Tablelands Region

The Tablelands Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia inland from the city of Cairns. Established in 2008, it was preceded by four previous local government areas which dated back more than a century. On 1 January 2014, one of those local government areas, the Shire of Mareeba, was re-established independent of the Tablelands Region.It has an estimated operating budget of A$62.2 million.HistoryPrior to the 2008 amalgamation, the Tablelands Region consisted the entire area of four previous local government areas: the Shire of Atherton; the Shire of Eacham; the Shire of Herberton; and the Shire of Mareeba. On 11 November 1879, when the Divisional Boards Act 1879 came into effect proclaiming 74 divisions around Queensland, the nature and distribution of the population in the Tablelands region was vastly different today. Most of the area was divided between the Hinchinbrook and Woothakata divisions. On 3 September 1881, Tinaroo Division was proclaimed from part of Hinchinbrook, making the mining towns of Tinaroo and Thornborough the administrative centres of the region.A number of changes occurred from that point: