 
Search this
site
Click on any of the pix to enlarge
Then use the back button to return
We need your help! If you can supply any History, stories or pictures
click
here
J.Oxley library
Bank of NSW
Port Douglas 1890
Monument adorned with beer bottles, Port
Douglas, Queensland, April 1957
This is the celebration of the first mains electricity in Port!
Hurley, Frank, photographer
Elderly couple with man inspecting kerosene lamp, ribbons read 'Souvenir
Port Douglas Electricity 13th April 1957', Port Douglas, Queensland F
Hurley
Woman reading magazine by light of kerosene lamp,
Port Douglas, Queensland, April 1957
Part of: Hurley, Frank, 1885-1962. Hurley negative collection
Aboriginal man dancing surrounded by small crowd, Port Douglas,
Queensland, April 1957.
Man beside car holding kerosene lamp, Port Douglas, Queensland, April 1957
Ocean Beach at
Port Douglas, North Queensland, ca. 1908
The post office at Port Douglas, located behind a picket fence, around
1925
Small waves
rolling in to a deserted Main Beach at Port Douglas, Queensland, around
1935. Mountains can be seen in the background.
Sampson's Exchange Hotel at Port Douglas, ca. 1910 Image Number127167
prior to 1911. (Description supplied with photograph)
Railway Station at Port Douglas, Queensland, ca. 1910 Image Number127168
Port Douglas tramway station. Jack and Newell's store in the distance.
Arrivals and departures from and to Mossman by passenger train
(Description supplied with photograph)
Feeding goats at Port Douglas, taken around 1912
[John
Oxley Library
neg.128163]
Flagstaff Hill was originally known as 'Billy Goat
Hill' in the early days as goats were very prevalent in the district.
Glenville Pike refers to them in his history of Port
Douglas saying they "were a wonderful asset to wage earners, teamsters,
and settlers, supplying good healthy milk and meat, being clean animals
free from disease and unaffected by cattle tick. Of course as goats are
browsers, they are very destructive if allowed to roam. The fact that
goats have for long been removed from Port Douglas and fire controls
exercised is the reason why the hill, once almost bare, is now thickly
timbered and Port Douglas is a haven of wonderful shady trees, palms, and
exotically tropical blooms and foliage. In the early days a flag staff was
erected on the hill ... and when the Harbour Master sighted a ship
approaching, he raised a flag as a signal to citizens that a vessel was
due in port."
[Port of Promise, Glenville Pike, Mareeba, Pinevale
Publications, 1986]
Aerial view of Port Douglas,
Queensland 1971
Aerial of Port Douglas in 1992 showing Macrossan and Wharf Streets
Central Hotel, Macrossan St, Port Douglas in 1986
Cobb and Co. coach outside the Court House Hotel 1963?
The replica coach with 6 horses departed Port
Douglas
on June 22, re-enacting the service that had spread over three states.
The coach travelled up the Bump Track to Normanton and finally arrived in
Melbourne on
Sept 20, 1963.
Gazette photo
Hamilton’s Store and the Jade Inn Chinese restaurant, Macrossan St, Port
Douglas
Mocka’s Pie Shop, Macrossan St,
Port Douglas in 1980s? Mocka’s Pies became world famous because of a
secret recipe invented by Mocka’s mum, Belle Cheyne. Because of
building redevelopment, the shop was moved to Warner Street in 2001
Mycumbene, home of Jean and Bart Allen, in Wharf Street Port Douglas in
1968. The Court House Hotel is in the background
The Wharf at Port Douglas
John Oxley Library neg. 127772
Southern Cross, a Fokker F.VII, at Four Mile Beach,
Port Douglas,
17 July 1932
image 127076 |
Port Douglas Far North Queensland
|
Read about Port's People
here
Oral History on tape
here
![Palm trees along a road in Port Douglas, Queensland, ca. 1928 [picture] - Part of Yonge, C. M. (Charles Maurice), 1899- Album of views of Queensland, Great Barrier Reef, New South Wales and Canberra, 1928-1929 [picture]](images/nla_small1.jpg "Palm trees along a road in Port Douglas, Queensland, ca. 1928 [picture] - Part of Yonge, C. M. (Charles Maurice), 1899- Album of views of Queensland, Great Barrier Reef, New South Wales and Canberra, 1928-1929 [picture]")
nla.pic-vn3997786-s4
Yonge, C. M. (Charles Maurice),
Palm trees along a road in Port Douglas, Queensland, ca. 1928
We still have palm
trees!!
Port Douglas Lighthouse 1929
J.Oxley library
J2879:Photographic
collection of postal & telecommunication
services in Queensland,
single number series with 'QTH' [Queensland Telecom Historical] prefix
J.Oxley library
People standing at the side of a tram
at the tram station at Port Douglas, Queensland, around 1902.
J.Oxley library
Aboriginal man and child at memorial
for F D A Carstens Port Douglas Queensland April 1957
J.Oxley library
Tiger Moth VH-ARF
crashed on the beach
at Port Douglas, 1955
Woman eating spaghetti and man wearing ribbon 'Souvenir of
Port Douglas
Electricity 13th April 1957', Port
Douglas, Queensland
J.Oxley library
Aerial view of the early township of
Port Douglas, Queensland, ca. 1885
J.Oxley library
Panoramic view of Port Douglas,
North Queensland, ca. 1908
J.Oxley library
Panoramic view of Port Douglas
overlooking Ocean Beach, ca. 1908
J.Oxley library
Faith in Australia, Charles Ulm's Avro 618 Ten, which landed on
Port Douglas
beach, ca. 1933
Plane is at the end of the beach and there are several vehicles in the
foreground, one of them being a flat bed truck which appears to have
supplied the plane with drums of fuel.
J.Oxley library
Landing of aeroplane on Four Mile Beach, Port Douglas, ca. 1933 Image
Number 127077
Plane is an Avro 642 / 2m and it is at the end of the beach, very close to
an amenities block.
J.Oxley library
The Kuranda (ship) is docked at
the Port Douglas wharf and is viewed from the bow. The bridge, funnel,
masts and decking is well featured in this image. A military officer
accompanies a group of women along the railway tracks near the wharf
buildings. The image is part of a Kodak postcard. The reverse of the
postcard reads: Front Street, Mossman, North Queensland, 5th Sept. 1917.
Dear Ivy, I never got a letter from you yesterday but a postcard came from
Minnie to Anne. This is the Kuranda at the Port Douglas Wharf. Mabel
Lematy is still in the hospital. It has been very dry up here in these
last few weeks. The members of the Gayndah Band sent Gil a gold medal for
helping them while the show was on. Be sure to write every week or else
I'll start and write to Kate. Where is Tango now? From your loving sister,
K. D. Jones.
Port Douglas three masted ship photo of earlier painting
John Oxley bs002449
Two small planes at Port Douglas airfield,
Queensland, April 1957 F Hurley
St. Mary's Church at Port Douglas [Cairns Post 23/5/1987 p19
[John
Oxley Library neg. 186898]
According to the Roman Catholic Parish of Mossman and
Port Douglas there are only sketchy details regarding the early St Mary's
Church at Port Douglas.
It appears that the first church was probably
established in 1880 by the priest John Cani. The cyclone of 1911
demolished this first building which was later replaced by the pretty
wooden building now known as St Mary's By the Sea.
The church was moved to its present site by the Port
Douglas Restoration Society in 1989 and is now a non-denominational
church.
Port
Douglas, QLD. 1944-03-17. The point of embarkation of the 6th division for
their invasion exercise (Douglas exercise). A three ton truck, loaded with
drums of petrol, is backing up the ramp of a landing barge, no. Ab1161.
Port
Douglas, QLD. 1944-03-17. Camp of a unit of the 6th division in the low
scrub near the beach. Owing to the prevalence of malarial mosquitoes in
the area, every care had to be taken in regard to the erection of the
mosquito nets.
Speechgiving, Port Douglas, Queensland, 13
April 1957. Another Frank Hurley photo of the switching on of mains
electricity celebration. Anyone know who these people are?
Jetty at Port Douglas, 1955
Image Number lbp00138
Jetty Port Douglas, Queensland 1971
The old sugar wharf in 1983, used as Ben Cropp’s Museum. It had been
built in 1904 to handle the export of bagged sugar, which was brought from
the Mossman Central Hill by a two foot tramway. It was also used for
general cargo and passengers. Later it became Fisherman’s Wharf
restaurant before Ben Cropp used it for his collection.
Ben Cropp’s Shipwreck Museum was opened in 1980 on the Council’s old sugar
wharf in Port Douglas. The Museum operated for 20 years, displaying
items he had collected whilst making underwater film documentaries.
Princes Wharf with the ‘Miss Doreen’, the ‘Martin Cash’ and the first
’Quicksilver’. The wharf was built by Neil Prince and Jim and Jo
Wallace in 1979. Photo Quicksilver
The ‘Martin Cash’, a former ferry from the Derwent River, Hobart. It was
the first boat to make a daily cruise for tourists to Low Isles in 1979,
and was owned by Jim and Jo Wallace who went on to form Quicksilver
Connections. Photo Quicksilver
J.E. Muntz–Douglas Shire Council Collection
Southern portion of Port Douglas Police Reserve c.1905 showing [L to R]
in foreground; Police Barracks, Police Lockup, Court House - in background
Douglas Divisional Board Wharf.
Incidentally JE Muntz was the engineer in charge of Mossman/Port
Douglas tramway construction
for the Douglas Divisional Board during 1899/1900.
|
![Train in the railway station, Port Douglas, Queensland, ca. 1928 [picture] - Part of Yonge, C. M. (Charles Maurice), 1899- Album of views of Queensland, Great Barrier Reef, New South Wales and Canberra, 1928-1929 [picture]](images/nla_small2.jpg "Train in the railway station, Port Douglas, Queensland, ca. 1928 [picture] - Part of Yonge, C. M. (Charles Maurice), 1899- Album of views of Queensland, Great Barrier Reef, New South Wales and Canberra, 1928-1929 [picture]")
nla.pic-vn3997786-s8
Yonge, C. M. (Charles Maurice), 1899-
Train in the railway station, Port Douglas, Queensland, ca. 1928
J.Oxley library
Wolseley parked on the beach at Port Douglas 1955
Three people are pictured with their motor vehicle, a Wolseley 15/50,
parked on the beach at Port Douglas.
Brief
History Of Port Douglas, Far North Queensland
The
Douglas Shire runs along the eastern coast of Far North Queensland from
just north of Cairns, near Wangetti, to the Bloomfield River, south of
Cooktown. Port Douglas is now a resort village on the coast.
Mossman is inland and is the seat of the Douglas Shire Council.
Daintree is village north of Mossman, the former centre of the timber
industry. Cape Tribulation is the centre of the Wet Tropics Heritage
rainforest, north the Daintree River.
1770
Captain
James Cook passed the coastline. Soon after, the Endeavour struck
the Great Barrier Reef and was beached at Cooktown for lengthy repairs.
1848
Yule Point was named for Lieut C.B. Yule, commander of the Bramble
on her voyage north with HMS Rattlesnake
1873
James Venture
Mulligan discovered payable gold inland on the Palmer River
George Augustus Frederick Elphinstone Dalrymple named ‘Island Point’ while
searching for a suitable port for the Palmer River goldfield
1877
April.
Christie Palmerston, William C. Little and aboriginal guide Pompo
discovered a route from the Hodgkinson goldfield to Island Point, which
would now become the port.
June 30. The S.S. Corea, from Cooktown anchored off Island
Point. The next day the Inlet was surveyed, and the harbour was
named Port Owen. It was also variously known as Terrigal, Owenville
and White Island Point and Salisbury before it was finally named Port
Douglas.
Cooktown
businessmen established branch offices in Port Douglas and a jetty and
stores were erected.
Sept.
The 'Bump Road' (Palmerston’s track) was opened
Oct. Surveyor Frederick Horatio Warner laid out the town of Port
Douglas
Nov.
Official notification from the Queensland Government that the area was to
be named Port Douglas after the current Premier of Queensland John
Douglas. The main street became Macrossan Street in honour of the local
parliamentary member.
Dec 12.
The first mail was dispatched to Thormborough
1878
More businesses moved from the Cairns area to Port Douglas
Feb.
Police Magistrate Edmund Morey was transferred from Cairns to Port Douglas
to commence conducting a Court of Petty Sessions.
Four Mile
Camp, later named Craiglie was set up as a Packers and Teamsters village.
The Port
Douglas cemetery was established.
The Port
Douglas Hospital was built where the Tropic Breeze caravan park now
stands.
April.
The first land sale. 171 town lots at the going rate of 25 pounds per acre
were offered for sale at the police office (i.e. a tent). Lot 28, on
the corner of Macrossan and Wharf Streets, valued at six pounds, fourteen
shillings and fourpence halfpenny, was bought, and a single storey hotel,
the Buchanan Family Hotel, was built by W.H.Buchanan. Renamed as the
Court House Hotel
The North Australian Hotel, later known as the Central Hotel, was built as
a single storey structure by Denis O’Brien
July. The number of licensed hotels in the district was 21.
Nov. The light was exhibited for the first time on the new
lighthouse
erected on Low Isles. (The original 1878 lens for the light is on
display in the Court House Museum at Port Douglas)
1879
The town
had hotels, banks, a community hospital, two newspapers and government
services. Race meetings were held on Four Mile Beach
Nov.
The Port Douglas Court House was substantially finished
Buchanan’s Family Hotel changed its name to Buchanan’s Court House Hotel.
Nov 11. Pupil number 1 was enrolled at the Port Douglas State
School No. 334 on Murphy Street.
1880
Port
Douglas enjoyed a boom period, soon eclipsing Cairns as the port for both
the Hodgkinson and the Herberton mining fields.
St Mary’s Catholic church was erected on the hill.
Jack and Newell, merchants, built a wharf near the Inlet’s entrance
1882
July.
Messrs. Murphy and MacDonald established a coach service from Port
Douglas, and in September Cobb and Co. took it over.
1885
Cairns was
chosen as the terminus for the railway and this killed any further
development of Port Douglas. This was the birth of the Kuranda
railway line.
1886
The
Queensland Census lists the Chinese population of Port Douglas town as 142
and Port Douglas hinterland as 487. Chinese were almost two-thirds of the
district's entire population.
1887
Jan.
The committal hearing of Ellen Thomson and John Harrison at the Port
Douglas Court House. Ellen was convicted, perhaps wrongly, of
killing her husband William and was sent for execution to Brisbane.
She is the only woman officially hanged in Queensland, on 13th June 1887.
John Harrison was also hanged that day.
(More
information at the Port Douglas Court House Museum)
1893
The railway between Cairns and Mareeba was opened. Passengers still used
the Bump Track to get to the railway to Cairns.
1896
Mr J.S.D. Crees, at
Ferndale was growing lemons, oranges, mandarins and mangoes after the
tick pest wiped out his cattle herd.
The
Douglas Divisional Board Tramway Wharf was constructed. A portion of
it survives today as the Port Douglas and District Combined Clubs
Oct 9. The first Gazette newspaper was published.
1900
An
extension to the rail line was built from the Mossman Sugar Mill to the
Tramway wharf for transporting freight, sugar and passengers.
Of maybe 23 pubs in Port Douglas’s heyday, only four were still trading:
the Exchange (owned by F.D.A. Carstens), the North Australian (to become
the Central in 1919), the Caledonian and the Court House Hotel.
1901
Census:
population of Port Douglas 331, with 6,000 in the district.
1904
A larger timber wharf and storage shed were erected, later known as
Fisherman’s Wharf and Ben Cropp’s Shipwreck Museum.
1911
March 16.
Severe cyclone. Two were killed. Within 24 hours, 16 inches of
rain fell.
Most
buildings were damaged.
Many were never rebuilt because of the town’s uncertain future.
1914
Pugh’s
Almanac lists the population of Port Douglas at 250
1920
The
business centre began to move to Mossman near the sugar mill
1924
The
Caledonian Hotel burnt down
1930
Aug 23. A new hospital was opened in Mossman. The Port
Douglas Hospital was demolished in portions about 1935
1932
July 17.
Sir Charles Kingsford Smith landed on Four Mile Beach
1933
Dec 17. The official opening of the Cook Highway along the coast
between Cairns and Mossman, bypassing Port Douglas.
The
Shire offices were transferred to Mossman, which became the centre of the
Douglas Shire.
1934
Aug 1. A toll was introduced on the Cook Highway at Buchan
Point and Pebbly Beach. It remained in force until 1947.
1935
Dec 24.
Passenger rail service between Port Douglas and Mossman discontinued.
Passengers then caught the sugar trams.
1945
The biggest employer, the wharf, was down to 15 ‘sugar
lumpers’.
Betty Cumming bought the Court House Hotel.
1957
April 13.
Electricity was switched on
1958
The lighter Konanda shipped the final load of bagged sugar.
Thereafter the cargo was sent by road to the Cairns Bulk Sugar Terminal.
Albert Whiting became the licensee of the Court House Hotel and married
Betty Cumming in 1959. They ran the hotel together for the next 20
years.
1960
The population of Port Douglas was about 100
1962
June.
The Port Douglas School closed
1963
June 22.
A Cobb and Co coach re-enacted its trip to Melbourne
1968
The
Government sold the court house and the police cells to Betty and Albert
Whiting and they were removed to beside the Court House Hotel.
1979
The first
daily cruise to Low Isles began with the Martin Cash
1980
The
Shipwreck Museum was opened by Ben Cropp on the council wharf
1982
Aug 29.
Quicksilver began the first daily cruise to the Outer Barrier Reef.
1984
Cairns
International Airport was opened
Quicksilver’s
first mooring platform was anchored at Agincourt Reef
1987
Oct.
The
Sheraton Mirage resort, developed by Christopher Skase, officially opened
1989
St Mary’s
was moved to the park and named St Mary’s by the Sea.
Aug.
A 3 month long domestic pilots’ dispute halted the growth of tourism
1991
The population of Port Douglas was 2,500 and the Shire was 9,867.
The Mossman Court House and cells were sold and moved to
Port Douglas to become the Clink Theatre
1992
Nov.
The Clink Theatre opened
1993
The Port
Douglas Court House was returned to the police reserve and restored for
use as a museum. It is the second oldest building in Port Douglas
after the school house, both being completed in November 1879
2000
The old Shire Hall was removed from Macrossan Street by a private
purchaser and relocated in Craiglie. The Outrigger Heritage was
built on the site.
Brian Ray’s group
renovated and
remodelled
the Court House Hotel
2001
Ex-President Clinton was in the bar of the Central Hotel at the time of
the 11th Sept destruction of the New York World Trade Centre
towers.
Census figures give the population of Port Douglas as 6,137
St. Andrews Church of England, Wharf Street, Port Douglas. It was
demolished in the 1980s to make way for Club Tropical Resort. A new
Anglican Church was built in Reef Park.
Compiled by Pam Willis Burden and Noel
Weare March 2006
A more detailed
time line history has been published as a Bulletin and is available for $2
plus postage from the Douglas Shire Historical Society.
Email
 2
February, 1913
The photograph shows the S.S 'Innamincka' as it appears
from the Port Douglas Beach. It was taken from a point of about two
miles distant from the ship. The small photograph shows the beach in the
foreground. (Description supplied with photograph) 30072
 The
'Innamincka' on Alexandra Reefs near Port Douglas. (Description supplied
with photograph)Image number:30073 |
