What You Need To Know

Cairns is a major city on the east coast of Far North Queensland in Australia. The city is the 5th-most-populous in Queensland and ranks 14th overall in Australia.
Cairns was founded in 1876 and named after William Wellington Cairns, Governor of Queensland from 1875 to 1877. It was formed to serve miners heading for the Hodgkinson River goldfield, but declined when an easier route was discovered from Port Douglas. It later developed into a railhead and major port for exporting sugar cane, gold and other metals, minerals and agricultural products from surrounding coastal areas and the Atherton Tableland region.
The estimated residential population of the Cairns urban area in 2015 was 147,993. Based on 2015 data, the associated local government area has experienced an average annual growth rate of 2.3% over the last 10 years. Cairns is a popular tourist destination because of its tropical climate and access to the Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Population: 147,993(2015)
Area: 651 mi²

Currency

Australia’s national currency is the Australian dollar which comes in denominations of $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 notes. Coins come in 5, 10, 20 and 50 cent and one and two dollar denominations.
The $100 note features world-renowned soprano Dame Nellie Melba (1861–1931), and the distinguished soldier, engineer and administrator General Sir John Monash (1865–1931).
The $50 note features Aboriginal writer and inventor David Unaipon (1872–1967), and Australia’s first female parliamentarian, Edith Cowan (1861–1932).
The $20 note features the founder of the world’s first aerial medical service (the Royal Flying Doctor Service), the Reverend John Flynn (1880–1951), and Mary Reibey (1777–1855), who arrived in Australia as a convict in 1792 and went on to become a successful shipping magnate and philanthropist.
The $10 note features the poets AB ‘Banjo’ Paterson (1864–1941) and Dame Mary Gilmore (1865–1962).
The $5 note features Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and parliament house
in Canberra, our national capital.
The standard $1 coin design, along with the 50, 20, 10 and 5 cent coin designs, was created by the Queen’s official jeweller, Stuart Devlin.
The $1 coin depicts five kangaroos. The $2 coin depicts an Aboriginal tribal elder set against a background of the Southern Cross and native grass trees. The 50 cent coin features Australia’s coat of arms: the six state badges on a central shield supported by a kangaroo and an emu.
The 20 cent coin carries a platypus, (soon to be replaced by cricket legend Donald Bradman); the 10 cent coin features a male lyrebird dancing; and the 5 cent coin depicts an echidna.
Currency exchange is available at banks, hotels and international airports. Australian banks offer the same range of services typical in other western nations, and cash withdrawal machines or Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) are widespread, although facilities may be limited in remote towns and the Outback. EFTPOS is also widely available in most Australian shops. Fees may be charged on transactions, particularly if withdrawing from an international account.

Languages

English is the main language spoken in Australia, Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin, Italian, Arabic, Cantonese and Greek

Climate

Cairns experiences a tropical climate, specifically a tropical monsoon climate (Am) under the Köppen climate classification. A wet season with heavy monsoonal downpours runs from November to May, with a relatively dry season from June to October, though light showers can occur during this period. Cairns’ mean annual rainfall is just over 2,000 millimetres (79 in), although monthly totals in the wet season (Dec-Mar) can exceed 1,000 mm (39 in), with the highest rainfall being recorded in any month in January 1981, where over 1,417.4 mm (55.80 in) of rain fell. Babinda, a town to the south of the city, is one of Australia’s wettest towns, recording an annual rainfall of over 4,200 mm (170 in). Cairns has hot, humid summers and milder temperatures in winter. Mean maximum temperatures vary from 25.7 °C (78.3 °F) in July to 31.5 °C (88.7 °F) in January. Monsoonal activity during the wet season occasionally causes major flooding of the Barron and Mulgrave Rivers, cutting off road and rail access to the city. Cairns has 89.7 clear days, annually. Dewpoint in the wet season (summer) averages at 23 °C (73 °F). The average temperature of the sea ranges from 23.8 °C (74.8 °F) in July to 29.4 °C (84.9 °F) in January.

Health

The Cairns Hospital is situated on the Cairns Esplanade and is the major hospital for the Cape York Peninsula Region. The smaller Cairns Private Hospital is located nearby. A new building due to be completed in 2015 will provide up to 168 more beds.
Cairns is a base for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, which operates clinics and provides emergency evacuations in remote communities throughout the region.

Economy

Cairns serves as the major commercial centre for the Far North Queensland and Cape York Peninsula Regions. It is a base for the regional offices of various government departments.
Tourism plays a major part in the Cairns economy. According to Tourism Australia, the Cairns region is the fourth-most-popular destination for international tourists in Australia after Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. While the city does not rank amongst Australia’s top 10 destinations for domestic tourism, it attracts a significant number of Australian holiday makers despite its distance from major capitals. There is also a growing interest in Cairns from the Chinese leisure market with occasional direct flights from Chinese cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou. During the 2013 Chinese Lunar New Year period alone, Cairns saw 20,000 Chinese holidaymakers flying in on chartered flights.
Several shopping centres of various sizes are located throughout Cairns. The largest of these are Cairns Central shopping centre, located in the central business district, and Stockland Cairns, located in the suburb of Earlville. In Westcourt, one of the city’s oldest shopping centres has been refurbished, with the city’s first DFO. To service the needs of suburbs further from the city centre, shopping complexes are also located at Mount Sheridan, Redlynch, Smithfield, and Clifton Beach.

Education

Cairns has numerous primary and secondary schools. Separate systems of private and public schools operate in Queensland. There are 20 state primary schools and 16 state high schools operated by the Queensland state government Department of Education within the Cairns City Council area, including 6 schools in the predominantly rural areas south of Gordonvale.
Roman Catholic schools are operated by Catholic Education Cairns. The Roman Catholic system encompasses nineteen primary schools, six secondary colleges and one P-12 college. There are almost 6,700 primary students and 4,000 secondary students enrolled in the Roman Catholic school system.
There are also three other independent schools – Peace Lutheran College, Trinity Anglican School and Freshwater Christian College.
The Cairns Campus of James Cook University is located at Smithfield. CQUniversity Australia has established a study centre in Cairns. The city also hosts a TAFE college, and a School of the Air base, both located in the inner suburb of Manunda.

Transport

Frequent Sunbus buses depart from the city centre to the suburbs and Northern Beaches. You can buy a ‘daily’ bus ticket that lasts until the last service that night. The last services heading back into the city are generally around 10pm – 11pm, while the last services out of the city are between 11pm and midnight. Apart from the town centre, a car is useful to see the surrounding attractions if you are not taking a tour.