Iron Range is a coastal

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

in the

Shire of Cook The Shire of Cook (The Shire) is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia. The Shire covers most of the eastern and central parts of Cape York Peninsula, the most northerly section of the Australian mainland. It covers an area ...

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. The town of Portland Road is on a north-east headland in the locality. In the , Iron Range had a population of 30 people.

Geography

Iron Range is on the north-east coast of the

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, ...

Weymouth Bay Weymouth Bay is a sheltered bay on the south coast of England, in Dorset. It is protected from erosion by Chesil Beach and the Isle of Portland, and includes several beaches, notably Weymouth Beach, a gently curving arc of golden sand which st ...

is off the north-eastern coast of locality. The town of Portland Road is on a north-east headland in the locality (). Apart from the Portland Road area, most of the locality of Iron Range is occupied by the Kutini Payamu National Park (formerly the Iron Range National Park). The locality has the following headlands: * Cape Griffith () * Cape Weymouth ()

Mountains

The locality has the following mountains: * Aylen Hills () * Barrett Hill () * Black Hill () * Briar Hill () * Ham Hill () * Joyce Hill () * Lambert Hill () * Lamond Hill () * Mount Dobson () * Mount Tozer () * North Pap () * Ogilvie Hill () * Philip Hill () * Red Hill () * Robyn Hill () * Simpson Hill () * South Pap () * Tattam Hill ()

History

The town of Portland Road is named after the harbour of the same name. The harbour first appeared on an 1897 British Admiralty Chart. In early 1934, Jack Gordon prospected the Iron Range locality from the Packers Creek field near Portland Roads. In June 1934, he followed a gold trail up a tributary of Gordon Creek, a branch of the Claudie River, and discovered what was later called the Iron Range Reef. Within two years, the region was a hive of activity with 45 men working along an strip. Although the original ore was shipped and railed to the

Venus battery Venus State Battery is a heritage-listed stamper battery at MacDonald Street, Millchester, Charters Towers, Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1872. It is also known as Venus Gold Battery and Venus Mill. It was add ...

Charters Towers Charters Towers is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It is by road south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. During the last quarter of the 19th century, the town boomed as the rich gold deposits und ...

for treatment, the Iron Range mill was in full operation by November 1936 after a Huntington mill was erected by Jack Gordon at the mine following great difficulties in transportation. This was soon followed by crushing machines on the Golden Gate and Scarlet Pimpernel leases. In 1938, the Iron Range mill operated for most of the year; a cyanide plant was installed and 29 men were employed. On 11 November 1948, as part of a centenary commemoration, a monument to explorer

Edmund Kennedy Edmund Besley Court Kennedy J. P. (5 September 1818 – December 1848) was an explorer in Australia in the mid-19th century. He was the Assistant-Surveyor of New South Wales, working with Thomas Mitchell (explorer), Sir Thomas Mitchell. Kenned ...

and his ill-fated expedition to explore Cape York Peninsula was erected at Portland Road near a spring where the expedition drew water in 1848. On 11 April 2014, the former locality of Lockhart was split into two new localities: Iron Range and Lockhart River. The locality of Iron Range takes its name from the Iron Range National Park (now known as the Kutini-Payamu National Park).

Demographics

In the , Iron Range had a population of 14 people. In the , Iron Range had a population of 30 people.

Heritage listings

Iron Range 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: *

Gordon's Mine and Mill Gordon's Mine and Mill is a heritage-listed mine at Iron Range, Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. It was built from to 1950s. It is also known as Iron Range Mine and Mill. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 13 December 20 ...

()

Education

There are no schools in Iron Range. The nearest government school is Lockhart River State School in neighbouring Lockhart River to the south, which provides primary and secondary schooling.

References

{{Shire of Cook Shire of Cook Coastline of Queensland Localities in Queensland