Mutchilba is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Mareeba, in

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 ...

, Australia. It is known for its production of mangoes. In the , the locality of Mutchilba had a population of 627 people.

Geography

Mutchilba is on 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 ...

, south-west 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 ...

via the Captain Cook Highway, Kennedy Highway and State Route 27. From further west it can be accessed via the Burke Developmental Road. The town is located in the north-west of the locality on the

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 ...

- Dimbulah Road west of

. 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 ...

forms part of the eastern boundary of the locality, and the locality has the following mountains (from west to east): * Mount Masterton () * Wog Hill () * Hoot Hill () * Mount Emerald () The Tablelands railway line enters the locality from the north-east ( Arriga), passes through the town, and exits to the west ( Dimbulah). Historically, the locality was served by many railway station, but all are now abandoned (from west to east): * Piemonte railway station () * Fumar railway station () * Mutchilba railway station () * Algoma railway station () * Parada railway station () * Lemonside railway station () * Bontaba railway station () * Tabacum railway station ()

History

Mutchilba railway station was named on 2 March 1923 by the Queensland Railways Department using an Aboriginal word meaning ''big dead tree''. Mutchilba State School opened on 21 August 1939. A design plan for the town of Mutchilba was prepared in August 1954 as part of the development of the Mareeba-Dimbula irritation area. The first town allotments were surveyed in March 1955. Mutchilba Post Office opened on 1 March 1956 (a telegraph office had been open from 1936). The town was downgraded by the Mareeba Shire Council in 1999 and has been officially a part of Dimbulah, Queensland since then. On 12 October 2012 it was announced that the town is again officially recognised in the Queensland place names database.Tony Moore
Mutchilba back on the map
, ''The Age'', 13 October 2012 Between 2008 and 2013, Mutchilba (along with the rest of the Shire of Mareeba) was within the

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 ...

Demographics

In the , the locality of Mutchilba had a population of 495 people. In the , the locality of Mutchilba had a population of 627 people.

Economy

Mutchilba is known for its large production of mangoes. Despite the name, the Mount Emerald Wind Farm is not in Mutchilba, but is on the north-western slopes of Mount Emerald in the neighbouring locality of Arriga.

Education

Mutchilba State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 33 Marsterson Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 24 students with 2 teachers and 4 non-teaching staff (2 full-time equivalent). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 20 students with 4 teachers (2 full-time equivalent) and 5 non-teaching staff (3 full-time equivalent). There are no secondary schools in Mutchilba. The nearest government secondary schools are Dimbulah State School (to Year 10) in neighbouring Dimbulah to the west and Mareeba State High School (to Year 12) in

to the north-east.

Amenities

St Joseph's Catholic Church is in Masterson Street. It is within the Dimbulah Parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns which is administered from the Atherton parish.

Events

Mutchilba is known for the ''"Mango Mardi Gras"'', which is a celebration of the many

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...

farms in the region. The Feast of St Joseph is celebrated by the Catholic church on the first Friday of March with a

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

followed by a barbeque.

References

External links

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