Atherton
Rural town south-west of Cairns on the western side of the Atherton Tableland, formerly the administrative centre for the Atherton Shire, a role that continues for the Tablelands Regional Council. Named after overlander and grazier, John Atherton who settled near Mareeba in 1876, near the junction of the Barron River and Emerald Creek. The town was originally known at Priors Pocket since the Prior brothers pit-sawed timber beside a spring. A track from Herberton to Port Douglas passed through Priors Pocket, as did a surveyed railway route from Herberton to Mareeba,and with farm selections at Tolga and the Tinaroo district underway began Priors Pocket was chosen as the site for a township.
Shire, amalgamated with Eacham, Herberton and Mareeba Shires in 2008 to form Tablelands Regional Council. Local government in the area dates back in 1880 with the Tinaroo division which was headquartered at Herberton. The office was transferred to Atherton in 1894, with Herberton excised from Tinaroo the following year. In 1903 and 1911 large parts of Tinaroo Shire were separated into Eacham and Mareeba Shires. In 1935 it was renamed Atherton.
Tableland has been variously defined. Atherton, Yungaburra and Malanda townships are usually included, but not Herberton, Ravenshoe or Millaa Millaa, located on the slightly higher Evelyn Tableland. Mareeba was originally excluded from early delineations of the Atherton Tableland but during World War II with upwards of 100,000 Australian and American troops in a wider area a broader definition spread, with some authorities extending the boundaries as far as the headwaters of Palmer and Burdekin rivers. Later descriptions have shrunk back to the smaller area.
Ayr
Rural town, the administrative centre of the former Burdekin Shire, named the Scottish birthplace of Thomas McIlwraith, Queensland's Premier when the town was established in 1882.