Hinchinbrook Shire
Located in Nyawigi and Warrgamay country north of Townsville, the Hinchinbrook Shire, administered from Ingham, covers an area of 2,807 square kilometres. The Shire was created in November 1879 as one of seventy-four divisions under the Divisional Boards Act 1879.
The shire's original footprint was significantly larger, extending well into the Atherton Tablelands and along the coast towards Cairns before parts of the division were excised with parts of the Cairns and Woothakata Divisions to form the Tinaroo Division (3 September 1881) and the Johnstone Division (28 October 1881). Another section became the Cardwell Division in January 1884.
Hinchinbrook Division became the Shire of Hinchinbrook on 31 March 1903 and has remained intact since. Although it was considered for amalgamation into the Cassowary Coast Council with Cardwell and Johnstone Shires, in 2007-8, the Local Government Commissioners accepted arguments against the merger.
The shire derives its name from Hinchinbrook Island, sighted by James Cook in 1770, and the associated Hinchinbrook Channel, discovered in 1843. The island, which remained nameless until 1863, took its name from Phillip Parker King's Mount Hinchinbrook, named in 1819. The first Lord of the Admiralty in Cook's time, the Earl of Sandwich, resided at Hinchinbrook in Huntingdon Shire, adding a historical touch to the shire's geography.
European settlers arrived in the region in the 1870s and established sugar plantations in the lower Herbert Valley. Several sugar mills began operations in the 1880s; Macknade and Victoria Estate survived since they were between Ingham and the coast, within reach of the wharf facilities at Halifax, which was initially the main settlement on the Lower Herbert. Ingham overtook Halifax in the 20th century thanks to a railway connection to Townsville that gave faster access to southern markets and prompted a rapid growth in population, which almost doubled between 1921 and 1933.
Much of the increase came from Italian immigrants, who were initially recruited to replace South Sea Islander indentured labourers in the early days of Federation despite trade union opposition.
Dismantling the plantation system enabled Italian families to acquire small farms as scrub lands upstream on the Herbert were gradually cleared for agriculture.
The Shire of Hinchinbrook includes the following localities:
Abergowrie
Bambaroo
Bemerside
Blackrock
Braemeadows
Cordelia
Forrest Beach
Gairloch
Garrawalt
Halifax
Hawkins Creek
Helens Hill
Hinchinbrook
Ingham
Lannercost Extension
Long Pocket
Lucinda
Macknade
Mount Fox
Stone River
Taylors Beach
Toobanna
Trebonne
Victoria Plantation
Yuruga
Image: Map of Hinchinbrook Division and adjacent local government areas, March 1902 Queensland, illustrating Local Authorities Districts, Queensland. Survey Office, 1902, available on Commons as File:Queensland-Divisions-1902.jpg: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Queensland-Divisions-1902.jpg
Queensland Survey Office, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hinchinbrook_Division,_March_1902.jpg
Sources:
Queensland Places: https://www.queenslandplaces.com.au/hinchinbrook-shire
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shire_of_Hinchinbrook
Links:
Nyawaygi
1879 Divisional Boards Act
Cairns Division
Woothakata Division
Tinaroo Division
Johnstone Division
Cardwell Division
Cassowary Coast Council
Hinchinbrook Island
Hinchinbrook Channel,
Mount Hinchinbrook
Earl of Sandwich
Macknade Mill
Victoria Estate
Ingham
Halifax
South Sea Islander indentured labourers
