Mount Garnet

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to spend a few days in Mt Garnet, a town I usually fly through heading out to the Gulf. It actually has a very interesting history. After a wander through the intertubes, here is a potted history:

Steam train, possibly for carrying copper to and from the copper mines at Mount Garnet, going across the Return Creek Railway Bridge, around 1906.

Image sourced from Picture Queensland, State Library of Queensland
This image is free of copyright restrictions.

Mount Garnet
Sleepy town on the southern edge of the Atherton Tablelands.
Located approximately 165 km, 185 km or 205 km (dependingding which way you want to get there) from Cairns, As I mentioned, Mount Garnet is one of those towns that you want to keep driving through..

In fact the miners who first settled the town hardly slowed down as they moved through the area. It is said that when, in about 1904, a rumour went round that the original copper mine was going to close down half the men didn't wait for their notice to quit. They simply packed up their few belongings and were gone by lunchtime.

Mount Garnet was first settled around the turn of the century when copper was found in the area. Within months the Mount Garnet Freehold Copper and Silver Mining Company Ltd had built a smelter and was busy hiring men to dig the valuable mineral out of the ground.

At first the smelted copper was shipped out by camel (there are some interesting photographs of the camel teams on the walls of the Norwestgate Cafe) but by 1902 a branch line connecting the town to the line from Mareeba to Chillagoe had been built and the copper was being railed out to Lappa Junction and then to the coast.

At the time it looked as though the town had a future. Then, quite suddenly, the price of copper dropped and the company, eager to cut its losses, closed the mine.

A few remnants of the mine are still in evidence. Take the road opposite Norwestgate Motel and follow it south on a dirt road which leads past the old Assay House (which is currently being restored). Little is left but there is enough to show the scale of the operation at the turn of the century.

The town did not die. After 1904 the miners turned their attention to the excavation of tin. Today Mount Garnet has a reputation as a good starting place for gold prospectors and gem collectors.

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Wurruma Swamp
Just before entering the town from the north there is a dirt road which heads east to Wurruma Swamp. Although little known, this is one of the wonders of the Mount Garnet area.

Mt Garnet Today
Apart the possibility of further tin mining development in the area, other important social activities still prevail.

Here are some highlights of the Mt Garnet Races, one of the big events on the Mt Garnet calendar.