Tully is a rural town and

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

in the

Cassowary Coast Region The Cassowary Coast Region is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Far North Queensland region of Queensland, Australia, south of Cairns, Queensland, Cairns and centred on the towns of Innisfail, Queensland, Innisfail, ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. It is adjacent to the

Bruce Highway The Bruce Highway is a major highway in Queensland, Australia. Commencing in the state capital, Brisbane, it passes through areas close to the eastern coast on its way to Cairns in Far North Queensland. The route is part of the Australian Natio ...

, approximately south of

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

by road and north of

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

. Tully is perhaps best known for being one of the wettest towns in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and home to the tall

Golden Gumboot The Golden Gumboot is a competition between the Far North Queensland towns of Tully, Innisfail, and Babinda in Australia for the wettest town of Australia. These towns are located in the Wet Tropics and on land that was previously covered ...

. The

Tully River The Tully River is a river in Far North Queensland, Australia. Course and features The Tully River rises in the Cardwell Range, part of the Great Dividing Range on the northern boundary of the Kirrama State Forest. The river flows generally n ...

, previously known as the Mackay River, was named after Surveyor-General

William Alcock Tully William Alcock Tully (14 March 1830 – 26 April 1905) was a Surveyor General of Queensland, (then a colony, now a state of Australia). Early life Tully was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of William Tully, a captain in the Royal Navy, and h ...

in the 1870s. The town of Tully was named after the river when it was surveyed during the erection of the

sugar mill A sugar cane mill is a factory that processes sugar cane to produce raw sugar or plantation white sugar. Some sugar mills are situated next to a back-end refinery, that turns raw sugar into (refined) white sugar. The term is also used to refer ...

in 1924, although the river does not flow through the town or the locality. During the previous decade, a settlement known as Banyan had grown up on the other side of Banyan Creek. Tully is one of the larger towns of the

. The economic base of the region is agriculture:

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

and

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

s are the dominant crops. The sugar cane grown at the many farms in the district is processed locally at the Tully Sugar Mill, and the

raw sugar Brown sugar is a sucrose sugar product with a distinctive brown color due to the presence of molasses. It is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals with some residual molasses content or produced by ...

produced is shipped elsewhere for further refining. In the , the locality of Tully had a population of 2,368 people.

History

StateLibQld 1 245635 Township of Tully in North Queensland

Dyirbal (also known as Djirbal) is a language of

Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns, Queensland, Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stret ...

, particularly the area around Tully and

Catchment extending to the Atherton Tablelands. The Dyirbal language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of

Cassowary Coast Regional Council The Cassowary Coast Region is a local government area in the Far North Queensland region of Queensland, Australia, south of Cairns and centred on the towns of Innisfail, Cardwell and Tully. It was created in 2008 from a merger of the Shire ...

and Tablelands Regional Council. The Tully River area was slowly settled once Cardwell, to the south, was established. The river was renamed in 1872 in honour of

, then under-secretary for public lands and chief commissioner of crown lands in Queensland and later

Surveyor General of Queensland Surveyor General of Queensland is a position originally created for the colony of Queensland, now a state of Australia. The position was the most senior surveyor within the Queensland Public Service. List of Surveyors General of Queensland See ...

. The first settlers were the nephews of

James Tyson James Tyson (8 April 1819 – 4 December 1898) was an Australian pastoralist. He is regarded as Australia's first self-made millionaire. His name became a byword for reticence, wealth and astute dealing. Early life James Tyson was born about ...

, who raised

beef cattle Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production (as distinguished from dairy cattle, used for milk (production)). The meat of mature or almost mature cattle is mostly known as beef. In beef production there are three main stages: cow-calf opera ...

. It was not until the government constructed a

in 1925 that the town began to develop. Banyan Provisional School opened on 30 June 1924. In 1925, it became Tully State School. When erected in 1924, it was known as Banyan Provisional and has since gone through a number of name changes: Tully Provisional (1925); Tully State School (1926); Tully State Rural School (1934); Tully State Rural and High School (1951); and reverted to Tully State School in 1964. The school's current motto is "Work well and succeed". Augustinian priests based in Innisfail began to conduct Roman Catholic services in Tully in 1926.

Vicar Apostolic of Cooktown The Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns is located in the state of Queensland, Australia. It is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Brisbane. The diocese was erected as a vicariate apostolic in 1877 and was elevated to a diocese in 1941. I ...

John Heavey John Alphonsus Heavey (1868–1948) was a Roman Catholic bishop in Queensland, Australia. He was the Vicar Apostolic of Cooktown and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Cairns. Early life Heavey was born on 13 November 1868 in Roundwood, County ...

laid the foundation stone for a church dedicated to St Clare of Montefalco in May 1926. St Clare's Catholic School was established in 1928 by the

Sisters of the Good Samaritan The Congregation of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, colloquially known as the "Good Sams", is a Roman Catholic congregation of religious women commenced by Bede Polding, OSB, Australia’s first Catholic bishop, in Sydney in 1857. The congrega ...

. A separate Tully Parish of the Roman Catholic Vicariate Apostolic of Cooktown, now the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns, was established in 1935. Tully was originally within the Cardwell Division, which became the Shire of Cardwell in 1903. The first headquarters for the division/shire were in older town of Cardwell. In 1929, the decision was taken to relocate the shire council's headquarters to the newer but more populous town of Tully. The first council meeting held in Tully was in June 1929. A new shire chambers was built in 1930 on the south-east corner of Bryant and Morris Streets. Tully State High School opened on 28 January 1964. During

Cyclone Yasi Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi () was a powerful and destructive tropical cyclone that made landfall in northern Queensland, Australia in early 2011, causing major damage to the affected areas. Originating as a tropical low near Fiji on 26 Janu ...

in 2011, B Block was completely destroyed and G Block was damaged. Both have since been rebuilt. Tully remained the administrative centre for the Shire of Cardwell, until the shire was amalgamated into the

in 2008. The regional council has its headquarters in Innisfail. In 2019, Tully became the inaugural winner of a Loud Shirt Day competition to find Queensland's Loudest Town. Inspired by a local story, and facing strong competition from other regional Queensland towns, members of the community rallied together to raise $13,410 to support services provided to young people with hearing loss.

Demographics

In the , the locality of Tully had a population of 2,436 people. In the , Tully had 2,390 inhabitants. In the , the locality of Tully had a population of 2,368 people.

Heritage listings

Tully has a number of

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and human-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In ma ...

sites, including: * Tully Court House, 69 Bryant Street * Tully State School, 17 Mars Street

Climate

Tully has a

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southeast Florida, United States ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Af''). This is due to its strong exposure to the southeasterly

trade winds The trade winds or easterlies are permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere ...

. With an average annual rainfall exceeding , and the highest-ever annual rainfall in a populated area of Australia ( in 1950), Tully is arguably the wettest town in Australia. A rivalry exists between Tully and the nearby town of

Babinda Babinda is a rural town and locality in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. Babinda and Tully annually compete for the Golden Gumboot, an award for Australia's wettest town. Babinda is usually the winner, recording an annual average rain ...

for that title. Although Tully's average rainfall is less than that of Babinda, a giant gumboot, the "

", was erected in Tully in 2003, as a monument to the town's high rainfall. It also serves as a museum, documenting past floods, as well as displaying the rainfall for the current year.

Cyclone Yasi

Buildings in Tully were badly damaged by

on 3 February 2011. According to residents, Tully was "...a scene of mass devastation". An unknown number of homes were completely destroyed as intense winds, estimated at , battered the area. Many other homes not destroyed sustained severe façade and or roof damage. As daybreak came, reports from the town stated that about 90 percent of the structures along the main avenue sustained extensive damage.

Agriculture

In March 2015, a farm at Tully tested positive for the soil-borne

Panama disease Panama disease (or Fusarium wilt) is a plant disease that infects banana plants (''Musa'' spp.). It is a wilting disease caused by the fungus ''Fusarium oxysporum'' f. sp. ''cubense'' (Foc). The pathogen is resistant to fungicides and its cont ...

. Follow-up testing confirmed the results. One of the strains of the disease affects all types of bananas and has previously only been detected in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

. Harvesting continued on the property with strict protocols allowing the farm to continue to operate and distribute product without posing a threat. Outside experts were brought in to review

Biosecurity Queensland The Department of Primary Industries is the Queensland Government department responsible for developing Queensland's primary industries. The section known as Biosecurity Queensland is responsible for biosecurity matters within the state. The ...

's performance 15 February to 24 May 2021. Their assessment credits BQ with quick and effective response which is being emulated by other countries. Thus far TR4 continues to be contained to the Tully Valley only and containment is thought to be possible as long as accidental human movement and transport in flowing water can be halted.

Education

Tully State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 21 Mars Street (). It includes a

special education Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual di ...

program. In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 247 students with 25 teachers (22 full-time equivalent) and 27 non-teaching staff (17 full-time equivalent). St Clare's Catholic Primary School is a Catholic primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 13 Mars Street (). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 153 students with 13 teachers (10 full-time equivalent) and 10 non-teaching staff (5 full-time equivalent). Tully State High School is a government secondary (7-12) school for boys and girls at 59337 Bruce Highway (). It includes a special educaition program. In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 688 students with 62 teachers (59 full-time equivalent) and 32 non-teaching staff (24 full-time equivalent). It serves students in the Tully district, including Cardwell,

Kennedy Kennedy may refer to: People * Kennedy (surname), including any of several people with that surname ** Kennedy family, a prominent American political family that includes: *** Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (1888–1969), American businessman, investor, ...

, Mission Beach, Wongaling Beach, Tully, Feluga,

El Arish ʻArish or el-ʻArīsh ( ' ) is the capital and largest city of the North Sinai Governorate of Egypt, as well as the largest city on the Sinai Peninsula, lying on the Mediterranean coast northeast of Cairo and west of the Egypt–Gaza border ...

and various other small centres. The school has been accredited as a Centre of Excellence in Mathematics, Science and Technology and is one of only a few Reef Guardian schools. The campus is situated on extensive grounds, 38 hectares, and includes an

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...

centre, a worm farm, an

arboretum An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arbor ...

, a

herd A herd is a social group of certain animals of the same species, either wild or domestic. The form of collective animal behavior associated with this is called '' herding''. These animals are known as gregarious animals. The term ''herd'' ...

of cattle and several sports fields.

Amenities

The Cassowary Coast Regional Council operates the Dorothy Jones Library at 34 Bryant Street, Tully. The Tully branch of the

Queensland Country Women's Association The Queensland Country Women's Association (QCWA) is the Queensland chapter of the Country Women's Association in Australia. The association seeks to serve the interests of women and children in rural areas in Australia through a network of loca ...

meets at the CWA Hall at 5 Plumb Street. St Claire of Montefalco Catholic Church is at 13 Mars Street. It is within the Tully Parish of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns The Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns is located in the state of Queensland, Australia. It is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Brisbane. The diocese was erected as a vicariate apostolic in 1877 and was elevated to a diocese in 1941. It ...

Facilities

Tully Sugar Mill is in the south-east of the town (). Tully Hospital and Tully Ambulance Station are at 17 Bryant Street (). Tully Police Station is at 42 Bryant Street (). Tully Fire Station is at 22-24 Richardson Street (). Tully

SES SES, S.E.S., Ses and similar variants can refere to: Business and economics * Socioeconomic status * Scottish Economic Society, a learned society in Scotland * SES, callsign of the TV station SES/RTS (Mount Gambier, South Australia) * SES, a ...

Facility is at 67 Bryant Street (). Tully Cemetery is on the south-west corner of Bryant Street and Tully Gorge Road (). It is operated by the

Transport

Tully Railway Station Tully railway station is located on the North Coast line in Queensland, Australia. It serves the town of Tully. The station has one platform. Opposite the platform lies a passing loop. The station suffered severe water damage due to Cyclone ...

is a prominent station on the main North Coast Railway Line, situated just over halfway between

and

. In December 1924, Tully was connected with both Townsville and Innisfail.

Sport

Tully Tigers, is the local Rugby League club. One of their most famous juniors is former Cowboys forward Peter Jones. Tully was once one of the biggest sporting hubs in Far North Queensland, but since the economic crisis has hit, they are looking for more and more ways to support their clubs.

Attractions

The

is in the park on corner of Butler Street and Hort Street. Built in 2003, the Gumboot is 6.1 metres long and 7.9 metres high. The height corresponds to highest annual rainfall in a populated area of Australia, which occurred in Tully in 1950. There is an internal spiral staircase to the top of the boot which provides views of the town. A fibreglass green tree frog is climbing the side of the boot. There is a museum beside the boot with the history of the town's floods.

Military

The Australian Army's Combat Training Centre – Jungle Training Wing (CTC-JTW), is located on the outskirts of Tully. JTW are the Australian Army's experts in jungle warfare. Their primary role is to deliver basic and advanced jungle warfare training to dismounted combat team sized organizations. JTW are heavily engaged in international exercises, often providing training to regional allies, as their level of expertise is highly regarded in the international military community.

Notable people

* Lisa Camilleri, squash player *

Kim Carroll Kim Carroll (born 10 May 1970 in Cork, Ireland) is a film score composer and multi-instrumentalist. Life and career He attended Glenstal Abbey School where he studied music with pianist/composer Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin. After teaching mu ...

, soccer player * Jake Clifford, rugby league player * Andrew Cripps, politician * Paul Fleming, boxer, born in Tully * Aila Keto, environmentalist *

Russell Kiefel Russell John Kiefel (1951 – 20 November 2016) was an Australian stage (theatre), stage, film and television actor. After graduating from the National Institute of Dramatic Art, Kiefel started his screen acting career with a role in the 1977 fea ...

, actor *

Shane Knuth Shane Andrew Knuth (born 7 September 1966) is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 2004, representing three successive seats: Charters Towers (2004–2009), Dalrymple (2009–2017) and Hil ...

, politician *

Ted Lindsay Robert Blake Theodore Lindsay (July 29, 1925 – March 4, 2019) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played as a forward for the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Lindsay scored over 800 ...

, politician * Max Menzel, politician *

Keith Murdoch Sir Keith Arthur Murdoch (12 August 1885 – 4 October 1952) was an Australian journalist and media proprietor who was the founder of the Murdoch media empire. He amassed significant media holdings in Australia which after his death were expan ...

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

rugby player, lived in Tully * Joel Riethmuller, rugby league player * Craig Teitzel, rugby league player

References

External links

* *
Tully Sugar Limited
{{authority control Towns in Queensland Populated places in Far North Queensland Cassowary Coast Region Localities in Queensland