Mount Surprise

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mount Surprise
State : AustraliaAustralia Australia
State : Flag of Queensland.svg Queensland
Founded : 1864
Coordinates : 18 ° 8 ′  S , 144 ° 18 ′  E Coordinates: 18 ° 8 ′  S , 144 ° 18 ′  E
Height : 462  m
Area : 3,613.1  km²
Residents : 169 (2016)
Population density : 0.05 inhabitants per km²
Time zone : AEST (UTC + 10)
Postal code : 4871
LGA : Etheridge Shire
Mount Surprise (Queensland)
Mount Surprise
Mount Surprise

Mount Surprise is a place in the north of the Australian state of Queensland . The place is on the Gulf Developmental Road , 1,722 kilometers northwest of Brisbane and 285 kilometers southwest of Cairns . In 2016, there were 169 people living in Mount Surprise. Today (2008) there are two cafés, a gas station, a campsite, a police station and a train station in the village.

history

Mount Surprise was founded by Ezra Firth, who immigrated from England, who settled in the area with his family in 1864 and ran a sheep farm. The Aborigines, who considered the land to be their property, repeatedly attacked the people who worked there and the buildings of the farm, and ultimately even burned the main building down. Since the landscape was unsuitable for sheep farming anyway, the farm was on the verge of financial collapse. However, when gold was found in the area in 1880 , Firth was able to sell his sheep for a profit to the gold diggers and save the farm by converting it to cattle breeding. In the years that followed, the farm also benefited from trading with the gold diggers.

Copper was found in the area around the same time that Mount Surprise was founded. It was also mined for a short time, but the expensive transportation of the ore in ox carts made the mine unprofitable. Copper mining was not resumed until the copper demand increased in the nineties of the 19th century.

traffic

Mount Surprise has been connected to the railroad since 1908. The Savannahlander runs to Einasleigh and Forsayth on Thursdays and to Cairns on Saturdays (journey time approx. 10.5 hours).

Mount Surprise is a stop on the bus route between Cairns and Karumba .

At Mount Surprise there is an airfield with a 1,150 meter long runway.

tourism

Not far from Mount Surprise are Forty Mile Scrub National Park , Undara National Park and the hot springs at Tallaroo Station . From the gold rush a cemetery testifies in place on a number of nameless graves located.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mount Surprise Township . In: Climate Averages for Australian Sites . Bureau of Meteorology . Retrieved June 9, 2010.
  2. ↑ a b Australian Bureau of Statistics : Mount Surprise ( English ) In: 2016 Census QuickStats . June 27, 2017. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  3. ↑ http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-factsheet/mount-surprise--culture-and-history-20081125-6h3b.html  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.smh.com.au  
  4. ↑ Quartz Hill Coach Change Station Site and Cemetery ( English ) In: Queensland Heritage Register . Department of Environment and Heritage Protection. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
  5. ↑ http://www.savannahlander.com.au/
  6. ↑ http://www.transnorthbus.com/cairnskarumba.html
  7. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated August 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gulf-savannah.com.au