Daintree is a rural town and locality in 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 ...

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. In the , the locality of Daintree had a population of 93 people.

Geography

Daintree is a settlement in North Queensland north of

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 from Port Douglas, Queensland. The McDowell Ranges are near the town while the Daintree River flows nearby. It takes its name from Richard Daintree, a pioneering geologist of British origin in North Queensland in the 1860s. It is within 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 ...

(between 2008 and 2013, it was within the Cairns Region). At the 2006 census, Daintree and the surrounding area had a population of 78.

History

'' Kuku Yalanji'' (also known as ''Gugu Yalanji'', ''Kuku Yalaja'', and ''Kuku Yelandji'') 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 ...

of the Mossman and Daintree areas of

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 North Queensland, trop ...

. The language region includes areas within the local government area of

and Shire of Cook, particularly the localities of Mossman, Daintree, Bloomfield River, China Camp, Maytown, Palmer, Cape Tribulation and Wujal Wujal. '' Yalanji'' (also known as ''Kuku Yalanji'', ''Kuku Yalaja'', ''Kuku Yelandji'', and ''Gugu Yalanji)'' is an

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 ...

. The traditional language region is Mossman River in the south to the Annan River in the north, bordered by the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

in the east and extending inland to west of Mount Mulgrave. This includes the local government boundaries of the

, the Shire of Cook and the Aboriginal Shire of Wujal Wujal and the towns and localities of Cooktown, Mossman, Daintree, Cape Tribulation and Wujal Wujal. It includes the head of the Palmer River, the Bloomfield River, China Camp, Maytown, and Palmerville. The town takes its name from the Daintree River, which was named on 6 December 1873 by explorer George Elphinstone Dalrymple, after geologist and photographer Richard Daintree (1832-1878). Daintree Village was first settled in the late 1870s and early 1880s by timber workers seeking '' Toona Australis'', commonly (if incorrectly) known as Red Cedar, in the nearby

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 ...

. There were sizeable stocks of "Red Cedar" near the Daintree River. Loggers moved timber down the river to the coast using lashed rafts. Dairy farms were later established, allowing a butter factory to be opened in 1924. Beef farming later became a significant local employer. As elsewhere in Queensland, tourism has become an important employer. Daintree Village became famous for early morning tours on the Daintree River and has been popular with visiting birdwatchers. The dawn river trips became a catalyst for the many B&B's that sprang up, which are an important employer of local families. Red Mill House, Daintree Village, established in 1993, was the first B&B in the Douglas Shire and paved the way for many others. Queensland's Wet Tropics became world heritage listed in 1986. Daintree is part of the wet tropics and the most famous

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

close to the tourism hub of Port Douglas.

Demographics

In the , the locality of Daintree had a population of 129 people. In the , the locality of Daintree had a population of 93 people.

Education

Daintree State School is a government primary (Prep–6) school for boys and girls at Osborne Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 15 students with 2 teachers (1 full-time equivalent) and 5 non-teaching staff (2 full-time equivalent).

References

External links

* {{authority control Populated places in Far North Queensland Towns in Queensland Shire of Douglas Localities in Queensland