Innisfail, QLD: The Art Deco Capital of Australia

Innisfail is located in central Queensland, at the junction of the North and South Johnstone Rivers (Crocodiles swim & live in all areas in the Johnstone River), about 5km from the coast. And about 1600km north of Brisbane and about 70km south of Cairns.

Innisfail is sometimes called “the Art Deco capital of Australia”.

Inis Fáil is an old Celtic name for Ireland, meaning "Island of Destiny".

The Mamu (Dyirbal) Aboriginal People

The Mamu people belong to the Dyirbal "Tribes" of Far North Queensland.

Most Aboriginal groups would engage in frequent gatherings for ceremonial purposes. And would mostly move with the seasons and live in camps near food and water sources.

According to Earth Science Australia: "Shield markings represented the portion of tribal country that the clan belonged to. Symbolically the shield is a bora ground. A groups’ camp position at warrama (intertribal corroboree) was relevant to the direction of their home country and the shield markings denoted where a person came from, like a flag."

The shields were cut and shaped from the buttress roots of native fig trees, and the soft wood would allow them to be easily carved into an asymmetric shape.

Shields and clubs were used for warfare and ceremonial purposes. Read more here. Sorcery was also used as a weapon.

Four rainforest men demonstrating the art of combat, Far North Queensland, circa. late 1800s-early 1900s. Two men wield fig shields and sword clubs, while 2 other men are equipped with spears. Photographer unknown.

Rainforest Aboriginal people, Far North Queensland, c1890. From their first encounters with Aboriginal people of the North Queensland rainforests, European observers remarked on their distinctive material culture, including long hardwood swords, painted softwood shields and woven-cane bicornual baskets. The Mamu people had different shields

The first man in Mamu creation stories was Ngagangunu, who set up camp after coming from the east, beyond the sea to the Herbert River.

Troubled by a boil on his leg, he squeezed it, and a child sprang out, which, as the first human, also took the name of his father, Ngagangunu signifying '"high-born". Lacking milk, he fed the child with the blood of the hearts of kangaroos and wallabies. Two sisters came upon the campsite while he was out hunting, and suckled the child, qujickly hiding up a tree when they heard the elder Ngagangunu returning. He got the child to suck the blood of a wallaby's heart, but having just been fed breast milk, he vomited the white milk, as Ngagangunu immediately observed. Aroused, he crept about the surrounding bushland wielding a large erection, searching for the female culprits. His mighty penis made the younger sister break out in uncontrolled laughter, revealing their hiding place. He pulled them down from the tree and tried to copulate with both, unsuccessfully. For her found himself poking, nothing.[5]

North Queensland rainforest peoples have a rich and unique material culture that includes T-shaped stones called Ooyurkas (designed as a scraper), Morah stones, woven baskets (dilly bags), wooden swords and decorated shields manufactured from rainforest tree buttresses.

The junction of the two river branches of the Johnson River is a sacred area to the Mamu people.

Men from the rainforest area of Far North Queensland with shields, sword club and boomerangs, early 1900s. The Mamu people had different shields

Aboriginal "Dilly Bag" used by women to collect food.— at Millaa Millaa Museum

1840s

John MacGillivray, a Scottish naturalist, sailed on HMS Fly and HMS Rattlesnake from 1842-1850. He spent time surveying between the Queensland coast and the Great Barrier Reef. MacGillivray wrote, Narrative of the Voyage of HMS Rattlesnake, published in England in 1852. Read here

HMS Fly was an 18-gun sloop of the Royal Navy. She was responsible for the exploration and charting of much of Australia's north-east coast and nearby islands. She was converted to a coal hulk in 1855 and broken up in 1903.

Valley of Lagoons pastoral Station was established in 1861. The settlers' homesteads were isolated, and they had very different world views from the Aboriginal people. Clashes and conflict broke out. European Farming and land ownership being incompatible with the Aboriginal hunter/gatherer concept of belonging and land use.

Deprived of their traditional food sources, Aboriginal people began killing the settlers’ stock.

Survivors of the shipwreck, the brig Maria, arrived at the Johnstone River in 1872. Followed by Sub-Inspector Robert Johnstone's search party.

The ship had struck Bramble Reef, east of Cardwell. However, it was found that up to ten crew members of the Maria, including the captain, had been killed by Aboriginals of the region, this led to terrible reprisals. The Aboriginal Native Police troopers inflicted "unrestrained ferocity" on Aboriginal people. Other Aboriginal people had helped the survivors.

Native Police, Rockhampton, QLD, 1864

In 1873 the Queensland Government commissioned George Dalrymple to explore the area.

In October 1873, George Elphinstone Dalrymple accompanied by Sub-Inspector Robert Johnstone and Philip Henry Nind arrived at the Glady's River. The group spent ten days exploring the area that would become Innisfail.

Philip Henry Nind camped at The Junction for two weeks.

British settlement was then established at the junction of the north and south branches of the Johnstone River after this expedition in 1873. Known as The Junction (of the rivers) or Nind's Camp.

1860s

Cardwell, the first permanent settlement on the Far North Queensland was founded in 1864.

The Telegraph line from Townsville to Cardwell was completed in 1869.

1870s

In 1872, John Moresby, a naval captain, hydrographer and explorer, charted Mourilyan Harbour on a coastal patrol in HMS Basilisk.

During the 1870s, the opening of the Palmer goldfields

The first sugar plantation began near Innisfail in 1879.

1880s

Cedar-getter, Jacob Nicholaus August Leopold Stamp and Heinrich Gottfried Scheu, named their settlement in the Innisfail area, Stockton, in 1880.

In 1880, a sugarcane plantation known as Innisfail Estate was established by Thomas Henry Fitzgerald (with backing from the Catholic Church).

The settlement that grew around the plantation later became the town of Innisfail. Began with 20 "Kanaka" labourers. (Kanakas were workers from various Pacific Islands. It is a Hawaiian word meaning "man")

Chinese arrived, engaged to clear scrub, including Ah Chong and others.

The Irish Catholic culture dominated in the early years.

Colonial Sugar Refining Company sugar mill established in 1881. At the Innisfail Mill, crushing started on the 9th November and finished on the 9th January 1882.

When the census was taken in April 1881 the population was 165.

In June 1881, seventy-four additional "kanakas" arrived for Fitzgerald and Co.

Johnstone Divisional Board proclaimed on 28 October 1881.

In 1881, a town was laid out at the junction of the South Johnstone and North Johnstone Rivers.

The town's first official courthouse was described by Dorothy Jones as a "long low iron structure", built in 1881, probably on the police reserve.

The first hotel built by James McDonald was the Royal Exchange.

The Surveyor-General called the town Geraldton in 1882, in honour of Thomas Henry Fitzgerald.

Thomas Henry Fitzgerald

Johnstone River Post Office opened on 1 November 1882.

Christie Palmerston and his Aboriginal guide, Pompo, blazed a track from Innisfail to Millaa Millaa in 1882.

Couchman House is the oldest house in Innisfail, built in 1883. Mr. E. J. Couchman also built the
Mourilyan Mill.

The first track for horses and stock was opened by Henry Gottlieb Scheu from Cardwell to Innisfail in 1883. (Mrs Scheu was an accomplished pianist)

An 11 km 2 ft (610 mm) gauge tramway was built from Mourilyan Harbour to the South Johnstone River about 5 km south of Geraldton (Innisfail) in 1883.

Shallow draft steamships and lighters [often called sugar lighters] were used to carry sugar bags down the Johnstone River to larger ships waiting off the coast, because of a sand bar at the river mouth and shallow parts of the river. These small ships became known as "The Mosquito Fleet".

A pilot station was built at Flying Fish Point in 1884 so that a pilot would be available to assist in crossing the bar.

Innisfail Sugar Mill, QLD, 1885, SLQLD

Geraldton on the Johnstone River, ca. 1885, SLQLD

Ah Chong, See Poy, and Tam Sie became involved in the banana industry. They assisted the fast growth of the Chinese Community. Tam Sie changed his name to Tom See Poy. He bought farms and created a large family business. His department store, See Poy and Sons, would later become the largest department store in North Queensland.

See Poy business, Edith Street, Innisfail, QLD. No date

Gold was found in November 1884 in a creek on the North Johnstone River.

The telegraph office opened 1885.

Severe floods in 1886.

Anzac Memorial Park was gazetted as the school reserve on 4 January 1887. Geraldton Provisional School opened on 18 July 1887.

In 1889 the newspaper, the Geraldton Independent", began. The name changed to "The Free Press", three years later.

1890s

In 1890 Innisfail was the nearest sugar district to Cairns.

Innisfail's first Catholic Church was built in 1891.

Population in 1891 is 353.

The Queensland Government banned further recruitment of Kanakas (Between 1863 and 1904, an estimated 55,000 to 62,500 Islanders were brought to Australia to labour on sugar-cane and cotton farms in Queensland and northern New South Wales. There were no labour laws or regulations, at this time, and much exploitation).

The Adelaide Steamship Company which began working in North Queensland on 1 June 1893, had a wharf on the town reach of the Johnstone River.

A ferry began service transporting sugar across the North Johnstone River for crushing.

Meagher and McGregor's Carpentry, Geraldton (Innisfail), QLD,North Queensland Register (Townsville, Qld. : 1892 - 1905), Wednesday 11 August 1897

By 1898 there were 40 miles ( 64 kms) of tramways in the district servicing the Mourilyan and Goondi mills.

Gold discovered at Jordan Creek in 1898.

One of sugar lighters that carried mail was the Qld Steam Shipping Company vessel, the Polly. Durring a flood on 17 November 1899, she ran aground, with her bow well up on the river bank, upstream from the Geraldton wharves. As the floodwater dropped in the North Johnstone River, she broke her back.

1900s

Population in 1900 is 1000.

Johnstone River Ferry at Geraldton (innisfail), QLD, 1900

Large group of Aboriginal adults and children with two police officers back row left and back row middle. Seated outside a bank building at Innisfail probably during a blanket giveaway. Indigenous male seated middle second row wears a King Plate. Queensland Police Museum

Queensland Country Life (Qld. : 1900 - 1954), Sunday 1 September 1901

The White Australia Policy of 1901 saw the ending of Kanaka indentured labour at Innisfail.

S.S. PALMER LEAVING JOHNSTON RIVER (Geraldton/Innisfail) FOR TOWNSVILLE, QLD, Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), Saturday 8 June 1901

Chinese banana plantation, Geraldton (later Innisfail), QLD, 1902, Queensland State Archives

Banana Punts on the Johnstone River, c 1902, QLD, Queensland State Archives

South Sea Islander labourers gathered around a drum outside a hut in Innisfail, ca.1902, SLQLD

North Queensland Register (Townsville, Qld. : 1892 - 1905), Monday 10 November 1902

Sacred Heart Catholic School opened on 2 November 1902.

Johnstone Division became the Shire of Johnstone on 31 March 1903.

Saltwater crocodile caught in the town reach of the Johnstone River Innisfail, QLD, ca1902, State Library of Queensland

In 1906, Patrick Leahy established the newspaper, Johnstone River Advocate .

SOUVENIRS OF THE 1906 CYCLONE AT INNISFAIL (THEN GERALDTON) Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld.)

The ruined Innisfail post Office, SOUVENIRS OF THE 1906 CYCLONE AT INNISFAIL (THEN GERALDTON) Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld.)

THE 1906 CYCLONE AT INNISFAIL (THEN GERALDTON, QLD, The river front, Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld.)

Baptism of Kanakas in Geraldton, Qld - December 2, 1908. Geraldton changed it's name to Innisfail in 1910. Kaye

Canecutters, Johnstone River, QLD, Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), Saturday 23 May 1908

Aboriginal camp, Johnstone River, QLD, Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), Saturday 23 May 1908

Lane in Chinatown, Geraldton (Innisfail), QLD, Week (Brisbane, Qld. : 1876 - 1934), Friday 14 January 1910

In 1910, a Russian ship arrived at Innisfail (then called Geraldton) instead of the town of the same name in Western Australia, to collect a load of Jarrah wood. A public meeting was then held in 1910, and the name of the town was officially changed to Innisfail.

"Geraldton" was changed to "Innisfail" May 18 1910.

Population in 1911 is 1230.

The new Post Office opened at Innisfail in 1911.

Post Office at Innisfail, Queensland - 1911, Kaye

Flood in Ernest Street, Innisfail, Qld - 1911, Kaye

SAMPANS BRINGING BANANAS TO SOUTHERN BOUND STEAMERS, INNISFAIL, QUEENSLAND. Kalgoorlie Western Argus (WA : 1896 - 1916), Tuesday 23 April 1912

The first agricultural show was held on Friday 11 and Saturday 12 October 1912.

Innisfail was devastated by a record flood in 1913.

THE "INNISFAIL" AMATEUR DRAMATIC COMPANY, WHO RECENTLY PRESENTED THE ROMANTIC IRISH DRAMA. "TEAC-FAIL.'" OR "TET. HOUSE OF DESTINY," AT HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE. Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Friday 17 April 1914

"Mia-mia" (Aboriginal home) in the scrub, on the Johnstone River, North Queensland. Week (Brisbane, Qld. : 1876 - 1934), Friday 3 December 1915

WWI

Red Cross Committee InnisfailBranch. QLD. Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld. : 1913 - 1939), Friday 20 July 1917

Pte. J. M. Condon, Innisfail, Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld. : 1913 - 1939), Thursday 7 March 1918

Funeral of Dr. Moloney, Innisfail, QLD, Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld. : 1913 - 1939), Thursday 28 March 1918

Post Office, Innisfail, QLD, Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld. : 1913 - 1939), Thursday 28 March 1918

A cyclone in 1918 devastated the town. After the cyclone only two concrete buildings remained: Nolan's convience store and A.J Mellicks, which had both sheltered many people during the storm. Also, some of the highest recorded floods.

The Catholic church and associated buildings were all destroyed in the cyclone.

INNISFAIL CYCLONE. 1, Rankin-street from thc hill-top. 2. Methodist Church and surroundings. Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld. : 1913 - 1939), Thursday 18 April 1918

Imperial Hotel, Innisfail, QLD, 2. Back of Shire Hall, Innisfail, QLD. Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld. : 1913 - 1939), Thursday 18 April 1918,

Police Barracks, Innisfail, Qld. 2. Near the White Horse Hotel, QLD. Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld. : 1913 - 1939), Thursday 18 April 1918

Edith Street, Innisfail, QLD, Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld. : 1913 - 1939), Thursday 18 April 1918

After many of Innisfail's buildings were damaged from the cyclone, much rebuilding was needed. Art Deco architecture was in vogue at the time, so many of the buildings were built in this style.

CAPT. J. McNAMEE, Innisfail, QLD, Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld. : 1913 - 1939), Thursday 24 October 1918

Jack's Day Appeal occurred during the first and second world war to raise awareness and funds for naval personnel.

Jack's Day Appeal at Innisfail, QLD, Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld. : 1913 - 1939), Thursday 24 April 1919

After World War One, soldier settler sugar cane blocks were developed in the district

1920s

From the 1920s, many Italian immigrants arrived in the Innisfail district. Also, migrants from Greece and Malta, Yugoslavia, Spain and elsewhere. Many became part of the sugar industry.

Locomotives supplied by John Fowler & Co to the Queensland Railways for use on the Innisfail Tramway.

Population in 1921 is 1744.

The Commonwealth Bank was built in the 1920s.

In 1922, land for returned soldiers for growing sugar cane was available.

In 1922, the first aeroplane landed at Innisfail.

Mr. Reid and his aeroplane at Innisfail, North Queensland, Newcastle Sun (NSW : 1918 - 1954), Saturday 11 March 1922

WEEKLY SOUTHERN MAIL FROM INNISFAIL, NORTH QUEENSLAND. Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Friday 2 November 1923,

INNISFAIL-CAIRNS TRAIN SERVICE, QLD, Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Friday 2 November 1923,

ITM3580116 TRAINS STATIONS B13 F CLASS LOCO No 183 DUBS and CO PASSENGER TRAIN AT INNISFAIL STATION, QLD, Dept No.QSA0658 X2653 T5, no date. Queensland State Archives

The bandstand was built in 1923.

The Jubilee Bridge was built across the river at Innisfail in 1923, replacing a ferry service.

In 1923 Italians owned 41% of sugar farms in the Johnstone Shire.

The explorer and prospector John Dickie died at Innisfail in 1924.

Airdome picture theatre was built 1925, and demolished in 1995.

SCENE OF BOMB OUTRAGE: A Sicilian was killed and another foreigner injured in a terrific explosion caused by a bomb at Mourilyan, near Innisfail, Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), Friday 13 March 1925. Read about this case in book, Gangland Queenslan. By James Morton, Susanna Lobez

Boy sitting on the bonnet of a car bogged in mud from the 1925 flood at Innisfail, Queensland, State Library of Queensland

Cane Farmers, Innisfail, QLD, 1926, Queensland State Archives

INNISFAIL, Thursday. - The fourth annual field day was held to-day at South Johnstone sugar experiment station. Mr. H. T. Easterby, Director of Sugar Experiment Stations, delivered an address, chiefly dealing with the application of fertilisers to cane culture and illustrating his remarks by showing the results of various experiments carried out at the station. Mr. Edmond Jarvis, Government Entomologist, attached to the Meringa entomological station, also delivered an address. Field Day, Innisfail, 1926. Queensland State Archives

Aboriginal boy at pineapple plantation at Mourilyan, 8km south of Innisfail, QLD, Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 - 1930), Wednesday 27 July 1927

INDUSTRIAL WAR ON NORTH QUEENSLAND SUGAR FIELDS: STRIKERS V. FREE LABOUR, INNISFail, QLD, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 4 August 1927

House of Italian Consul in foreground. Innisfail, QLD, Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 - 1929), Thursday 17 February 1927

St Alban's Anglican Church, Rankin Street, Innisfail, was built in 1928.

Greek Kytherians Jack P. Vamvakaris, along with his cousin's the three Kipriotis brothers, owned the Blue Bird Cafe in Innisfail from 1928-1970s. See here

INNISFAIL BUSINESS DIRECTORY, 1928

Cairns Post (Qld. : 1909 - 1954), Monday 18 November 1929

Innisfail, QLD, QATB. 1929, Queensland State Archives

Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), Sunday 3 February 1929

Main street, Innisfail, QLD. Rough gravel road with woman crossing street near buildings (approx. 1920s-1940s), Queensland State Archives

THE MAIN BUSINESS CENTRE OF INNISFAIL BEFORE THE FIRE OF FEBRUARY 10. This photograph shows the chemist. Jewellery, and drapery shops and the Airdome picture theatre, all of which were destroyed by fire on February 10. Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), Thursday 21 February 1929

1930s

Innisfail Shire Hall, Innisfail, QLD, 1930, Queensland State Archives

The Innisfail Memorial School of Arts was established in 1930.

The palm trees along Ernest Street were planted by Sir Donald Bradman and the Australian Cricket Team in 1931.

In December 1932 the Johnstone Shire Hall was destroyed by fire.

In 1932, Charles Kingsford-Smith took off from Innisfail for "joy flights".

Smithy's Famous 'Plane— The Southern Cross, Newcastle Sun (NSW : 1918 - 1954)

Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 - 1954), Sunday 29 May 1932

The Greek Orthodox Church at Innisfail was built in 1935, the second Greek Orthodox Church in Queensland.

Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), Wednesday 11 September 1935

Innisfail Joss House, QLD, Sunday Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1926 - 1954), Sunday 29 September 1935

Innisfail East State School opened on 3 February 1936.

Rankin Street is named after E.B. Rankin, the first government surveyor of the area, Innisfail, QLD,1936, Queensland State Archives

CSR Co Mill, Goondi, QLD, late 1930s

1940s and WWII

Johnstone River Advocate and Innisfail News (Qld. : 1928 - 1941), Tuesday 20 February 1940

The Second Innisfail Court House opened in 1940, built under a government scheme to help the unemployed during the Great Depression.

NEW INNISFAIL COURT HOUSE. Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954), Thursday 7 March 1940

The army used the showground during 1942.

Kathleen Palmada, who was formerly a waitress of Innisfail, and Stella Elson, formerly a Brisbane shop assistant, are engaged in precision work repairing planes, Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Saturday 3 April 1943

INNISFAIL SOLDIER RETURNS After three and a half years as a prisoner of war in Japanese hands,
and the completion of over five years service with the A.I.F., QX 15079, Private John Denis Crowley, of the 2/2 A.C.C.S., has returned to Australia, and is now being treated in Greenslopes Hospital, Brisbane, for illness which he contracted while in Japanese prison camps. Private Crowley was born in Innisfail, and resided in that district until his enlistment in July, 1940. He saw service in the Middle East, and after the entry of Japan into the war, he was brought back to Australia and sent to Java, where he was taken prisoner in March, 1942, the time of the surrender to the Japanese. After confinement In many Japanese prison camps, be suffered the agonies of working on the Thailand-Burma rail-
way, where so many of his mates perished. After the peace, he was brought from Thailand to Changi
prison camp, Singapore, and repatriated to Australia by the S.S. Moreton Bay. Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954), Friday 14 December 1945,

Mrs. C. H Saphir was commandant of the Innisfail detachment during the war. (1.)

In May 1944, mustard gas trials were carried out by 1st Australian Chemical Warfare Research & Experimental Section, Innisfail.

Cairns Post (Qld. : 1909 - 1954), Wednesday 28 June 1944

Edith Street, Innisfail, QLD, September 1946, Queensland State Archives

Aerial view of Innisfail, QLD, c 1946, Queensland State Archives

Evening Advocate (Innisfail, Qld. : 1941 - 1954), Friday 11 July 1947

Cairns Post (Qld. : 1909 - 1954), Wednesday 27 November 1946

Rankin Street, Innisfail, Qld - 1940s, Kaye

1950s

Edith Street, Innisfail, Qld - circa 1950, Kaye

Population in 1954 is 6649.

An earth tremor shook the northern Queensland towns of Innisfail, Mourilyan and South Johnstone, in May 1954. Innisfail experienced magnitude four quakes in 1989, 1990 and 1974.

Evening Advocate (Innisfail, Qld. : 1941 - 1954), Friday 3 December 1954

Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954), Friday 9 April 1954,

Innisfail State High School opened on 24 January 1955.

Innisfail Telephone Exchange, QLD, 1957

Parade for the unveiling of the sugar pioneers memorial, Innisfail, QLD, 4 October 1959, Queensland State Archives

The Canecutter's Memorial was erected in 1959 by the Italian community of the Innisfail district to commemorate the centenary of the state of Queensland.

Premier Nicklin at the unveiling of the sugar pioneers memorial, Innisfail, QLD, 4 October 1959, Queensland State Archives

1960s

Rankin Street, Innisfail, Qld - circa 1960, Kaye

View of the Post Office, Council Chambers and Catholic Church, Innisfail, c 1960. Looking north along Rankin St from Edith St. Queensland State Archives

St Andrew's Presbyterian Memorial Church was built in 1961.

New fire engine, Innisfail, QLD, October 1963, Queensland State Archives

Up to 500mm of rain fell in the Cairns and Innisfail areas on 15th and 16th March 1964.

The Geraldton Bridge across the Johnstone River replaced the old ferry crossing in 1965.

Population in 1966 is 7432.

Mechanisation of cane harvesting in the 1960s and 1970s.

1970s

Bruce Highway, Ingham - Innisfail, QLD, (1976), Queensland State Archives

Australian sugar industry achieved 100 percent conversion to mechanical cane harvesting in 1979.

View from the water tower in Innisfail, Qld - circa 1970s, Kaye

1980s

Severe Tropical Cyclone Winifred hit in late January 1986.

1990s

All Men Are Liars, a 1995 Australian comedy film, used the town of South Johnstone as the backdrop.

February 1999, extreme flooding.

2000s

Elizabeth Haran's 2003 novel Sunset over Eden is set in Innisfail.

Cyclone Larry in 2006. An Australian Category 5 cyclone with over 100mm of rain. Severe damage to the town and lack of clean drinking water. The cyclone also led to increased banana prices in Australia.

Since the 1870s, 22 cyclones have impacted the Innisfail region.

In the early morning of 3 February, 2011, Cyclone Yasi passed through Innisfail. Population is 7176.

A population of 7,236 people, in 2016.

Around Innisfail

The Johnstone Shire Hall was constructed in Innisfail, QLD, from 1935-8

Innisfail, QLD, third court house was designed in the inter-war classical style by the Department of Public Works and built in 1939 by day labour

Innisfail, QLD. This art deco building was constructed in August 1930 as the Innisfail Memorial School of Arts

Innisfail, QLD, Memorial School of Arts was established in 1930

Duffin House/Arcidiacono House - 41 Rankin Street, Innisfail, QLD

Couchman House was built in 1883 by Edwin James Couchman, Rankin St, Innisfail, QLD, A portico carport and circular drive have been added to the front of the property

The former St Andrew's Uniting Church, Innisfail, QLD, built in 1961

Gladys Couchman, buried Innisfail, QLD, born 31.10.1889, died 04.10.1891

Innisfail Cemetery, QLD

Chinese Temple, Innisfale, QLD, built 1940

Art Deco Bunnings building, Innisfail, QLD

Art Deco facades, Innisfail, QLD

Queens Hotel Innisfail, QLD, established in 1926 by Dutch architects, the Van Leeuwen Brothers

Free Masons Lodge, built 1940, Innisfail, QLD

White Horse Hotel, Innisfail, QLD, built 1920s

Innisfail Water Tower, QLD, built rom 1933 to 1934 by Van Leeuwen Brothers

Innisfail Fire Station, QLD, opened in 1937

Woolworths building Innisfail, QLD, Woolworths was built 1918) and was originally the Riverview Hotel

Three Kipriotis brothers owned the Blue Bird Cafe in Innisfail, QLD, from 1928- to the 1970

Crown Hotel, Innisfail, QLD

See Poy House is a heritage-listed house at 134 Edith Street, Innisfail, Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built between 1929 and 1932. See Poy House is the only residence in this former group of family residences that survives intact