1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Cairns

CAIRNS, a seaport of Nares county, Queensland, Australia, 890 m. direct N.N.W. of Brisbane. Pop. (1901) 3557. The town lies parallel with the sea, on the western shore of Trinity Bay, with an excellent harbour, and a long beach, finely timbered. Cairns is the natural outlet for the gold-fields, tin-mines and silver-fields of the district and for the rich copper district of Chillagoe. A government railway, 48 m. long, runs to Mareeba, whence a private company’s line continues to Mungana, 100 m. W. There is also a line belonging to a private company connecting Chillagoe with Mareeba. In the vicinity of Cairns are extensive sugar plantations, with sugar mills and refineries; the culture of coffee and tobacco has rapidly extended; bananas, pine-apples and other fruits are exported in considerable quantities and there is a large industry in cedar. The Barron Falls, among the finest in Australia, are near Kuranda, 19 m. from Cairns. Cairns became a municipality in 1885.