Nerada

History

The locality takes its name from the former Nerada railway station () on the Innisfail Tramway. The name is believed to be an Aboriginal word from the Mamoo language meaning grass country. Nerada State School opened on 11 February 1937. It closed in 1945. It was located at approximately 334 Nerada Road (). About 1951, the school building was relocated to Woopen Creek State School. In 1958, Dr Allan Maruff started the first commercial tea plantings in Australia since 1886 in the Nerada valley, south of Cairns, Queensland, using seedlings from the former Cutten brothers plantation at Bingil Bay. In 1969, Tea Estates of Australia (TEA) commenced tea planting adjacent to the Nerada plantation. In 1971, Nerada Tea Estates (NTE) opened Australia's first commercial tea factory. In 1973, TEA purchased NTE, ceased selling bulk tea and marketed the tea under the Nerada brand. After a number of problems in the 1980s, the original Nerada tea plantation was sold to banana farmers.

Geography

The locality is bounded to the west, north-west, north, north-east, and east by the Johnstone River. Palmerston Rocks National Park is in the south-east of the locality. Apart from the national park, the land use is predominantly growing crops, including sugarcane and bananas with some grazing on native vegetation.

Most-observed species

• Australasian Figbird

  Sphecotheres vieilloti Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 · Aves
  563
• Magpie-lark

  Grallina cyanoleuca (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  499
• Willie-wagtail

  Rhipidura leucophrys (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  488
• Masked Lapwing

  Vanellus miles (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  465
• Rainbow Lorikeet

  Trichoglossus haematodus (Linnaeus, 1771) · Aves
  446
• Spotted Dove

  Spilopelia chinensis (Scopoli, 1786) · Aves
  439
• Green Oriole

  Oriolus flavocinctus (King, 1826) · Aves
  410
• Peaceful Dove

  Geopelia placida Gould, 1844 · Aves
  403

Most recent

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