Forsayth

History

Jangga, also known as Yangga, is a language of Central Queensland. The Jangga language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Etheridge Shire Council. Originally known as Finnigan's Camp after the prospector who discovered gold nearby in 1871, within a year the settlement had become Charleston township, and it continued to grow despite near desertion when its inhabitants rushed to the Palmer River Goldfield in 1874 and to the Hodgkinson in 1876. Charleston Post Office opened on 1 February 1876, was renamed Charleston West in 1910 and closed in 1915. After a slump in the mid-1880s the township was again a flourishing centre by the mid-1890s, having five hotels, a school and a court of petty sessions. Charleston Provisional School opened on 4 March 1895. On 1 January 1909 it became Charleston State School. In 1920 it was renamed Forsayth State School. By the late 1890s base metal prices were high: a number of promising copper deposits were opened up in the Etheridge district at Charleston, Einasleigh and Ortona, and several were acquired by a subsidiary of the Chillagoe Company. This led the company to commence a rail link in 1907 from Almaden to Einasleigh and the Charleston area, which was completed in January 1910. The Etheridge Railway terminated at a new settlement on the other side of the Delaney River. First known as New Charleston, it was renamed Forsayth after the railways commissioner, James Forsyth Thallon. During the year, all the buildings in Charleston, including the police station and the school, which had previously been at Gilberton, were moved across the Delaney River to Forsayth. The second Charleston Post Office opened here by April 1910 and was renamed Forsayth in December 1910. On 1 December 1914, it became…

Geography

Forsayth is in Far North Queensland approximately by road from Cairns. The town is the terminus of the Etheridge Railway.

Most-observed species

• Torresian Crow

  Corvus orru Bonaparte, 1850 · Aves
  32
• Pied Butcherbird

  Cracticus nigrogularis (Gould, 1837) · Aves
  32
• Galah

  Eolophus roseicapilla (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  31
• Magpie-lark

  Grallina cyanoleuca (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  31
• Apostlebird

  Struthidea cinerea Gould, 1837 · Aves
  29
• Pale-headed Rosella

  Platycercus adscitus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  28
• Whistling Kite

  Haliastur sphenurus (Vieillot, 1818) · Aves
  26
• Blue-faced Honeyeater

  Entomyzon cyanotis (Latham, 1801) · Aves
  26