Port Douglas History - Time To Reflect
There is always time for a little reflection be it from the sun
or sea or our interesting history..... Strolling around Port
Douglas today it is hard to imagine that it was once a wild
frontier town filled with itinerant seamen and gold prospectors.
The sleepy little village which still remembers its roaring days
is now filled with cosmopolitan cafes, boutiques and well-heeled
shoppers who insist on paying a visit to as many of Port's
famous restaurants and fashionable stores as possible. There is
a definite unreality and aloofness about Port Douglas these
days, but is that not the ideal escape for the tourists'
otherwise dreary life in the big smoke.
Situated only 60 odd kms north of Cairns, Port Douglas was
first established in 1877 when Christie Palmerston cut a road
through the rainforest and down the mountain range.Born as
Cristofero Palmerston Carandini in Victoria, Palmerston was one
of those iconic characters who occupy the fascinating early
history of the then undiscovered Far North Queensland,
Australia. Allegedly Palmerston headed for Far North Queensland
in 1873 to join the Palmer River gold rush. However his fame
came to him with the Hodgkinson River goldrush, when the track
he cut from those goldfields to Port Douglas was his first.
Palmerston's track was known affectionately as 'The Bump'.
In the early days the settlement at Port Douglas was known as
Island Point, Terrigal, Port Owen and Salisbury.
With the latter title derived from Lord Salisbury, the British
Prime Minister at the time, this name went by the way after a
visit by government officials who changed the town's name in
honour of the then Queensland Premier - John Douglas.
An amazing collection of historic photographs can be viewed at
both The Newport on Macrossan and with cocktail in hand at the
restored Court House Hotel on the corner of Macrossan Street and
Wharf Street. See a taste of the history of Port Douglas.
Dive north this October for a little reflection in Port Douglas
before the big wetseason which is due to arrive anytime between
December through to March. Within weeks of its establishment the
town was booming. There were an estimated 50 tent pubs, a
bakery, a general store and rough accommodation. People poured
in on their way to the diggings. By mid-1878 there were 21
permanent hotels and a local newspaper, the town had been
surveyed, lots of land were for sale, and the mail was being
delivered from Port Douglas to Thornborough on the goldfields.
Early the following decade the town had a population of 8000 and
had overtaken Cairns as the most important port on the north
Queensland coast. Just like its rise Port's decline was rapid.
The gold started to run around 1886 and the miners moved on to
Papua and New Guinea. Port Douglas, however, remained the port
for the sugar mill at Mossman until 1958. Today the sugar cane
comprises a shrinking part of the district. The majority of the
land has been or is in the process of being subdivided to make
way for the demand in "lifestyle blocks" and residential
housing. Recently released to the market is the land at Cooya
Beach aptly named "Cane". With prices starting at $115,750 these
property allotments could be referred to as - never to be seen
again prices!!