Cardwell is a coastal town and rural
locality in the
Cassowary Coast Region
The Cassowary Coast Region is a local government area in the Far North Queensland region of Queensland, Australia, south of Cairns and centred on the towns of Innisfail, Cardwell and Tully. It was created in 2008 from a merger of the Shir ...
,
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
, Australia.
In the , the locality of Cardwell had a population of 1,309 people.
[
]
Geography
The Bruce Highway National Highway 1 and the North Coast railway line are the dominant transport routes; connecting with the Queensland provincial cities of Cairns and Townsville
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 30 ...
. Cardwell railway station in Bowen Street serves the town ().
The town is a long narrow strip hugging the coast with Greenwood Hill immediately to the west of the town () rising to above sea level.
West of Cardwell the rugged topography of the Cardwell Range intercepts the trade winds resulting in high rainfall. The coastal escarpment is covered in rainforest which transitions to the west to eucalypt woodland and tropical savanna. Cardwell Range biodiversity has been protected by the introduction of Forestry Reserves, National Parks and Queensland World Heritage Wet Tropics Areas.
Seaward lies the Hinchinbrook Channel
The Hinchinbrook Channel is a channel between the Australian mainland and Hinchinbrook Island. It runs for 44 km between Oyster Point, just south of Cardwell, and Lucinda in Far North Queensland
Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the nor ...
() and Rockingham Bay
Rockingham Bay is a bay in Far North Queensland, Australia.
The bay opens onto the Coral Sea, part of the South Pacific Ocean. Adjacent to the bay is the Girramay National Park, south of which is the town of Cardwell. Goold Island
Goold Isla ...
() which are both are part of the Coral Sea
The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down the Australian northeast coast. Most of it is protected by the Fren ...
. 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, ...
is further off-shore to the east.
Islands are visible from Cardwell including protected areas i.e. Hinchinbrook Island, Goold Island
Goold Island is a national park in Queensland, Australia, northwest of Brisbane. The island is close to the northern tip of Hinchinbrook Island off the coast from Cardwell in Rockingham Bay and is part of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage A ...
and the Brook Islands Group.
Oyster Point is one kilometre south of Cardwell (). This location experienced one of Australia's important conservation battles. With the establishment of Port Hinchinbrook, the Marina Public Boat Ramp provides year-round access to the protected marine environments of Hinchinbrook Channel, Estuaries, Islands and Great Barrier Reef. The Cardwell Jetty is an important infrastructure asset, where visitors can socialize and view the coastal scenery; and anglers can enjoy both day and evening fishing activities.
History
The Aboriginal heritage is defined by Language Groups; the boundary of the Dyirbal and Warrgamay
The Warrgamay people, also spelt Warakamai, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Queensland.
Language
Their language, Warrgamay, is now extinct. It was a variety of Dyirbalic, and appears to be composed of three distinct diale ...
lies between Cardwell and Tully in the north.
''Warrgamay
The Warrgamay people, also spelt Warakamai, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Queensland.
Language
Their language, Warrgamay, is now extinct. It was a variety of Dyirbalic, and appears to be composed of three distinct diale ...
'' (also known as ''Waragamai'', ''Wargamay'', ''Wargamaygan'', ''Biyay'', and ''Warakamai'') is an Australian Aboriginal language in North Queensland
North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...
. The language region includes the Herbert River
The Herbert River is a river located in Far North Queensland, Australia. The southernmost of Queensland's wet tropics river systems, it was named in 1864 by George Elphinstone Dalrymple explorer, after Robert George Wyndham Herbert, the fi ...
area, Ingham, Hawkins Creek, Long Pocket, Herbert Vale, Niagara Vale, Yamanic Creek, Herbert Gorge, Cardwell, Hinchinbrook Island and the adjacent mainland.
Girramay (also known as Giramay, Garamay, Giramai, Keramai) is a language of Far North Queensland
Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stretches north to the Torres Strait, and west to the Gulf ...
, particularly the area around Herbert River
The Herbert River is a river located in Far North Queensland, Australia. The southernmost of Queensland's wet tropics river systems, it was named in 1864 by George Elphinstone Dalrymple explorer, after Robert George Wyndham Herbert, the fi ...
Catchment taking in the towns of Cardwell and Ingham. The Girramay language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of Cassowary Coast and Hinchinbrook Regional Councils.
The first Europeans settled in the area in January 1864 in order to create a port initially called "Port Hinchinbrook". Subsequently, the town was renamed Cardwell later in 1864 by explorer George Elphinstone Dalrymple after Edward Cardwell, 1st Viscount Cardwell, the Secretary of State for the Colonies
The secretary of state for the colonies or colonial secretary was the British Cabinet minister in charge of managing the United Kingdom's various colonial dependencies.
History
The position was first created in 1768 to deal with the increasi ...
at that time.
Cardwell was the first port settlement on the Queensland coast north of Port Denison (Bowen Bowen may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Bowen, Queensland, a town
* Bowen Hills, Queensland, a suburb
** Bowen Hills railway station, a railway station in Bowen Hills
** Bowen Park, Brisbane, a park in Bowen Hills
* Bowen Bridge, crossing the Derw ...
). The first party of non-indigenous people to settle at Rockingham Bay
Rockingham Bay is a bay in Far North Queensland, Australia.
The bay opens onto the Coral Sea, part of the South Pacific Ocean. Adjacent to the bay is the Girramay National Park, south of which is the town of Cardwell. Goold Island
Goold Isla ...
arrived in January 1864 and was led by George Elphinstone Dalrymple. They were 20 in number including James Morrill, William Alcock Tully, botanist John Dallachy, Arthur Jervoise Scott, Lieut. Marlow of the Native Police and his troopers Norman, Archy and Warbragen. Dalrymple also brought his "black boy" servant, an Aboriginal man from Stradbroke Island
Stradbroke Island, also known as Minjerribah, was a large sand island that formed much of the eastern side of Moreton Bay near Brisbane, Queensland until the late 19th century. Today the island is split into two islands: North Stradbroke Isl ...
that he called "Cockey". They came from Bowen on the small schooner ''Policeman'' which was under the command of ex- Native Police officer Captain Walter Powell, with the 3 ton cutter Heather Bell in tow.
Dalrymple's main purpose in establishing a settlement in Rockingham Bay was to create a port as close as possible to the Valley of Lagoons Station of which he was part owner. Very soon after disembarking from the ''Policeman'', he endeavoured to create a road from the coast to the Valley of Lagoons largely by expanding already existing native paths. A few miles inland from the landing site was an Aboriginal village and bora ground surrounded by native banana plantations that reminded Dalrymple of villages in Ceylon. The Warrgamay
The Warrgamay people, also spelt Warakamai, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Queensland.
Language
Their language, Warrgamay, is now extinct. It was a variety of Dyirbalic, and appears to be composed of three distinct diale ...
people in the area and on nearby Hinchinbrook Island were described as numerous and having some of the largest spears, shields and wooden swords ever recorded in Australia. Having told the local people through his interpreter that he had come to take possession of their lands, Dalrymple bizarrely expressed frustration at the supposed inability of the aboriginals to understand the concept of "Thou shalt not steal". James Morrill was more factual in his account of the founding of Cardwell writing that "I then said to he natives
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
that they must clear out ... as we wished to occupy the land and would shoot any who approached, that we were strong and that another party would soon follow", and he also described how a group of Aboriginals "were set upon suddenly by Dalrymple's men and rather cut up."
Cardwell Post Office opened on 10 July 1864.
In March 1865, Lieutenant Blakeney and seven troopers of the Native Police spent two days clearing the area around Cardwell of Aboriginal presence by "burning camps and dispersing the natives."
In the late 1860s and early 1870s, Cardwell became a transport hub for prospectors heading to the Etheridge Shire goldfields inland from the town. Captain John Moresby
Rear Admiral John Moresby (15 March 1830 – 12 July 1922) was a British naval officer who explored the coast of New Guinea and was the first European to discover the site of Port Moresby.
Life and career
Moresby was born in Allerford, Somerset ...
visited Cardwell in 1871 and wrote that "various tribes of aborigines roam about the vicinity, and not unnaturally regard the white men, who are rapidly dispossessing them of their homes, as mortal enemies. They ... suffer terrible retaliation at the hands of our countrymen, who employ native troopers, commanded by white men to hunt down and destroy the offenders when the opportunity offers".
In January 1872, two British dugong fishermen named Henry Smith and Charles Clements were killed at nearby Goold Island
Goold Island is a national park in Queensland, Australia, northwest of Brisbane. The island is close to the northern tip of Hinchinbrook Island off the coast from Cardwell in Rockingham Bay and is part of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage A ...
by resident Aboriginals. Wet weather prevented an immediate punitive expedition of four boats of armed local white men who were eager that "the blacks" be "taught that what they do is punishable by death". However, within the same month the Native Police forces of Sub-Inspectors Crompton and Johnstone completed a punitive mission and returned to Cardwell with three young Aboriginal children from the island. The eldest of the children was ten and "they were given away in Cardwell to domesticate them."
Cardwell Provisional School opened on 1 October 1870, becoming Cardwell State School on 22 August 1887.
Murray River Provisional School opened circa 1893 and closed in 1904. Its location was described as "via Cardwell".
In 1985, it was proposed to build an integrated marina and resort called Port Hinchinbrook at Oyster Point south of the town. The proposal encountered many environmental objections and financial collapse of one of the development companies, before construction commenced in 1999. The long-running controversy led to the Australian Senate establishing an inquiry in May 1998 to try to understand the roles of the regulatory processes of the three levels of government in the approval for the development and what might be learned from the experience and how processes might be improved.
The Cardwell Library opened in 2008.
Cardwell suffered significant damage from Cyclone Yasi, a category 5 cyclone, in February 2011.[
] The marina and the boats within it were destroyed. As at 2019, ongoing legal disputes have prevented work on rebuilding the marina.
In 2013, the Cardwell community began being the target of an online hoax, which claimed the town's Christmas lights
Christmas lights (also known as fairy lights, festive lights or string lights) are lights often used for decoration in celebration of Christmas, often on display throughout the Christmas and holiday season, Christmas season including Advent and ...
competition had been cancelled to appease the local Muslim community, forcing Cassowary Coast Regional Council to publicly debunk the rumours.[Fernbach, Nathalie; Hession, Pa]
Hoax won't dim Cardwell's Christmas lights
, ABC North Queensland
ABC North Queensland is an ABC Local Radio station based in Townsville broadcasting to North Queensland. This includes the towns of Bowen, Charters Towers, Ingham and Ayr.
The station began broadcasting as 4QN in 1936. It was originally a ...
, 3 December 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2017. Despite this, the hoax continues to circulate on social media. The hoax originated from an Islamophobic
Islamophobia is the fear of, hatred of, or prejudice against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or a source of terrorism.
The scope and precise definition of the term ''Islamophobia ...
post on the "Meanwhile in Australia" Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...
page, which subsequently went viral. The post detailing the bogus information specifically named the Al Shalalah mosque as the source of the complaint, but such a mosque does not exist in Cardwell. The information contained within the post was also debunked by fact-checking websites such as snopes.com
''Snopes'' , formerly known as the ''Urban Legends Reference Pages'', is a fact-checking website. It has been described as a "well-regarded reference for sorting out myths and rumors" on the Internet. The site has also been seen as a source ...
and Hoax Slayer
''Hoax Slayer'' (stylized as ''Hoax-Slayer'') was a fact-checking website established in 2003 by Brett Christensen, dedicated to critically analyzing the veracity of urban legends. While it was best known for debunking false stories and internet ...
. Although the original post was deleted, screenshots of the post continue to be shared on social media. Contrary to the sentiment shared in the fake post, the then Cassowary Coast mayor Bill Shannon said that he had received phone calls from Muslim leaders from as far away as Sydney encouraging Cardwell to continue with their Christmas light displays.
In the , the locality of Cardwell had a population of 1,309 people. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 8.9% of the population. 72.5% of people were born in Australia and 83.0% of people spoke only English at home. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 25.6%, Catholic 22.6% and Anglican 20.6%.
Heritage listings
Cardwell has a number of heritage-listed
This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many i ...
sites, including:
* Valley of Lagoons Road, Damper Creek: Stone Bridge, Dalrymple Gap Track
* 51 Victoria Street: Cardwell Divisional Board Hall (later Cardwell Shire Hall)
* 53 Victoria Street: Cardwell Post Office
Cardwell Bush Telegraph is a heritage-listed former post office and now heritage centre at 53 Victoria Street, Cardwell, Queensland, Cardwell, Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. The Telegraph and Post Office at Cardwell was designed ...
(now the Cardwell Bush Telegraph heritage centre)
Cardwell also has a granite monument erected in memory of Walter Jervoise Scott, a pioneer of the Valley of Lagoons
Valley Of Lagoons is a rural locality in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. In the Valley Of Lagoons had a population of 48 people.
Geography
The north-eastern slopes of Boulder Mountain are the origin of the Burdekin River. ...
. The monument was sent from Great Britain by his brothers intended for his grave at Valley of Lagoons. On arrival at Cardwell, it was found to be too large to transport up the rough track to Valley of Lagoons, so it was erected in Cardwell instead.
Education
Cardwell State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 43 Victoria Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 108 students with 6 teachers (5 full-time equivalent) and 6 non-teaching staff (5 full-time equivalent). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 80 students with 5 teachers (4 full-time equivalent) and 6 non-teaching staff (5 full-time equivalent).
There is no secondary school in Cardwell. The nearest government secondary school is Tully State High School in Tully to the north.
Facilities
Cardwell Police Station is at 49 Victoria Street ().
Cardwell Fire Station is at 2 Panos Street ().
Cardwell SES Facility is in Gregory Street ().
Cardwell Community Health Centre is at 226 Victoria Street (). Cardwell Ambulance Station is at 222-224 Victoria Street, adjacent to the health centre ().
Cardwell Cemetery is in Gregory Street (). It is managed by the Cassowary Coast Regional Council.
Cardwell Coast Guard is at 1 Victoria Street (). It is a branch of the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard.
Amenities
The Cassowary Coast Regional Council operates a public library at 4 Balliol Street ().
Cardwell Post Office is at 1 Brasenose Street ().
Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church is at 121 Victoria Street (). It is within the Tully Parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns is a diocese of the Catholic Church located in the state of Queensland, Australia. It is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Brisbane. The diocese was erected as a vicariate apostolic in 1877 and w ...
.
Cardwell Country Club is at 23 Gregory Street (). It has an 18-hole golf course and a lawn bowls
Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gr ...
green.
Port Hinchinbrook (also known as Cardwell Marina) is a marina in Front Street ().
Port Hinchbrook boat ramp and floating walkway is in Foxtail Avenue (). They are managed by the Cassowary Coast Regional Council.
There is a boat ramp in Sheridan Street (). It is managed by the Cassowary Coast Regional Council.
Cardwell jetty is opposite 315A Victoria Street at the north end of Hinchinbrook Channel (). It is managed by the Cassowary Coast Regional Council.
Attractions
Cardwell Bush Telegraph Heritage Centre
Cardwell Bush Telegraph is a heritage-listed former post office and now heritage centre at 53 Victoria Street, Cardwell, Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. The Telegraph and Post Office at Cardwell was designed by Colonial Arch ...
is one of the oldest buildings in North Queensland, and part of a precinct of heritage buildings operated as a museum at 53 Victoria Street ().
Cardwell Lookout is at the end of Braenose Street (). It provides panoramic views of the town and ocean beyond.
Notable residents
* Isidor Lissner, politician
* John Murray, police inspector
* Ashleigh Southern
Ashleigh Southern (born 22 October 1992 in Ingham, Queensland) In water polo, she is a centre forward or outside shooter who has represented Australia on the junior and senior national teams. She won a gold medal at the 2009 Youth Olympic Fest ...
, water polo player
* Margaret Thorsborne
Margaret Grace Thorsborne (3 June 1927 – 16 October 2018) was an Australian naturalist, conservationist and environmental activist. She was notable for her efforts, with her husband Arthur Thorsborne, in initiating the long-term monitoring ...
, naturalist, conservationist and environmental activist
See also
* Cardwell railway station
References
External links
*
*
Cardwell Library
{{Authority control
Coastal towns in Queensland
Towns in Queensland
Populated places in Far North Queensland
Cassowary Coast Region
Localities in Queensland
Cassowary Coast Local Heritage Places