Mount Molloy is a rural town and

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

in the

Shire of Mareeba The Shire of Mareeba is a local government area at the base of Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, inland from Cairns. The shire, administered from the town of Mareeba, covered an area of , and existed as a local government entity from ...

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 Mount Molloy had a population of 254 people. It is a historic

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

and

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

town, north of

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

, Australia.

Geography

The town is in the west of the locality with the centre and eastern part of the locality being protected within

Kuranda National Park Kuranda National Park is a national park in Far North Queensland, Australia. Like many national parks in the area it belongs to the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. The park protects an important wildlife corridor in which rainforest and open ...

and the Kuranda West Forest Reserve. Mount Molloy lies within both the Mitchell River and Barron River water catchment areas. Nearby towns are Julatten, Mount Carbine and

Mount Mulligan Mount Mulligan is a former mining town and now a rural locality in the Shire of Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. In the Mount Mulligan had a population of 4 people. It is the site of the Mount Mulligan mine disaster, Queensland's worst mining ...

Quaid Road Southedge-Wangetti Road Corridor (formerly and unofficially Quaid Road) is a stretch of road in Far North Queensland. It links the Captain Cook Highway at Wangetti on the coast just north of Cairns, to the Mulligan Highway at Southedge, just ...

terminates south of Mount Molloy.

History

Djabugay (also knowen as Djabuganjdji, Tjupakai) is a language of Far North Queensland, particularly the area around the

Kuranda Range Kuranda may refer to: Places * Kuranda, Queensland, a town on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland, Australia ** Kuranda Butterfly Farm, the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary, situated in the centre of Kuranda Village ** Kuranda Fig Tree Ave ...

and Barron River Catchment. The Djabugay language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of

Cairns Regional Council The Cairns Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Queensland, Australia, centred on the regional city of Cairns. It was established in 2008 by the amalgamation of the City of Cairns and the Shires of Douglas and Mulgrave. ...

. At its height Mount Molloy was a copper

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

in the 1890s. It was commonly used as camping grounds and

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

market gardeners used to grow grain and other foodstuffs for the miners nearby. A private railway was constructed to Mount Molloy, junctioning from 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 waters'' ...

line at Biboohra, opening in August 1908. It was built by Mount Molloy Limited to serve its smelters. The line was transferred to Queensland Railways on 1 March 1917 following the liquidation of the company and was extended to Rumula on 5 December 1926. The branch closed on 1 May 1964. Molloy Post Office opened by July 1905 and was renamed Mount Molloy in 1982. Mount Molloy was named after Patrick Molloy, an early teamster for a stock route and the person who discovered

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

at what was to become Mount Molloy. Today the dominant industry of Mount Molloy is now cattle

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other ...

and consists of a few shops and an old

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

. The Mount Molloy State School opened on 23 July 1906 and is located on 30-40 Fraser Road. It is a Prep to Year 6 co-educational school. Between 2008 and 2013, Mount Molloy (and the rest of the Shire of Mareeba) was within the

Tablelands Region The Tablelands Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia inland from the city of Cairns. Established in 2008, it was preceded by four previous local government areas which dated back more than a century. On 1 January ...

. At the 2011 census, the town and surrounding area had a population of 273. In the the locality of Mount Molloy had a population of 254 people.

Heritage listings

Mount Molloy 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 ...

sites, including: * Bakers Road: James Venture Mulligan's Grave * corner of Santowski Crescent and the Peninsular Development Road: Johnston's Sawmill Steam Plant

Education

Mount Molloy State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at Fraser Road (). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 44 students with 3 teachers and 7 non-teaching staff (4 full-time equivalent). There is no secondary school in Mount Molloy. The nearest government secondary schools are Mossman State High School in Mossman to the north and Mareeba State High School in

to the south.

Community groups

The Mount Molloy branch of the

Queensland Country Women's Association The Queensland Country Women's Association (QCWA) is the Queensland chapter of the Country Women's Association in Australia. The association seeks to serve the interests of women and children in rural areas in Australia through a network of loca ...

meets at the CWA Hall at 31 Main Street (

Mulligan Highway The Mulligan Highway is a state highway in Queensland, Australia. It runs for approximately 266 km between Mareeba and Cooktown, on the east coast of Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Q ...

References

External links

*
Mitchell River Watershed Management Group
{{authority control Mining towns in Queensland Towns in Queensland Shire of Mareeba Localities in Queensland