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17°S 145°E Thornborough – Queensland by Degrees |
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Location: This confluence point is 2.64 km west of the Dimbulah - Mt Mulligan Road and was reached on foot from the road using GPS to accurately locate the point. The point lies on The Pinnacles station and is within the Tablelands Regional Council area. The closest settlement is Dimbulah, 20 km to the south-south- east.
Point information and photos: Kev Teys, Bruce Urquhart, John and Mary Nowill, 2008; Ken and Judy Granger also got to within 3 km of the point on the Dimbulah - Mt Mulligan road, 2008. WITHIN THE DEGREE SQUARE The Country: The country within this degree square is probably the most diverse and complex of all of the 185 degree squares within Queensland. It extends from the coast just to the south of Port Douglas, through the wet tropics of the Great Dividing Range, the volcanic landscapes of the Atherton Tablelands, the irrigation lands around Mareeba and Dimbulah to the savannah sand plains around Chillagoe. Elevations range from sea level to around 1300 m ASL near Atherton and 1224 m ASL on Mt Lewis to the east of Mt Carbine. There are several high points in the Great Dividing Range within the square that are over 1000 m ASL. Much of the area west of the Divide is above 500 m ASL. The lowest elevation is along the Mitchell River at around 200 m ASL.
Most of the coast-flowing rivers such as the Mossman, Barron, Mulgrave and North Johnstone are deeply incised as they flow off the range and most have significant waterfalls and gorges. The coastal scarp is very steep and rugged. Apart from the Mt Carbine granite, the bulk of the Great Dividing Range is composed of sedimentary rocks of Devonian age (410 to 354 million years) such as mudstone and greywacke. The intruded granite around Mt Carbine is of Permian age (298 to 251 million years). The alluvium eroded from these mountains has produced a very fertile coastal plain. This is in marked contrast to the Atherton Tablelands with their wide rolling plains, deeply incised edges and remnants of Pliocene-Pleistocene age (less than 5 million years) volcanic activity. The most prominent volcanic relic within the degree square is the Mt Hypipamee Crater. This explosion pipe (or diatreme) is a circular crater about 60 m in diameter and 60 m from the crest to water level - the pipe extends a further 85 m below the surface before bending under to an unknown depth. The more familiar volcanic landscape features such as the crater likes of Lake Eacham and Lake Barrine are just to the east of the degree square boundary.
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'Crystal Madonna' and other formations in the Donna Caves, Chillagoe-Mungana National Park (Ken Granger, 2008)
The next largest area is that occupied by lavas of Early Permian age (298 to 270 million years) through which the Walsh River flows. Igneous rocks also make up much of the country in the south of the degree square. Much of this is Late Carboniferous age (325 to 298 million years) granite that produces a steeper terrain than that of the older greywacke formations. The country between Atherton and Herberton is typical of this granite country. Vegetation across the square is also very diverse. Medium height (to 30 m) tropical rainforest is found along the eastern scarps of the Great Dividing Range and on the upper slopes of the Divide. A very large number of species are found in the canopy layer making this one of the richest forest habitats in Australia. Over 2000 species of trees, shrubs and vines have been recorded in these forests. The tallest species such as Hoop Pine (Araucaria cunninghamiana), Bunya Pine (Araucaria bidwillii), Kauri Pine (Agathus robusta and A. microstachya), Black Bean (Castanospermum australe), Black Walnut (Endiandra palmerstonii), Red Cedar (Toona ciliata) and Flooded Gum (Eucalyptus grandis) were all sought after for commercial logging before the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area was proclaimed and logging ceased. Various species of Ficus including the massive Strangler Fig (Ficus watkinsiana) are also prominent. The understory of saplings, seedlings, palms, tree ferns, vines and herbs such as gingers can be very dense. Some of the rainforest plants are hazardous. The most common of these is the Stinging Tree (Dendrocnide moroides), the leaves of which have fine silica hairs that can inflict severe pain if they are brushed against; and the Wait-a-While vine (Calamus moti) and its relatives, Hairy Mary (C. australis) and Vicious Hairy Mary (C. radicalis) that have very sharp hooks and spines that can inflict painful cuts and tears if brushed against.
On the western side of the Divide the vegetation becomes progressively more open, canopy height becomes lower, the species composition becomes far less diverse and the understory changes to tussocky grasses. In the area immediately west of the Divide tree height is around 30 m and the canopy is mostly closed. On the hilly country from Herberton to Chillagoe the bush is medium height open woodland of eucalypts such as Narrow-leaved Ironbark (Eucalyptus crebra), White Mahogany (E. acmenoides) and Cullen's Ironbark (E. cullenii). Other species include Rose Sheoak (Allocasuarina torulosa), Turpentine (Syncarpia glomulifera) and Cyprus Pine (Callitris intratropica). In the karst areas near Chillagoe the deciduous Broad Leaved Bottletree (Brachychiton australis) and Kurrajong (Brachychiton chillagoensis) are features in the landscape.
The lower country of the Walsh, Hodgkinson and Mitchell River catchments carry a low open eucalypt savannah.
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The rainforest is also home to a large number of butterfly and beetle species. Of the butterflies, the Ulysses Swallowtail and the Cairns Birdwing are amongst the most spectacular.
The Climate: The diversity of the degree square's landscape is to some extent a reflection of its climatic range. The climate ranges from tropical monsoonal along the coast to tropical savannah on the west of the range and subtropical with a distinctly dry winter further west. The climatic averages for Cairns Airport (just outside the square to the east) and Mareeba (on the Tableland) provide a contrast. Unfortunately the BoM web site does not include data for Chillagoe in the extreme west of the square. Cairns Airport (site 031011) 1941-2008 (elevation 2 m ASL)
Mareeba QWRC (site 031066) 1952-2008 (elevation 400 m ASL)
The highest temperature ever recorded in Cairns was 40.5°C in December 1990 while the lowest temperature was 6.2°C in June 1946. Rainfall also varies greatly. The highest total of 3148.8 mm was recorded in 2000 and the lowest total of 721 mm in 2002. In January 1981 the monthly total was 1417.4 mm. The extremes at Mareeba, some 400 m higher in elevation and only 38 km inland, but on the western side of the Great Dividing Range, show a highest maximum of 40.6°C in November 1990, a record low of 0.4°C in June 1963; a highest rainfall of 1730.2 mm in 1974 and a lowest total of 388.8 mm in 1966. Dimbulah, a further 35 km to the west has an average rainfall of only 783.8 mm, a highest rainfall of 1876.8 mm in 1974 and a lowest recorded rainfall of 326.0 mm in 1993. Towards the western edge of the square the average annual rainfall is probably as low as 600.0 mm per annum. Extremes of Nature: The area is very much subject to the impact of tropical cyclones. The cyclone database maintained by the Bureau of Meteorology shows that 65 cyclones tracked within 200 km of the confluence point between 1906-7 and 2006-7. Eight cyclones passed within 50 km of the confluence point during that period: an unnamed cyclone in January 1910, an unnamed cyclone in March 1911, an unnamed cyclone in February 1929, an unnamed cyclone in February 1945, TC Vernon in January 1986, TC Ivor in March 1990, TC Justin in March 1997, and TC Steve in March 2000. In February 1920 a cyclone (probably a Category 3 storm) crossed the coast between Port Douglas and Cairns. Nearly every house in Kuranda was unroofed and at Mt Molloy, almost all houses were blown down. Half of the houses in Chillagoe were also blown down. Cattle losses across the region were 'enormous'. Of all the cyclones that have had an impact on the area in the last few decades, TC Larry in March 2006 was the most severe. It passed within 100 km of the confluence point as a Category 3 storm. Destructive winds did considerable damage to buildings and vegetation on the Atherton Tableland and heavy rain caused flooding in all of the streams within the square. Maximum wind speeds of 113 km/h were recorded at Mareeba, but on the higher country winds in excess of 180 km/h were experienced. The impact of TC Larry in Atherton was described by Elsie Lawrence, then a year 7 student at St Joseph's School Atherton, as follows: When the wind and rain stopped, all was quiet. We surveyed our yard in dismay. They neighbour's pine trees had snapped like toothpicks and fallen into our yard, and the piece of tin from the shed had smashed a pot and left dirt spread across the patio. On top of that, a neighbouring black bean tree had dropped a large branch, bringing down a nearby power line and cutting off the power. There was debris everywhere and the whole yard was a mess. Most of the fallen trees required a chainsaw, something we didn't have. Luckily, our Grandparents had one. They lived in Atherton, 15 minutes away. But it was now 15 minutes of destruction and devastation. Everywhere we looked, there were felled trees, some even split right down the centre, and debris scattered across the road and fields. The maize crops for the year were a visual explanation of how strong the winds had been and in which direction they had been blowing and there were several power lines down. In one case, a brand new shed had been blown down completely, even into the opposite paddock. The signs were bent and the State Forest ripped apart.
Cyclone tracks that passes within 200 km of the confluence point 1906 - 2006 (BoM website) Most cyclones bring with them heavy rain that can produce severe flooding and landslides. All of the coast-flowing rivers have a well recorded history of flood. The Barron River, for example has had at least nine major floods since 1900, the most severe of which was in 1911 (associated with the unnamed cyclone of March that year). While these floods produce quite a spectacle going over the many waterfalls on the escarpment, such as the Barron Falls, they tend to do most of their damage on the coastal plain rather than on the Tableland. Rivers flowing to the Gulf also carry large volumes of flood water during these times but they produce only limited damage and dislocation of roads. Landslides can be a serious and costly hazard on the roads that climb the coastal escarpment and to settlement along the base of the escarpment. The Kuranda Range Road, for example, is regularly cut for short periods by landslides during most summer wet seasons. The area averages between 20 and 30 thunder days each year. Severe thunderstorms can bring destructive winds and intense rainfall. During the winter dry season thunder storms may spark bushfires if there is sufficient fuel to promote spread. There are 6 earthquake epicentres within the degree square recorded in the National Earthquake Database maintained by Geoscience Australia. They range from two barely detectable events of ML 1.3 and 1.6 in September 1990 to a ML 4.4 event of 1 December 1958. The epicentre for this largest event was located 78 km north-east of the confluence point near Port Douglas and was felt over a wide area. On 27 February 1896 a ML 4.6 earthquake just to the west of the square did minor damage in Mareeba, such as shaking objects from shelves, and cracked concrete tunnels on the Kuranda railway line. |
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The Indigenous Story: At least five Aboriginal groups inhabited the area covered by the degree square. In the north were the Kuku-yalanji; to their south along the coast and the Divide were the Djabuganjdji; along the eastern edge in the high country were the Djirbalangan; in a small area to the west of Atherton were the Mbabaram; and in the interior were the Agwamin. Aboriginals are known to have lived in the area for many thousands of years. According to the EPA web site, evidence of Aboriginal occupation at Mt Mulligan dates back as far as 37,000 years, while evidence of occupation - drawings, shells and wallaby bones - at the Walkunder Arch Cave at Chillagoe is dated at 18,000 years ago. The impact of European settlement, which began with the rush to the Hodgkinson Goldfields in 1876, was quickly felt. During the 1880s, as European settlers took up land for grazing, Aboriginal people were moved from their traditional lands. There was much conflict between Aboriginal peoples and police, native troopers and settlers, as evidenced by events such as the infamous Irvinebank massacre in October 1884. Four Mbabarum Aboriginals, including a child, were shot dead by native troopers and their bodies burnt. Unusually for the time, four troopers and their European officer, Sub-Inspector Nichols, were put on trial for murder - all were eventually acquitted. By far more serious, however, was the impact of European diseases such as measles and influenza. The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, for example was said to have wiped out whole Aboriginal communities in the area. European Exploration and Settlement: The first Europeans to penetrate the area were probably those on the ill-fated expedition led by Edmund Kennedy, Assistant-Surveyor of NSW, in 1848. Kennedy and his party passed through some of the most difficult country in Queensland in this area - dense rainforest-clad mountains. They were also regularly harassed by Aboriginals. The next European to pass through the area was probably John Atherton, a grazier from the Mackay area, who overlanded cattle to the Palmer goldfield 1873 and then to the Hodgkinson gold fields in 1875. In 1876 John Frazer drove a mob of 1500 cattle from Ingham to the upper Mitchell River north of present-day Mareeba. Atherton eventually settled at Emerald End on the banks of the Barron River near present-day Mareeba. To get his cattle to port, Atherton opened up a route from the Tableland, which now bears his name, to the coast at Cairns. This route took advantage of Aboriginal tracks and the pockets of grass within the rainforest that they had established over millennia and maintained by the use of fire. These grass pockets provided grazing for stock on the move from the Tablelands. The early name for present-day Atherton, for example, was Prior's Pocket. Discovery of gold on the Palmer River (north of the degree square) by James Venture Mulligan in 1873 led to one of Queensland's most important gold rushes. Most of the early miners came overland from the Etheridge field to the south-west of this square, establishing the first tracks through the Herberton and Irvinebank areas. Mulligan also found alluvial tin along the Wild River (around present-day Herberton) in 1874 and reef gold in the Hodgkinson River in 1875. The Herberton tin mining area was eventually opened up by a consortium led by John Newell and Willie Jack in 1880 after the find of the Great Northern Lode. A further tin lode was found by Gibbs to the west of Herberton in 1882 at a place known as Gibbs Camp (later renamed Irvinebank). The entrepreneur John Moffat bought out Willie Jack's share of the Herberton tin mines and Gibbs' claims at Irvinebank. By 1884 Moffat had established a battery and smelter at Irvinebank and by 1886 Irvinebank had been gazetted as a town. The town flourished and many of the public and private buildings established at that time remain today. Amongst these are Moffat's own residence Loudoun House (made entirely of cedar from mills also owned by Moffat), the School of Arts and the Queensland National Bank.
The Chillagoe area was first settled by John Atherton's son William who grazed cattle on Chillagoe Station. In 1887 two employees of John Moffat found copper and silver deposits on Chillagoe Station. Moffat began mining these deposits but faced significant problems because of its remoteness and lack of transport. To overcome this difficulty he built a private rail line from Mareeba to Chillagoe and Mungana. Construction commenced in 1897 and was completed in 1900. A line was also built from Chillagoe to Irvinebank. The Chillagoe smelter was opened in 1901 and at its peak over 1000 men were employed extracting gold, silver, copper and lead from ores which were brought from the surrounding area.
Fuel for the Chillagoe smelter was originally timber but the discovery of coal at Mt Mulligan in 1907 led to that site being developed. The Government began construction of a rail line from Dimbulah and it reached Mt Mulligan in 1914. The Mt Mulligan mine suffered Queensland's worst coal mining disaster on 21 September 1921 when a coal dust explosion killed 75 men in the mine - virtually the entire adult male population of the town. Moffat retired in 1912 and his interests across the area were bought out by the State Government. Many of those enterprises had failed by 1919 following the collapse of metal prices after WW I. The Chillagoe smelter finally closed in 1943. The Hodgkinson gold field discovered by Mulligan in 1875 was a reef field rather than alluvial. By 1878 the town of Thornborough had been gazetted, followed by Northcote and Kingsborough in 1880. The field became infamous in 1880 as a result of a bloody battle between European miners and Chinese sparked by a rash of claim jumping. On 9 January 1880 a clash between a digger and some claim jumpers quickly escalated into a pitched battle that left five diggers dead and 12 wounded and at least 57 Chinese dead. The Chinese fled the field. Judging by the inscriptions on grave stones at both Thornborough and Kingsborough living conditions on the field were very hard, especially for women and children. |
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Access to the Hodgkinson field was originally from Cooktown but this route was too long and difficult. A more direct route to the coast was sought and eventually a track was cut down the range to Trinity Inlet where Cairns stands today. Roads and railways followed and the Tableland was opened up to timber getters seeking valuable Red Cedar, Kauri Pine and Black Bean. Copper was discovered at Mt Molloy in 1883 by a teamster, Patrick Molloy, while looking for strayed cattle. The Mt Molloy Copper Mining Company was formed in 1899 and small scale mining was undertaken. The mine was sold to John Moffat's Irvinebank Company in 1901. Moffat built a smelter in Mt Molloy and it and the mine operated until 1909. The prospector and explorer James Mulligan retired to Mt Molloy in 1904 where he owned the National Hotel. He was killed in a brawl outside his pub in 1907. After the closure of the copper mine, Mt Molloy became a centre for the timber industry and a railway town. Most of the houses in the town were destroyed in the cyclone of 1920. Wolfram, the ore from which tungsten is produced, was also an important mineral in the development of the area. The mineral was discovered on Carbine Hill by Carroll Walsh in 1890. The hill was said to have been named for 'Carbine', the winner of that year's Melbourne Cup. Mining continued until 1919 when the price for the mineral slumped. Mining was resumed in the 1970s but by 1986 wolfram prices had again slumped and operations were again placed on a 'care and maintenance' basis.
Atherton was gazetted in 1886 as a focus for the timber industry. Chinese market gardeners flourished around the town and by 1919 there were over 1000 Chinese living in the Atherton Chinatown. Settlers from Italy, Germany, Greece, France and Albania attracted to the area as miners or timber getters settled the land and formed the foundation for the population and agricultural industries that flourish on the Tablelands today. Mareeba grew from a camp for teamsters on Granite creek in the early 1880s. John Atherton built a hotel there and it became a Cobb and Co stop in 1882. By 1893 it became centre on the Cairns to Biboohra railway line and was surveyed and re-named Mareeba in the same year. It grew as a service and transport centre, deriving its economy from the surrounding district. Stock sale markets, a cooperative dairy and bacon factory were opened in 1926. Tobacco growing around the town was started in 1929 and became a major industry for the town until the 1990s when the industry was deregulated. During WWII the Atherton Tableland became a major training area for Australian and US troops before being sent into action in New Guinea and other Pacific theatres. Over 100,000 troops passed through the area. The Mareeba airstrip became a major air base, built very rapidly in response to the battle of the Coral Sea in early 1942. The airstrip became a major US air base with more than five operational squadrons of Flying Fortress heavy bombers based there. During that time the airfield was renamed Hoevet Field and was protected by batteries of heavy anti-aircraft guns. The area was also an important area for the treatment and convalescence of wounded and disease-affected troops. Three major military hospitals were established around Atherton - the 2/2nd and 2/6th general hospitals, each with between 1200 and 1800 beds and the 2/1st convalescent depot of 1200 beds - as well as a wide range of supporting units such as engineering and logistics.
Today: The total population of the degree square at the 2006 national Census was 27,195. The population has been fairly constant across the last 10 years with small losses probably due to fluctuations in the mining industry.
About 60% of the population live in the various towns and villages across the square. The main urban populations in 2006 were: Mareeba, 6144; Atherton, 5799; the coastal strip immediately south of Port Douglas, 2746; Herberton, 974; Dimbulah, 381; Chillagoe, 226; and Mt Molloy, 143. The other 40% are rural dwellers, the greatest concentration being in the Mareeba-Dimbulah irrigation area. Apart from a small coastal area in the north-east corner, the whole area of the degree square falls within the Tablelands regional Council area. The small area in the north-east is within the Cairns regional Council. Headquarters for the Tablelands Regional Council is in Mareeba. Agriculture and tourism are the key industries in the area today. The major agricultural area is the Mareeba-Dimbulah irrigation area. This area is fed from the Tinaroo Falls Dam which lies just to the east of the square boundary. Construction of the Tinaroo Falls Dam in the 1950s opened up around 40,500 ha of undeveloped land for intensive agriculture. Tobacco was widely grown until the crop was deregulated in 1995. By 2002 that crop had disappeared from the region but tobacco drying barns are still a common feature in the landscape. Tobacco was replaced by a very wide range of crops including Navy beans, sugar, coffee, macadamias, avocados and numerous varieties of exotic tropical fruits. Peanut growing is also significant around the Tolga area near Atherton. Sugar from the area is milled at the Tableland Mill located near Mareeba and the raw sugar shipped by road to the bulk terminal in Cairns. Transport of cane from the farm to the mill is by road. This is the only non-coastal sugar growing district in Australia and the Tableland Mill, operated by Bundaberg Sugar and built in 1998, was the first new sugar mill built in Queensland in over 70 years.
Mareeba-Dimbulah irrigation Area (Geoscience Australia Natmap Landsat image) |
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Cattle grazing remains a major industry across the area. Tourism, research and education are important service industries. The diversity of habitats and landscapes attract many tourists every year. Eco-tourism in particular has become very significant with places such as Julatten, Lake Mitchell and Hasties Swamp (near Atherton) are popular bird watching spots. Places such as the Rocky Creek memorial park near Tolga has become a focus for ex-servicemen and women who served in the area during WW II. Promotion of heritage trails such as the Wheelbarrow Way encourages visits the old mining centres including Herberton, Irvinebank, Chillagoe and Mt Carbine. Also widely promoted are the caves of the Chillagoe-Mungana National Park. There are also several major agricultural research stations operated by CSIRO and State Government agencies to support the Tableland's important agricultural industries. There are several boarding schools in both Mareeba and Atherton which cater for children from the Gulf, far west and from places as far afield as Cape York and PNG. Mineral exploration continues across the area with Chillagoe again becoming a focus for exploration for copper and gold as well as the mining of high quality marble.
Site Summary:
Compilers: Ken Granger References: various web sites including EPA, local governments and Bureau of Meteorology. Mothers Helping Others Inc., 2006: Cyclone Larry tales of survival from the children of North Queensland. EPA, 2001: Heritage trails of the tropical north, Environmental Protection Agency, Brisbane. Colin Hooper, 2006: Angor to Zillmanton - stories of North Queensland's deserted towns, Bolton Print, Townsville. |
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Last updated 27
February 2009. For more information email admin@rgsq.org.au |
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