RAVENSHOE, QUEENSLAND

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A timber town on the Atherton tableland.
Location: 147 km south-west of Cairns; 904 m above sea-level (the highest town in Queensland).
Origin of name: reportedly named by the town's surveyor after finding a portion of the Charles Kingsley novel 'Ravenshoe' in the fork of a tree at the locality. How it got there was never determined. It was originally known locally as Cedar Creek.
Brief history: in 1881 William Mazlin discovered substantial stands of cedar in the area and named the local river Cedar Creek. The first sawmill was built in 1899 but the town wasn't settled until 1910 mainly because of the difficulties in getting the timber out of the area. For 70 years Ravenshoe relied on timber for its economic survival and its sawmills produced high quality rainforest timbers for markets in Australia and overseas.
In 1987 Ravenshoe was the site of a number of major battles between environmentalists and timber workers when 160 000 hectares of land previously been set aside for timber production was nominated as part of 900,000 hectares of World Heritage. Locals argued that if they were not allowed to log the rainforest the town would die. The environmentalists won and the town survived.
Natural features: Millstream and Little Millstream Falls (2 km south); Tully Falls (24 km south); Millstream National Park; Pepina and Mungalli Falls; Souita Falls; Koolmoon Creek; Walters Waterhole; Rhyolite Pinnacle; Djilgarrin Track; Cannabullen Creek; Cardwell Range; Bally Knob; Wabunga Wayemba (Charmillan Creek); Innot Hot Springs; Downey Creek Area
Built features: Nganyaji Interpretive Centre; Koombooloomba Dam; Windy Hill Wind Farm
Heritage features: Railco steam railway