The suburb is flat land just above sea level. Parkland and an esplanade separate the developed areas of the suburb from the sea. At high tide there is a small sandy beach but low tide reveals an extensive mudflat.[5]
The suburb has a mix of uses having both permanent and holiday residential (the latter being mostly close to the shore), commercial buildings and community facilities.[5]
Cairns State High School opened on 28 January 1924, having commenced operation as an annex to Cairns Central State School in 1917.[9][12]
Mother of Good Counsel School opened on 29 March 1936 with 19 students, after Father Phelan (an Augustinian priest) saw the need for Catholic education in the area. The school was operated by the Sisters of Mercy.[9][13]
The North Cairns parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns was established in 1952.[14]
Although Cairns North has a beach, in 1962 concerns about marine stingers in the seawater resulted in the establishment of the Tobruk Memorial swimming pool (not to be confused with the similarly named pool in Townsville).[15]
Demographics
In the 2016 census, Cairns North had a population of 5,191 people. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 7.0% of the population. 47.8% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were India 4.9%, England 4.1%, New Zealand 3.4% and Japan 2.5%. 56.6% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Punjabi 3.2%, Japanese 2.8% and Mandarin 2.5% The most common response for religion was No Religion at 32.5%.[16]
In the 2021 census, Cairns North had a population of 5,334 people.[1]
Heritage listings
Former Herries Private Hospital, 2015
Cairns North has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
Cairns Technical College and High School Building, 2013
Mother of Good Counsel School is a Catholic primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 394 Sheridan Street (16°53′58″S145°45′22″E / 16.8994°S 145.7562°E / -16.8994; 145.7562 (Mother of Good Counsel Catholic School)).[20][21] In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 374 students with 25 teachers (21 full-time equivalent) and 13 non-teaching staff (9 full-time equivalent).[22] In 2022, the school had 353 students with 31 teachers (25.7 full-time equivalent) and 14 non-teaching staff (10.7 full-time equivalent).[23]
^"Cairns". Queensland Places. Centre for the Government of Queensland, University of Queensland. Archived from the original on 4 October 2017. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
Stanton, Peter (2017), Cairns High : the first hundred years : 1917-2017, Centenary Celebrations Committee, Cairns State High School, ISBN978-0-646-96596-3
Nemec, Marie-Claire (2002), Walking through the Mcleod Street Pioneer Cemetery : a history of the cemetery and the pioneers buried under the monuments, M-C. Nemec, ISBN978-0-9581809-0-0