Aeroglen
Suburb of Cairns located at the foot of the Mount Whitfield Conservation Park adjacent to Cairns International Airport. Originally known as Quarry Siding because of a quarry in the area, the first aircraft landed on nearby salt flats in 1929 and shortly thereafter Cairns airport was established in the locality. In 1937, the Federal Government purchased the airport for use by the RAAF and work began to construct an earth wall to prevent tidal encroachment and realign, lengthen and bitumen the runway. The adjacent area was named Aeroglen sometime prior to 1939.
Airlie Beach
Resort town associated with the Whitsunday Islands, first settled by Thomas Abell, who took up land in 1904 for growing tropical fruit and vegetables. Waterfront land offered for selection by the Lands Departmentin in 1935, and Chair of the Proserpine Council suggested Airli as a name, possibly as the result of his Scottish childhood near the Parish of Airlie. The suggestion held, and soon after land sales in 1936 the locality became known as Airlie Beach. The nearest neighbouring settlement was Cannonvale, about two kilometres west.
Aitkenvale
Suburb of Townsville named after Thomas Aitken who arrived in Townsville and took up 3500 acres on Ross Island (encompassing South Townsville and Railway Estate) in 1867 . In 1883 he put subdivided land overlooking the Ross River up for sale, naming the development, naming the development Aitkenvale. Aitkenvale Hotel opened in 1884.
Albatross
Bay, coastal feature south of Duyfken Point, the location now agreed to be the first recorded point of European contact with the Australian continent. Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon, on his ship the Duyfken, sighted the coast there in 1606, and Jan Carstensz passed on 13 April 1623. The mining town of Weipa is located on the eastern shore.
Albert
River, flowing into the bottom of the Gulf of Carpentaria, named in 1841 by Captain John Lort Stokes in the Beagle. Between July 30th and August 6th Stokes ascended the river for 50 river miles in a long boait in search of fresh water. He was impressed with the level grassy plains which stretched to the south, and named them The Plains of Promise or Province of Albert after Prince Albert, the Queen's Consort.
Alice River
Rural/residential district south-west of Townsville centred on the Rupertswood estate, named after the family property of the estate's proprietor, Sir Rupert Clarke of Rupertswood, Victoria.
Alligator Creek
Rural locality south of Mackay, on the road between the Bruce Highway and the bulk coal terminal at Hay Point. The area was settled towards the end of the nineteenth century, around the same time as Sarina. Primary school opened in 1896, a year before the school at Plane Creek (Sarina). Settlement was encouraged by the opening of the sugar mill at Plane Creek.
Rural/residential district south-east of central Townsville. Site of Alligator Creek meat works, which opened in 1890, producing hides, fertislisers, glue basics and preserved meats. The meatworks closed in 1966.
Waterway with headwaters in the Muntalunga Range (Mount Elliot) that flows into Cleveland Bay, passing the site of the former Alligator Creek railway station, and forming the western boundary of part of Bowling Green Bay National Park (55,300 ha). Upstream, in the Mount Elliot section of the National Park, tropical rain-forest exists despite a notional location in the dry tropics..