State Government and managed by QR's Network Division. The

Kuranda Scenic Railway The Kuranda Scenic Railway is a tourist railway service in Australia that operates along the heritage-listed Cairns-to-Kuranda railway line. Constructed in 1891, the line runs from Cairns, Queensland, over the Great Dividing Range to the town o ...

operates from Cairns. The tourist railway ascends the Macalister Range and is not used for commuter services. It passes through the suburbs of Stratford, Freshwater (stopping at Freshwater Station) and Redlynch before reaching Kuranda. Freight services to Forsayth were discontinued in the mid-1990s. These were mixed freight and passenger services that served the semi-remote towns west of the Great Dividing Range. There is now a weekly passenger-only service, ''The Savannahlander'', that leaves Cairns on Wednesday mornings. The Savannahlander is run by a private company, Cairns Kuranda Steam Trains. Cairns is served by a

narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curv ...

cane railway (or cane train) network that hauls harvested sugar cane to the Mulgrave Sugar Mill located in Gordonvale. The pressure of urban sprawl on land previously cultivated by cane farmers has seen this network reduced over recent years.

Airport

is north of Cairns City between the CBD and the Northern Beaches. The domestic terminal at Cairns Airport underwent an extensive redevelopment which began in 2007 and was completed in 2010. In 2023, a new renovation began on the international terminal, which was expected to cost between A$40 and 50 million. The airport has a domestic terminal, an international terminal, and a general aviation area. The airport handles international flights, and flights to major Australian cities, tourist destinations, and regional destinations throughout North Queensland. It is an important base for general aviation serving the Cape York Peninsula and Gulf of Carpentaria communities. The Cairns airport is also a base for the

Royal Flying Doctor Service The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an aeromedical retrieval service in Australia and the largest of its kind in the world. It is a non-profit organisation that provides urgent and emergency medica ...

Port

The Cairns Seaport, located on Trinity Inlet, is operated by the Cairns Port Authority. It serves as an important port for tourist operators providing daily reef trips. These consist of large

catamarans A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a watercraft with two parallel hull (watercraft), hulls of equal size. The wide distance between a catamaran's hulls imparts stability through resistance to rolling and overturning; no ballast is requi ...

capable of carrying over 300 passengers, as well as smaller operators that may take as few as 12 tourists. Cairns Port is also a port of call for

cruise ships Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on tours known as " ...

, such as Captain Cook Cruises, cruising the South Pacific Ocean. It also provides freight services to coastal townships on Cape York Peninsula, the

Torres Strait The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes ( Kalaw Lagaw Ya#Phonology 2, �zen̪ad̪ kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, ...

and the Gulf of Carpentaria. Yearly cargo through the port totals 1.13 million tonnes. Almost 90% of the trade is bulk cargoes – including petroleum, sugar, molasses, fertiliser and LP gas. A large number of

fishing trawlers A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate Trawling, fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing n ...

are also located at the port. There is also a marina that houses private yachts and boats used for tourist operations. The Trinity Wharf has recently been the subject of a major redevelopment to improve the area for tourist and cruise ship operations. The freight wharves are located to the south of Trinity Wharf further up Trinity Inlet.

Defence facilities

The

has a base in Cairns (). The base has a complement of 1000 personnel, and supports nine vessels, including: *Three s of ''Ardent'' Division *Two s Four ships of the Royal Australian Navy Hydrographic Service: *Two hydrographic ships *Two survey ships Previously four of the six landing craft were based in Cairns before their decommissioning. Porton Barracks, in the outlying suburb of

, is home to the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...

's 51st Battalion, Far North Queensland Regiment. Delta Company from the

-based

31st/42nd Battalion, Royal Queensland Regiment The 31st/42nd Battalion, Royal Queensland Regiment (31/42 RQR) is a Reserve infantry battalion of the Australian Army. One of three battalions of the Royal Queensland Regiment, it was formed in early 2008 through the amalgamation of the 31st Bat ...

is also based here. Both units are components of the

Australian Army Reserve The Australian Army Reserve is a collective name given to the military reserve force, reserve units of the Australian Army. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, the reserve military force has been known by many names, including the Citize ...

Sister cities

Lae Lae (, , later ) is the capital of Morobe Province and is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located near the delta of the Markham River on the northern coast of Huon Gulf. It is at the start of the Highlands Highway, which is ...

, Papua New Guinea (

Morobe Province Morobe is a province on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital and largest city is Lae. The province covers 33,705 km2, with a population of 674,810 (2011 census), and since the division of Southern Highlands Province ...

) since 1984 * Minami, Japan (

Tokushima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Tokushima Prefecture has a population of 682,439 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 4,146 Square kilometre, km2 (1,601 sq mi). Tokushima Prefecture b ...

) since 1969 * Oyama, Japan (

Tochigi Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,897,649 (1 June 2023) and has a geographic area of 6,408 Square kilometre, km2 (2,474 Square mile, sq mi ...

) since 15 June 2006 *

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

, Latvia since 1990 * Scottsdale, USA (

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

) since 1987 * Sidney, Canada (

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

) since 1984 *

Zhanjiang Zhanjiang; Leizhou Min: ''Tchiàm-kōng''; previously Tsamkong or Guangzhouwan, then romanized in English as Kwangchowan or Kwangchow Wan. is a port city on the southwestern panhandle of Guangdong province in South China. The prefecture- ...

, People's Republic of China (

Guangdong province ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

) since 2005 A selection of memorabilia and artifacts relating to Cairns Sister Cities is displayed at Cairns City Library.

Education

Cairns has numerous primary and secondary schools. Separate systems of public and private schools operate in Queensland.

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

schools are operated by Catholic Education Cairns. The Catholic system encompasses nineteen primary schools, six secondary colleges and one P–12 college. The oldest

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic Church, Catholic religious institute of Religious brother, brothers. In 1817, Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from Fr ...

college in Cairns is St Augustine's, which is a secondary college. there were almost 6,700 primary students and 4,000 secondary students enrolled in the Roman Catholic school system. There are also four other independent schools – Peace Lutheran College, Trinity Anglican School, Freshwater Christian College and Redlynch State College. There is also Hinterland Cairns Steiner School, which is independent. The Cairns Campus of

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 Cair ...

is located at Smithfield. CQUniversity Australia has established a study centre in Cairns. The city also hosts a

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE () is the common name in Australia for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational courses. Colloquially also known ...

college, and a

School of the Air School of the Air is a generic term for correspondence schools catering for the primary and early secondary education of children in remote and outback Australia where some or all classes were historically conducted by radio, although this is ...

base, both located in the inner suburb of Manunda.

Health

The Cairns Hospital is situated on the Cairns Esplanade and is the major hospital for the Cape York Peninsula area. The smaller Cairns Private Hospital is located nearby. A new building was completed in 2015 to provide up to 168 more beds. Cairns is a base for the

, which operates clinics and provides emergency evacuations in remote communities throughout the region.

Sport and recreation

Rugby League and Australian Rules Football

Rugby League is the most popular sport in Cairns. The Northern Pride

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league, rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League, Queensland Rugby ...

rugby league team played their first season in 2008, and act as a feeder team to the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

who play in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

. Cairns is represented by 11 Senior clubs, most notably ''Brothers Cairns'', ''Ivanhoes Knights,'' ''Cairns Kangaroos, Edmonton Storm'' and ''Southern Suburbs Cockatoos'' in the Cairns District Rugby League. Cairns also hosts growing bases for

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 ...

. Cairns has a seven-team Australian rules football competition,

AFL Cairns AFL Cairns is a semi-professional Australian rules football league that includes clubs from the Cairns region in Queensland, Australia. It is widely regarded as the strongest regional Australian rules football league in Queensland and has a lar ...

, between teams from the Cairns and Port Douglas region.

Cazalys Stadium Cazalys Stadium is a sports stadium in Cairns, Queensland, Australia. It is situated in the suburb of Westcourt. The stadium is named after the social club which abuts the oval, Cazalys, which itself was named after Australian rules footballer ...

currently hosts one

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL) game each season. There is also an AFL Masters team that is based in Cairns, known as the Cairns Stingers.

Other sports

Cairns was home to Far North Queensland Heat, who played in the 2nd tier of

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

in Australia until their dissolution in 2018. The team has represented the city nationally previously at the

2014 FFA Cup The 2014 FFA Cup was the inaugural season of the FFA Cup, the main national soccer knockout cup competition in Australia. 631 teams in total from around Australia entered the competition. Only 32 teams competed in the competition proper (round ...

. The team competes at

Barlow Park Barlow Park is a multi-sports facility and stadium in Parramatta Park, Cairns, Queensland, Australia. The Park is home of the Northern Pride RLFC offices, Cairns District Rugby Union, Cairns and District Athletics Association, Australian Spor ...

. The Cairns region has a large

community with a local competition which spans from

Port Douglas Port Douglas is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Douglas, Queensland, Australia, approximately north of Cairns. In the , the locality of Port Douglas had a population of 3,650 people. The town's population can often double, however, ...

to Innisfail and west to Dimbulah. Notable

players from the region include Socceroos

Frank Farina Frank Farina Order of Australia, OAM (born 5 September 1964) is an Australian Association football, football (soccer) coach and former player who played as a Forward (association football), forward. His playing career spanned Australia, Belg ...

Steve Corica Stephen Christopher Corica (; born 24 March 1973) is an Australian soccer manager and former player. In December 2023, Corica was announced as the inaugural manager of A-League expansion club Auckland FC. A technically gifted and skillful att ...

Shane Stefanutto Shane Stefanutto (born 12 January 1980) is an Australian former professional footballer who is the Technical Director of Brisbane Roar. He previously played for Brisbane Strikers, Lillestrøm, Lyn, North Queensland Fury, Brisbane Roar, Ol ...

and

Michael Thwaite Michael Errol Thwaite (born 2 May 1983) is an Australian former professional soccer player. Education He has a Bachelor of Human Movement Science degree from CQUniversity Australia. Michael also is a certified AFC B-Licence coach. Club career ...

. There is a baseball league at Trinity Beach. Cairns also has a National Basketball League ( NBL) team, the

Cairns Taipans The Cairns Taipans are an Australian professional basketball team based in Cairns, Queensland. The Taipans compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Cairns Convention Centre, known colloquially as "The S ...

whose home court is the

Cairns Convention Centre The Cairns Convention Centre is a convention and entertainment centre in Cairns, Queensland, Australia. The venue was selected the World's Best Congress Centre in 2004 and 2014. Description The centre has a floor space of on a site in the C ...

, known as ''The Snakepit'' during Taipans home games. In 1965 the City of Cairns Open, a professional golf tournament, was inaugurated. Significant golfers like Randall Vines and Vic Bennetts won the event. In the mid-1970s it evolved into an amateur event. In modern times, the week-long event encompasses four tournaments, including a mixed team event and separate men's and women's tournaments. Cairns is a major international destination for

water sports Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms ...

and

scuba diving Scuba diving is a Diving mode, mode of underwater diving whereby divers use Scuba set, breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The word ''scub ...

due to its close proximity to the

. Other recreational activities popular with tourists include

whitewater rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

skydiving Parachuting and skydiving are methods of descending from a high point in an atmosphere to the ground or ocean surface with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or multiple parachutes. For hu ...

hang gliding Hang gliding is an air sports, air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised, fixed-wing aircraft, fixed-wing heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium al ...

kitesurfing Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, snow, sand, or other surface. It combines the aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snow ...

and

snorkelling Snorkeling ( British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming face down on or through a body of water while breathing the ambient air through a shaped tube called a snorkel, usually with swimming goggles or a ...

Sporting facilities

Notable sporting grounds include

, Parramatta Park,

, the Cairns Convention Centre, and the Cairns

Hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

Centre. The Cairns Showground is used for sports, in addition to the Cairns Show and funfairs.

Amenities

Established in 1978, the Cairns & District Chinese Association is an arts and heritage organisation seeking to preserve the Chinese culture and heritage of Cairns and North Queensland and enriching the contemporary cultural, social and economic diversity of the community. The society organises events such as the Chinese New Year Festival, organises

Lion dance Lion dance ( zh, s=舞狮, t=舞獅, p=wǔshī, c=, first=t) is a form of traditional dance in Culture of China, Chinese culture and other Asian countries in which performers mimic a Asiatic lion, lion's movements in a lion costume to bring good l ...

rs and

dragon boat A dragon boat is a human-powered watercraft originating from the Pearl River Delta region of China's southern Guangdong Province. These were made of teak, but in other parts of China different kinds of wood are used. It is one of a family of t ...

racing, maintains the Lit Sung Goong Temple, and offers Chinese language classes and social group activities. Established in 1989, the Cairns and District Family History Society maintains a library of world-wide

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

material at 271 Gatton Street, Westcourt. The society publishes new genealogical resources based on collecting and indexing family information relating to Far North Queensland. The Cairns Historical Society operates the Cairns Museum and Cairns Historical Society Resource Centre at the former

Cairns School of Arts Cairns School of Arts is a heritage-listed former school of arts and now the Cairns Museum at 93–105 Lake Street, Cairns City, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Tunbridge, Tunbridge & Lynch and built from 1907 ...

building on the corner of Lake and Shields Streets in Cairns City. The Cairns 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 264 Grafton Street, Cairns North. St Monica's Catholic Cathedral is at 183 Abbott Street. It is within the Cairns Cathedral Parish of the

Indigenous languages and representation

The

Yidiny language Yidiny (also spelled Yidiɲ, Yidiñ, Jidinj, Jidinʲ, Yidinʸ, Yidiń ) is a nearly extinct Australian Aboriginal language, spoken by the Yidinji people of north-east Queensland. Its traditional language region is within the local government a ...

is a prominent language of the Cairns area.

Irukandji language Djabugay (or ''Djabuganjdji''; see below for other names) is an endangered Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Djabugay people with 46 native speakers at the 2016 census. The Djabugay language region includes Far North Queensland, parti ...

(also known as Yirrgay, Yurrgay, Yirrgandji, Djabuganjdji and Yirgay) is a language of

, particularly the area around the Kuranda Range and Lower Barron River. The Irukandji language region includes the landscape within

Yumplatok Torres Strait Creole (), also known as Torres Strait Pidgin, Brokan/Broken, Cape York Creole, Lockhart Creole, Kriol, Papuan, Broken English, Blaikman, Big Thap, Pizin, and Ailan Tok, is an English-based creole language (a variety of Pidgin E ...

(also known as Torres Strait Creole and Broken) is a contemporary Torres Strait Island language originating in the

. The contact with missionaries and others since the 1800s has led to the development of a

pidgin language A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified form of contact language that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn fro ...

, which transitioned into a

creole language A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable form of contact language that develops from the process of different languages simplifying and mixing into a new form (often a pidgin), and then that form expanding and elaborating into a full-fl ...

and now has its own distinctive sound system, grammar, vocabulary, usage and meaning. Torres Strait Creole is spoken by most Torres Strait Islanders and is a mixture of Standard Australian English and traditional languages. It is an English-based creole; however, each island has its own version of creole. Torres Strait Creole is also spoken on the

Australian mainland Mainland Australia is the main landmass of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, excluding the Aru Islands Regency, Aru Islands, New Guinea, Tasmania, and other list of islands of Australia, Australian offshore islands. The landmass ...

, including

Northern Peninsula Area Region The Northern Peninsula Area Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia, covering areas on the northwestern coast of Cape York Peninsula. It was created in March 2008 out of three Aboriginal Shires and two autonomous Is ...

and coastal communities such as Cairns,

, Mackay,

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite. The Scottish- ...

and

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. There are four

traditional owner Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title right ...

groups representing the rights and interests of the peoples of the Cairns region. The Dawul Wuru (Yirrganydji) Aboriginal Corporation represents traditional owners in the area between Cairns and Port Douglas. Native title rights have been granted to the Djabugay people over land and waters within the

Barron Gorge National Park Barron Gorge National Park is a protected area in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It lies predominantly within the locality of Barron Gorge. Geography The park is 1,404 km northwest of Brisbane and from Kuranda. Barron Gorg ...

near Kuranda. The

Gunggandji The Guŋgañji, also transcribed Gungganyji, Gunggandji, Kongkandji, and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Queensland. Language The Guŋgañji speak Gungay, a dialect of the Yidiny language. Country Norman T ...

people hold rights over more than on the Yarrabah Peninsula. The fourth group represents the Yidinji clans, and comprises Gimuy Walubara Yidinji, Dulabed Malanbarra and Yidinji, Mandingalbay Yidinji and Wadjanbarra Tableland Yidinji.

Notable people

Gavin Allen Gavin Allen (born 30 March 1965) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He played club football in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership for Fortitude Valley and in the NSWRL premiership for the St. ...

, Queensland and Brisbane Broncos Rugby League player *

Christine Anu Maia Christine Anu (born on 15 March 1970) is an Australian singer-songwriter and actress of Torres Strait Islander origin. She gained popularity with the cover song release of the Warumpi Band's song " My Island Home" in 1995. Anu has been no ...

pop singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

and actress * Aron Baynes, basketball player in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

Poppy Boltz Poppy Rainbow Boltz (born 25 September 2000) is an Australian rules footballer playing for Brisbane in the AFL Women's competition (AFLW). Early life Boltz was born in northern England but raised in Cairns, Queensland.Matt Bowen Matthew Jeremy Bowen (born 9 March 1982) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. An Australia international and Queensland State of Origin representative , he played in the National Rugb ...

, Rugby League player *

Jack Bowes Jack Bowes (born 26 January 1998) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), having previously played for the Gold Coast Suns. Early life Bowes was born and raised in Cairns ...

, AFL footballer * Daniel Boyd, contemporary artist *

Leonard John Brass Leonard John Brass (17 May 1900 – 29 August 1971) was an Australian and American botanist, botanical collector and explorer. Early life Brass was born at Toowoomba, Queensland. He was trained at the Queensland Herbarium. Career Brass coll ...

, botanist * Mark 'Yank' Cantoni, rugby league player *

Kev Carmody Kevin Daniel Carmody (born 1946), better known by his stage name Kev Carmody, is an Aboriginal Australian singer-songwriter and musician, a Murri man from northern Queensland. He is best known for the song " From Little Things Big Things Grow" ...

, singer-songwriter, born in Cairns *

Clinton Cave Chase Atlantic (stylised in all caps) is an Australian R&B band from Cairns, Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and ...

, singer-songwriter in

Chase Atlantic Chase Atlantic (stylised in all caps) is an Australian R&B band from Cairns, Queensland, formed in 2014. The band consists of three members: Christian Anthony and brothers Mitchel and Clinton Cave, and have released seven EPs and four albums si ...

Mitchel Cave Chase Atlantic (stylised in all caps) is an Australian R&B band from Cairns, Queensland, formed in 2014. The band consists of three members: Christian Anthony and brothers Mitchel and Clinton Cave, and have released seven EPs and four albums si ...

, singer-songwriter in

* Che Cockatoo-Collins, AFL footballer * Troy Clarke, AFL footballer *

Terence Cooper Terence Cooper (5 July 1933 – 16 September 1997) was a British film actor, best known for his roles in Australian and New Zealand television and film. Biography Born in 1933 at Carnmoney, a district of the modern-day borough of Newtownabbey ...

, film actor, artist * Alex Davies, AFL footballer *

Courtenay Dempsey Courtenay Dempsey (born 28 August 1987) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). In 2024, Dempsey was named at Number 94 in Don The Stat’s Top 100 ...

, AFL footballer,

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers or colloquially the Dons, is a professional Australian rules football club that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCrac ...

* Charlie Dixon, AFL footballer,

Port Adelaide Football Club Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where it is nicknamed the ...

Jacqui Dupuy Jacqueline Dupuy (born 9 July 1994) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Gold Coast Suns in the AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules ...

, AFLW footballer and netballer * Mary Fowler, soccer player for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Virginia Giuffre Virginia Louise Giuffre (''née'' Roberts; August 9, 1983 – April 25, 2025) was an American Australians, American-Australian accuser of child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and a campaigner who offered support to survivors of sex trafficking. ...

, American-Australian advocate for victims of

sex trafficking Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Perpetrators of the crime are called sex traffickers or pimps—people who manipulate victims to engage in various forms of commercial sex with paying customers. Se ...

, best known for her testimony against

Jeffrey Epstein Jeffrey Edward Epstein ( , ; January 20, 1953August 10, 2019) was an American financier and child sex offender. Born and raised in New York City, Epstein began his professional career as a teacher at the Dalton School, despite lacking a col ...

* Caleb Graham, AFL footballer *

Catriona Gray Catriona Elisa Magnayon Gray ( ; ; born January 6, 1994) is a Filipino beauty queen and media personality best known for winning the title of Miss Universe 2018. The fourth Filipina to win Miss Universe, Gray was previously crowned Miss Worl ...

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international major beauty pageant that is run by a Thailand and Mexican-based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stree ...

winner * Ben Halloran, footballer for

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional men's soccer club located in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club was one of the eight founding members of the A-League Men and have competed in it concurrently since its formation, u ...

Ken Ham Kenneth Alfred Ham (born 20 October 1951) is an Australian Christian fundamentalist, young Earth creationist, apologist and former science teacher, living in the United States. He is the founder, CEO, and former president of Answers in Genesis ...

creationist Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation, and is often pseudoscientific. Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary' ...

and religious activist * Tracey Hannah, downhill mountain biker *

Jarrod Harbrow Jarrod Harbrow (born 18 July 1988) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Gold Coast Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Early life Harbrow was born in Cairns to an Indigenous Australian mot ...

, AFL footballer,

Gold Coast Football Club The Gold Coast Suns, officially the Gold Coast Football Club, are a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast in the suburb of Carrara. The ...

Xavier Herbert Xavier Herbert (born Alfred Jackson; 15 May 190110 November 1984) was an Australian writer best known for his Miles Franklin Award-winning novel '' Poor Fellow My Country'' (1975). He was considered one of the elder statesmen of Australian lite ...

, writer * Jacob Heron, AFL footballer *

Justin Hodges Justin Hodges (born 25 May 1982) is an Australian professional boxer and former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. A Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representative , Hodges started ...

, international Rugby League player * Erin Holland, an Australian singer and Television Host *

Nathan Jawai Nathan Leon Jawai (born 10 October 1986) is an Australian former professional basketball player. Jawai first played for the Cairns Marlins in the Queensland Basketball League in 2004, before heading to Canberra the following year to attend the ...

, professional basketball player, first indigenous Australian to play in NBA * Danilo Jovanovitch, poet *

Leah Kaslar Leah Kaslar (born 11 September 1985) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Brisbane and Gold Coast in the AFL Women's (AFLW), captaining both teams. Early life Kaslar was born in 1985 in Caringbah, New South Wales and moved w ...

, AFLW footballer *

Susan Kiefel Susan Mary Kiefel (; born 1954) is an Australian lawyer and barrister who was the 13th Chief Justice of Australia from 2017 to 2023. She concurrently served on the High Court of Australia from 2007 to 2023, previously being a judge of both the ...

, Chief Justice,

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is the apex court of the Australian legal system. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified in the Constitution of Australia and supplementary legislation. The High Court was establi ...

Richard Ash Kingsford Richard Ash Kingsford (1821–1902) was an alderman and mayor of Brisbane Municipal Council, a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, Australia, and a mayor of Cairns, Queensland. He is the grandfather of the aviator Sir Charles King ...

, Mayor of Brisbane, first Mayor of Cairns *

Emma Louise Emma Louise Lobb (born 16 July 1991), known professionally as Emma Louise, is an Australian singer-songwriter. She is best known for her 2011 debut single "Jungle". Two studio albums, '' Vs Head vs Heart'' (March 2013) and '' Supercry'' (July 2 ...

, musician *

Isabel Lucas Isabel Lucas (born 29 January 1985) is an Australians, Australian actress, environmentalist and Model (person), model. She is best known for her roles in ''Home and Away'' (2003–06), ''Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' (2009), ''Daybreake ...

, actress * Rayleen Lynch, retired Australian basketball player *

Steven Marshall Steven Spence Marshall (born 21 January 1968) is a former Australian politician who served as the 46th premier of South Australia between 2018 and 2022. He was a member of the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia in the ...

, watch house officer and whistleblower *

Rhyse Martin Rhyse Martin (born 1 March 1993) is a Papua New Guinea national rugby league team, Papua New Guinea international rugby league footballer who plays as a forward for Hull Kingston Rovers in the Super League. He previously played for the Leeds ...

, Rugby League player,

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilitated by ...

* Iyah May, singer-songwriter notable for the song " Karmageddon" * Ryan McGoldrick, Rugby League player,

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England. They play their home games at Wheldon Road (currently known as the Mend-A-Hose Jungle for sponsorship reasons) and compete in the Super League, t ...

Grant McLennan Grant William McLennan (12 February 19586 May 2006) was an Australian alternative rock singer-songwriter-guitarist. He co-founded the Go-Betweens (1977–89, 2000–06) with Robert Forster in Brisbane in 1977 and issued four solo albums: '' Wat ...

, musician,

The Go-Betweens The Go-Betweens were an Australian indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1977. The band was co-founded and led by singer-songwriters and guitarists Robert Forster (musician), Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, who were its only co ...

* Nate Myles, international Rugby League player * Johnny Nicol, musician * Danielle Oke, artist * Grant Patterson, Paralympic swimmer * Wilma Reading, singer * Adam Sarota, international football player * Xavier Savage, Rugby League player * Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Rugby League player *

, footballer for

Liaoning Whowin Liaoning Football Club (), officially known as Liaoning Hongyun (), was a professional association football club with a long history in Chinese football. The club can predate their formation to 1953, when Shenyang government sports body joined ex ...

, and occasional Socceroo *

Brenton Thwaites Brenton Thwaites (born ) is an Australian actor. Beginning his career in his home country in 2011, he had a starring role on the series '' Slide'' and later appeared on the soap opera ''Home and Away''. Since moving to the United States, Thwait ...

, actor *

Rhys Wakefield Rhys Wakefield is an Australian actor and director, known for his roles in Australian TV series ''Home and Away'', the feature film ''The Black Balloon'' (2008) and in season 3 of HBO's ''True Detective'' in 2019. Wakefield's debut feature f ...

, actor * Naomi Wenitong, member of former pop and R&B duo

Shakaya Shakaya are an Australian girl group formed in Cairns, Queensland, in 2002 by Simone Stacey and Naomi Wenitong. The two met in 1999 while studying an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music course and they had both been writing individually ...

Gallery

File:Dawn, the Esplanade, Cairns, QLD.JPG, View of the pier and Esplanade at dawn File:Esplanade, Cairns, 2015 (02).JPG, City centre File:Glass bottom boats & Semi sub.JPG, Glass bottom boats and a Semi submarine at Green Island,

, outer Cairns File:Jack Barnes Bicentennial Mangrove Boardwalk.jpg, Jack Barnes Bicentennial Mangrove Boardwalk File:Great Barrier Reef Ferry.JPG, A

ferry, Green Island, outer Cairns File:Kuranda Scenic Railway Cairns.JPG, Kuranda scenic railway, Kuranda File:Mossman River and Gorge.JPG, Mossman river and Gorge,

Daintree National Park The Daintree National Park is located in Far North Queensland, Australia, northwest of Brisbane and northwest of Cairns. It was founded in 1981 and is part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland. In 1988, it became a World Heritage Site. The park co ...

, outskirts of Cairns File:Moved Termite Mounts Mareeba.JPG, Moved termite mounds,

Mareeba, Queensland Mareeba is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Shire of Mareeba in Far North Queensland, Australia. Between 2008 and 2013, it was within the Tablelands Region. The town's name is derived from an Indigenous Aus ...

, outskirts of Cairns File:QLD Rescue Helicopter.JPG, Queensland rescue Helicopter, Green Island,

, outskirts of Cairns File:Marine Stingers Sign Cairns.JPG, Marine stingers sign, Trinity beach, Cairns File:Hastings Reef.jpg, Hastings Reef Cairns-copperlode.JPG, City landscape

References

External links

Cairns City Council Website

University of Queensland: Queensland Places: Cairns

Cairns Local Information Website

Watch historical footage of Cairns and Far North Queensland
from the

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting, and providing access to a national c ...

of Australia's collection.
Cairns
– Tourism Australia * * Freeman, Jennifer
The Collinson Index

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 ...

log post, 2 September 2011 Log most often refers to: * Trunk (botany), the stem and main wooden axis of a tree, called logs when cut ** Logging, cutting down trees for logs ** Firewood, logs used for fuel ** Lumber or timber, converted from wood logs * Logarithm, in mathem ...

{{Authority control 1876 establishments in Australia Cairns Region Coastal cities in Australia Fishing communities in Australia Populated places established in 1876 Port cities in Queensland Queensland in World War II