 The European history of Freshwater is a long one dating back to 1877.Chinese market gardeners moved into the area, after exhausting their chances on the Hodgkinson Goldfields, leased small plots from the landowners, successfully growing rice, bananas, pineapples and other tropical crops.The need for a railway from the Herberton mines to the coast, resulted in the construction between Herberton and Cairns (now the Tablelands railway line).