Place:Kuranda, Queensland, Australia

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NameKuranda
TypeTown
Located inQueensland, Australia
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Kuranda is a rural town and locality on the Atherton Tableland in the Shire of Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. In the , Kuranda had a population of 3,008 people.[1] It is from Cairns, via the Kuranda Range road. It is surrounded by tropical rainforest and adjacent to the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage listed Barron Gorge National Park.

The town of Myola is also located within the locality of Kuranda.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The rainforest around Kuranda has been home to the Djabugay people for over 10,000 years. Europeans began to explore the area throughout the nineteenth century. It is believed a massacre of Aboriginal people took place at the location in Kuranda known as Skeleton Creek.

The name Kuranda is derived from Yindinji word, kuran referring to the acorn leafed plant (Helmholtzia acorifolia).

Djabugay (also known as Djabuganjdji, Tjupakai) is a language of Far North Queensland, particularly the area around the Kuranda Range and Barron River Catchment. The Djabugay language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of Cairns Regional Council.

The name Myola comes from its railway station, which was named on 15 December 1891 by the Queensland Railways Department using an Aboriginal word indicating main camp or elders' camp.[2]

Kuranda was first settled in 1885 and surveyed by Thomas Behan in 1888. Construction of the railway from Cairns to Myola (later Cairns to Herberton) began in 1887 and the line reached Kuranda in 1891. The current railway station was completed in 1915.

Kuranda Post Office opened on 25 June 1891 (a Middle Crossing receiving office had been open from 1888).

Kuranda State School opened on 24 October 1892. It was renamed Kuranda District State School on 8 July 2002. It was at 14-22 Arara Street. In 2007, it was amalgated with Kuranda District State High School to create Kuranda District State College at the Myola site. Kuranda District State School's website was archived. The Arara Street site was purchased by the Mareeba Shire Council (now the Tablelands Regional Council) to redevelop as community facilities.

Between 1912 and 1913 Eric Mjöberg lead an expedition to Queensland in which the Kuranda Aboriginal people were observed.

Although coffee was grown around Kuranda in the early twentieth century, timber was the town's primary industry for a number of years. Kuranda has been known as a tourist destination since the early 1900s.[3] It was both the rainforest and local Aboriginal culture which attracted people to the area.

St Saviour's Anglican Church was built in 1915. Its colourful glass windows were added in 2002.

Clohesy River Provisional School opened on 21 August 1933 and closed in 1939.[4]

The Barron Gorge Hydroelectric Power Station was built nearby in the 1960s.

From the 1970s onwards, Kuranda promoted itself as the 'village in the rainforest'. The concept served two purposes. It attracted those seeking a bohemian enclave in which to reside as well as a being a tourist promotional strategy.[3] Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Kuranda was popular with alternative lifestylers,[3] a theme that still runs through the local community today.[5] Tourism became the backbone of the local economy.

Kuranda Library opened in 1996 and underwent a major refurbishment in 2015.

Kuranda State High School opened on 22 January 1998 at 260 Myola Road in Myola.[4] In 2007, Kuranda District State School and Kuranda State High School amalgamated to form Kuranda District State College, by expanding the Kuranda State High School site at Myola.[4] Kuranda State High School's website was archived.

Although historically and currently Kuranda is in the Shire of Mareeba, following a rationalisation of local government areas, between 2008 and 2013 all of the Shire of Mareeba was within the Tablelands Region. This unpopular decision was reversed with the reinstatement of the Shire of Mareeba in 2014.

In the , the locality of Kuranda had a population of 2,966.

In the , the locality of Kuranda had a population of 3,008 people.

In recent times, Kuranda remains a sleepy little tourist town, renowned for its arts and souvenir shops.

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