Caravonica
Residential suburb of central Cairns, backing onto the Barron Gorge National Park, named by the former headmaster of Townsville Grammar School Dr David Thomatis, a widower who moved to Cairns to establish a banana plantation in the Freshwater Creek area in Redlynch around 1884. His family had been connections with he town of Caravonica in Italy and the name resembled that of his late wife, Veronica.
Cardwell
Coastal town on Rockingham Bay, midway between Townsville and Cairns and administrative seat of the former Cardwell Shiren, named after Edward Cardwell, Secretary of State for Colonies, and officially declared the Port of Hinchinbrook in 1864. The town was established as a port for the emerging inland pastoral industry, particularly the Valley of Lagoons, about 110 km directly west of Ingham.
George Dalrymple had taken up the Valley of Lagoons for himself, and when Governor Bowen commissioned a survey of Rockingham Bay area to select a site for a port to service Dalrymple organised settlement of the site and blazed a track between the new settlement and the Valley of Lagoons. Cardwell,however, was soon overtaken by Townsville, also founded in 1864, but free of the steep coastal range and dense jungle-covered hills surrounding its northern rival. Cardwell harbour shallows curbed development and the emergence of Tully as sugar-growing district after 1910 again put Cardwell in the shade again.
Shire, amalgamated in 2008 with Johnstone Shire to form Cassowary Coast Regional Council, but dates back to 1879 and a local government division that extended from Innisfail to Ingham and inland beyond the coastal range. From that original footprint it gradually shrank, with the area around Innisfail being severed to form what became the Johnstone Shire in 1884 and the region behind the Cardwell Range later hived off to form Herberton Shire. In the end, Cardwell Ahire stretched from Mission Beach almost as far as Lucinda Point, including offshore islands including Dunk and Hinchinbrook with an inland boundary that ran roughly along the Cardwell Range.
Carmila
Coastal town between Sarina and St Lawrence, originally known as Scrubby Creek, and noted for its botanical diversity although agricultural clearing has removed the rich flora and substituted tobacco and sugar cane.
Carpentaria
Electorate created by the 1887 Electoral Districts Act, lasting until 1912 when it was abolished, with voters being divided between Burke and Cook. The 1931 redistribution saw existing seat of Flinders renamed as Carpentaria, with part of the Burke electorate added. The 1959 redistribution relabelled Carpentaria as Burke.
Gulf, probably the first part of Australia reached by Europeans. In 1606, the Dutch ship Duyfken, under the command of Willem Jansz, sailed as far as Cape Keer-weer (Turnagain). Jansz was followed by Jan Carstenz, who sailed almost to the head of the Gulf in 1623. He named it after Pieter de Carpentier, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies.
Carpentaria
Local government area centred on Karumba and Normanton, which has existed as a separate entity since 13 January 1883, when it was excised from Doonmunya Division. The remainder of Doonmunya Division was absorbed into the Burke Division two years later. Under the Local Authorities Act 1902, Carpentaria Division became the Shire of Carpentaria on 31 March 1903.
Carpentier
River, on Cape York Peninsula named in honour of Pieter de Carpentier, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies by Jan Carstensz in 1623 and probably the place where, in 1606, the Duyfken, commanded by Willem Jansz, made the first authenticated landing on Australian soil by a European. Carstensz sailed past a large river which he named the Revier de Carpentier, probably Port Musgrave with the Wenlock River. Subsequent visits by a number of navigators resulted in a number of suggestions regarding this and other rivers named by Carstensz, notably the Coen. Carstensz's 'Revier de Carpentier' may have been the Pennefather or the Batavia.
Cassowary Coast
Regional Council formed in 2008 by the amalgamation of Cardwell and Johnstone Shires. With Innisfail and Cardwell are toward the north and south extremities of the council's area, the municipal offices are located in Tully.
Cawarral
Former gold-mining town 20 km north-east of Rockhampton, named after the Cawarral pastoral station. There were minor gold finds occurred in the district in 1863 and 1868, but the finding of large nuggets at Cawarral and nearby Mount Wheeler in 1869 provoked a rush. Cawarral township began in 1870 and a primary school was opened in 1874.