North Queensland
With Queensland separated from New South Wales, the settlement of The North began.
After Captain Henry Sinclair finds the port to service the proposed Kennedy district, the Queensland government despatches Lieutenant J.W. Smith in the Spitfire to investigate the harbour. George Dalrymple explores the hinterland.
Settlement of the new district followed after Dalrymple established Bowen in 1861. Townsville and Cardwell follow in quick succession before the gold rushes bring thousands of miners into The North.
Charters Towers becomes "The World"; Ravenswood rises and fades. Other centres rise and disappear over the next thirty years as cattle replace sheep in the northeast. The canefields bring in large numbers of South Sea Islanders.
The North becomes a multi-racial but not necessarily a multicultural society as White Australia heads towards Federation and beyond.
