Innisfail Estate is a semi-rural

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

in the

Cassowary Coast Region The Cassowary Coast Region is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Far North Queensland region of Queensland, Australia, south of Cairns, Queensland, Cairns and centred on the towns of Innisfail, Queensland, Innisfail, ...

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 , Innisfail Estate had a population of 1,454 people.

Geography

Innisfail Estate is bounded by the

Johnstone River The Johnstone River, comprising the North Johnstone River and the South Johnstone River, is a river system in Far North and North Queensland, Australia. The headwaters of the river system rise in the Atherton Tablelands. The north branch o ...

to the east, south and west. It is flat low-lying land, below above sea level. It is connected to Innisfail to the west across the river by the Geraldton Bridge (Geraldton being the former name of Innisfail). Rocky Point is at the south-east of the locality on the Johnstone River (). The south-western part of the locality near the bridge is suburban. The east of the locality is undeveloped wetlands. The remainder of the locality is used for agriculture, predominantly growing

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

History

In 1879 Thomas Henry Fitzgerald came to North Queensland looking for locations suitable to grow sugarcane. He was impressed by the potential of the Johnstone River district. Returning to

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 ...

he established a company Fitzgerald & Co with the assistance of

Roman Catholic Bishop of Brisbane The Archdiocese of Brisbane is a Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Australia located in Brisbane and covering the South East region of Queensland, Australia. Part of the Ecclesiastical Province of Brisbane, the re ...

James O'Quinn James Quinn, also known as James O'Quinn (17 March 1819 – 18 August 1881 ), was an Irish-Australian prelate of the Catholic Church and the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane, Diocese of Brisbane. Early life Quinn ...

. On 23 April 1880 he returns to the area and establishes the first sugarcane plantation (called ''Innisfail Estate'') with its own sugar mill. The mill closed in 1885 but by then there were a number of other mills in the Johnstone River district. By the 1940s there was a cane tramway through the Innisfail Estate, with a ferry connection for the tramway across the Johnstone River (approx ) to Innisfail and from there to the sugar mill. Innisfail State High School opened on 24 January 1955 and operated until the end of 2009 at 2 Stitt Street in Mighell. In 2010, it was amalgamated with the Innisfail Inclusive Education Centre (a

special education Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual di ...

facility) and Tropical North Queensland TAFE (Innisfail Campus) to form

Innisfail State College Innisfail State College is a government secondary school and technical college in Innisfail Estate, a suburb of Innisfail, Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It is a combined secondary school and TAFE facility which opened in 2010 ...

using the site of the TAFE campus at Innisfail Estate.

Demographics

In the , Innisfail Estate had a population of 1,338 people. In the , Innisfail Estate had a population of 1,454 people.

Education

Innisfail State College is a government primary and secondary (Early Childhood-12) school for boys and girls at 45 Flying Fish Point Road (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 856 students with 85 teachers (81 full-time equivalent) and 57 non-teaching staff (43 full-time equivalent). It includes an early childhood developmental program, a diverse learning centre, and a special education program. Although the college provides special education for primary school children, there is no mainstream primary school in Innisfail Estate. The nearest government primary school is Innisfail State School in Innisfail across the river to the west. Catholic primary and secondary schools are also in Innisfail.

References

{{Cassowary Coast Region Cassowary Coast Region Localities in Queensland