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Ayr

Queenslandtown

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Ayr

Total population

8,200

Elevation15 m
Coordinates-19.58°, 147.40°

Demographic figures from Australian Bureau of Statistics. Overview below cites Wikipedia and may reference a different year.

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City facts

Elevation
15 m

Facts from Wikidata (CC0).

Overview

Ayr is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Burdekin, Queensland, Australia. It is the centre of a sugarcane-growing region and the administrative centre for the Burdekin Shire Council. In the 2021 census, the locality of Ayr had a population of 8,603 people.

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History & geography

History

Biri (Birri) is a language of Central and North Queensland. Biri refers to a language chain extending from Central Queensland towards Townsville and is often used as a universal name for other languages and/or dialects across the region. The language area includes the towns of Bowen, Ayr, Collinsville and Nebo. The first British exploration of the area occurred in 1839 during the third voyage of HMS Beagle where Captain John Clements Wickham travelled 10 miles up the waterway later known as the Burdekin River. His progress was stopped by a fishing weir built by the local Aboriginal people that spanned the river. In 1843, during the surveying voyage of HMS Fly, Lieutenant John Ince, Joseph Jukes and Frederick Evans sailed up the river near to where the town of Ayr is now located. They encountered two large tribes of Aboriginal people with whom they had friendly interactions, exchanging items and participating in an apparent Welcome to Country ceremony. Artist, Harden Sidney Melville was also present, later drawing a depiction of the meeting. Shipwreck survivor James Morrill lived with Aboriginal people in the region for seventeen years from 1846 when he was washed ashore on a makeshift raft. Morrill lived a traditional Aboriginal lifestyle and later made a culturally and historically important record of his experiences. In 1859, Henry Daniel Sinclair, James Gordon and Ben Poole conducted a sea voyage that examined the mouth of the Burdekin River. They travelled about 8 miles up the river but were afraid to explore further as they were wary of the resident Aborigines and had limited firearms. George Elphinstone Dalrymple led an overland expedition to the area in 1859 looking for land acquisitions and he returned again in 1860 as the head of a seagoing exploratory…

Geography

Ayr is located south of Townsville on the Bruce Highway and away from the (smaller) town of Home Hill. It is north of Bowen and north of Mackay. Ayr is located near the delta of the Burdekin River. It is within the Burdekin Shire, which produces the most sugar cane per square kilometre in Australia, accessing underground water supplies and water from the Burdekin Dam to irrigate crops when rains fail. Mirrigan is a neighbourhood within the locality (). It takes its name from the former Mirrigan railway station () which was assigned by the Queensland Railways Department on 10 September 1914. It is an Aboriginal name meaning star. Parkside is a neighbourhood within the south-east of the town (). Ayr railway station () is on the North Coast railway line and is a passenger stop for the Spirit of Queensland.

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Excerpted from the corresponding Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA).

Geography

Latitude
-19.5759
Longitude
147.4045
Water area
View on OpenStreetMap

Coordinates & boundaries from the US Census TIGER/Line shapefiles.

Climate

Air quality

Walkability

Amenities nearby

Wildlife & biodiversity

Earthquake history

Photos

Sights & places nearby

Notable people from here

People born within ~10 km, from Wikidata (CC0). Click any name for their Wikipedia article.

Nearby places in Queensland

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Geography & sun

Avg solar (kWh/m²/day)
5.6
Annual solar (kWh/m²)
2,045

Elevation, sunrise/sunset and daylight from Open-Meteo. Solar climatology from NASA POWER.

Nearby airports

Public attention

Wikipedia views (last 30 days)
1,208
Avg daily Wikipedia views
40
Attention level
Quiet

Pageview totals from the Wikimedia Pageviews API.

Books about this place

Recent natural events nearby

Ground air-quality sensors

Recently spotted species

Research-grade observations from iNaturalist (within ~15 mi).

Events

Sources

  • Wikipedia
  • Wikidata
  • iNaturalist
  • Open-Meteo / sunrise-sunset.org
  • Wikipedia Pageviews API