History of Woree, Cairns

The area was originally known as Four Mile – the distance from the centre of Cairns. Until June 1909 the railway station was known as Pryns Station after William Pryn who owned a hotel in this location on the banks of Gordon Creek. Re-named by the Railway Department circa 1914 from an Aboriginal name meaning 'piccaninny' or child. The likely spelling should have been Wurree the Aboriginal word for child who likes to dabble in shallow water.