Talk:History of Cairns

Improvement listing
I see the article has been put on the "improvement" listing. Should I continue with the yet to be downloaded Modern History references? I would like to finish them and the rewriting of certain sections before the "improvements" begin. I take it the "improvers" will be giving intelligent reasons, based on detailed personal knowledge of cairns history, for their deletions beyond "I don't like...", "I'm not used to", "I've never heard of..." "I'm not interested in..." etc.

As for reducing the word count I'd like to start with deleting the "Natural History" section. A simplified version could possibly be added to the main Cairns article section or left out altogether. Will taking this out automatically adjust the numbering of the remaining references so that reference #13 becomes #1 etc? Some editing of explanatory text without reducing it to a list format could then be considered and if the word count is still too high, a cautious and considered deletion of events. tobalwin 12:52, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

Reference numbers are auto-magically updated if you add/remove references. --Mkfenn 23:45, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

So they do [after I removed the Natural History section] tobalwin 02:56, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Editing
Corrected the late night typos and reduced the text without sacrificing any important items. tobalwin 11:46, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Tsunami
Added information about the tsunami panic because of its dramatic local effect and the emergency response flaws revealed by it. tobalwin 13:17, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Did a bit of a rewrite, added some info and links. - Fosnez 07:08, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

"This article contains insufficently sourced phrases"
Not really sure what is meant by this reason to have the main article tagged this month but just in case it refers to the decade headings in this section, i've removed them as I think the text indicates the characteristic of the decade to an intelligent reader without having to draw attention to it with a heading. tobalwin 01:32, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Noticed "the insufficently sources phrases" complaint has disappeared so the above must have been "The Problem". Now to get "the missing citations and footnotes" issue corrected. Would the writer [or writers] of the Cairns article like to add their citations and footnotes so we can have the tag removed?tobalwin 10:45, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

"Since Time Immemorial" phrase deleted
Someone has inserted the phrase "since time immemorial' in the section on early aboriginal occupation of the Cairns area.["40,000 CE" second paragraph]. I have amended the relevant sentence to the Wikipedia requirement.tobalwin (talk) 07:00, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

Hellenistic coin
How reliable is the claim about a Hellenistic coin being found in Kuranda? If the story could be spurious, it should not be presented as fact. Can someone supply a quote from the source, or any further information as to the story's veracity?-- Jeffro 77 (talk) 08:00, 7 June 2010 (UTC)
 * This sounds like local folklore. No one has responded in over a year to this request so I am removing the section.-- Jeffro 77 (talk) 08:46, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

The story is not "spurious". See page 42 for article and two photos of the coin in the book "Kuranda The Village in the Rainforest" 1988 edited by former high school teacher Shep Humston. I think I originally provided a link to that book page in the references section. A similar coin was found in the same area a few years later by the same tablelands family, the Gilmores, who as far as I know still hold both coins in a bank safe deposit box. I have physically held the coin in my hand. It does exist. tobalwin (talk) 22:27, 30 July 2013 (UTC)
 * It is exceedingly likely that the Hellenistic coin (if authentic) was brought over by a 19th or 20th century settler in the area as part of a private collection and later lost (though it's also possible the story was entirely fictitious). The claim that two such coins were allegedly 'found'&mdash;years apart&mdash;by the same family is also detrimental to the credibility of the story. Without a very good source, the article should not imply that the area was visited by ancient Greeks.-- Jeffro 77 (talk) 01:04, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

I think the Kuranda Greek coin discovery item should stay deleted because it takes up word count space and does not concern Cairns.tobalwin (talk) 03:28, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

Hank Gilmore told me the coin pictured in Shep Humston's* book was dated by an Australian university who took note of and believed the Gilmores story of how they found them. .I do not currently have the details of when this dating process and interview happened but it can be found out from the Gilmores. tobalwin (talk) 03:28, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Neither the age of the coin nor the circumstances of a recent finding have any direct bearing on when it arrived in Australia. There is no reason to believe there was an ancient Greek presence in Kuranda.-- Jeffro 77 (talk) 08:28, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Is Hank Gilmore anyone of particular repute? A quick Internet search finds a Hank Gilmore in the area who's an insurance broker. Is that the same person? I'm not sure that would give him any particular notability as a historian.-- Jeffro 77 (talk) 08:36, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

I did not state in the original now deleted sentence ancient Greeks came to Australia. I just mentioned a Greek coin was found at Kuranda. An incident that has been mentioned in a previously published source  [as the Wikipedia method demands]. I did not state in "talk" Gilmore was a historian. I just indicated he had the coin in his possession. It is worth noting that Shep Humston was the head of the Science department in three North Queensland high schools [ref obituary Cairns Post 30.8.2004] and not some "New Age" enthusiast. tobalwin (talk) 02:18, 6 August 2013 (UTC) tobalwin (talk) 15:33, 15 August 2013 (UTC)
 * The anecdote about someone finding an old coin has no real bearing on the history of Cairns, particularly when the source gives no indication about how it got there (and implies an exceedingly unlikely scenario). There is therefore no benefit in mentioning the claim.-- Jeffro 77 (talk) 04:44, 6 August 2013 (UTC)

Tsunami Scare
I would like to delete this paragraph altogether to make word count space for more important future events. Don't think 2011's Cyclone Yasi is worth mentioning as it hit south of the greater Cairns area which sustained relatively little damage and the 2012 total solar eclipse was unfortunately covered by cloud from the viewpoint of the Cairns Esplanade where most of the eclipse chaser visitors were located. tobalwin (talk) 23:08, 30 July 2013 (UTC)
 * The tsunami 'scare' could probably be removed.

Have removed it tobalwin (talk) 03:35, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

Though the worst effects of Yasi were further south, the Cairns area experienced the equivalent of about a category 3 cyclone, large parts of the area were without power for several days, and the area was cut off by road for some time as a result of damage; it should probably be kept.

In my experience that level of inconvenience is more or less normal for a full on North Queensland wet season [when we have them].tobalwin (talk) 03:59, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

If any of the cyclones should be removed, it would be Abigail, which doesn't have its own article, and did practically nothing to the area. The solar eclipse could also probably be removed, though as it was a well-publicised and rare event, that may require broader discussion.-- Jeffro 77 (talk) 01:04, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

Fogerty Fountain deletion
Deleted reference to the opening of the Fogarty Fountain as it was not "infrastructure" and was little used as a memorial fountain because of water supply, pipe blockage and vandalism issues before it was removed. --tobalwin (talk) 15:45, 30 June 2016 (UTC)