 Cairns was established in 1876 to serve the mining industry. The Hodgkinson goldfield, around 50km due west of the present location of Cairns, broke out in that year. It was too far from the nearest ports, Cardwell to the south and Cooktown to the north, so the miners and the Government began to look for a good harbour closer to the field. Trinity Inlet was chosen as the Hodgkinson Goldfield's first port because the inlet was already known to beche-de-mer fisherman, William Smith, a packer on the goldfield, who organised the first expedition in search of a dray road to the coast.
The rush to the Hodgkinson had commenced in mid March 1876 when Mulligan announced in Cooktown that he had discovered payable gold on the Hodgkinson River. The Cooktown announcement stimulated an impetuous rush to the field during the heavy wet season. The Palmer Goldfield was almost abandoned, only the Chinese staying. From the beginning Mulligan insisted it was only a reefing field. This meant the gold was trapped in quartz ‘reefs’ so the hard quartz rock would have to be crushed to recover it. The Palmer on the other hand had rich alluvial gold, which can easily be washed out of the sand and dirt along the creeks and gullies. On 18 March 1876 in the Cooktown Herald, Mulligan warned that the "alluvial is patchy, consequently, in the event of a rush, many must be disappointed. The reefs are innumerable and gold plainly visible in them." His caution went unheeded by both the miners and the Government administration. In mid April 1876, 800 miners were on the field unable to find gold, another 800 were stranded between Byerstown on the Palmer goldfield and the flooded Mitchell River, a thousand more were stuck between Cooktown and Byerstown, and all were threatened by starvation. The Palmer Goldfield Wardens, WRO Hill and P Sellheim, understandably declared the Hodgkinson a fizzer and convinced the Government to issue warnings in the south for miners not to consider going to the new goldfield. Once Cairns was established and a rough road made between the port and the main settlements of Kingsborough and Thornborough, the goldfield became quite prosperous for a few years. By 1900, though, only a few mines were still operating. There were lots of mining fields to replace it, connected to Cairns by road and railway. They included Goldsborough nearby (1879), Chillagoe’s lead and copper mines (1888, connected by railway in 1901), Mount Molloy copper mine (1885, railway built 1908), the big Herberton tinfield (1880, railway completed 1910), the expansive Etheridge and Gilbert fields where just about every mineral was mined (1866 and 1869, railway completed 1911), and Mt Mulligan coal mine (1907, railway there 1915).
The Historical Society has a magnificent collection of mining photographs from the Cairns hinterland, from Georgetown in the west to Innisfail in the south and up Cape York. Many of our documents and books tell the story of the mining ventures that made the Cairns hinterland such a rich one, contributing to the prosperity of the town.
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Mining
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