Ingham is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Hinchinbrook, Queensland, Australia. It is named after William Bairstow Ingham and is the administrative centre for the Shire of Hinchinbrook. Geography Ingham is approximately north of Townsville and north of the state capital, Brisbane. The town is positioned about 17 km inland within the Herbert River floodplain where Palm Creek drains the low-lying lands. It is surrounded by sugar cane farms which are serviced by a number of private railways The North Coast railway line passes through the town, which is served by the Ingham railway station. The Bruce Highway also passes through the town. Tokalon is neighbourhood in the south-east of the locality (). It takes its name from the Tokalon railway station, which was named by the Queensland Railways Department on 24 December 1924, from the name of a local selection. Tokalan is an Aboriginal word meaning beautiful land. History Aboriginal history Prior to European settlement, the Ingham area was inhabited by the Warakamai People. Warrgamay (also known as Waragamai, Wargamay, Wargamaygan, Biyay, and Warakamai) is an Australian Aboriginal language in North Queensland. The language region includes the Herbert River area, Ingham, Hawkins Creek, Long Pocket, Herbert Vale, Niagara Vale, Yamanic Creek, Herbert Gorge, Cardwell, Hinchinbrook Island and the adjacent mainland. British colonisation George Elphinstone Dalrymple led the first British expedition to the area during his 1864 journey from Cardwell to the Valley of Lagoons Station. Dalrymple named the Herbert River on this expedition and described both the extensive grassy plains that flanked the river and the "tribe of wild blacks" who lived upon the them. Co-owner of Valley of Lagoons, Walter Jervoise Scott, soon established the Herbert Vale cattle station on these plains which was managed by Henry Worsley Stone and Duncan McAuslan. In 1868, the region was opened to further uptake of land by colonists, with Daniel Cudmore and Maurice Geoffrey O'Connell being the most prominent selectors. This taking of land led to conflict between the British colonists and the resident Indigenous population of the region. In the early 1870s, Native Police forces based at Waterview under the charge of Sub-Inspectors Thomas Coward and Ferdinand Macquarie Tompson, conducted missions to "disperse" groups of "very troublesome" Aboriginal people along the Herbert River. Cattle continued to be speared and in 1872 a Native Police detachment captured a group of Aborigines at Daniel Cudmore's property. They were made