THORNBOROUGH

On our trip to Mt Mulligan, we traveled along a dirt road. We saw a sign that said cemetery, and of course you have to visit country cemeteries!!! The remaining township was across a dry river bed.

Thornborough is west of Mareeba, north of Dimbulah and just south of Mt Mulligan. It was described as the 'Capital of the Hodginson Goldfields. At one time there were more than 20 hotels in the town, and many stores, including one owned by James Venture Mulligan. It had banks, and by 1878 it also had a school.

A major dairy had been established on the Atherton Tableland by George Jackson at Thornborough in 1878, and Jackson found it difficult to keep up with the demand, so other dairy farms soon sprang up. The problem that existed for these farmers was they couldn’t find enough workers. Most of the men on the tableland worked in the gold, copper or tin mines. The pay and long hours of the work on the dairy farm couldn’t compare with the wages and conditions of the mines.

The town did lack a water supply, so in the dry season many people would leave. By 1900, very few people remained.

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Created January 2002 Updated 10 April 2007

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