The history of Cairns in Queensland, Australia, is a transition of a port from a shanty town to a modern city, following an uncertain start because of competition from the newly created neighbouring community of Port Douglas. A succession of major work projects, institution establishments and direct involvement in world enterprise accelerated the settlement's development.
Significant events in the history of Cairns were the construction of the Cairns-to-Herberton railway line commencing in 1886, the establishment of the Cairns Harbour Board in 1906, official recognition as a city in 1923, military occupation in 1942 by the World War II defence forces, the construction of concrete high rise apartments in 1981, the opening of the international airport in 1984, and the establishment of an international-standard convention centre in 1996.
Prior to Cairns settlement
Original inhabitants The Aboriginal population is believed to have entered Australia at least 60,000 years ago. Current opinion favours migration through various parts of northern Australia including Cape York Peninsula. Traditional local Aboriginal stories recall hunting and fishing on land that once extended past Green Island during a time of lower sea levels. Archaeological evidence shows Aboriginal peoples living in rainforest in the Cairns area for at least 5,100 years, and possibly for much of the often suggested 40,000-year period. (Quoting Nicky Horsfall)
The first recorded human occupants of the Cairns area were Australian Aboriginal peoples. Tribal groups speaking the Gimuy Walubara Yidinji language were generally on the south side of the Barron River. On the northern side, particularly in the coastal area from the Barron to Port Douglas, Yirrganydji groups generally spoke dialects of the Djabugay language.
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, the southern part of the Atherton Tableland including Atherton and Kairi. The area is known in the local Yidiny language as Gimuy.
James Cook On 10 June 1770, English maritime explorer Lieutenant James Cook visited and gave a European name to the inlet. In his journal, he commented, "The shore between Cape Grafton and Cape Tribulation forms a large but not very deep bay which I named Trinity Bay after the day – Trinity Sunday – on which it was discovered." Cook hauled his ship, the HM Bark Endeavour into Mission Bay, at the southern end of Trinity inlet between Cape Grafton and False Cape, and went ashore for a short time with Sir Joseph Banks near the present site of the Yarrabah Aboriginal community.
Phillip Parker King Lieutenant Phillip Parker King, one of the most important early charters of Australia's coast, made three marine surveying expeditions to northern Australia in 1819, 1820, and 1821. All three expeditions included visits to Fitzroy Island, located about from Cairns. On King's first visit, he drew attention to the availability of drinking water and the presence of Aboriginal people in the area.
Owen Stanley In June 1848, Captain Owen Stanley undertook a ten-day hydrographic depth sounding survey of the Trinity Bay region. His consequent official map listed "Native Huts" at present-day Palm Cove, and "Many Natives" and "Native Village" on the stretch of coast immediately north. Green Island was marked "Low Bushes", and the future site of Cairns was indicated as "Shoal" and "Mangroves".
Settlement
Assessment of site The first historical event of significance leading up to the establishment of Cairns was an essay published in a Sydney newspaper in 1866. The article, by J. S. V. Mein, a ships commander appointed to set up a bêche-de-mer plant at Green Island,Sydney Morning Herald 26 February 1866, Mein family documents p1 Cairns Historical Society helped increase southern awareness of the northern location.
With the arrival of the beche de mer fishermen from the late 1860s came the first semi-permanent British 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 1872, William Hann led a prospecting expedition in the Palmer River, where an extensive gold field was located. Announcement of this location in September 1873 by James Venture Mulligan resulted in an influx of prospectors, which became the basis for the first large non-indigenous populations to inhabit Far North Queensland.Discoverers of the Palmer River Gold Fields Petition Qld Votes and Proceedings 1874 Vol 2 p755
In 1873, the extensive and detailed reports of the George Dalrymple exploration party indicated the assets and potential of Trinity Inlet: Dalrymple also noted the number of Aboriginal groups in the area: "Many blacks were seen round the shores of the bay. Blacks camp fires burn brightly during the night in glens of the mountain sides."George Dalrymple, Narrative and Report of the North Coast Expedition 1873 p630 / 632
In March 1876, three years after the Palmer River discovery, James Mulligan announced that an even larger and more extensive gold field had been found at the Hodgkinson River on the Atherton Tableland, west of Trinity Inlet.Warners expedition notes published Brisbane Courier 14 April 1876 This site was of sufficient size to warrant serious consideration to the building of a track to the coast, and the establishment of a coastal wharf and settlement to export the mineral. Sub-Inspector Alexander Douglas-Douglas of the Native Police led a party to cut an access track in three days, from the tableland to the coast through of thick lawyer vine scrub. He met up with another Sub-Inspector in Robert Arthur Johnstone who was proceeding from the coast and the track was completed on 23 September 1876. It was later named the Douglas Track.Jones, Dorothy Trinity Phoenix p 69
Official settlement Around the same time, another group led by prospector William "Bill" Smith travelling from the Hodgkinson goldfields, cut an alternate route to the coast at Trinity Inlet. This was called Smith's Track and the place on the inlet where it finished was called Smith's Landing. Closer investigation by several official expeditions to Trinity Inlet established its potential for development into a port. Brinsley G. Sheridan, a police magistrate from Cardwell, surveyed the area around Smith's Landing and planned a settlement which he called Thornton. However, the coastal site of Battle Camp where the more direct Douglas Track finished became the preferable place of settlement. The first government officials arrived by boat and pitched their tents opposite the site of the present-day Pacific International hotel.Cairns Post Cairns Jubilee Special Issue 1 November 1876 p18 On 7 October 1876, the Governor of Queensland, William Wellington Cairns, proclaimed the new northern port at Trinity Bay which was named Cairns in his honour.Cairns Post Cairns Jubilee Special Issue 1 November 1876 p4 On 1 November 1876, the township was inaugurated at a luncheon given by Captain T. A. Lake on board the Government ship, SS Victoria. This is regarded as the official birth date of Cairns. The first public land sales in February 1877Jones, Dorothy Trinity Phoenix p102 were supplemented, three months later, by the construction of the first local saw mill making use of the abundant natural timber resources.W B Ingham erects sawmill May 1877 JW Colinson Early Days of Cairns p131 The Smith's Landing-Thornton area later became part of the Cairns suburb of Portsmith
Early development
After five years of competition from the already established town of Port Douglas and the nearby settlement of Smithfield,Cairns Post Cairns Post Jubilee Issue 1 November 1876 p18/38 Cairns became secure, with a series of successful agricultural ventures by Chinese businessmen and labourers frustrated with the overworked northern goldfields.May, Cathie "Topsawyers, the Chinese in Cairns 1870–1920" James Cook Uni 1984 p8 Three Englishman, George Clayton, Thomas Hill and Thomas Swallow developed thousands of acres of crop plantations to the southAustralian Sugar Journal January 1976 p473 and eastClayton and Hill wish to start dairy farm The Cairns Post 3 July 1884 p2 of the Cairns settlement. By 1885, there were sufficient local population base and social organisation for the borough of Cairns to be declared a municipality and for aldermen to elect their first mayor, R. A. Kingsford.The Cairns Post, 23 July 1885 p2
Construction of a railway line from Cairns to Herberton in 1886The Cairns Post, 13 May 1886 p2 brought many immigrant workers (predominantly Italian and Irish) to the area.microfiche Cairns Electoral Roll April 1889 These new residents, in turn, generated demand for opening up land to be used for agriculture, with a predominance of sugar cane on the lowlands, and fruit and dairy on the tableland. This increased the importance of Cairns as a regional centre. Conscious of its new status, Cairns aldermen were persuaded to upgrade street lighting, considered a luxury at the time.“Why make the darkness visible ” – Kingston The Cairns Post 14 April 1887 p2 + various items The Cairns Post 14 April 1887 p2 to 17 September 1887 p2
In April 1887 the second stage of the rail line, from Redlynch to Myola, commenced.Hudson, Alan "Tracks of Triumph" Cairns 2003 p43 Numerous worker settlements and hotel stores were established on the range near the fifteen tunnels used in the line's construction. The site for the village of Kuranda, the first large area at the top of the range suitable for development, was surveyed in 1888.Humston, Shep "Kuranda The Village in the Rainforest" p22 Watson Ferguson 1988
In 1891, the most important political figure in the early history of Cairns, A. J. Draper, became mayor – the first of seven terms in that office.Elected 1891, 1892, 1893, 1897, 1902, 1918, 1924 A J Draper "The Passing of a Patriot" Cairns Post In Memoriam 46 page booklet published 1928 page 9 "Civic Offices" Cairns Historical Society document D00771 Well-connected socially because of his family background, Draper's aggressive stance on issues of public importance achieved many benefits for the local community.Life of A J Draper Cairns Post Pty Ltd 1931 Another important early activist was Church of England minister Ernest Gribble. Following the unexpected death of his father, Reverend John Gribble, Ernest continued his father's plans to curb the degradation of the local Aboriginal population, who were forced to exist in fringe camps after their traditional lands had been gradually appropriated by the new Cairns settlers.Hodes, Jeremy “Darkness and Light Yarrabah 1889 – 1910” treatise Central Queensland University 1997 p19 In December 1893, thirty Aboriginal people arrived at the Gribble outstation seeking a safe place to live, which is considered to be the unofficial foundation of the Yarrabah mission settlement.Rapkins, Denise "Ernest Gribble of Yarrabah” Cairns Historical Society bulletin 413