1770

Jun 10 / Lieutenant James Cook passed the coastline. Soon after, his ship the Endeavour struck the Great Barrier Reef and was beached at Cooktown for lengthy repairs.

1815

Lieutenant Jeffreys (or Jeffries) of His Majesty’s armed brig Kangaroo named Snapper Island at the mouth of the Daintree.

1819

Captain Phillip Parker King on the cutter Mermaid officially named Low Isles and Cooktown, previously Cook’s Town.

1848

Yule Point was named for Lieutenant Charles B. Yule, commander of the Bramble, on her voyage north with HMS Rattlesnake

1859

December 10 / The Separation of Queensland, in which the land that forms the present-day State of Queensland was excised from the Colony of New South Wales and created as a separate Colony of Queensland

1873

James Venture Mulligan, explorer, gold prospector and later publican and storekeeper, discovered payable gold inland on the Palmer River.

George Augustus Frederick Elphinstone Dalrymple in his vessel Flying Fish named ‘Island Point’ while searching for a suitable port for the Palmer River goldfield. The name is still used for part of Flagstaff Hill behind Port Douglas. 

1876

Mar / Mulligan discovered new goldfields on the Hodgkinson River, but access to the coast was difficult. The Hodgkinson gold rush began.

1877

Apr /  Christie Palmerston together with William C. Leyton (sometimes inaccurately named Lakeland or Little) and Indigenous local guide Pompo discovered a route from the Hodgkinson goldfield down to Island Point, which would now become the port. Palmerston named the Mowbray River that had led them down the range for the Goldfield Warden at Thornborough, William Matthew Mowbray. This route down the mountain became the Bump Track.

May / W O Hodgkinson, then warden of the field that Mulligan had named after him, traversed the route and made an official report dated 11 June.

Jun 17 /   William Bairstow Ingham’s boat S.S. Fitzroy sailed to Island Point.  From that time, all the shipping made port at Island Point.  

Jun 19 / The A.S.N. steamer Dugong, skippered by Capt Murray, with 70 passengers, arrived from Cairns. 

Jun 30 /  The S.S. Corea, chartered by Cooktown businessmen led by Callaghan Walsh and skippered by Capt Daniel H Owen, anchored off Island Point. The next day the Inlet was surveyed, and the harbour was named Port Owen. It was also variously known as Terrigal, Owenville, White Island Point and Salisbury (after the British Prime Minister) before it was finally named Port Douglas after John Douglas, the Premier of Queensland (1877-1879).

Cooktown businessmen established branch offices in Port Douglas and a jetty and stores were erected.

Sep /      The 'Bump Road' (Palmerston’s track) was opened.

Oct /  Surveyor Frederick Horatio Warner laid out the town of Port Douglas.

Nov /  Official notification from the Queensland Government that the area was to be named Port Douglas. The main street became Macrossan Street in honour of John Macrossan. Dickson Inlet was named for the Colonial Treasurer James Dickson.

Dec 3 /   John Macrossan M.L.A., State Member for Kennedy (but not Cook although the electorate was established in 1875) visited. Member for Cook was William Edward Murphy. Murphy Street was probably named for him. 

Dec /  E.R.N. MacCarthy was appointed as Sub-Collector of Customs and Harbour Master. Walter Pickering was appointed as Sergeant of Police and Acting Clerk of Petty Sessions. 

Dec 12 /  The first mail was dispatched over the Bump Track to Thornborough.

1878

More businesses moved from the Cairns area to Port Douglas.

Jan /  William Henry Buchanan was issued with his hotel license.

A Custom House building, prefabricated in Maryborough, was erected on the reserve (now Anzac Park). It later served as the Post Office. 

Jan 11 / The first survey of Port Douglas by Frederick Horatio Warner was published.

Warner's superior was Deputy-Surveyor-General, William Montgomery Davenport Davidson, for whom it is presumed Davidson Street was named.  

Feb /  Police Magistrate Edmund Morey was transferred from Cairns to Port Douglas to commence conducting a Court of Petty Sessions.

Four Mile Camp, later named Craiglie, was set up as a Packers and Teamsters village. 

There was a blacksmith and farrier shop, a bakery, a butcher shop, a saddlery, a school and about 20 houses.

A modest hospital was set up by Edmund Morey, police magistrate. In 1881 the main hospital was erected.

Farms became established growing bananas, corn, rice, sweet potatoes, yams and pumpkins.

Apr /  The first land sale. 171 town lots at the going rate of 25 pounds per acre were offered for sale at the police office (i.e. a tent).

A single storey hotel, the Buchanan Family Hotel, was built by W H Buchanan. Renamed as the Court House Hotel  circa 1879.

The North Australian Hotel, later known as the Central Hotel, was built as a single storey structure by Denis O’Brien.

The Exchange, Port Douglas’s only two-storey hotel at the time, was built.

Jun 22 / George Freshney died. He was the first internment in Port Douglas cemetery. 

Jul / The number of licensed hotels in the district was 21 (18 in town and 3 near the Bump Rd). 

Aug 20 /   The Port Douglas branch of the Queensland National Bank opened.  It closed on October 22 1923 and became an agency of the Mossman branch. The building was relocated to Mossman in 1924 to become the QTAB ambulance station. 

Sep 1 /   A Catholic chapel/cottage was opened on the corner of what is now known as Murphy Street and Island Point Road, and north of the site for the first St Mary's Catholic Church, which opened in 1881 on the corner of Murphy and Grant Streets. 

Oct /  The Bank of New South Wales opened.

Nov / The light was illuminated for the first time on the new lighthouse erected on Low Isles (the original 1878 lens for the light is on display in the Court House Museum at Port Douglas). The first keeper was Captain Daniel Owen, previous master of the S.S.Corea. 

The first stone jetty at Port Douglas was constructed at the end of Wharf Street by the Queensland Government and extended circa 1888. 

Willmett’s Northern Queensland Almanac of 1878 reported that there were 400 people in the town. 

1879

The town had hotels including McMahon’s Exchange, banks, a community hospital, two newspapers and government services. Race meetings were held on Four Mile Beach.

Nov 11 /  The first student was enrolled at the Port Douglas State School No. 334 on Murphy Street. He was William H. Russell, son of a carpenter, aged 16 years, four months. 55 children were enrolled on that day. Head teacher was John Struthers and Jessie Struthers was his assistant.

Nov /  The Port Douglas Court House was substantially finished.

The weekly Port Douglas Gazette began, replacing the Port Douglas Times. It operated for about a year .

1880

Port Douglas enjoyed a boom period, soon eclipsing Cairns as the port for both the Hodgkinson and the Herberton mining fields. It was the preferred location for banks and government offices.

Mar /   A flagstaff was erected on Flagstaff Hill.
Apr 24 / Dr Borrow who recently arrived from England was appointed to the hospital. 

Jack and Newell, merchants, built a wharf near the Inlet’s entrance as a berth for coastal steamers.

Jun 3 / Douglas and Cairns were proclaimed separate Divisions with their own councils.

The Divisional Board was the forerunner of the Douglas Shire Council.

1881

Feb- Mar /   St Mary’s Catholic Church opened accommodating 300 people.

The Port Douglas Hospital was built where the Beach Club now stands in Davidson Street.

1882

Jul /  Messrs. Murphy and MacDonald established a coach service from Port Douglas to Thornborough.

Sep /   Following a heated price war on the new Herberton route, Cobb and Co took over the coach service. 

The number of licensed hotels in Port Douglas, Craiglie and Mowbray consolidated to 15. 

St Andrew’s Church of England began construction on the Red Road behind Ocean Beach (now 6 Davidson St).

Bitter competition arose between the Port Douglas and the Cairns railway leagues to become the coast terminus, in a similar fashion to the inland road fight in 1877.

The Port Douglas Times and Northern Eagle, formerly The Times, was launched by Octave Lannoy, who owned it and ran it.  It folded in 1893. 

1883

The Port Douglas Masonic Lodge, number 40H, was formed.

Sep 29 /  Father Joachim Guerrini became resident priest and arranged for the original Catholic chapel to be moved beside St Mary’s church.

1884

Mining communities requested a railway connection from the inland mining town of Herberton to the coast. Cairns and Geraldton (today known as Innisfail) were by now well-established due to the sugar industry and vied for the rail link along with Port Douglas.

1885

Cairns was chosen as the terminus for the railway and this killed any further development of Port Douglas. This was the birth of the Kuranda railway line.

John Samuel Dunning Crees had selected portion 2V, 80 acres, and erected a fine dwelling Ferndale, the only two-storey settlers’ home at the time. He selected another block 3V, 55 acres, in 1891. The creek through the property on the Cook Highway is named Crees Creek.

1886

Gold started to run out and the miners moved on to Papua and New Guinea.

The Queensland Census lists the Chinese population of Port Douglas town as 142 and Port Douglas hinterland as 487. Chinese were almost two-thirds of the district's entire population of 994.

1887

The North Australian Hotel was one of nine hotels in town.

Jan / The committal hearing of Ellen Thomson and John Harrison at the Port Douglas Court House. Ellen was convicted, perhaps wrongly, of killing her husband William and was sent for execution to Brisbane. She is the only woman officially hanged in Queensland, on 13th June 1887.

John Harrison was also hanged that day.
John McDiarmid Ramsay opened his hardware store in Wharf Street. He died in 1923 aged 89 leaving 9 children. The business was carried on by daughter Kathleen. The building burnt down in 1934 but was rebuilt and Kathleen continued in the hardware business until her death in 1962.  

 1890

Robert McLean built the two-storey Caledonian Hotel on the corner of Wharf and Warner Streets. He had previously operated the Caledonian in Mossman.

1891

Jun 15 / Opening of the Cairns railway up the Barron Gorge to Myola, just beyond Kuranda, and the importance of Craiglie for the ‘Knights of the Road’, the teamsters, ended.

1892

Sep 5 / The Bank of NSW half-yearly report stated the population of Port Douglas within a radius of ten miles was 350 to 400 people.

1893

Aug 1 / The railway between Cairns and Mareeba (Granite Creek) was opened.

Miners and merchants such as Callaghan Michael Walsh, together with teamsters, saddlers, blacksmiths, butchers and Chinese storekeepers relocated to Mareeba.

1896

Mr J S D Crees, at Ferndale was growing lemons, oranges, mandarins and mangoes after the tick pest wiped out his cattle herd.

The Douglas Divisional Board Tramway Wharf was constructed between the Walsh & Company and Jack & Newell wharves for the storage and shipment of bagged sugar. A portion of the building survives today as the Port Douglas and District Combined Clubs (the Tin Shed).

Jun /The Bank of New South Wales closed its Port Douglas branch.

Oct 9 / The first Port Douglas and Mossman Gazette newspaper was published.

An Agricultural Show was held. They continued until 1910.

The resident Catholic priest was withdrawn owing to dwindling numbers of parishioners.

1897

The Port Douglas Oddfellows Lodge began. They acquired the hall built by the Masonic Lodge.

1898

Aug 13 / The steamer Yamashiro Maru arrived and landed 100 Japanese for the Mossman Central Mill Company. There were about 500 Chinese and 300 Kanakas in the Mossman district, and the increase in Eastern alien labour was causing some uneasiness.

1899

Aug 7 / Telephone communication with the Mossman was established from Port Douglas.

Rugby Union started in Port Douglas. The captain was J M Coker. Around 1907, 6 Connelly brothers arrived in Mowbray from the Northern Rivers of NSW to cut cane and played for Port Douglas.

1900

Stridently advocated by F D A Carstens, Divisional Board Chairman in 1895, a Government grant of £22,000 (Pounds) was reluctantly given to build an extension to the rail line. The line ran from the Mossman Sugar Mill to the small Tramway wharf in Port Douglas built by the Council. (Presently The Tin Shed) The Sugar Mill initially provided rolling stock and locomotive, and the two-foot gauge line was used for transporting freight, sugar and passengers. The line was officially opened on August 1.

The Divisional Board office was removed from the corner of Grant and Warner Streets to Wharf Street.

Out of a total of maybe as high as 23 pubs in Port Douglas’ heyday, only four were still trading: the Exchange, owned by F.D.A. (Frederic Detliep Andreas) Carstens of Copenhagen (opposite the Central Hotel), the North Australian, owned by Bridget Tait, (to become the Central in 1919), the Caledonian owned by Robert McLean on the corner of Warner and Wharf Streets and the Court House Hotel owned by Annie Rose formerly Buchanan.

Dec 28 / An agency of the Queensland National Bank opened in Port Douglas.

1901

The Douglas Divisional Board provided the locomotive “Faugh a Ballagh” and two passenger cars for the rail service, which increased to two return services each day between Mossman to Port Douglas.

Census / population of Port Douglas 331, with 6,000 in the district.

There were four large general merchant premises and a number of Chinese fruiterers and small shops, as well as a Joss House.

Early 1900s

There was an aboriginal camp on the beach. They cut a track about 700 yards long to the Red Road (Davidson Street).

1903

Mar 30 / The Douglas Shire Council was created, replacing the Douglas Divisional Board, retaining Chairman James Reynolds until 1904.

The Port Douglas and Mossman Gazette was no longer profitable, and it folded.

1904

Despite a dwindling population, the town still had an extensive range of businesses, Government and Local Government, plus banks and places of worship.

The Douglas Shire Council obtained a government grant of £5000 (pounds) for the construction of a new larger wharf to handle general cargo and later for the storage and shipment of bagged sugar. The timber wharf was built at the end of a stone-pitched approach. It became known as the Sugar Wharf and opened in 1905 and was used until 1958 to export bagged sugar which was brought from the Mossman Mill by rail. The passenger service timetable increased to three trips daily from Mossman with one trip on Sundays.

The Wharf was later a popular restaurant known as Fisherman’s Wharf.

20,000 cases of oranges and mandarins were shipped out of Port Douglas annually, mainly from the Mowbray Valley.

1907

The sale of opium was banned. Until then, opium was readily available in Chinese stores in Port Douglas.

1907-1908

A memorial was erected in Macrossan St to F D A Carstens. The monument was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register, place ID 601053 on 9 Sept 2003.

1908

Jan 24 / Orders for the removal of the Post Office buildings to Mossman were given.

Oct 21 / A new Masonic Hall opened in Port Douglas.

Cricket was well established.

1910

The site of the original Catholic chapel on the corner of Murphy Street and Island Point Road was sold.

1911

Feb 11 / First cyclone

Mar 16 / Severe cyclone. Within 24 hours, 16 inches of rain fell. Most buildings were damaged. Many were never rebuilt because of the town’s uncertain future. Two people were killed, 32 year old Timothy O’Brien and Andrew Jack, both of whom are buried in the Port Douglas cemetery.

Nov 19 / First service at the new St Andrews by the Sea in Wharf Street conducted by Bishop White.

1912

Goats roamed over Flagstaff Hill, denuding the vegetation. It was commonly known as Billy Goat Hill.

1913

Dec 7 / The laying of the ‘foundation block’ of a new and much smaller St Mary’s.

A E Jowett was the schoolmaster and was assisted by one pupil teacher to educate 67 children.

World War I / 1914-1918

1914

Pugh’s Almanac lists the population of Port Douglas at 250. There were only three or four small Chinese shops.

Aug 30 / The second St Mary’s Church was open.

1918

Apr 24 /The Caledonian Hotel burnt down.

1919

The North Australian hotel was renamed the Central.

1920s

The business centre began to move from Port Douglas to Mossman near the sugar mill. Council offices, the court and banks moved.

1920

Feb 2 / Another cyclone passed just north of Port Douglas with devastating results for business houses.

1923

The War Memorial in Anzac Park was unveiled by Mrs Trezise, mother of the first Port Douglas soldier to be killed in the Great War

Apr / Charlie “Dixie” May became a boatman light-keeper with the Harbour & Marine Department. He rowed across the inlet every night to light the beacons at the entrance to the port.

Oct 28 / The Queensland National Bank closed. Afterwards a Receiving Office was conducted.

1924

The sugar wharf building was slid three metres east across the wharf and an extension of 12 metres was made to the southern end of the shed

1927

The Port Douglas Country Women’s Association began. Its’ hall was built in 1984.

1930

Sep 14 / The ‘shift-over’ of patients and staff took place from Port Douglas to the new Mossman Hospital. The Port Douglas Hospital was demolished in portions about 1935.

1932

Jul 17 / Aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith landed on Four Mile Beach.

1933

May / Mr R D Rex became Chairman of the Douglas Shire Coucil until 1955.

Dec 17 / The official opening of the Captain Cook Highway along the coast between Cairns and Mossman, bypassing Port Douglas.

The Shire offices were transferred to Mossman.

1934

Jul 25 / Charles Ulm, G.U. “Scotty” Allan and mechanic Mr R Bolton landed their plane Faith in Australia VH-UXX on Four Mile Beach.

Aug 1 / A toll was introduced on the Cook Highway at Buchan Point and Pebbly Beach. It remained in force until 1947.

Oct 5 / Miss Kathleen Ramsay’s store mysteriously burnt down.

mid 1930s

A Tableland-based passenger service, Whitecars, ran between Port Douglas and Cairns on the new Cook Highway.

1935

Jun 25 / Tenders called for the erection of Shire Hall, offices and shops at Port Douglas.

Dec 24 / Passenger rail service between Port Douglas and Mossman discontinued.

1937

May 11 / The first council meeting in the new Shire offices in Mossman, which became the centre of the Douglas Shire.

World War II 1939-1945

With the mobilisation of large number of troops during World War II and the use of Port Douglas as a military base, the school was forced to close between 1942 and 1944.

1939

Jul / The Port Douglas Post Office was transferred to Jack & Newell’s store.

A new concrete lighthouse was built on Island Point to replace the wooden one which collapsed in the 1932 cyclone.

1941

The Captain Cook Highway along the coast from Cairns was sealed. It was widened to two lanes in 1959.

1945

Population was on the wane. The biggest employer, the wharf, was down to 15 ‘sugar lumpers’.

Betty Cumming bought the Court House Hotel.

 1951

Bob Cummings was postmaster of Port Douglas – until about 1981 when Enid Paris took over.

1954

The Port Douglas Harbour Master’s office was closed.

1957

Apr 13 / Electricity was switched on in Port Douglas.

1958

Apr / The lighter Konanda shipped the final load of bagged sugar. Thereafter the cargo was sent by road to the Cairns Bulk Sugar Terminal.

Albert Whiting became the licensee of the Court House Hotel and married Betty Cumming in 1959. They ran the hotel together for the next 20 years.

The Faugh-a-Ballagh train was put on display in the park opposite the Court House Hotel.

1960

The population of Port Douglas was about 100.

1961

Police vacated the Port Douglas court house.

1962

Jan 26 / The first annual Low Isles boat race was held by the Port Douglas Combined Clubs.

Jun / The Port Douglas School on the hill in Owen Street closed because there were not enough students.

Jul 19 / Kathleen Ramsay, who ran the general store, died. In 1968 the empty store became Roy Penney’s Catalina Restaurant.

1963

Jun 22 / A Cobb and Co coach re-enacted its trip to Melbourne.

The lease to the 1896 Douglas Divisional Board’s sugar storage shed was taken over by the Port Douglas Boat or Fishing Club which became the Port Douglas and District Combined Clubs (the Tin Shed). The southern of the two storage sheds was demolished and a new roof was laid over the remaining shed. The jetty was removed in 1977.

1968

The government sold the Court House and the police cells to Betty and Albert Whiting, who moved them to sit beside their Court House Hotel.

Feb 8 / A new two-man police station was opened.

1971

Mocka’s Pies, made to his mother Belle’s secret recipe, was established by Maurice ‘Mocka’ Cheyne in the Central Hotel. In 1973 they moved over the road to the Rainbow Café.

Census - population was Douglas Shire 4072. Port Douglas 377.

1972

A Sea Pool, later known as the Stinger Pool, was constructed with public funding to provide a safe swimming area during the stinger season. It was ultimately unsuccessful as the water became stagnant and was filled in to become a park, named for the Shire Council’s Engineering Overseer, Rex Smeal.

Rex Smeal died in a car accident on duty in 1976.

1976

Census population was Douglas Shire 4746, Port Douglas 469.

Play Day Port Douglas, a three day festival organised by John Heywood, with a street procession and beach race, was the precursor to Carnivale. It ran until 1978.

1977

The timber railway approach to the sugar wharf was removed, burying the stone-pitching.

Jun 10 / Opening of the Teamsters’ Memorial at Craiglie. It is flanked by two halves of a former flywheel from a 1934 steam engine from the Mossman mill that represent the wheels of past vehicles.

Nov 24 / “Last drinks” in the original Buchanan’s Family Hotel building before it was demolished.

1978

The famous Melbourne band Skyhooks performed at the Play Day festival.

St Andrews Church in Wharf Street was demolished due to termite infestation.

1979

Princes Wharf was built, named for Neil Prince, also called Pier 319 (for its phone number). t was demolished in 2013

The first daily cruise to Low Isles began with the Martin Cash owned by Jim and Jo Wallace and Neil Prince.

Ruth and Paul Grischy took over the old Catalina restaurant.

1980

The Reef and Rainforest Festival, organised by the Chamber of Commerce, began.

The Shipwreck Museum was opened by Ben Cropp on the council Sugar Wharf. It closed in 2000.

1986

Feb / The Douglas Times began.

Jun / The Sheraton Mirage began construction.

“Travelling North” feature film was shot in Port Douglas starring Leo McKern.

Reef Park was developed by John Morris as a residential subdivision.

1987

Developer John Morris donated land in Endeavour Street, Reef Park for new Catholic and Anglican churches and for a new State School.

The "Save the Church" group, later to become the Port Douglas Restoration Society, formed to save St Mary’s in Murphy Street.

Oct 4 / Sheraton Mirage resort, developed by Christopher Skase, was officially opened.

Nov 9 / Westpac (formerly the Bank of New South Wales) opened its new Port Douglas branch at 43 Macrossan St.

The town’s population was estimated at 4,000.

Four Mile Beach Plaza in Barrier Street was built.

1988

The first iconic Quicksilver wave-piercing catamaran was introduced

Nov 11 / St Mary’s decommissioned church was moved from the hill to its present position. It was formally opened and named St Mary’s by the Sea on Dec 10 1989. It is non-denominational.

Nov / The Port Douglas AFL football club, the Crocs, was formed.

1989

Jan 23 / Port Douglas Primary School opened in Reef Park.

Mar 19 / Palm Sunday A new Anglican church, St Andrews in Reef Park was consecrated.

Apr /The first stinger net was installed on Four Mile Beach.

Jul / The Rainforest Habitat bird and butterfly sanctuary was opened.

Aug / A three month long domestic pilots’ dispute dispute stalled the growth of tourism.

Dec 24 / Jim and Jo Wallace sold their Quicksilver Connections business to Shin Witari.

The Marina Mirage shopping arcade and marina opened.

The Port Douglas Post office moved from 5 Macrossan Street to 5 Owen Street.

The first six one-bedroom units for aged pensioners were erected at Port Haven.

Skase managed to sell 49 per cent of the Mirage resorts to Japanese investors.

The Lady Douglas paddle steamer was built.

Bruce Ferguson started Nautilus Limousines.

 1990

Sep / The Port Douglas Ambulance station and residence opened 

May 11 / Councillor Bruno Reidwig was killed in an air crash. The park in Solander is named for him.

1991

The population of Port Douglas was 2,500, Mossman was 2,200 and the Shire was 9,867.

The Mossman Court House and cells were sold and moved to Mowbray Street, Port Douglas to become the Clink Theatre. It was opened on 7 Nov 1992.  

1992

Low Isles Preservation Society (LIPS) was established. 

1993

May / The first Carnivale was celebrated in Port Douglas. 

Clearing of the old tip site to create the AFL Croc's football pitch.

Stella Maris was opened by the Catholic Diocese of Cairns as a low care hostel for 35 aged residents. 

The Port Douglas Court House was returned to the police reserve and restored for use as a museum. It is the second oldest building in Port Douglas after the school house, both being in November 1879.

1994

Quicksilver’s sailing catamaran Wavedancer commenced cruises to Low Isles.

The title of Mayor replaced Chairman on the Douglas Shire Council. Mike Berwick was elected for a second term and remained Mayor until amalgamation into the Cairns Regional Council in 2008.

The Faugh-a-Ballagh train was moved from Anzac Park to Grant Street.

1996

US President Bill Clinton visited Port Douglas to speak about the world environment.

Oct /  The Port Douglas Sports Complex opened. 

1997

Apr 5 / The Port Douglas Court House Museum was officially opened. 

Port Gardens subdivision was begun by John Morris and Jim Noli. 

1998

Jan 25 /  Thomas Lonergan and Eileen Cassidy were left at sea after diving St Crispins Reef. Later headcounts were introduced.

1999 

Nov 29 /  Coles supermarket opened in Port Village Shopping Centre.

2000

The old Shire Hall was removed from Macrossan Street by a private purchaser and relocated in Craiglie. The Outrigger Heritage was built on the site.
Brian Ray’s group renovated and remodelled the Court House Hotel.
Ben Cropp’s Shipwreck Museum closed. 

Salsa Restaurant moved from Macrossan Street where it had been established in 1994, to Wharf Street.

A lifeguards’ hut was built on Four Mile Beach.

The Spa supermarket closed after Coles opened.

Jul 1 / The Sea Temple Golf and Country Club, an 18 hole golf course opened.

The Port Douglas Rugby Union Club "Reef Raiders" was formed.

2001

Ex-President Clinton was in the bar of the Central Hotel at the time of the 11 September destruction of the New York World Trade Centre towers.

Census figures gave the population of Port Douglas as 3,500 plus 2,368 overseas visitors.

Mocka’s Pies shop moved to Warner Street from Macrossan Street 

The Habitat Shopping Centre was opened.

Aug / Christopher Skase died in Majorca. 

2002

Local businessman Bernt Berentsen purchased the Vacation Village 2.02 ha site. He began the Havana project with his company Foss Developments in 2003. In 2004 he sold to a consortium.

Marco Piat developed Portico complex. 

2003

Offices at the new Saltwater building in Macrossan Street were finished.

Sep /  FDA Carstens memorial was entered on the Queensland Heritage Register. 

On the Inlet seafood restaurant opened on Dickson Inlet on the site of the old seafood market. It was moved to Wharf Street in 2017 due to marina development plans. It permanently closed during the COVID pandemic on April 9 2021.

Late year / Paddy’s Irish Bar opened. 

2004

The Port Douglas cemetery was desecrated. Amongst many others, FDA Carstens’ angel was beheaded.
Mar / The new Port Douglas Community Hall in Mowbray St was completed.

Mar 1 / Bruce Ferguson sold 41 vehicles of Sun Palm to Basil Winspear.

Stella Maris hostel was purchased by OzCare. 

2005

Jul /  Brian Ray and his wife Cathy were killed in a light plane crash in Mt Hotham, Victoria. The Ray Group, MFS, had recently bought the Sheraton Mirage, the Marina Mirage, and other Mirage resorts’ property

The Rainforest Habitat was bought by Charles Woodward's CAPTA group

2006

Mar / Cyclone Larry – peak wind speed of 290 kph. 

Sep 4 /  Steve Irwin, wildlife conservationist and celebrity, was killed by a stingray on Batt Reef whilst filming.

Sep 15 /  The Beach Club resort opened. 

Census /  the population of Port Douglas and Craiglie was 3,488 excluding overseas visitors. 

2007

Jul 27 /  Forced amalgamation was announced with Cairns City Council by Premier Peter Beattie and Treasurer Andrew Fraser of Queensland Government. Douglas Shire would become part of the Cairns Regional Council. The Friends of Douglas Shire (FoDS) was established to fight against amalgamation.

Aug 5 / About 2,000 Douglas Shire residents rallied in a march through Port Douglas against forced council amalgamation. The slogan was ‘The Green Shire sees Red’.

The Marina was purchased by Meridien Marinas.

The first and second stages of Balé resort sold out. 

Only two prawn trawlers remain, of more than 20 that were operating in the 1980s.  

2008

Mar 15 /  The Douglas Shire was amalgamated with Cairns City Council to become Division 10 of Cairns Regional Council.

Jun /  Stephen Oldham and Paul Rasmussen took over Crimmins Funerals.

Oct 28 /  Queensland Premier Anna Bligh visited Mossman and hundreds of locals aired their grievances over Council amalgamation.

2009

The new police station opened. 

2010  

Mar 14 /  Second protest march in Port Douglas against amalgamation.

2011

Feb 3 /  Cyclone Yasi destroyed Cardwell and affected Shannonvale and Whyanbeel. 

2012  

Jan 12 / Malone’s butchery opened in Port Village Centre.

Jul 31 /  Port Douglas cemetery was again desecrated. Catherine Carstens’ copper cherub was ripped from its welded feet (from 2004), Bridget Tait’s headstone was felled.

2013

Mar 9 /  After a poll (not referendum) of the former Shire’s electors, 57% voted to de-amalgamate. 

The Meridien Marina was purchased by three Melbourne businessmen, taking over as The Reef Marina.
All waterfront buildings along Dickson Inlet from the Sugar Wharf to the Tin Shed, including Pier 319, were demolished. 

2014

Jan 1 /  The newly de-amalgamated Douglas Shire began, headed by Mayor Julia Leu.

Apr 12 /  Cyclone Ita category 4 crossed the coast at Cape Flattery.  A large tree fell in Macrossan Street.

May 30 /  Quicksilver acquired Poseidon Reef Cruises. 

2015

Mar /   Mango Jam restaurant reopened. Founded in 1995 by John Hill 

Jul / DSHS led by Noel Weare rescued Dixie’s Shed from demolition 

Opening of the extension to Reef Marina to cater for superyachts. 

2016

Jan /  Barbados bar opened on the Marina.

Feb /   Flynn and Skye Bickford bought and refurbished Shaolin, a Chinese junk 

Jun 27 /  Hemingway’s Brewery on the Reef Marina opened

Dec 15 / John Morris sold his Crystalbrook station and superyacht MW Bahama to GA Group headed by Syrian Ghassan Aboud

2017

Jun 25 /  Final broadcast by owner Michael Gabor from Radio Port Douglas.

Jul /  Former movie producer and writer James Gorman opened Jimmy Rum’s cocktail lounge at Portico. 

Sep 26 /   Syrian billionaire Ghassan Aboud’s GA Group bought The Reef Marina under the banner of his hospitality and tourism company Crystalbrook Collection. 

Nov / Tropical Journeys was sold to Experience, formerly Skydive the Beach.

Dec /   The Flagstaff Hill Walking Trail opened.

2018

Feb 8 / John Morris turned 90. He has been behind many developments that shaped Port Douglas as a resort town. 

Barbara Wolveridge opened her new local branch of Sotheby’s International. Her first listing was John Morris’ No.1 Wharf St.

Mar 25 /  Heavy rain caused land slips on Murphy Street, and Macrossan Street was covered in red mud. Ulysses Street in Port Gardens also flooded.

Apr 18 /  The restored 137 year old flagstaff (1880) was re-erected on Flagstaff Hill by DSC.

Apr 24 / 8am  Local radio station FAB FM went to air.

Jun /  Douglas Shire Council removed the old aluminium glass door to the Sugar Wharf and fitted a white timber door in its place. 

Oct /   Quicksilver officially opened its new dive centre in Port Douglas.

Oct 26 /  The Douglas Shire Historical Society’s Resource Centre, formerly the SES Shed, was officially opened.

Nov / The new Port Douglas reservoir opened.

Nov 23 / The most northerly prawn farm in Australia officially opened its $2.6 million expansion. Gold Coast Marine Aquaculture’s farm, 10km north of Port Douglas, was sold in 2021 to Main Stream Aquaculture to become a barramundi farm after they could not get rid of the white spot disease in the prawns.

Nov 27 / Record breaking heatwave. Temperatures up to 41 and 42 degrees.

Dec 2 /  Marine Rescue Port Douglas officially welcomed their new vessel, the former police boat named RV Port Douglas.

QT resort was sold to vast international hotel and restaurant group based in Thailand, the Minor Group. The name Oaks Resort replaced QT in December.

2019

Jan 2 / record breaking rainfall. Australia Day celebrations postponed till Feb 23.

May 5 / The site of the former Havana Luxury Resort was under contract with Melbourne based developer Chiodo Corporation .

Aug 29 /  Official opening of the new petanque court at the Port Douglas Community Hall. 

Sep /  Rosewood trees in Warner St were poisoned.  

Nigel Quinn owner of Mocka’s Pies and Bakehouse won top prize at the Official Great Aussie Pie Competition in the Gourmet Game category. 

Oct 16 /  The Tin Shed, (Port Douglas Combined Clubs) was re-named the Douglas Community & Sports Club.

Oct 21 /   2 Fish restaurant closed after 16 years.  

Nov 8 /  Lights in Macrossan Street trees were switched on by Mayor Julia Leu.

Ghassan Aboud suspended Crystalbrook Collection’s $250 million redevelopment of the Port Douglas marina. 

Nov 30 /  The 25-metre lap pool run by the Oaks Resort was officially closed for public use. 

Dec 3 / The former Whispering Palms resort land was turned into a residential development.

Dec 16 /  Silkari Hospitality acquired management rights to Oaks Lagoons and rebranded it Silkari Lagoons Port Douglas.

2020  

Feb /   After 25 years of business in Port Douglas, Virginia Donovan the owner of Ginni Boutique sold her women’s clothing store.

Mar 23 /  Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, all cafes, restaurants and clubs in Douglas closed. 

Jun 25 /  Last edition of the Port Douglas and Mossman Gazette was published.

Aug  26 / Big cranes pulled down the old wharf next to the slipway. The coral-coloured octagonal building was demolished.  

2021

Jan /   The Beach Shack was sold by Amelia Hannaford to Natalie Towers.

Melaleuca restaurant won back to back chef hats in the Australia Good Food Guide Awards The restaurant had been built as Catalina by Ruth and Paul Grischy in 1985.

Feb 1 /  The Barrier Reef Tavern sold for a rumoured $10 million.

Apr /   Mango Jam restaurant in Macrossan St was sold to become shops.

Hospitality staff shortage saw venues run off their feet over Easter.

Apr 28 /   Toni Sassi, owner of Sassi’s Cucina, died. He and his wife Di opened their first restaurant in Port Douglas in 1988 at Island Point before moving to their current location on the corner of Macrossan and Wharf Streets in 2001, 

May 5 /   Chef Andy Gray opened Wrasse and Roe restaurant at Coconut Grove.

May 8 /   Annual Pink in the Tropics AFL football game hosted by the Crocs. 

Jun /   John Morris’s latest development is The Escape Collection. 

Aug 10 /  Tony Lo, owner of Jade Inn, one of the oldest restaurants in Port Douglas opening in 1987,  passed away.

Sep 2 /  Wharfside Kitchen was opened.

Sep 24 / Last run for steam trains Speedy and Bundy of the Ballyhooley Train network. Nelson joined them outside John Morris’s Choo Choo’s cafe at the marina. The tracks from the marina to St Crispins station were ripped up.
2022

Feb 14 /    Rachel Cooper began work as the new CEO of Douglas Shire Council.

Compiled in March 2022 by Pam Willis Burden with Gail Cockburn and Noel Weare.