Thornborough
Thornborough, named after Queensland's premier, postmaster-general and secretary of public works and mines, George Henry Thorn, rose to prominence in the 1870s as the most significant centre on the Hodgkinson goldfield after James Venture Mulligan discovered the field in March 1876.
When Frederic Horatio Warner surveyed the town site in May 1878 the settlement had numerous hotels, eight or nine stores, branches of the Queensland National Bank and Bank of New South Wales, a cordial factory, two butchers, as well as a photographer, watchmaker, jeweller, tentmaker, saddler, bootmakers, chemists, blacksmiths, a stationer and bookseller, solicitor, builder, brickmakers, assayers, auctioneers), and J. S. Brice's Yankee Shaving Saloon.
However, the population rose and fell as miners left to try their luck elsewhere — in the rush to Coen (1878) and the Herberton tin fields (1880) were two prime examples. By 1883, 'numerous' hotels had dropped to five.
In 1891, the Hodgkinson Miner, which had operated as the local newspaper since 1877, moved to Port Douglas, where it became the Port Douglas Gazette.
As the slow decline continued, the hotel count was down to three in 1902, two in 1920 and a single licenced premises four years later.
Links to add:
Coen
Frederic Horatio Warner
Herberton
Hodgkinson Miner
Port Douglas Gazette
