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Great Northern, Deep North: Herberton, Atherton Tablelands, Far North Queensland
Nature Walks in a Mining Landscape
Gold finds at the Palmer and Hodgkinson rivers brought thousands of miners to Far North Queensland. As the rushes subsided, prospectors searched for new sources. In the ancient granite hills along Wild River, they hit pay dirt — not gold, but tin. Now all that remains of those gold mining boomtowns are house stumps and flagstones, but Herberton, founded on tin, is still going strong. It is the oldest town on the Atherton Tablelands.
In 1880, John Newell, William Jack and two colleagues bought 60 acres (24 hectares) of freehold land to the east of Wild River. Their Great Northern Mine extracted both alluvial and lode tin, kicking off a tin rush in the process. At the height of the boom, 160 mines were working in the area.
No longer a functional mine, Great Northern is listed on the Queensland Heritage Register for its historic role in opening up the Tablelands to mining and propelling the local economy. Today the property hosts a museum and visitors’ centre and is crossed by walking tracks that pass between mine shafts and rusting…
