Woopen Creek is a 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

Cairns Region 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. ...

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 , Woopen Creek had a population of 135 people.

Geography

The

Russell River The Russell River is a river in Far North Queensland, Australia. The -long river flows towards the Coral Sea and is located approximately south of . Location and features The Russell River rises in the Wooroonooran National Park sourced fro ...

forms the northern boundary of the locality while mountainous regions form its other boundaries. There are two flatter valleys formed by Woopen Creek in the southern part of locality and Vorris Creek in the northern part of the locality. Although the land is predominantly

freehold Freehold may refer to: In real estate *Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple * Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England *Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice ...

, only the flatter valleys are developed for use for agriculture while the more mountainous areas remain undeveloped. The principal agricultural use is 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 ...

and

bananas A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – berry (botany), botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa (genus), Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called pla ...

. Although the Bruce Highway does not pass through the locality, Mount Mirinjo () in the Francis Range is in the southernmost part of locality, close to the boundary with Ngatjan. It is above sea level compared with approximately above sea level at the northernmost part of the locality.

History

By 1940, residents of Woopen Creek had agitated for some years to have a school in their district. In November 1941 tenders were called to erect the school. However, the school was not built at this time, probably because the fear of a Japanese invasion in 1942 resulted in the closure of schools in coastal areas and reserving all construction materials exclusively for military purposes. In March 1951 residents made another attempt to establish a school at Woopen Creek. In 1951 the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the state government of Queensland, Australia, a Parliament, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, ...

decided relocate the school building from Nerada State School (which closed in 1945) to establish Woopen Creek State School. The school opened on 4 February 1952. It closed on 8 December 1967. In 2005 the Broken Nose Vanilla farm was established, an example of a wider trend of diversifying the agriculture of the Cairns region.

Demographics

In the , Woopen Creek had a population of 141 people. In the , Woopen Creek had a population of 135 people.

Education

There are no schools in Woopen Creek. The nearest primary schools are Bartle Frere State School in neighbouring

Bartle Frere Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere, 1st Baronet, (29 March 1815 – 29 May 1884) was a British colonial administrator. He had a successful career in India, rising to become Governor of Bombay (1862–1867). However, as High Commissioner for Sout ...

to the north and Mirriwinni State School in Mirriwinni to the north-east. The nearest secondary school is Babinda State School (Prep-12) in

Babinda Babinda is a rural town and locality in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. Babinda and Tully annually compete for the Golden Gumboot, an award for Australia's wettest town. Babinda is usually the winner, recording an annual average rain ...

to the north-east.

References

External links