Historical Snippets
by Dr Timothy Bottoms
Tablelands historical snippets adapted from the book
Cairns - City of the South Pacific - A History 1770-1995.
This book is available from www.cairnshistory.com.au
See below to win a copy!
Coaching Days
Prior to the establishment of the inland railway line the main
form of transport was ‘shanks pony’ (meaning to use one’s
own legs), horse, buggy or buckboard, stagecoach, or bullock
teams or pack horse and mule. Many a flooded river caused
days or even weeks’ delay and on occasion had to be swum
to gain supplies or aid in an emergency, and a day’s journey
was measured by distances of ten miles (16kms) in the case
of loaded teams, or maybe up to 50 miles (80kms) by stage
coach or saddle horse.
The completion of the Second Section of the railway to
Myola in 1891 saw the Cobb & Co. coach service begin
from Kuranda to Granite Creek (Mareeba from 1893), which
connected to already established coaching routes started
in 1882. From Granite Creek the routes headed south to
Herberton, Georgetown and beyond, while another headed
west to Thornborough and another to the north-east over
‘the Bump’ to Port Douglas. The coaches were suspended on
leather straps called thorough-braces and carried between
8 and 16 passengers.
Biboohra or Bibara?
Sutherland and McKenzie won the railway contract for the
Third Section of the railway, from Myola to Granite Creek, and
began preparation for construction in April 1891. The terrain
was far less daunting than for the Second Section, although
lives were still lost during its construction. By January 1893
the rail lines had been laid to Biboohra. Pronounced ‘bye-
boo-ra’, although interestingly if pronounced ‘bib-ara’ the
location name matches the Djabugay word ‘bibara’ meaning
‘sacred clap sticks’. Railway officials may have interpreted the
pronunciation from a written record when naming sidings
and stations after Aboriginal names.
The bridge across the middle Barron was completed by May
of that year, and perhaps due to the depressed state of the
economy, the railway was not to reach Atherton until 1903
and Herberton in 1910.
Earthquakes on the Tablelands
On Sunday evening 27 February 1896 at 9pm, residents
in Cairns, Kuranda, Mareeba, Herberton and Port Douglas
experienced an earthquake shock that rattled plates and
shook houses. The following Tuesday 3 March, cracks were
detected in the masonry of No.15 Railway Tunnel on the
southern Barron Gorge, and gradually repaired without
causing delays on the line. The next earth tremor appears to
have been felt by residents of the Atherton Tableland, some
54 years later on Monday evening 19 July 1950.
2 What’s On & Where To Go February 2018
Kuranda Range Road
In 1940 construction of the Kuranda Range Road began
with machine power being used for the first time. Explosives
had to be transported up from the Stratford magazine near
Cairns. Jackhammers were rather basic and steel bits had to
be reforged frequently, resulting in three blacksmiths’ shops
operating eight hours a day sharpening steel ends. Some 100
men were employed, mostly elderly, as the younger males
were off in the Middle East sector of the war in Europe. It was
a tough and demanding effort yet the project was delivered
at half the original estimated cost of £100,000 for a single
lane road and dual lane highway, without a soul lost in its
construction.
The Cairns Kuranda Range Road was opened for traffic in mid
1941, six months before the Japanese attacked Malaya and
Pearl Harbor. The Kuranda to Mareeba road was improved
and bitumen sealed when the military began using it and it
became one of the most crucial links in joint Australian and
American defence of the Far North during World War II.
Tableland Rail Closures
After World War II, one of the Tablelands largest employers
of labour workers was the railway. However, as branch lines
became uneconomic to run, the Railway Department began
closing them. In 1957 the coalmine at Mt Mulligan was
closed, and the next year the line was also closed. In 1963
the Mt Garnet line closed, followed by the Mt Molloy-Rumula
and Millaa Millaa branches in 1964. The rail motors, started in
1927, continued to run and offer residents a semi-suburban
service along the North Coast Line until 1969. By December
1988 the rail motors had disappeared altogether however at
their peak ran 33 journeys per week.
WIN
Answer these three
questions correctly
and send your answers
via email to info@
whatsontablelands.
com.au to go in the
draw to win this great
local historical book
(609 pages).
1. When did Granite Creek become Mareeba?
2. Who founded Emerald End, the first cattle station in
the region in 1877?
3. When was Tinaroo Dam completed?