A quiet, pleasant town on the Atherton Tableland.
Location: 122 km from Cairns; 75 km west of Innisfail; 915 metres above sea level.
Places of interest: Crater National Park; Mount Hypipamee National Park; Dinner Falls; Mt. Garnet; 40 Mile Scrub National Park; old Great Northern Mining Concentrator; Jack and Newell General Store (1882); Herberton Historical Village and Museum; Bishop Theeton's Cottage (1926); Great Northern Freehold Mine, including Eastern Shaft and New Main Shaft; Gunnawarra Homestead (1878).
The privately run Historic Village Herberton was developed around numerous old buildings and relics collected by Harry and Ellen Skennar. Set on 16 acres, the Historic Village is a re-creation of a tin mining town with shops, pub, bank, chemist, grocer, printer and garage. There are more than 50 restored period buildings making this outdoor museum the most significant in Queensland. An historic walk includes the heritage-listed Church of England and Presbyterian churches (1889, 1891 in Broadway and Lillian Streets, both single-skin timber buildings), the Jack and Newell store (c1880) in Grace Street and the school of arts (1881).
You can easily spend a full day here, taking your time taking in thousands of genuine antiques, Australian collectibles, vintage machinery and vehicles and more. Working exhibits are brought to life during school holidays and on some weekends. There is a restaurant onsite selling fresh home cooked meals as well as a traditional camp kitchen serving damper and billy tea.
The Herberton Mining Museum and Visitor Information Centre caters to the needs of the tourism industry. A Heritage Walk for tourists that takes in some of the old buildings and historical features of the town is a popular attraction. The Herberton Historical Village is another tourist attraction. It is a 16 acre, re-creation of the town during the tin mining era, with exhibits such as vintage machinery, cars and Australian antiques.
The Spy and Camera Museum houses Antique spy cameras, a Photographic Gallery and Photographic memorabilia with guided tours through the Museum and a working Photographer and Photographic Studio. A Railway Museum has been established by volunteers in the former Herberton Railway Station building. This is operated by volunteers and only open part-time.
Herberton was once the most important mining town on the Atherton tableland. On 19th April 1880, a party of prospectors led by Willie Jack and John Newell discovered tin in the area. The latter established a store here to service the mining community that sprang up. Guided by John Atherton, Newell and a companion, William Jack, found a tin lode at Herberton in 1880. The nearest watercourse, Wild River, is a tributary of the Herbert, and treating them as the one stream Newell named the place Herberton. The mine was known as the Great Northern tin lode. Newell and Jack's former employer, John Moffat, set about developing the tin mine which almost immediately yielded spectacular profits. The influx of population brought about a primary school and a school of arts (1881), Jack and Newell's store (1882) which became a chain throughout north Queensland, and a hospital (1884). Mining and smelting continued until 1978, during a time when the town's population varied between 900 and 1100.
