Cairns

Sister cities

• Zhanjiang
• Seongnam
• Riga
• Minami
• Lae
• Oyama

History

Prior to British settlement, the Cairns area was inhabited by the Gimuy Walubara Yidinji people, Yidinji (also known as Yidinj, Yidiny, and Idindji) is an Australian Aboriginal language. Its traditional language region is within the local government areas of Cairns Region and Tablelands Region, in such localities as Cairns, Gordonvale, and the Mulgrave River, and the southern part of the Atherton Tableland including Atherton and Kairi. The area in which the city is located is known in the local Yidiny language as Gimuy, From 1770 to the early 1870s, the area was known to the British simply as Trinity Bay. The arrival of beche de mer fishermen from the late 1860s saw the first European presence in the area. On the site of the modern-day Cairns foreshore, there was a large native well which was used by these fishermen. A violent confrontation occurred in 1872 between local Yidinji people and Phillip Garland, a beche de mer fisherman, over the use of this well. The area from this date was subsequently called Battle Camp. In 1876, hastened by the need to export gold mined from the Hodgkinson goldfields on the tablelands to the west, closer investigation by several official expeditions established its potential for development into a port. Brinsley G. Sheridan surveyed the area and selected a place further up Trinity Inlet known to the diggers as Smith's Landing, for a settlement which he renamed Thornton. However, after Native Police officers Alexander Douglas-Douglas and Robert Arthur Johnstone opened a new track from the goldfields to Battle Camp, this more coastal site became preferable. The area was named Cairns in late 1876 in honour of the then Governor of Queensland, William Cairns. Soon after Cairns was established "a few entrepreneurial Chinese men began to…

Geography

Cairns is located on the east coast of Cape York Peninsula on a coastal strip between the Coral Sea and the Great Dividing Range. The northern part of the city is located on Trinity Bay and the city centre is located on Trinity Inlet. To the south of the Trinity Inlet lies the Aboriginal community of Yarrabah. Some of the city's suburbs are located on flood plains. The Mulgrave River and Barron River flow within the greater Cairns area but not through the Cairns CBD. The city's centre foreshore is located on a mud flat. Cairns is a provincial city, with a linear urban layout that runs from the south at Edmonton to the north at Ellis Beach. The city is approximately from north to south; it has experienced a recent urban sprawl, with suburbs occupying land once used for sugar cane farming. The Northern Beaches consist of a number of beach communities extending north along the coast. In general, each beach suburb is at the end of a spur road extending from the Captain Cook Highway. From south to north, these are Machans Beach, Holloways Beach, Yorkeys Knob, Trinity Park, Trinity Beach, Kewarra Beach, Clifton Beach, Palm Cove, and Ellis Beach. The suburb of Smithfield is inland against the mountains of the Great Dividing Range, between Yorkeys Knob and Trinity Park. It serves as the main hub for the Northern Beaches, with a modern shopping arcade, called Smithfield Shopping Centre. South of Smithfield and inland from the Northern Beaches along the edge of the Barron River flood plain are the suburbs of Caravonica, Kamerunga, Freshwater, and Stratford. This area is sometimes referred to as Freshwater Valley, though it is actually the lower part of Redlynch Valley; further up the valley are the suburbs of Redlynch, on the western side of Redlynch Valley, and Brinsmead…

Most-observed species

• Willie-wagtail

  Rhipidura leucophrys (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  16,916
• Masked Lapwing

  Vanellus miles (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  16,099
• Magpie-lark

  Grallina cyanoleuca (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  16,032
• Common Myna

  Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  15,831
• Peaceful Dove

  Geopelia placida Gould, 1844 · Aves
  14,711
• Rainbow Lorikeet

  Trichoglossus haematodus (Linnaeus, 1771) · Aves
  13,767
• Welcome Swallow

  Hirundo neoxena Gould, 1842 · Aves
  12,706
• Torresian Imperial-Pigeon

  Ducula spilorrhoa (G.R.Gray, 1858) · Aves
  11,924

Most recent

• M 3.6 — 2011-03-15
  30 km NE of Innisfail Estate, Australia