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apollonaut. Built by People Who've Been

An Apollonaut travel guide

Moments in a longer story.

Selected milestones for Kuranda, the village around the park.

The central pond at Kuranda Koala Gardens, with rainforest trees and buildings around it
On this page

Village, railway and visitors

These dates describe the place you can learn about here. They are not a company timeline for Apollonaut.

  1. 1885

    First settlers

    Europeans settle in the rainforest on the range above Cairns.

  2. 1887

    A railway begins

    Work starts on the railway from Cairns up the range.

  3. 1888

    A town surveyed

    Kuranda is surveyed by Thomas Behan.

  4. 1891

    The railway arrives

    The line from Cairns reaches Kuranda.

  5. 1915

    A new station

    Kuranda’s present railway station is completed.

  6. 1970s

    The village in the rainforest

    Kuranda begins to call itself the village in the rainforest.

Follow the stories behind the dates

A timeline is a beginning. The longer history introduces the people and places; the sources below provide further context.

Read at the source

Sources & further reading

Links lead to the original publishers.

The Apollonaut collection

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