NA ="Mossman, Port Douglas, Miallo, Newall, Cooya,";
FE1[0]=" Mossman is located some 75 km from Cairns and only 20 km from one of Queensland's greatest tourist draw cards Port Douglas. It was named by the explorer George Dalrymple in 1873 after the minerals explorer Hugh Mosman. Mosman's fa";
FE2[0]="me is largely related to the moment when his 11-year-old Aboriginal servant, Jupiter, found gold at Charters Towers in 1872. The boom which followed the discovery and subsequent finds did much to help to put North Queensland on th";
FE3[0]="e map. The name of the town was changed from Mosman to Mossman to avoid confusion with the suburb in Sydney. A village was established in 1876. In 1896 the first sugarcane plantation was established in the area and the following y";
FE4[0]="ear the Mossman sugar mill was opened. Being situated just north Port Douglas and surrounded by the wet tropical rainforest, tremendous mountains and fields of waving sugar cane is Mossman to this day the hub of the Far North's th";
FE5[0]="riving sugar industry. Brimming with old-fashioned country charm and hospitality, Mossman boasts the most accessible and spectacular tropical rainforest and is the gateway to Queensland's beautiful tablelands. Mossman remains the ";
FE6[0]="seat of local government and the hub of the Douglas Shire sugar industry. Set amidst the splendour of green cane fields and nestled in the Mossman Valley, with the twin peaks of Mount Demi offering a spectacular backdrop, this pic";
FE7[0]="turesque township has managed to maintain its distinctive rural feel.";
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LA1[0]=" The Douglas Shire in Queensland's far north is made up of a number of sub-catchments including Saltwater Creek, Mossman River, Mowbray River, a section of the Bloomfield River and the renowned Daintree River. As such, approximatel";
LA2[0]="y 78% of the Shire is included within the internationally significant Wet Tropics World Heritage. Daintree Catchment is the largest catchment with an area of 3742km2. Ninety-five percent of the catchment is undeveloped forest or w";
LA3[0]="etland, 87% of which is within the World Heritage Area. Lower Daintree is classified as a wetland of national significance due to the outstanding examples of mangrove and paperbark communities, and significance as estuarine crocod";
LA4[0]="ile habitat. Much of the available floodplain has been cleared for sugar cane (1% of catchment) and grazing (3% of catchment). Mossman River catchment, with an area of 200km2, includes the largest area of sugar cane in the Shire (";
LA5[0]="4000 hectares), encompassing 20% of the catchment while another 78% is forested. Mossman township and the sugar mill are located within the catchment.";
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CL1[0]=" The 'seasons' in Tropical North Queensland are the 'Wet' and the 'Dry'. The Wet is the summer, from November to April, a time of high temperatures and humidity. The Wet is characterised by huge tropical downpours and spectacular e";
CL2[0]="lectrical storms. This is also the time when the Tropics show their true colours as the swollen rivers, dripping rainforests and dramatic skies remind the visitor of the area's untameable nature. The Dry, from May to October, is w";
CL3[0]="inter, a time of more gentle temperatures and humidity and much less rainfall. The Dry is the usual tourism period. Refreshing sea breezes and plenty of sunshine make Tropical North Queensland the dream holiday destination. Howeve";
CL4[0]="r, wear a hat and highly-rated sunscreen outdoors all year round. Sea temperatures range from 23-28º C from winter to summer. River and waterfall temperatures are cooler. Air temperatures range from 23-30º C (73-86º F) in the Wet ";
CL5[0]="and 19-24º C (66-75º F) in the Dry. The tropical north has an average annual rainfall of 2010mm (nearly 80 inches).";
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HI1[0]=" Port Douglas, like many Australian regional towns, was founded to service the goldfields. In 1877, the Hodgkinson River goldfields needed a port to bring in supplies and ship out the gold. Port Douglas was not its original name, b";
HI2[0]="ut after several attempts it was finally named in honour of the then Queensland Premier, John Douglas. The late nineteenth-century gold rush ballooned the population to 12,000, and at that time port Douglas had 27 hotels. Not only";
HI3[0]=" gold, but silver contributed to the town's wealth. Sugarcane, which still covers much of the coastal plain in this area, was an early crop and, along with logging the famed red cedar, Toona Australis, added to the local economy a";
HI4[0]="nd brought labourers and fortune-hunters from all over the world. Finally, like all the other Australian goldfields, the gold dwindled and people left the town for greener pastures. In 1911 Port Douglas was hit by a devastating cy";
HI5[0]="clone and, with the effects of the reduced population, evolved into a small fishing village. It did, however, function as the port for the sugar produced at the nearby Mossman Central Mill until 1958. But by 1960 there were only 1";
HI6[0]="00 people left in the town. Twenty years later the tourism industry saved the town. It now has a permanent population of around 4,000 and continues to grow slowly.";
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