The Hambledon Hotel in the main street of Edmonton

Edmonton
Once a sugar milling town, this is now an outer suburb lying to the south of Cairns.
Located only 13 km south of the ever-expanding Cairns, Edmonton is fast becoming a suburb of the larger city.

Established originally as a sugar-milling town (ideally located to serve the surrounding sugar plantations and with direct access to the port facilities at Cairns) it was first called Hambledon Junction because of its proximity to the Hambledon plantation and mill.

Hambledon had been established in October 1881, when Thomas H. Swallow took up land which would eventually constitute a plantation of 6000 acres - 900 acres for sugarcane, 100 acres for bananas, 20 for pineapples and 20 for citrus trees. A sugar mill was erected at the cost of £33 000.

By 1888 the plantation employed 32 whites, 29 Chinese, 6 Javanese and 176 Kanakas. At this time it was producing at least 1100 tons of sugar each year.

Swallow built himself a huge bungalow which attracted the following remark from a contemporary: 'situated on a gentle rise about a mile from the mill was the residence of Mr Swallow, senior. It was an ideal tropical bungalow. Built on piles and surrounded by fine broad verandas, one would always enjoy some nice cool shady spot.'

In 1898 CSR bought the mill which Swallow had sold to a relative in 1891 and in 1911 the Queensland Railways Department changed the name of the settlement from Hambledon Junction to Edmonton - after a village in Middlesex, England. The irony is that even today the name Hambledon persists. The local school is 'Hambledon State School', the hotel is 'Hambledon Hotel' and the mill is still 'Hambledon Mill'.

Things to see:  

Sugarworld Tourist Park
Today the town's chief attraction is Sugarworld Tourist Park - an innovative leisure park which includes Hambledon Mill as part of its attractions. It also has a small exotic fruits orchard, a water slide, a restaurant and a special train which runs around the perimeter of the leisure park, tel: (07) 4055 5477.

	Motels
	Cairns Gateway Lodge 35 Bruce Hwy Edmonton QLD 4869 Telephone: (07) 4055 4394 Rating: ***
	Sun Scene Motel 43 Bruce Hwy Edmonton QLD 4869 Telephone: (07) 4055 4357 Rating: ***
	Hotels
	Grafton Hotel Bruce Hwy Edmonton QLD 4869 Telephone: (07) 4055 4202
	Hambledon Hotel 127-131 Bruce Hwy Edmonton QLD 4869 Telephone: (07) 4055 4201 Facsimile: (07) 4055 5786
	Caravan Parks
	Bellbird Caravan Park 69 Bruce Hway Edmonton QLD 4869 Telephone: (07) 4055 4544 Rating: **
	Restaurants
	Grafton Hotel Bruce Hwy Edmonton QLD 4869 Telephone: (07) 4055 4202
	Hambledon Hotel 127-131 Bruce Hwy Edmonton QLD 4869 Telephone: (07) 4055 4201 Facsimile: (07) 4055 5786
	Cafés
	Mystique Foods Piccones Shopping Centre Bruce Hwy Edmonton QLD 4869 Telephone: (07) 4045 2588