Silkwood

Silkwood is a rural town and locality in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia.

Silkwood is a rural town and locality in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, the locality of Silkwood had a population of 391 people.

The town takes its name from the name of the house ofA. J. Daveson, and refers to a local timber.Silkwood State School opened on 28 August 1916.Silkwood was the site of significant Italian immigration in the 1940s.On Sunday 15 December 1940, Roman Catholic Bishop of Cairns, John Heavey, laid the foundation stone for a church to be dedicated to St John the Evangelist. He returned on Sunday 3 August 1941 to perform the blessing and opening of the Gothic-style church. The early priests at the church were Scalabrinians, followed by Augustinian priests. The Silkwood parish was established in 1946.St John's Catholic School was founded by the parish priest Father Alfred Natali and the Missionary Franciscan Sisters. It opened on 2 February 1948 with students mostly from Italian families who worked in the local sugarcane industry. The Sisters left the school in 1987, being replaced by lay teachers.In the 2016 census the locality of Silkwood had a population of 391 people.