Lakeland

History

Yalanji (also known as Kuku Yalanji, Kuku Yalaja, Kuku Yelandji, and Gugu Yalanji) is an Australian Aboriginal language of Far North Queensland. The traditional lands of the Western Yalanji people commence just north of the township of Lakeland and continue southwards past the southern boundary of the locality of Lakeland. James Earl was granted a lease to occupy pastoral land in March 1877. He named his station Butcher's Hill after Butcher’s Hill Farm in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, England where he lived as a child. It was also known as Turalba Station. The locality was variously known as being in the Cooktown or Laura districts. In September 1899 Earl's daughter Sarah Campbell Earl of Turalba Station married Samuel William Wellington Cook, a part owner of the adjacent Spring Vale Station. These two stations comprise the majority of the current locality of Lakeland. Mining had commenced on the West Normanby Goldfield by the end of 1874. The Normanby Diggings Native Mounted Police camp was located on the West Normanby River just south-east of Butchers Hill and operated for 7 years between 1885 and 1892. The Normanby Reefs Post Office was renamed Earlton (Earltown) Post Office in 1890. It was closed in December 1892. Clive J Foyster was an entrepreneur, mining company chief and farmer who bought Butchers Hill in 1968. In a private venture known as Lakeland Downs development began with the clearing of land intended for agriculture, and two irrigation dams were constructed. Dry land and irrigated cropping commenced with plantings of maize and sorghum and later of peanuts and coffee. More intensive cattle grazing also commenced. Eventually were cleared. In the 1980s Lakeland Downs was sold, divided into freehold farms averaging about . The township of Lakeland…

Geography

Lakeland is a small farming centre on the Cape York Peninsula. It is at the junction of the main Peninsula Developmental Road (which is paved all the way from Cairns to Lakeland), and the Mulligan Highway (formerly the Cooktown Developmental Road). An area of basalt in the Lakeland region contains locally significant groundwater supplies which feed numerous springs, and also provides irrigation water and fertile soils for farming. Lakeland has the following mountains: * Belle View Peak () * Hamilton Peak () * Macdonalds Hill () * Mount Amy () * Mount Byerley () * Mount Earl () * Mount Emily () * Mount Eykin () * Mount Fahey () * Mount Gibson () * Mount Herman () * Mount Lukin () * Mount Macdonald () * Mount Mccormack () * Mount Mclean () * Mount Murray () * Mount Pike () * Mount Scatterbrain () * North Sampson Mountain () * Racecourse Mountain () * Shields Sugarloaf () * Tandewarrah () * The Twins () * Three Peaks () * Zillman Peak ()

Most-observed species

• Black Kite

  Milvus migrans (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  144
• Magpie-lark

  Grallina cyanoleuca (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  92
• Torresian Crow

  Corvus orru Bonaparte, 1850 · Aves
  87
• Straw-necked Ibis

  Threskiornis spinicollis (Jameson, 1835) · Aves
  86
• Blue-winged Kookaburra

  Dacelo leachii Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 · Aves
  75
• Rainbow Lorikeet

  Trichoglossus haematodus (Linnaeus, 1771) · Aves
  66
• Whistling Kite

  Haliastur sphenurus (Vieillot, 1818) · Aves
  65
• Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo

  Calyptorhynchus banksii (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  63