Innisfail (Queensland)
Innisfail is a town of about 8,300 inhabitants in the Australian state of Queensland. Innisfail is located 89 km south of Cairns and 256 kilometers north of Townsville on the Bruce Highway. The city is the seat of the administrative area ( LGA) Cassowary Coast region and gained notoriety as one of the rainiest cities in Australia. With the sugar cane and banana plantations, agriculture is the dominant industry. Worldwide attention was given to the region in March 2006 as the Tropical Cyclone Larry devastated the land.
History
Prior to European settlement the area was around Innisfail, inhabited by the Mamu, a tribe of Aborigines. Before in 1872 off the coast sank the ship Mary and the survivors managed to escape to the beach near the mouth of the Johnstone River. The current conducted by Robert Johnstone search party came to save with the intention of the castaways and punish the Aborigines who had mistreated. The search party later went upriver to the places that are now known as the Flying Fish and Coquette Points. Johnstone praised the area in its reports on all dimensions:
" A most glorious view Appeared - a noble reach of fresh water, studded with blacks With Their canoes and catamarans, others on the sandy beaches; deep blue fresh water expanding to at imposing breadth. "
Johnstone named the area after himself and on his recommendation, traveled a year later, in September 1873, the discoverer George Dalrymple here to map the area in more detail.
Some years later, in 1879, then came to lay the foundation for the sugar industry to here the Irishman Thomas Henry FitzGerald. He was accompanied by many Kanaka, the original inhabitants of New Caledonia and a small group of Irish workers. The first house - and the first settlement in this area - he called Innisfallen; a poetic name for Ireland and the name of the largest island in the lakes of Killarney.
The entire settlement was soon Geraldton, derived from FitzGerald called, but received in 1912, its original name Innisfail back to avoid any confusion with the homonymous town in Western Australia.
Location
The center of Innisfail is located at the confluence of the North and South Johnstone Rivers, about 5 kilometers away from the coast. Nearby are large areas of old tropical rain forests, which are surrounded by areas of intensive agricultural use. Queensland's highest mountain, Mount Bartle Frere, part of the Great Dividing Range is located about 15 km north of Innisfail.
Climate
Innisfail has in the effective Köppen climate classification after a tropical rain climate Af.
The city is constantly threatened during the summer months of tropical cyclones that form in the Coral Sea.
After the devastation caused by Cyclone Larry in 2006, crossed in the night of 2 to 3 February 2011, the storm center of the cyclone Yasi the city and caused some damage. The extent of the devastation, however, was lower than in the south gelegeneren places Tully and Cardwell.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Steve Corica (born 1973 ), football player