Mount Garnet

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Mount Garnet is a small town located in north-eastern Queensland, Australia. It is located at the south-western edge of the Atherton Tableland and is on the Kennedy Highway. Mount Garnet is about a three hour drive from Cairns.

Mount Garnet's current population is around 400 people with 35% being Aboriginal. Various small communities populate the area around Mount Garnet. These include Tableland Tin, Innot Hot Springs, Silver Valley and Battle Creek.

Mount Garnet was built as a mining community in the 1800s and several minerals can be found in the area, including tin, copper and garnet. The Mountain itself, situated a few hundred metres from the state school, was a main vein of tin and garnet in the late 1800s. Open mines shafts still litter the mountain only covered with sheaths of tin. A beautiful landscape neglected by proper care, a definite tourist attraction for the common hiker.

In the 1930s several cattle stations were established within the community as well as farms that grew many crops, including tobacco, potatoes, corn, peanuts and maize. Various mining operations, as well as lime production, are in operation today just outside the town.