Innisfail, Queensland


Innisfail is a town and locality in the Cassowary Coast Region in Far North Queensland, Australia. The town was originally called Geraldton until 1910.
It is the major township of the Cassowary Coast Region and is well renowned for its sugar and banana industries, as well as for being one of Australia's wettest towns. In March 2006, Innisfail gained worldwide attention when severe Tropical Cyclone Larry passed over causing extensive damage. In the 2016 census, the town of Innisfail had a population of 7,236 people.

History

Prior to European settlement the Innisfail area was occupied by five separate societies of the Mamu people. These Aboriginal people followed migratory lifestyles in the rainforest and traversed rivers in string-bark canoes.
The first arrival of European people came in January 1872 when survivors of the shipwreck, the "Maria" arrived on the coastal areas surrounding what is now the Johnstone River. Sub-Inspector Robert Arthur Johnstone of the Native Police came with the intention of rescuing remaining survivors and collectively punishing Aboriginals thought to have killed a number of the shipwrecked crew. In mid 1873, Johnstone returned to the area as part of another punitive mission and ventured further upriver between what is today Flying Fish Point and Coquette Point. Johnstone wrote very highly of the area, stating:
In October 1873, Johnstone again returned as part of the Northeast Coast Expedition led by the explorer George Elphinstone Dalrymple. British settlement was first established at the junction of the north and south branches of the Johnstone River by this expedition on 5 October 1873. It was named Nind's Camp after Philip Henry Nind who accompanied the party.
Later in 1879, Irishman Thomas Henry Fitzgerald arrived in the area to establish a sugar industry. He was accompanied by large numbers of Kanaka South Sea Islanders workers accompanied by smaller numbers of Irish labourers. The house built by Fitzgerald and thus the first establishment in the area was called Innisfallen, after the largest island in the Lakes of Killarney, Ireland. Inis Fáil is an ancient Irish name for Ireland itself. The name is used in the rarely-sung third verse of "The Soldier's Song", the Irish national anthem. The stone mentioned may be the stone at Tara, Co Meath, at which high kings of Ireland were crowned.
From 1879, the settlement was named Geraldton by Fitzgerald, but on 20 August 1910 it was renamed "Innisfail" to avoid confusion with the town of the same name in Western Australia.
Johnstone River Post Office opened on 1 November 1882, was renamed Geraldton two months later and Innisfail in 1910.
In May 1885, the Queensland Government called for tenders to build the Geraldton Hospital to replace the existing tent hospital; however, the tenders submitted were more expensive than the government was willing to pay, so they called again for tenders in September 1885 resulting in a contract with E. Couchman for £1527.
In 1906, Patrick Leahy established the Johnstone River Advocate newspaper, with the first issue published in December that year. Later it was renamed the Johnstone River Advocate and Innisfail News, the Evening Advocate, and the Innisfail Chronicle. The newspaper continues to be published as the Innisfail Advocate.
The 1920s and 1930s saw the beginning of a major period of settlement by Italian immigrants and noteworthy populations from Greece and Malta. Later in this period populations from Yugoslavia, India and the Philippines would also settle in the area.
A huge cyclone swept through Innisfail on 10 March 1918, causing immense damage and killing many people.
Innisfail State School opened on 18 July 1887 and Innisfail East State School opened on 3 February 1936. Innisfail State High School was open from 24 January 1955 until 2009 when it was amalgamated with the Innisfail Inclusive Education Centre – A State Special School and Tropical North Queensland TAFE to form Innisfail State College
The Innisfail War Memorial in Jack Fossey Park on Fitzgerald Esplanade was dedicated on 16 April 2005; it commemorates those who served in all wars.
Today the town still boasts many good examples of the Art Deco and Streamline Moderne styles of architecture.

Heritage listings

Innisfail has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
According to the 2016 census of Population, there were 7,236 people in Innisfail.
Popular annual events to celebrate Innisfail's diversity include:
In 2001 Los Angeles band Sugar Ray filmed part of their music DVD "Music in High Places" at the Johnstone Crocodile Farm in Innisfail.
The township has only 2 secondary schools: Good Counsel College and Innisfail State College and a single business district.
There are many events that act predominantly as community events, the main ones include:
While Innisfail was always reputed to have a positive sense of community spirit, the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Larry and the unified cleanup effort acted to promote this spirit through shared suffering.

Amenities

The Cassowary Coast Regional Council operates a public library at 49 Rankin Street. The current library opened in 2015.
The Innisfail branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association meets at the CWA Hall at 1 McGowan Drive.

Religion

built the Innisfail Temple/Lit Sing Gung in Owen Street, which is now open to other races and religions.
Sikhs has built the Sikh Temple / Guru Nanak Sikh Education Centre in East Innisfail

Geography

Innisfail's town centre is situated at the junction of the North and South Johnstone Rivers, approximately from the coast. It is located near large tracts of old-growth tropical rainforest surrounded by vast areas of extensive farmlands. Queensland's highest mountain, Mount Bartle Frere; part of Australia's Great Dividing Range, is to the north.

Climate

Although the rest of Queensland is dominated by savannas, Innisfail experiences a tropical rainforest climate as it has no month with a mean temperature below or with less than of rainfall. However, as a trade-wind climate which besides knows frequent cyclones it is not equatorial. Consistently, humid, very warm to hot weather dominates in Innisfail. In particular Innisfail is reputed as being among the wettest towns in Australia. Babinda, north of Innisfail is generally considered to be the wettest.
Unlike most of tropical Australia, the southern winter or "dry" season is not completely dry as moist easterly winds bring frequent showers; rainfall is, however, still far lower than during the southern summer. Monthly totals of over are a routine occurrence in the region between January and April and some months will not experience a day without rain if the monsoon is unusually heavy. The town gets around 71.8 clear days per year.

Cyclones

Innisfail is consistently under threat from tropical cyclones developing in the Coral Sea in and around summer months. Furthermore, high rainfall associated with aforementioned cyclones and monsoons, combined with Innisfail settlement on adjoining rivers causes flooding to be commonplace, occurring to varied degrees of severity annually.
storm path; the storm eye passed directly over Innisfail
foliage was stripped by cyclone Larry's force
Innisfail suffered extensive damage in 2006 due to tropical Cyclone Larry, an Australian Category 5 cyclone with over 100mm of rain in the span of three hours. It struck Innisfail at 7am on 20 March 2006, with the eye of the storm passing over the town.
Severe structural damage occurred over the entirety of the township, the main damage being a portion of houses losing roofs and windows and the cyclone rendered even more homes structurally unsound. Power was effectively eliminated from the town and generators became a luxury in many homes. Clean drinking water was also compromised in many homes leading to health fears. The swift response of the Australian Defence Force was praised by many and the cleanup campaign they orchestrated allowed for total utilities restoration within 3 weeks. Severe damage was done to crops and plantations which had a serious economic impact on the region. Only one indirect death was record as a result of the cyclone.
Cyclone Larry was a direct and primary cause of the widely reported and dramatic surge in banana prices in Australia. Inflated cost remained until farmers were able to meet demand again in early 2007. In February 2011 Cyclone Yasi hit Innisfail.
In 2011, in the early morning of 3 February, Cyclone Yasi crossed the far north Queensland coast causing damage to the Innisfail area. Although the damage was not as severe as Cyclone Larry, Cyclone Yasi still had a huge impact on Innisfail bringing strong winds of possibly 285 kilometres per hour.

Council controversy

On 8 February 2007 the Johnstone Shire Council was sacked by the Queensland State Government by Queensland's Local Government Minister, Andrew Fraser because of internal conflict, inappropriate behaviour and financial problems, despite an issued show cause presented on 2 August 2006.
Among the perceived gross misconduct were the following incidences:

"Send up a truckload of piss so we can all get fucking drunk" – George Pervan – 2006

While 2 councillors had attempted to get the Queensland Government to revoke the decision Andrew Fraser has stated that while the action is regrettable it was indeed the correct decision.

Innisfail today

At present Innisfail has largely recovered from the devastation of Cyclone Larry. After the cyclone the township underwent something of an economic boom that stemmed from an influx of tradespeople and business eager to capitalize upon relatively significant insurance payouts. According to reports local trade had increased some 30 – 40% opposed to expected increases of 10%.
The main industries remain predominately banana and sugar cane and have since recovered from the natural disaster. Outlying areas of Innisfail have also resumed manufacture of tea, pawpaws and other exotic fruits.
Innisfail remains a popular destination for backpackers seeking employment in the fruit picking industry. Tourism is of importance to the township and the town consistently seeks to attract visitors passing through on the Bruce Highway.

Notable residents