Kuranda 5.69

Kuranda is a town and locality on the Atherton Tableland in the Shire of Mareeba, Far North Queensland, Australia. The town of Myola is also located within the locality of Kuranda. It is 25km from Cairns, via the Kuranda Range road. It is surrounded by tropical rainforest and adjacent to the Wet Tropics World Heritage listed Barron Gorge National Park. It is within the local government area of Shire of Mareeba (between 2008 and 2013, it was within the Tablelands Region). At the 2011 census, the locality Kuranda had a population of 2,966.GeographyKuranda is positioned on the eastern edge of the Atherton Tableland where the Barron River begins a steep descent to its coastal floodplain. The area is an important wildlife corridor between the Daintree/Carbine Tableland area in the north and Lamb Range/Atherton Tableland in the south, two centres of biodiversity.Parts of Kuranda, particularly along its eastern edge, are protected within the Kuranda National Park and Barron Gorge National Park. Both national parks belong to the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. Barron Gorge Forest Reserve and Formatine Forest Reserve have been established in the south of Kuranda. Closer to the centre of the town is Jumrum Creek Conservation Park where a near threatened, endemic frog species is protected. An elongated dam created by a weir built for a power station was constructed in 1935 and is used to today for recreation.