Cairns: City of the South Pacific: a History 1770-1995, Bunu Bunu Press, Cairns, 2015
The township of Cairns was established in the wake of the Palmer River Gold rush of 1873, and established as a port for the Hodgkinson Goldfield in October 1876. After a tenuous start, Cairns became the terminus for the far North Queensland railway, servicing the inland mining districts. Chinese were instrumental in launching the sugar cane industry and South Sea Islander labour was important in sowing and harvesting in the 19th century. (blurb)
‘The work is definitely NOT a parochial local history’, the author says. ‘I was aiming to give an idea of how to write regional history in the context of the Colony and State of Queensland and the impact of Federation and the influence that national policies had, as well as trying to put the “story” back into “history” (which is what most readers are particularly keen on)’.
There are extracts and other resources here.