The major service centre in the Atherton tablelands, Atherton is ideally situated for visitors to use it as a base to explore the southern section of the Highlands.
Location: 94 km south-west of Cairns; 753 m above sea-level
Located in the midst of the tropical lushness of the Atherton Tablelands is the last timber and iron Chinese temple in Australia, the Hou Wang Temple. Donated to National Trust of Australia (Queensland) [NTAQ] in 1979, the temple has undergone meticulous conservation of its unique, historical integrity. Locals and tourists alike can explore and appreciate the significance of its Chinese cultural heritage. Far more than just a temple, Hou Wang Miao features a full display of cultural artefacts to engage and educate the whole family on what was once a site of social and religious significance for the region's Chinese community. Established in 1903 by the large population of Chinese residents living and working at Cedar Camp, the Hou Wang Temple was constructed with the typical Queensland materials of timber and corrugated iron.
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Experienced tea producers have transformed former farmland into over 700 acres of sweeping vistas of manicured tea that is harvested and cured on the Cairns Highlands. Here visitors can enjoy the hospitality at the Nerada Plantation teahouse and tour the tea factory complex.
Lake Barrine
here are three volcanic crater lakes near Atherton, each surrounded by lush tropical rainforest. These crater lakes have very deep, crystal-clear water. They are surrounded by dense tropical forest and have been developed for water sports. Giant red cedars have been preserved near Lake Eacham. The giant Cathedral Fig Tree and the Curtain Fig Tree are close by. Towards Ravenshoe you will come across the most dramatic of the tableland's crater lakes, Mt Hypipamee Lake, which fills the cone of the crater.
Lake Eacham: Lake Eacham is filled with clean, crystal clear water, with a pontoon and children's pool. There is a large picnic area with electric BBQ sites. There is an excellent 4 km rainforest walking track and a 700 metre self guide rainforest walking track.
Lake Euramoo: Lake Euramoo is surrounded by a lush tropical rainforest and is a double explosion volcanic crater. This extinct volcanic crater lake which is said to be not much older than 10 thousand years,. is also filled with clean, crystal clear water, excellent for swimming. There is no access to the water's edge but it does have a viewing platform.
Lake Barrine: Lake Barrine is excellent for kayaking and swimming, it has a large picnic area. Wildlife cruises run four times a day taking you around the lake. You can enjoy a 6 km rainforest walk around the lake's edge. From here you can take a short walk to see Twin Kauri Pines over 1000 year old.
The road to Mareeba passes a number of coffee plantations; Jacques Coffee Plantation has an ultra-light for joy flights. Mareeba is the main town in the northern Tableland. It is an informative Heritage Museum and Tourist Information Centre. At Mareeba, take the road south to Atherton. There are plenty of things to see and do on this leg of the journey - two more coffee plantations (Tichum Creek Coffee Plantation and The Coffee Works); Golden Drop tropical fruit winery at Mareeba; Go Kart Racetrack; Mareeba Tropical Savannah & Wetland Reserve;Flying Warbirds joy flights; Granite Gorge Nature Park where you can hand feed rock wallabies; Mt. Uncle Distillery. Beck's Aviation and Military Museum is the biggest privately owned collection of war machines, planes and equipment in Queensland.
Coffee Works
The main highway leads south to the former mining towns of Herberton (Carrington Falls; mining museum) and Ravenshoe (tourist steam railway), Millstream Falls; Little Millstream Falls; Hasties swamp National Park, Wongabel State Forest Walking Track (26 km), Mt. Hypipamee National Park (Mt. Hypipamee crater and crater lakes; Dinner Falls). Beyond Ravenshoe on the Kennedy Highway is Innot Hot Springs and the old copper mining town of Mount Garnet (42km from Ravenshoe).
Heritage features: Old Post Office Gallery; Chinese Temple (Joss House) to the Emperor Ho Wong (c.1900)
The town was first settled by Europeans in the early 1880s as a camp for cedar-cutters, and named Prior's Pocket after a family of timber getters who settled near the present site of the town. In 1885 it was surveyed and renamed Atherton. It became a stopover point on the roads from the coast to the Herberton tin fields. A substantial Chinese population cultivated vegetables in the rich soils of the area for the miners. Their land was taken over by soldier settlers after World War I.
Origin of name: recalls John Atherton who, at the age of 20, overlanded sheep with his brother James to Rockhampton from the New England district of New South Wales. Although principally a grazier he showed huge initiative in 1873 when he drove some cattle from his property near Mackay to the booming goldfields on the Palmer River. Atherton finally settled at Emerald End on the Upper Burdekin River and remained there for 37 years. Atherton did much to open up the Atherton tablelands for settlement.
