Kuranda
Located in Djabugay country twenty kilometres northwest of Cairns on the eastern edge of the Atherton Tableland, where the Barron River begins its steep descent to the coast, Kuranda is the easternmost settlement in the Mareeba Shire.
The township's name is thought to be derived from the Yindinji, kuran, referring to the acorn-leafed flax or stream lily Helmholtzia acorifolia that grows in swamps, along creeks and in other permanently moist upland and mountain rainforest locations.
The first European selectors took up sites in the area in 1885 after the Queensland government approved the route for a railway from Cairns to the hinterland via the Barron Gorge. Thomas Behan surveyed the township in 1888.
Construction of the railway from Cairns to the Tablelands had begun the year before, and the line reached Kuranda in 1891. The current Kuranda station dates back to 1915.
Clearing the scrub disrupted the Djabugay people's food-gathering activities. After the mid-1890s Speewah massacre by troopers from the Native Mounted Police, which followed the spearing of one of John Atherton's bullocks, the Seventh Day Adventist church established the Mona Mona mission just north of Kuranda.
While farmers planted coffee and maintained small dairy herds, timber was the town's main product until the town's status as a 'hill station' resort for the population of Cairns laid the foundations for Kuranda to develop into one of Australia's most prosperous tourist destinations.
Constructing the Barron Falls hydroelectricity station, which opened in 1935, brought a brief population influx. A second powerhouse followed in 1963.
Meanwhile, the rainforest around the Barron Valley remained largely intact. Natural history and scenic attractions included The 'Maze' (1923, renamed 'Paradise') and the 'Fairyland' tea garden (1930s), reached by the scenic railway line, which passed through fifteen tunnels with several bridges across spectacular gorges.
The Range Road (Kennedy Highway) further improved access when it opened in 1938.
By the 1970s, tourism was the backbone of the local economy as Kuranda promoted itself as the 'village in the rainforest'.
Despite concerns about the possible impact on the rainforest environment, the 7.5-kilometre Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, running between Smithfield and Kuranda above the Barron Gorge National Park, was the world's longest gondola cableway when it opened in 1995. The Cableway added another dimension to the tourist equation, and the combined railway and cableway round trip from Cairns to Kuranda has become a popular day trip.
Links to add:
Barron Falls Hydroelectricity Station
Barron Gorge National Park
Barron River
Barron Valley
John Atherton
Mona Mona mission
Queensland Native Mounted Police
Skyrail Rainforest Cableway
Speewah
Thomas Behan
