Cairns, city on the northeastern coast of the state of Queensland, Australia, on Trinity Bay, about 1800 km (about 1120 mi) north of Brisbane. Cairns is one of Australia's fastest-growing cities. In addition to its role as a regional center for dairy, lumber, and sugar production, Cairns is an important tourist destination, receiving about 800,000 visitors each year. The city is the southern gateway to the wild, sparsely inhabited Cape York Peninsula. The Wet Tropics of Queensland and Great Barrier Reef Marine Park—two sites on the World Heritage Convention's listing of the world's unique and precious places—are near the city. Forests cover the mountains surrounding Cairns, supporting a timber industry. Cairns is a major port, handling bulk sugar, timber, and agricultural exports. Barron River Gorge, an important hydroelectric facility, is nearby. The city is also an important center for big-game fishing. In 1984 an international airport opened in Cairns.
The British explorer and navigator Captain James Cook named Trinity Bay on Trinity Sunday in 1770. The area that is now Cairns was surveyed and settled by Europeans in 1876. The settlement was named after William Wellington Cairns, who was the governor of Queensland in the mid-1870s. Cairns was incorporated as a town in 1885 and as a city in 1923. Population (1999 estimate) 114,000.
