The traditional language area of Kuka-Dyangan (also known as Djangun, Gugu Djangun and Kuka Djangun) includes landscape within the local government boundaries of the Douglas Shire and Cook Shire.
The district was originally known as Mossman River after the river which flows through it. The Mossman River, in turn, was named by the explorer George Dalrymple on 6 December 1873 after Hugh Mosman who discovered gold in Charters Towers. Dalrymple wrote "I named this river the Mossman River, after Mossman, an explorer and mining man, member of a very prominent mining family". The town was also known for a brief time as Hartsville after Daniel Hart, an early settler. Later the name was changed to Mossman.
Mossman River Post Office opened by 1895 (a receiving office had been open from 1883) and was renamed Mossman in 1899.
Mossman Central Sugar Mill commenced crushing on 23 August 1897.
Mossman River State School opened on 31 January 1898 under head teacher Thomas Garland. It was renamed Mossman State School in 1910. A secondary department was opened on 1 February 1955, which operated until a separate Mossman State High School opened on 30 January 1973.
The establishment and subsequent growth of Cairns and the completion of the Cairns Railway up through the Barron Gorge in 1891 gave a more direct gateway to the hinterland but, at this period, it was found that the Mossman district contained suitable land for sugar-growing. The establishment of the sugar mill at Mossman formed the nucleus of the town, which grew at the expense of Port Douglas.
The district was served by two separate 2-foot (610 mm) gauge tramway systems. Both at one time handled passengers and general goods, as well as sugar cane. Mossman district owes its present prosperity to these tramways which pioneered the first reasonable transport in the neighbourhood, for trafficable roads followed later.
In June 1905, tenders were called to erect a Catholic church in Mossman. On Sunday 21 January 1906, St Augustine's Catholic church was consecrated by BishopJames Murray in the presence of several hundred spectators.
On Thursday 16 March 1911, a cyclone hit Mossman and Port Douglas doing considerable damage. In Mossman, over 80 people were homeless and the Catholic and Anglican churches were destroyed.
On Sunday 11 February 1912, a new St Augustine's Catholic Church was opened by Bishop Murray. It was in Junction Road (approx 16°27′30″S145°22′26″E / 16.4584°S 145.3740°E / -16.4584; 145.3740 (St Augustine's Catholic Church (former site))), opposite the Mossman Butchery Company (established in 1927 at 3 Junction Road, 16°27′31″S145°22′27″E / 16.4586°S 145.3743°E / -16.4586; 145.3743 (Mossman Butchering Company)). As the population of Mossman grew, there was a desire to build a Catholic school, but the Junction Road site did not have the space, so a new site was purchased in Grogan Street. On Sunday 29 April 1934, BishopJohn Heavey officially opened the new St Augustine's complex at Grogan Street, consisting of a presbytery, a combined church and school building, and a convent. The architect was Vibert McKirdy Brown. St Augustine's Catholic School opened with 70 students, with the initial teachers being Sisters Mary Agnes, Gabriel, Cecelia and Pius of the Sisters of Mercy. On 30 January 1977, a new hexagonal-shaped St Augustine's church opened on the Grogan Street site with the former church being converted into school classrooms.
During World War II, Mossman was attacked in a Japanese air raid on 31 July 1942. A single flying boat dropped a bomb that fell near a house and injured a child.
Mossman State High School opened on 30 January 1973.
Mossman Library opened in 1977.
Prior to 2008, Mossman was the seat of the Shire of Douglas. In 2008, the Shire of Douglas was amalgamated into the Cairns Region, which was administered from both Cairns and Mossman. In 2014, the Shire of Douglas was de-amalgamated from Cairns Region and reinstated as Shire of Douglas.
Demographics
In the 2006 census, the town of Mossman had a population of 1,740 people.
In the 2016 census, the locality of Mossman had a population of 1,937 people.
In the 2021 census, the locality of Mossman had a population of 1,935 people.
Mossman Central Mill Company Limited opened in 1894 as co-operative sugar mill owned by local sugarcane farmers. The first sugarcane was crushed on 23 August 1897, the sugarcane coming from Bonnie Doon. Annie Rose fed the first sugarcane into the mill, with the mill producing its first sugar after crushing 27,905 tonnes (30,760 tons) of cane for the initial season.
In 1906, Mossman Mill became the first Queensland mill to crush over 100,000 tonnes (98,000 long tons; 110,000 short tons) of cane. That season lasted just under 8 months, extending from June 1906 to late January 1907.
Initially, sugar was transported by sea from Port Douglas, but later the sugar was taken by road to the bulk sugar terminal in Cairns.
Louis John Frederick Prince (General Manager) pioneered the use of computers for cane payment accounting and, in 1971, Mossman purchased the first process control computer used in the world sugar industry.
^"Advertising". Morning Post (Cairns). Vol. 19, no. 152. Queensland, Australia. 28 June 1905. p. 2. Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Advertising". Morning Post (Cairns). Vol. 19, no. 152. Queensland, Australia. 28 June 1905. p. 2. Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Cyclone Calamities". Cairns Post. Vol. XXV, no. 971. Queensland, Australia. 20 March 1911. p. 4. Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^"WRECK OF PORT DOUGLAS". Darling Downs Gazette. Vol. LIII, no. 91643. Queensland, Australia. 22 March 1911. p. 7. Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^"CYCLONE IN THE NORTH". The Queenslander. No. 2349. Queensland, Australia. 25 March 1911. p. 37. Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^"The Port Douglas Disaster". Cairns Post. Vol. XXV, no. 975. Queensland, Australia. 24 March 1911. p. 2. Archived from the original on 17 December 2023. Retrieved 14 December 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Bishop Murray's Movements". Cairns Post. Vol. XXVI, no. 1236. Queensland, Australia. 16 February 1912. p. 2. Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^"MOSSMAN NOTES". Cairns Post. No. 16, 435. Queensland, Australia. 13 November 1954. p. 6. Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^"MOSSMAN CATHOLICS". Cairns Post. No. 10, 061. Queensland, Australia. 5 May 1934. p. 13. Archived from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Opening Ceremony". Cairns Post. No. 10, 052. Queensland, Australia. 25 April 1934. p. 6. Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 20 November 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "History of St Augustine's". St Augustine's School, Mossman. 27 July 2018. Archived from the original on 5 November 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
^"Mossman Library". Public Libraries Connect. State Library of Queensland. 10 July 2015. Archived from the original on 31 January 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2018.