ATHERTON, QUEENSLAND

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The major service centre in the Atherton tableland.
Location: 94 km south-west of Cairns; 753 m above sea-level
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 tableland for settlement.
Brief history: 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.
Built features: Nerada Tea Plantation
Natural features: Halloran's Hill Environmental Park; Mt. Mulligan; Hann Tableland National Parks; Crater Lakes
Heritage features: Old Post Office Gallery; Chinese Temple (Joss House) to the Emperor Ho Wong (c.1900)