Bookable
An idea and a long consultation
The idea of a cableway from Smithfield, north of Cairns, to Kuranda was put forward in 1987. Before building began, the project consulted 23 local, state and federal agencies and communities and completed an environmental impact study, and an agreement was made with the Djabugay Tribal Aboriginal Corporation to protect Aboriginal cultural heritage. Construction began in June 1994, despite protests from conservationists.


Built without roads
No roads were built for the cableway. Its 32 towers stand in clearings of about 10 by 10 metres, and helicopters carried in the equipment, materials and cement, while workers walked to the tower sites each day. Equipment and footwear were sterilised before entering a site, and topsoil and leaf litter were collected and put back.
A cableway since 1995
Skyrail opened on 31 August 1995 with 47 gondolas, and was then the longest gondola cableway in the world. In 1997 the fleet grew to 114 gondolas. The Edge Lookout opened at Barron Falls station in 2019, and in 2026 a major upgrade of its infrastructure and gondolas was under way.

