Cairns

Central Cairns from Mount Whitfield looking south. Sheridan Street, the main street running north-south becomes the Captain Cook Highway leading to Port Douglas. 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 / 16.950°S 145.750°E / -16.950; 145.750) 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 Queenland) 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 surrouning coastal and Tableland regions. The city is rapidly expanding, with a population of 128,284 (ABS 23/2/2006), 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 proximity to many attractions and tropical climate. The Great Barrier Reef is only one-and-a-half hours away by boat. The Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation are popular areas for experiencing a true 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.

Geography

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.

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. The urban layout of Cairns is similar to Honolulu's urban layout.

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 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.

History

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

The land on which Cairns would be situated was first seen by European settlers in 1770, though Captain James Cook did not settle there or nearby due to his perception of it being harsh land with dense rainforests and dangerous reefs nearby.

Cairns was named after Sir William Wellington Cairns and was founded in 1876 to support gold exploration that was occuring at Palmer River in 1872. Initially gold was accessed via the Barron River and a then port, Trinity Bay (at the present-day Cairns suburbs of Trinity Beach, Clifton Beach and Palm Cove). At that stage, the land on which Cairns City itself is located consisted of uninhabitable mangroves. It wasn't until the building of a railway for the Atherton Tableland that the centre itself developed. The railway then opened up land that was to be used for agriculture on the lowlands (sugar cane) and fruit and dairy in Tablelands. Gold mining then declined. This increased the importance of Cairns.

During 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 Japanese did in fact bomb the Far North a few times.

After World War II, Cairns became a centre for tourism. The Cairns Intenational Airport was opened in 1984, and the World Heritage listing of regions around Cairns has enhanced the location as a holiday destination.

Climate

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 2222.9 mm. 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.

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

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.

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 ^[1], 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.

Economy

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. After Sydney and the Gold Coast, Cairns is the most popular tourist destination in Australia. Cairns is second only to Sydney for the number of international visitors to Australia. Its proximity to the Great Barrier Reef and rainforest make it a popular destination. The city contains dozens of hotels, resorts, motels and backpackers hostels. Activities in the region include golf, white water rafting 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 Plant is located nearby in Kuranda and provides green power for some of the city's needs.

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 [2], AM846, HOT FM, SeaFM, 4CCR-FM, and others.

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.

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 north, commences.

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.

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.

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.

Rail

Cairns is the terminus for Queensland's main passenger route, 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, west of Atherton, 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 favours the use of buses.

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.

Sea port

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 liners, 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 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 Cairns Inlet.

Cairns Port Authority

Twin towns

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

Education

Cairns has numerous State, Catholic, and independent primary and secondary schools. The Cairns Campus of James Cook University is located at Smithfield. It also has a TAFE college, and a School of the Air base, both located in Manunda.

Schools

Catholic

Catholic Education Cairns encompasses nineteen primary schools, six secondary colleges and one P-12 college. With their 6,000 primary students, 3,250 secondary students, and more than 1,200 teachers and school officers, Catholic Education has the largest workforce in the region in the non-government sector. Catholic Schools in the Cairns region are supported by Catholic Education Services staff in Cairns.

Holy Cross Primary, Smithfield [3]
Mother of Good Counsel School, North Cairns
Our Lady Help of Christians, Earlville [4]
St Andrews Catholic College, Redlynch [5]
St Augustine's College, Cairns [6]
St Francis Xavier School, Manunda [7]
St Gerard Majella School, Woree
St Joseph's School, Parramatta
St Mary's Catholic College, Woree [8]
St Monicas Catholic College, Cairns [9]
St Therese's School, Edmonton [10]

State

Independent

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.

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 AFL league. 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 and AFL), 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.

References

^ 'Land Row', The Cairns Post, p1. 19 July 2001.
Cairns Port Authority website

External links