Cairns, Queensland

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Cairns Queensland
location of Cairns
Population: • Density:	128,284 (14th) 246.5[1]/km²
Established:	1876
Area:	488.1[2] km²
Time zone:	AEST (UTC+10)
Location:	1720 km from Brisbane, Queensland

Central Cairns from Mount Whitfield looking southeast. Sheridan Street, the main street running southeast-northwest becomes the Captain Cook Highway leading to Port Douglas (towards the foreground). The chemical storage tanks seen in the top right are in the suburb of Portsmith.

Cairns (pronounced /ˈkeːnz/ or /ˈkɛɹnz/, 16°57′S 145°45′E) is a regional city and Local Government Area located in Queensland, Australia. Originally settled in 1876, and named after William Wellington Cairns (the then Governor of Queensland) to serve miners heading for the Hodgkinson River goldfield, the settlement declined when an easier route was discovered from Port Douglas. However, Cairns' future was secured as it developed into a railhead and major port for the exportation of sugar cane, gold, precious metals and agricultural industries from the surrounding coastal and Tableland regions. The city is rapidly expanding, with a population of 128,284 (as of June, 2005)^[3], and is reliant on the sugar and tourism industries.

The City of Cairns lies about 1720 km (1,069 miles) from Brisbane and about 2500 km (1,553 miles) from Sydney by road.

Cairns is a popular travel destination for foreign tourists because of its tropical climate and proximity to many attractions. The Great Barrier Reef is only one-and-a-half hours away by boat. The Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation, about 130km north of Cairns, are popular areas for experiencing a tropical rainforest. It is also a starting point for people wanting to explore Cooktown, Cape York Peninsula, and the Atherton Tableland.

The city has used its natural surrounds to its advantage with the construction of several small theme parks for tourists. Among them are the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park and the Kuranda Skyrail Gondola Cableway, which extends for 7.5 kilometres over World Heritage rainforest.

[edit] Geography

Location of Cairns in Queensland (red)

Cairns is located on the east coast, at the base of Cape York Peninsula on a coastal strip between the Coral Sea and the Great Dividing Range. The northern part of the city is located on Trinity Bay and the city centre is located on Trinity Inlet. Some of the city's suburbs are located on fertile flood plains. The Mulgrave River and Barron River flow within the city's boundary but not through the city itself. The city centre's foreshore is located on a mud flat. The highest mountain in Queensland, Mount Bartle Frere, is located within the city's boundaries.

[edit] Urban Layout

Cairns is a provincial city and has a linear urban layout that runs from the south, at Aloomba, to the north, at Ellis Beach). The city is approximately 52 km from north to south. Cairns has experienced recent urban sprawl, with suburbs occupying land previously used for sugar cane farming. Many houses have also been built on hillsides, partly due to lack of space and partly due to a perception of prestige living. Building on Cairns hillslopes is extremely dangerous. According to national geologists and geographers, Cairns is the most likely place in Australia for a landslide to occur because of the fertile but weak clay-based soils.^{[citation needed]}

The Northern Beaches are low in elevation and consist of a number of beach communities extending north along the coast. In general, each beach suburb is located at the end of a spur road extending from the Captain Cook Highway. From south to north, these are Machans Beach, Holloways Beach, Yorkeys Knob, Trinity Park, Trinity Beach, Kewarra Beach, Clifton Beach, Palm Cove and Ellis Beach.

The suburb of Smithfield is located inland and against the mountains of the Great Dividing Range and serves as the main centre for the Northern Beaches. It is located between Yorkey’s Knob and Trinity Park.

Located inland from the Northern Beaches along the edge of the Barron River flood plain are the suburbs of Caravonica, Lake Placid, Kamerunga, Stratford, and Freshwater. This area is sometimes referred to as Freshwater Valley. Further up Freshwater Valley is Redlynch Valley. The suburb of Redlynch is located on the western side of Redlynch Valley, and Brinsmead lies on the eastern side. Stratford, Freshwater, Redlynch and Brinsmead are separated from Cairns city by Mount Whitfield (elevation 365m) and Whitfield Range.

Cairns, view of the foreshore.

Cairns City, located on what once was swamp, is in close proximity to the suburbs of Cairns North, Manunda, Edge Hill, Whitfield, Kanimbla, Parramatta Park, Mooroobool, Manoora, Portsmith, Earlville, Bungalow and Woree. The small suburb of Aeroglen is pressed between Mount Whitfield and the airport on the Captain Cook Highway north of the CBD towards Smithfield.

Southside Cairns, which is higher in elevation and is situated in a mountainous valley, includes the suburbs of White Rock, Mount Sheridan, Bentley Park, Wrights Creek, Edmonton and Centenary Heights, and the townships of Babinda, Goldsborough, Little Mulgrave, Aloomba and Gordonvale, which is located on the Mulgrave River.

The town of Kuranda is located upstream on the Barron River on the western side of the Kuranda Range, part of the Great Dividing Range. Kuranda is located in the Mareeba Shire local government area and, due to the geography of the Kuranda Range, is not part of the Cairns urban area, however it forms part of the Cairns economic catchment.

[edit] Early History

A notable natural feature, easily visible on the southern horizon from the catamaran wharf area or the domestic airport terminal, is Walsh's Pyramid, a 922 metre monolith claimed to be the highest free standing granite peak on Earth. The aboriginal name for the peak is Djarrugah a shortened version of several words meaning hill, scrub hen, earth mound and stands alone. To the left and just above the mangrove scrub line is Green Hill a collapsed volcanic cone from about 900,000 years ago when there were many active volcanoes in the North Queensland area.

40.000 CE Aboriginal population entered Australia. Current opinion favours migration through various Northern Australia areas including Cape York. Traditional local aboriginal stories recall hunting and fishing on land that extended past Green Island during a time of lower sea levels. Archaeological evidence shows aboriginals living in Cairns area rainforest for at least 5100 years and quite possibly for most of the often suggested 40,000 year time period.

Cairns is situated on the Indigenous Australian people's tribal lands of the Irukandji.

During the low sea levels of an ice age the floor of the bay has been exposed land. After the sea rose to its present level, about 6000 years ago, beach ridges accumulated along the new shoreline. The beach ridge which built up over the last 5000 years extended as far as the Marlin statue in present day Earlville shopping town. Most of the central part of the Inlet is situated on a series of sand ridges and muds of inter ridge swamps less then 4000 years old.

[edit] Modern History

1770 On June 10th, English maritime explorer Captain James Cook became the first official person to visit and give a European name to the inlet. Writing in his journal at the time 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. He hauled his ship into Mission Bay, at the southern end of Trinity inlet between Cape Grafton and False Cape, and sent a boat ahead to do depth soundings. After which he went ashore for a couple of hours with Sir Josepth Banks at a place approximately near the present site of the Yarrabah aboriginal community. Cook did not examine the adjacent country but Banks collected some plants. They then returned to the ship and set sail at midnight for the north west continuing on their journey up the east coast.

1819/1820/1821 Captain Parker King one of early Australia’s most important coast charters made three marine surveying expeditions to Northern Australia. All three expeditions included visits to Fitzroy Island, located just outside the inlet. On King's first visit he drew attention to the ready supply of good drinking water and the presence of aboriginals in the nearby country.

1848 In June, Captain Owen Stanley’s hydrographic depth sounding survey map for the Trinity Bay to Daintree area, listed Native Huts at present day Palm Beach and Many Natives and Native Village on the stretch of coast immediately north of this position. Green Island was marked Low Bushes while the future site of Cairns was indicated as Shoal and Mangroves

1866 - 1875 An intriguing, if somewhat fanciful, essay published in a Sydney newspaper in 1866 by J S V Mein, a Green Island based beech de mer fishermen helped increase southern state awareness of the bay while the extensive reports of the George Dalrymple exploration party in 1873 indicated the assets and potential of Trinity Inlet - The excellent anchorage and watering place appear to have been used some years since as a beech de mer fishing station and to be now a place of frequent call by vessels of that trade and passing ships. I believe very little engineering difficulty will be encountered in forming the necessary wharves on deep water and, from the appearance of the ranges, I do not anticipate any difficulty in obtaining a passable road over them to the interior.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.

1876 - 1885 In March 1876, an extensive gold field, The Hodginson River, was discovered on the tablelands 122k west of Trinity Inlet. The site was of sufficient size to warrant serious consideration being given to establishing a coastal wharf and settlement.The first officials on their arrival in Cairns pitched their tents opposite the site of the present day Pacific International hotel. On October 7th 1876, the Governor of Queensland, William Wellington Cairns, proclaimed a new northern port at Trinity Bay. On November 1 the township was inaugurated at a luncheon given by Captain Lake on board the Government ship the Victoria. This is the date regarded as the birth of Cairns. After five years battling competition from the already established Port Douglas and the newly created Barron River siding, Smithfield, Cairns came into its own with a series of successful agricultural ventures by Chinese businessmen and coolies frustrated with the overworked northern goldfields and three Englishman, Thomas Swallow, George Clayton and Thomas Hill who developed 1000s of acres of crop plantations directly south and east of the basic Cairns settlement. The second decade ended in 1885 with the proclamation of R A Kingsford as first Mayor.

1886 - 1895 The start of the construction of the Cairns to Herberton railway line in 1886 brought many permanent Italian and Irish workers and their families to the area and also opened up land that was to be used for agriculture on the lowlands (sugar cane) and fruit and dairy in Tablelands. This increased the importance of Cairns as a regional centre. The founding, in 1889, of Kuranda, billed, because of the 250 metre drop of Barron Falls, as "the Niagara of Australia", could be seen as the start of the present dominant tourist industry while local Chinese agricultural production reached massive export quantity levels of rice, corn, bananas and pineapples

1896 - 1905 The construction of the Cairns to Mulgrave Tramway in 1897 linked areas immediately south of Cairns to the port, a local Gas Supply company was established in 1899 and Cairns was declared a town in 1903.

1906 - 1915 After some intense public debate a local harbour board was established in 1915. Most of the currently listed heritage buildings were constructed during this decade, many designed by harbour board engineer E Gregory Waters. Towards the end of this period the outbreak of World War One in 1914 created many labour and consumer good shortages for the physically isolated Cairns community.

1916 - 1925 ended, fittingly, with the recognition of Cairns as a city in 1923, the railway joining of the isolated north to the southern states of Australia via the opening of the Daradagee rail bridge outside Innisfail in 1924 and the start of public electricity in 1925.

1926 - 1935 commenced with the Cairns Post newspaper celebrating the settlements 50th birthday by publishing a 50 page historical essay and photo supplement. There was widespread destruction of property and crops by the most ferocious local cyclone to date, "Willis", in 1926. The cities first Council Chambers was opened in 1930. An aerial visit in 1932 by aviation pioneer Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, the first mayors grandson, previewed an air traffic world that would be of utmost importance to the city 5 decades later while the commencement in 1935 of the Barron Falls hydro electricity scheme provided the power for an era of major industrial expansion.

1936 - 1945 started with the first commercial radio station, 4CA, becoming operational in 1936, freeing the city from vital communication isolation during the wet season, the mouth of the Barron River changed ocean outflow in 1939 and a much needed road to Kuranda was opened in 1941. During the 1942 Pacific Phrase of World War II, Cairns was used by the Allied Forces; in particular, the United States stationed troops through the region to supply the Pacific fleet. Furthermore, it was a strategic point to hold to prevent the Japanese from entering into Australia through Cape York Peninsula. The fall of Singapore precipitated a mass evacuation of local residents to the south. Many homes were sold cheaply and a year later the local population had been reduced by nearly 7000 people. Many who left never returned with the end of the conflict in 1945.

1946 - 1955 The cities 75th Anniversary celebrations in 1951 gave a new sense of pride in local achievement, the weekly arrival of an air conditioned tourist train, "The Sunlander", from Brisbane, in 1953, encouraged post war southern tourism and extensive featuring of Cairns scenes in the 1954 official film of Queen Elizabeth's visit to Australia created a major boost to international awareness of the Cairns district. Also in 1954 the cities water supply was considerably increased by the addition of a Behana Creek intake. In 1955, the arrival of the Italian immigrant worker ship, "Flaminia", brought European influences and culture and the next generation of much needed farming families while the opening of a modern railway station the same year meant Cairns was coming into its own as a winter holiday location.

1956 - 1965 The 16th Olympic Games were held in Australia in 1956 and a northern aboriginal, Anthony Mark, was chosen to start the Eastern states torch relay. 1958 had the council embarking on a much needed sewering of the whole city providing the basic plumbing infrastructure for the high rise boom of the nineteen eighties. An official tourist area was declared between Tinity Bay, Cassarina Point,Green Island, and Ellis Beach on August 4th, 1960. A dangerous blind spot in the cyclone warning system was corrected with the opening of the Kuranda based Saddle Mountain radar station in 1962 and the first yearly tourism festival "Fun In the Sun" was held in 1963 the same year the important Barron Gorge Hydro Electricity Scheme came on line.

1966 - 1975 An alternative newspaper, "The Northerner", commenced distribution in 1966 the same year local publishing pioneer, Bob Bolton, released the first "North Queensland Annual" a yearly series of high quality, large size, tourism photo magazines. In 1969 Percy Trezise published a much acclaimed book on the Quinken Aboriginal cave paintings of Cape York, , the City Council took possession of its first large mainframe computer in 1970 while a large hippy colony assembled at Weir Road, Kuranda during 1972 and the first modern concert hall, the Cairns Civic Theatre, was opened in 1974.

1976 - 1985 1976 saw the commencement of supply from the Copperlode Dam providing the extra water needed for a rapid projected increase in population and tourist amenities while later in the same year, the 100th anniversary of Cairns founding saw the release of the first serious attempt at a comprehensive history, the book "Trinity Phoenix" by Dorothy Jones, the construction of Tuna Towers and Lyons Vacation Inn during 1981 heralded the start of an ongoing local high rise era and the opening of the Cairns International Airport in 1984, made Cairns and its attractions more accessible to the world.

1986 - 1995 The Tyjapukai's Dance Theatre's establishment in 1987 had far reaching consequences for the commercial individuality of Cairns and the cultural pride of the local indigenous population. 1988's Airport located Mangrove Board walk returned visitors to the natural world that greeted the first settlers while the 9th December 1988 World Heritage inclusion of the Wet Tropics area between Cooktown and Townsville, enhanced the central point, Cairns, as a holiday destination.The 1995 openings of the Cairns Art Gallery, Skyrail and the James Cook University meant a sincere civic effort was being made to encourage education in all its aspects.

1996 - 2005 The Cairns Convention Centre started its existence in 1996 [Its first major conference was for the omnipresent computer firm Microsoft in 2000. In 2004 the centre was named that years world's top congress establishment]. Various Cairns public buildings relocated premises. The Cairns railway station became an adjunct to a large shopping centre in 1997, the Council Chambers moved and rebuilt in 1998, the city library took over the council's previous dwelling in 1999 and, in the year 2000, the world's media was fascinated by the sight of the 27th Olympic games torch being carried underwater at Agincourt Reef. In 2004 the local Djabugay rainforest aboriginal group were given native title over the Barron Gorge National park, the first such claim to be recognized in Queensland and the first in Australia to be granted without a court battle while the 14th decade closed, in 2005, with the withdrawal from the Cairns area of the Japanese Daikyo company ending 17 years of major tourism investment including a much needed 30 million dollar upgrade of facilities at Green Island.

2026 On April 24, the Yarrabah based Mandingalbay people became only the second aboriginal clan in Queensland, after the Djabugay group, to win recognition of their traditional lands. This western Government validation took 12 years to be approved and was made 236 years after Captain Cook made his brief but significant visit to the Yarrabah area.

[Sources: Walsh's Pyramid - Bellenden Kerr Tourism Strategy Information Sheet. Green Hill, inlet sea level and sand ridge - Rocks and Landscapes of the Cairns District by Wilmott and Stephenson. Qld Dept of Mines 1989. Captain Cook - Bulletin 178 Cairns Historical Society September 1974. Declaration and birth of Cairns - Cairns 50th Jubilee Issue / Cairns Post 1.11.1926. World War Two evacuation - Timothy Bottoms A History of Cairns unpublished treatise p523. Official Tourist area declared - cp 5.8.1960, Wet Tropics World Heritage area inclusion - cp 10.5.1989. Yarrabah recognition - cp 25.4.2006. All other Early History / Modern History references were taken from the public domain document Tropication Cairns Historical Society Library Archives Cairns 2006.]

[edit] Climate

Cairns Lagoon in Cairns City, under public surveillance.

Cairns experiences a warm tropical climate. It experiences a dry season between April and November and a wet season with tropical monsoons between November and March. Mean rainfall of Cairns is 2002.9 mm ^[4]. The township of Babinda at the southern end of the city is one of Australia’s wettest towns, recording an annual rainfall of over 4200 mm. It has hot humid summers and milder temperatures in winter. The temperature varies from a mean temperature of 25.5 °C in July to 31.7 °C in January. Many tourists consider Cairns to have a similar climate to Hawaii. Monsoonal activity during the wet season occasionally causes major flooding of the Barron and Mulgrave Rivers, cutting off road and rail access to the city.

[edit] Tropical Cyclones

Like most of North and Far North Queensland, Cairns is prone to Tropical Cyclones, usually forming between November and May.

Notable cyclones that have affected the Cairns Region include:

• Cyclone Larry, 2006 - see below for detail for Cairns region and City.
• Cyclone Abigail, 2001
• Cyclone Steve, 2000
• Cyclone Rona, 1999
• Cyclone Justin, 1997

[edit] Cyclone Larry

Main article: Cyclone Larry

Tropical Cyclone Larry struck areas to the south of Cairns at 7am on 20 March 2006. Cyclone Larry crossed land near the town of Innisfail, 100km south of Cairns as a category five cyclone. It was downgraded to a category four cyclone shortly before midday, and further downgraded to a category three cyclone a few hours later. Wind gusts of up to 300 km/h have been recorded around the Cairns region, with wind gusts up to 180km/h reported in the City. It is estimated that about one in four houses in Cairns and surrounding areas have been affected by Cyclone Larry.

[edit] Government

View of Cairns from Lake Morris with the Yarrabah peninsula in the background.

The City of Cairns is governed by the Cairns City Council. The Council consists of a Mayor and twelve Councillors. The Mayor is elected by the public, and the Councillors are elected from twelve single member divisions (or wards) using an optional preferential voting system. Elections are held every three years. The current Mayor is Cr Kevin Byrne.

The Cairns City Council local government area consists of two former local government areas which were amalgamated in 1995. These were the Cairns City Council (consisting of the suburbs listed under ‘Cairns City’ above), and the Mulgrave Shire Council (comprised of the other areas, namely the Northern Beaches, Freshwater and Redlynch Valleys, and Southside). The town of Gordonvale was once called Mulgrave.

At the time of amalgamation, Cairns City had a population of approximately 40,000 and Mulgrave Shire had a population of approximately 60,000. Both local government authorities had chambers in the Cairns CBD. The old Cairns City Council chambers located on Abbott Street have been converted into a new city library. The old Mulgrave Shire Chambers were located on the Cairns Esplanade. In a controversial decision ^[5], new council chambers were constructed on previously industrial contaminated land in the mainly industrial suburb of Portsmith.

Cairns sends four representatives to the Queensland Parliament, from the electoral districts of Cook, Barron River, Cairns and Mulgrave. The city is represented in the Federal Parliament by representatives elected from the districts of Leichhardt and Kennedy.

Prior to the abolition of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), the Indigenous people in Cairns were represented by the Cairns and District Regional Council. The Council comprised 12 Councillors, who elected a Chair from among them - Terry O'Shane was the last Chair. The Cairns area was represented on ATSIC by the Commissioner for Queensland North Zone. The last Commissioner for Queensland North was Lionel Quartermaine who also served as ATSIC’s Deputy Chair.

[edit] Economy

Cairns at night; the wharves. The casino's dome can be seen in the background.

Cairns serves as the major commercial centre for the Far North Queensland and Cape York Peninsula Regions. It is a base for the regional offices of many government departments.

Tourism plays a major part in the Cairns economy. According to Tourism Australia, Cairns is the fourth most popular destination for international tourists in Australia after Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. While the city does not rank amongst Australia's top 10 destinations for domestic tourism, it attracts an enviable number of Australian holiday makers given its distance from major capitals [1]. The city's proximity to the Great Barrier Reef and the Wet Tropics of Queensland makes it a popular destination. The city contains hundreds of hotels, resorts, motels and backpackers hostels. Activities in the region include golf, white water rafting, snorkelling, diving and hiking.

The land around Cairns is still used for sugar cane farming, although this land is increasingly under pressure from new suburbs as the city grows. Within the Cairns City Council area, sugar mills operate in Gordonvale and Babinda.

Cairns local businesses are assisted by the Cairns Region Economic Development Corporation (CREDC), which promotes a cluster-based model for economic development.

The Barron Gorge Hydroelectric Power Station is located nearby in Kuranda and provides green power for some of the city's needs.

The suburbs of Cairns contain a number of shopping centres of various sizes. The largest of these are the Cairns Central shopping centre, located in the central business district, and Stockland Cairns, located in the suburb of Earliville.

[edit] Communications

The Cairns Post is a daily newspaper published in the city; a weekly paper, The Cairns Sun, is also published. The Courier-Mail is a daily Queensland-wide newspaper published in Brisbane. The Australian newspaper also circulates widely. All of these newspapers are owned by News Corporation, controlled by Rupert Murdoch.

Cairns Newspapers publishes three independent monthly suburban newspapers - the Cairns Northern News, Cairns Bulletin and theSouthern Herald - which circulate suburbs from Palm Cove in the north to Gordonvale in the south.

Cairns is served by three commercial television stations and the two public broadcasters - the ABC and SBS. The commercial stations are regional affiliates of the Ten, Nine and Seven networks. Austar Limited provides subscription satellite TV services.

Cairns radio stations include a number of public, commercial and community broadcasters. The ABC broadcasts ABC RadioNational, ABC Local, ABC Classic FM and the Triple J youth network. Commercial radio stations include 4CA-FM, AM846, HOT FM, SeaFM, 4CCR-FM, and others.

[edit] Transport

Cairns is an important transport hub in the Far North Queensland region. Located at the base of Cape York Peninsula, it provides important transport links between the Peninsula and Gulf of Carpentaria regions and the areas to the south of the state. Cairns International Airport is essential to the viability of the tourism industry.

[edit] Roads

The Bruce Highway runs for 1700 km from Brisbane and terminates in Cairns on the corner of Mulgrave Roads and Sheridan Streets in the CBD. At this point, the Captain Cook Highway (also referred to as the Cook Highway), between Cairns and Port Douglas approximately 80 km to the northwest, commences.

A need for future upgrades to the Bruce Highway to motorway standards through the southern suburbs to Gordonvale has been identified in regional planning strategies to cope with increasing congestion from rapid population growth. This will result with overpasses at all major intersections between Ray Jones Drive in Woree and Riverstone Road in Gordonvale. The motorway will not take the old route along the highway through Edmonton but will follow a bypass that will travel from the Roberts Road intersection at Bently Park to the intersection of Hill Road and the Bruce Highway north of Gordonvale to ease noise from cars in Edmonton. There will also be overpasses at these intersections. ^[6]

The Bruce Highway in Cairns southern suburbs at morning peak hour.

The Kennedy Highway commences at Smithfield on the Barron River flood plain north of Cairns and ascends the Kuranda Range to the township of Kuranda. The highway then extends to the town of Mareeba on the Atherton Tableland, and continues to communities of Cape York Peninsula

The Gillies Highway commences at the township of Gordonvale and ascends the Gillies Range (part of the Great Dividing Range) to the town of Atherton on the Atherton Tableland, passing through the township of Yungaburra on the way.

A network of secondary and local roads of varying quality is maintained throughout the Cairns suburbs by the Queensland State Government Transport Department and Cairns City Council.

[edit] Coaches

Cairns is also served by long distance coaches to Brisbane, and regional cities to the south. Coaches also operate west to Mount Isa and the Northern Territory.

[edit] Public Transport

A public transport network is operated throughout the city by Sunbus. A transit mall is located in the CBD through which all services operate. Most services run from the Northern Beaches to the southern parts of Cairns via the CBD. Bus services operated by Whitecar Coaches run to Kuranda and to the Atherton Tableland.

[edit] Rail

Cairns is the terminus for Queensland's North Coast railway line, which follows the eastern seaboard from Brisbane. Services are operated by Queensland Rail (QR) and include the high speed tilt train. Freight trains operate along the route. There is a QR Freight handling facility located at Portsmith.

Pacific National Queensland (a division of Pacific National, owned by Toll Holdings) operates a rail siding at Woree. It runs private trains on the rail network owned by the Queensland State Government and managed by QR's Network Division.

The Kuranda Scenic Railway operates from Cairns. The tourist railway snakes its way up the Kuranda Range and is not used for commuter services. It passes through the suburbs of Stratford, Freshwater (stopping at Freshwater Station) and Redlynch before reaching Kuranda.

Freight services to Forsayth were discontinued in the mid-1990s. These were mixed freight and passenger services which served the semi-remote towns west of the Great Dividing Range. There is now a weekly passenger-only service, "The Savannahlander" that leaves Cairns on Wednesday mornings. The Savannahlander is run by a private company, Cairns Kuranda Steam Trains.

Cairns is served by a narrow gauge cane railway (or cane tram) network that hauls harvested sugar cane to the Mulgrave Mill located in Gordonvale. The pressure of urban sprawl on land previously cultivated by cane farmers has seen this network reduced over recent years. There has been discussion that these railway corridors may be used for a possible future light rail mass transit system, however no plans have been drawn up.

The use of the existing heavy rail line for commuter services between Redlynch and Gordonvale is occasionally discussed; however this is not a favoured option under the FNQ 2010 Regional Plan, which recommends the use of buses.

[edit] Airport

Cairns International Airport

Cairns International Airport is operated by the Cairns Port Authority and is located 7km north of Cairns City between the CBD and the Northern Beaches. It is Australia's sixth busiest in terms of international and domestic passenger movements. In excess of three million international and domestic passenger movements were recorded during 2003–2004. The Airport has a domestic terminal, a separate international terminal, and a general aviation area. The airport handles international flights, and flights to major Australian cities, tourist destinations, and regional destinations throughout North Queensland. It is an important base for general aviation serving the Cape York Peninsula and Gulf of Carpentaria Communities. The Cairns airport is also a base for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

[edit] Sea port

Cairns Marina.

The Cairns Seaport, located on Trinity Inlet, is operated by the Cairns Port Authority. Most major tour operators have their check-in desks located inside the Reef Fleet Terminal. It serves as an important port for tourist operators providing daily reef trips. These consist of large catamarans capable of carrying over 300 passengers as well as smaller operators who may take as few as 12 tourists. Cairns Port is also a port of call for cruise ships, such as Captain Cook Cruises, cruising the South Pacific Ocean, and it provides freight services to coastal townships on Cape York Peninsula, the Torres Strait and the Gulf of Carpentaria. Yearly cargo through the port totals 1.16 million tonnes. Almost 90 percent of the trade is bulk cargoes - including petroleum, sugar, molasses, fertiliser and LP gas. A large number of fishing trawlers are also located at the port. There is also a marina that houses private yachts and boats used for tourist operations.

The Royal Australian Navy has a base in Cairns (HMAS Cairns) where 5 Fremantle Class patrol boats are based.

The Trinity Wharf has recently been subject of a major redevelopment to improve the area for tourist and cruise ship operations. The freight wharves are located to the south of Trinity Wharf further up Trinity Inlet.

Cairns Port Authority

[edit] Sister Cities

	Lae, Papua New Guinea (Morobe Province) since 1984
	Minami, Japan (Tokushima Prefecture) since 1969
	Oyama, Japan (Tochigi Prefecture) since June 15th, 2006
	Riga, Latvia since 1990
	Scottsdale, USA (Arizona) since 1987
	Sidney, Canada (British Columbia) since 1984
	Zhanjiang, People's Republic of China (Guangdong province) since 2004

[edit] Education

See List of schools in Cairns

Cairns has numerous primary and secondary schools. Separate systems of private and public schools operate in Queensland. There are 20 state primary schools and 16 state high schools operated by the Queensland state government Department of Education within the Cairns City Council area, including 6 schools in the predominantly rural areas south of Gordonvale. There is one combined primary and secondary school in Bentley Park^[7].

Catholic schools are operated by Catholic Education Cairns. The Catholic system encompasses nineteen primary schools, six secondary colleges and one P-12 college. There are 6,000 primary students and 3,250 secondary students enrolled in the Catholic school system. Catholic Education Cairns employs more than 1,200 teachers and school officers and has the largest workforce in the region in the non-government sector.

The Cairns Campus of James Cook University is located at Smithfield. The city is also home to a TAFE college, and a School of the Air base, both located in the inner suburb of Manunda.

[edit] Health

The Cairns Base Hospital is situated on the Cairns Esplanade and is the major hospital for the Cape York Peninsula Region. The smaller Cairns Private Hospital is located nearby.

Cairns is a base for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, which operates clinics and provides emergency evacuations in remote communities throughout the region.

[edit] Sport & Recreation

As in the rest of Queensland, Rugby Union and rugby league are popular in Cairns. Cairns is unusual among Queensland cities in that Australian rules football is also very popular, and there is an active local league^[8]. Other sports such as martial arts, dance, soccer and cricket are also popular. Cairns also has a National Basketball League (NBL) team, the Cairns Taipans. Notable sporting grounds include Barlow Park and Cazaly's Stadium (cricket, Australian rules football and rugby league), the Cairns Convention Centre (basketball), and the Cairns Hockey Centre.

Cairns is a major international destination for scuba diving due to its close proximity to the Great Barrier Reef. Other recreational activities popular with tourists include whitewater rafting and snorkelling.

[edit] References

1. ^ National Regional Profile: Cairns City, 2004 (ABS)
2. ^ National Regional Profile: Cairns City, 2004 (ABS)
3. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics 23 February 2006
4. ^ Bureau of Meteorology website
5. ^ 'Land Row', The Cairns Post, p1. 19 July 2001.
6. ^ FNQ Regional Plan - Supporting Technical Documents - Integrated Transport (February 2000). pp 41-43.
7. ^ Queensland Education website - Cairns Coastal region
8. ^ AFL Cairns - History

[edit] External links

• City of Cairns Official Website
• Tropical Australia Official Website
• Cairns & Region Convention Bureau Website
• Cairns guide from Wikitravel
• Cairns Newspapers
• Cairns Connect - History
• Cairns Post - Local Cairns News
• Explore Cairns Vacation Planning Website
• The Climate of Cairns & environs (by Stefan Reissmann & Urion Argador)