Holidaymakers at Mackay Harbour

 

Mackay (including Walkerston)
Large and prosperous coastal city.
Located 975 km north of Brisbane, Mackay is one of Queensland's major coastal cities. A large and prosperous centre it has everything from a large, modern and sophisticated central business district to good beaches, major port facilities, a huge range of motels and hotels, good restaurants, excellent boating facilities and plenty of interesting trips into the historical hinterland.

The first European to pass by the Mackay area was Captain James Cook as he sailed up the eastern coast of Australia in 1770. He named Cape Palmerston, failed to recognise the mouth of the Pioneer River and, quite sensibly, was more concerned about running aground on the reef than about the potential of the land to the west.

The area remained isolated for over 70 years after the settlement of Port Jackson. The first European explorer in the area was Captain John Mackay, after whom the town is named. In May 1860, after travelling overland from northern New South Wales, searching for good grazing land, Mackay led a group of people into the area via Bells Creek and the Pioneer River. On 28 May the group started marking runs after drawing straws for the best lots.

In 1861 Mackay brought cattle and horses overland from Armidale in New South Wales. The following year the tiny settlement of Mackay was established on the banks of the Pioneer River. The area around Mackay remained predominantly cattle until 1865 when John Spiller planted the first sugar.

Sugar mills were built in the area around Mackay in 1867 and the first sugar was exported that year. It was around this time that the South Sea island labourers known as Kanakas were brought to the area to work, as virtual slave labour, on the sugar plantations. At the time there was a notion that the tropics were not a suitable work environment for white people and that only blacks were able to handle the debilitating conditions. Kanakas continued to work on the plantations until 1906.

It was sugar that really gave Mackay its boost. Even today it is hard not to be overwhelmed by the magnitude of sugar production in the area. Once outside the city it seems that every road is flanked by endless fields of sugar cane. It has been estimated that the area around Mackay produces over 25 per cent of all Australia's sugar.

Certainly by the 1870s the growth of Mackay and the Pioneer Valley could be accounted for by the local sugar production. In 1874, for example, there were sixteen sugar mills in the area.

Mackay became a municipality in 1869 and a city on 16 August 1918. Its increasing importance was related to its development as a major transport centre. The railway arrived in 1922 and in 1939 an artificial deepwater harbour was built with the largest sugar terminal in the Southern Hemisphere jutting out to load ships with the hinterland's produce.

More recently the discovery and development of the huge coal deposits in the Bowen Basin (particularly at Blair Athol, Dysart and Moranbah) has led to the construction of the Hay Point Coal Terminal which, when it was built, was the world's largest coal-loading facility. In 1983 it was extended when the Dalrymple Bay coal loader was opened.

Mackay is a remarkably gracious tropical city. It basks under the tropical sun and its wide streets are characterised by beautifully kept median strips with Royal palm trees and flowering tropical plants. The town's current piece de resistance is the huge Mackay Civic Centre complex which features a fountain identical to the one in Sydney's Kings Cross.

Visitors to Mackay should note that, for most of the year, it is not necessary to book accommodation. Nebo Road, on the way into the city from the south, is a solid wall of good quality motels which almost always have vacancies.

 

 

 

Things to see:   

 

The Mackay Civic Centre

 

Information Centre
Visitors arriving in Mackay from the south should stop at the unusual Tourism Mackay Information Centre (320 Nebo Road) which features a replica of the chimney from the old Richmond Sugar Mill. They provide excellent maps and can book trips to the Great Barrier Reef as well as advise on accommodation and sightseeing. There are one-day trips to the Great Barrier Reef, Hamilton Island and Lindeman Island. In fairness, access to the Whitsunday islands is a lot easier from Shute Harbour which is part of the new township of Whitsunday.

 

Victoria St Buildings
Along Victoria Street, Mackay's main street, there are a number of outstanding old buildings. One of the most impressive is the Commonwealth Bank (1880) at number 63. It features huge Doric columns on the ground floor with cast-iron columns and balustrades on the first floor and the imposing Queensland National Bank building (1922) on the corner of Victoria Street and Wood Street. It is an interesting mixture of Corinthian columns with ornate corners and plaster arches.

 

Gordon St
Gordon Street, which runs parallel to Victoria Street, also has a number of impressive buildings. There is the huge Mackay Civic Centre which features a fountain identical to the one in Sydney's Kings Cross. The Anglican Church is the third on the site. The first was built in 1867 and actually fell down and the second was destroyed by a cyclone in 1918. The Masonic Temple (1927), like so many Masonic Temples, is a huge ornate building. In this instance the style is basically Classical Revival which was all the rage in the 1920s. It cost £6 500 to build. At the easterly end of the street is Queens Park with its band rotunda, children's playground and excellent displays of tropical orchids.

 

Customs House
On the way out to the Mackay Bulk Sugar Terminal the visitor has to cross the Pioneer River. On the town side of the Forgan Bridge is the superb old Customs House which was built in 1901 to collect interstate excise on the local rum production.

 

The Mackay Bulk Sugar Terminal
Located at Mackay Harbour the bulk sugar terminal is well worth a visit. Reputedly the largest in Australia it is capable of holding over 700 000 tonnes of sugar. There are no tours of the facility.

 

Harbour Beach
Nearby is the Mackay Surf Lifesaving Club which operates on Harbour Beach, a delightful and quiet location removed from the more popular Town and Illawong beaches which lie to the south. Beside the beach is an excellent children's park with a huge variety of activities as well as distinctive novelty fish garbage bins.

 

Far Beach
At Far Beach there is a monument to the 29 people, most of them school children, who were killed in 1960 when a Fokker Friendship crashed in the sea while approaching Mackay Airport.

 

Cape Hillsborough National Park
45 km north of Mackay is the Cape Hillsborough National Park. An area of 850 hectares beside the ocean it is a combination of rugged hills, rhyolite boulders from the old volcanic plug known as Pinnacle Rock, and sandy beaches where, in the late afternoon, kangaroos can be seen. The area is predominantly rainforest and the chief activities are bushwalking or beachside swimming and sunbathing. There are camping areas at Smalleys Beach and a resort at Cape Hillsborough.

 

 

Dining room at Greenmount Homestead

 

Greenmount Historic Homestead
Perhaps the most interesting journey to be taken from Mackay is the one out on the Peak Downs Highway which leads to Walkerston and Mirani.

Walkerston, located 15 km from Mackay and 20 m above sea-level, lies in the heart of a rich sugar-growing area. The first settler in the area was John Mackay but in the late 1860s John Walker (after whom the town is named) took over Mackay's properties which, following his death in 1879, were sold to the Colonial Sugar Refining Company.

The principal attraction at Walkerston, which is now little more than a commuter suburb for Mackay, is Greenmount Historic Homestead. After passing through Walkerston the road to Greenmount is clearly signposted. This gracious old house is located a couple of kilometres from the highway and is beautifully situated amidst gardens of tropical splendour on the top of a hill overlooking the surrounding sugar plantations.

This land was originally owned by John Mackay but he was forced to sell it and it passed through a number of hands before Albert Cook, whose father had arrived in the area shortly after John Mackay, purchased it in 1912. By this time the Cook family had established themselves as one of the Pioneer Valley's premier land holders. Albert Cook built the present home in 1915. It was left to the Pioneer Shire Council by his son Tom in 1981 and is currently leased by the Mackay Historical Society and Museum Inc.

A visit to the home is a rare opportunity to experience the lifestyle of a successful cattle grazier in the late nineteenth century. Each room has been restored to its original condition and the furniture, even down to the large dining room with the individual place settings, is original. All items in the homestead belonged to the Cook family. It is open Monday-Friday from 9.30 a.m. to12.30 p.m. and on Sundays from 10.00 a.m. - 3.00 p.m.

Australian Businesses for sale

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Hotels for sale

Broadwalk Business Brokers

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