The Shire of Mulgrave was a local government area surrounding the City of Cairns in the Far North region of Queensland. The shire, administered from Cairns, covered an area of ; it existed as a local government entity from 1879 until 1995, when it was dissolved and amalgamated into the City of Cairns.
History
The Cairns Division was created on 11 November 1879 as one of 74 divisions around Queensland under the Divisional Boards Act 1879 with a population of 34.
On 3 June 1880, part of the Cairns Division was separated to create the Douglas Division.
On 3 September 1881, the Tinaroo Division was created on 3 September 1881 under the Divisional Boards Act 1879 out of parts of the Cairns, Hinchinbrook and Woothakata Divisions.
Following a petition by local residents, on 28 May 1885, the Borough of Cairns was established under the Local Government Act 1878, being excised from the Cairns Division.
With the passage of the Local Authorities Act 1902, the Cairns Division became the Shire of Cairns on 31 March 1903. Originally based in the town of Gordonvale, which historically was called Mulgrave, its offices were located at Cairns Esplanade, Cairns.
On 20 December 1919, the Shire absorbed territory from the abolished Shire of Barron, which was divided between the Shires of Cairns and Shire of Woothakata.
On 16 November 1940, the Shire of Cairns was renamed Shire of Mulgrave.
The character of the Shire changed over time, and by the time of the 1991 census, 88% of the Shire's population resided within Cairns's metropolitan area. On 21 November 1991, the Electoral and Administrative Review Commission, created two years earlier, produced its second report, and recommended that local government boundaries in the Cairns area be rationalised, and that the Shire of Mulgrave be abolished and absorbed into the City of Cairns. The Local Government (Cairns, Douglas, Mareeba and Mulgrave) Regulation 1994 was gazetted on 16 December 1994. On 22 March 1995, the Shire was abolished and became part of the new City of Cairns.
The Mulgrave Shire Council Chambers were listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 6 January 1999. It was used as the Cairns & Tropical North Visitor Information Centre from 2016 to 2023. The building has since been renovated and incorporated into the Cairns Gallery Precinct.
Towns and localities The Shire of Mulgrave included the following settlements:
Northern Mulgrave area: Barron Barron Gorge Brinsmead Buchan Point Caravonica Clifton Beach Ellis Beach Freshwater Holloways Beach Kamerunga Kewarra Beach Lamb Range Macalister Range Machans Beach Palm Cove Redlynch Smithfield Stratford Trinity Beach Trinity Park Yorkeys Knob
Southern Mulgrave area: Aloomba Babinda Bartle Frere Bayview Heights Bellenden Ker Bentley Park Bramston Beach Deeral East Russell East Trinity Edmonton Eubenangee1 Fishery Falls Fitzroy Island Glen Boughton Goldsborough
Gordonvale Green Hill Green Island Kamma Little Mulgrave Meringa Miriwinni Mount Peter Mount Sheridan Ngatjan1 Packers Camp Waugh Pocket White Rock2 Woopen Creek Wooroonooran3 Woree Wrights Creek
1 - shared with Cassowary Coast Region 2 - not to be confused with White Rock in City of Ipswich 3 - shared with shared with Cassowary Coast Region and Tablelands Region
Population Year Population 1933 10,303 1947 10,485 1954 13,477 1961 14,427 1966 15,312 1971 16,985 1976 23,025 1981 31,335 1986 41,711 1991 54,783
Chairmen
Cairns Division (1880–1903) The chairmen of the Cairns Division were: ChairmanTerm Simon Louis Loeven 1880–1881 William Peter Redden 1882 Archibald Meston 1883–1884 Richard Ash Kingsford 1885 Jean Baptiste Loridan 1885 Hamilton Thorncliffe S. Douglas 1885–1886 James Kenny 1887–1888 Thomas Mackay 1889 Richard A. Tills 1890 James Kenny 1891–1892 William Henry Swallow 1893–1897 William John Munro 1898–1902
Richard Kingsford left to become Mayor of the newly formed Borough of Cairns in 1885.
Shire of Cairns (1903–1940) Chairmen of the Shire of Cairns were: ChairmanTerm William John Munro 1902–1911 George Russell Mayers 1912–1918 Seymour Herbert Warner 1919–1929 Wilfrid Simmonds 1930–1935 John Albert Martin 1936–1940
Shire of Mulgrave (1940–1995) The chairmen of the Shire of Mulgrave were: ChairmanTerm John Albert Martin 1940–1941 Jim P. Tully 1941–1944 William Charles (Bill) Griffin 1944–1951 Charles E. Campbell 1952–1963 George Kenneth Alley 1964–1979 Thomas Alfred Pyne 1979–1995
Notable people In addition to the chairmen, other notable people associated with the shire include: Bunny Adair, Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Cook who was a Mulgrave Shire councillor from 1939 to 1946
References
External links Local Government (Cairns, Douglas, Mareeba and Mulgrave) Regulation 1994