The Whitsunday Regional Council area is located in north Queensland, about 1,100 kilometres north of the Brisbane CBD and 600 kilometres south of the Cairns CBD. The Whitsunday Regional Council area is bounded by Burdekin Shire in the north, the Coral Sea in the east, the Mackay Regional Council area and the Isaac Regional Council area in the south, and the Charters Towers Regional Council area in the west.
The Whitsunday Regional Council area includes the townships, suburbs and localities of Airlie Beach, Andromache, Bogie, Bowen, Brandy Creek, Breadalbane, Cannon Valley, Cannonvale, Cape Conway, Cape Gloucester, Collinsville, Conway, Conway Beach, Coral Sea, Crystal Brook, Dingo Beach, Dittmer, Flametree, Foxdale, Glen Isla, Goorganga Creek, Goorganga Plains, Gregory River, Gumlu, Gunyarra, Guthalungra, Hamilton Plains, Hideaway Bay, Jubilee Pocket, Kelsey Creek, Lake Proserpine, Lethebrook, Mandalay, Mount Coolon, Mount Julian, Mount Marlow, Mount Pluto, Mount Rooper, Mount Wyatt, Myrtlevale, Newlands, Palm Grove, Pauls Pocket, Preston, Proserpine, Riordanvale, Scottville, Shute Harbour, Silver Creek, Springlands, Strathdickie, Sugarloaf, Thoopara, Whitsundays, Wilson Beach and Woodwark.
Land Use
The Whitsunday Regional Council area is a growing residential and tourist area, with substantial rural, rural-residential, conservation and parkland areas, and pockets of commercial and industrial land use. The Council area encompasses a total land area of nearly 24,000 square kilometres, including islands, coastal areas, inland areas, national parks, bushland, beaches and waterways. The Council area includes the rural town of Proserpine, the mining town of Collinsville, the coastal towns of Airlie Beach, Bowen, Cannonvale and Shute Harbour, and resorts on several of the islands. The major industries are tourism, sugar cane growing, horticulture, grazing and fishing, with some mining.
Name Origin
The Whitsunday region is named after the Whitsunday Passage, which was discovered by Captain Cook on Whit Sunday (the seventh Sunday after Easter).
Indigenous Meaning
The traditional owners of the Whitsunday area are the Ngaro and Girundala people.
Settlement
European settlement dates from the 1860s, with land used mainly for timber getting, grazing and sugar cane growing. Gradual growth took place in the late 1800s. More substantial expansion occurred during the 1920s and 1930s, spurred by tourism, particularly on the islands and mainland areas closest to the islands. The most significant development took place from the 1970s, with rapid growth during the 1980s, aided by several islands becoming major tourist destinations. The population of the Council area continued to increase from the 1990s, rising from about 29,000 in 1991 to over 36,000 in 2011.
Major Features
Major features of the Council area include the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, numerous islands (including Daydream, Hamilton, Hayman, Long and South Molle), various National Parks (Cape Upstart, Conway, Dryander, Gloucester Islands, Molle Islands, Mount Aberdeen, Repulse Islands and Whitsunday Island), Abel Point Marina, Port of Airlie Marina, Airlie Beach Ferry Terminal, Shute Harbour Ferry Terminal, Barrier Reef Institute of TAFE (Bowen and Cannonvale Campuses), Airlie Beach Sports and Entertainment Centre, The Collinsville Coalface Experience, Bowen Hospital, Proserpine Hospital, Cedar Creek Falls, Airlie Beach Lagoon, Dalrymple Lake, Proserpine Lake/Peter Faust Dam, and various beaches, state forests, reefs and resorts.
Transport
The Whitsunday Regional Council area is served by the Bruce Highway, the North Coast (Brisbane-Cairns) railway line, and the Whitsunday Coast (Proserpine), Great Barrier Reef (Hamilton Island) and Whitsunday Airports.
