Babinda
Rural town south-east of Cairns named after Babinda Creek,with the name a corruption of the Aboriginal (Yidinji) word binda, meaning where the water falls. Babinda lies between the coastal Graham Range and the Bellenden Ker Range, hwhich includes Mount Bartle Frere, Queensland's highest summit, and consequently has very high rainfall.
As a result of the reformist Ryan Labor government's price control and state enterprise policies Babinda became a largely government town. The town's State Hotel, established as the sole manifestation of a Labor policy to monopolise and eventually end liquor supply in the state, was the only government enterprise established during this period of Labor government to turn a profit. The collapse of sugar prices in the 1980s saw the mill sold to Bundaberg Sugar as farmers diversied into tropical fruit and tourist investments. With sugar prices severely depressed and 80% of Babinda's buildings severely damaged by Cyclone Larry in 2006, sugar production was reduced by 40% and after further damage inflicted by Category 5 Cyclone Yasi in February 2011 the mill was closed.
Bakers Creek
Township south-west of Mackay named after John T. Baker, appointed as customs officer to the port of Mackay in 1863. Baker also served as harbour master, a justice of the peace and as a police magistrate.
Balgal Beach
Coastal settlement at the mouth of Rollingstone Creek north of Townsville, used by locals for picnics and weekend stays until the 1980s. After the Mystic Sands estate was launched in 1985, and the Mystic Sands golf and country club opened Balgal attracted extra development.
Ball Bay
Coastal settlement east of Seaforth adjoining Cape Hillsborough National Park that dates from at least 1967 when a town survey map was published.
Barron
Beach, former name for Machans Beach.
River named by police inspectors Robert Arthur Johnstone and Alexander D. Douglas in 1876 in honour of Thomas Henry Bowman Barron an ex-police officer and Chief Clerk of Police in Brisbane. The river had been discovered earlier by J.V. Mulligan, who thought it was the Mitchell.
Shire (1890-1920) local government area north and west of Cairns that took in Freshwater, Smithfield, Kuranda and Mareeba with its office was in Cairns. Abolished with 48 sq miles transferred to Cairns shire and the remainder incorporated into Woothakata shire, based on the mining town of Thornborough.
Bartle Frere
Mount , Queensland’s highest peak, named by George Elphinstone Dalrymple (1826-1876), on 30 September 1873 after Sir Henry Bartle Edwards, 1st Baronet Frere (1815-1884), President of the Royal Geographical Society (London) and a colonial administrator in India and South Africa.