Lably
Skip to content

Sunshine Coast, Queensland

Region in Queensland, Australia

  • 11 min read
  • 5 chapters
Kings Beach, Caloundra, Queensland
bertknot · CC BY-SA 2.0

Related on Lably

Through Hinterland, Nomad and Sugarcane

Lab · Class 6–12Ancient Indian Ocean TradeLab · Class 11Nomadic Medieval

The area has several coastal hubs at Caloundra, Kawana Waters, Maroochydore and Noosa Heads. Nambour and Maleny have developed as primary commercial centres for the hinterland.

Since 2014, the Sunshine Coast district has been split into two local government areas, the Sunshine Coast Region and the Shire of Noosa, which administer the southern and northern parts of the Sunshine Coast respectively.

As of June 2021, with an estimated urban population of 398,840, the Sunshine Coast (without inclusion of Moreton Bay or Logan City; a part of Brisbane's population) is the third (5th) most populated area in Queensland and the 9th most populous in the country. The population of the area has grown steadily at an average annual rate of 2.4% year-on-year over the five years to 2018.

History

Pre-colonial

The earliest residents of the Sunshine Coast were the indigenous Kabi Kabi and Wakka Wakka people. The territory of the Kabi includes about 21,000 square kilometres (8,200 sq mi) along the coastline from the 27th parallel northward to the mouth of the Burrum River. The country of the Wakka Wakka people was about 13,000 km2 (5,000 sq mi) that was roughly triangular to the west of the Kabi, including a small part of the Dawson, and meeting the northern Kabi boundary at Walla. The two tribes were friendly and intermarried and had the same class restrictions. The groups were nomadic, gathering food en-route as they moved from one campsite to the next.

Gubbi Gubbi (Kabi Kabi, Cabbee, Carbi, Gabi Gabi) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken on Kabi Kabi country. The Gubbi Gubbi language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Sunshine Coast Region and Gympie Region, particularly the towns of Caloundra, Noosa Heads, Gympie and extending north towards Maryborough and south to Caboolture.

18th century

In 1770, James Cook on the deck of HMS Bark Endeavour became the first known European to sight the Glass House Mountains, located south-west of Caloundra.

19th century

In the 1820s, former convicts John Finnegan, Thomas Pamphlett and Richard Parsons landed on Moreton Island after becoming hopelessly lost fetching cedar. They lived with the Kabi Kabi for eight months.

Thereafter, during the 1830s to 1840s, the district became home to numerous runaway convicts from the Moreton Bay (Brisbane) penal colony slightly to the south.

In 1842, Governor George Gipps had the entire Sunshine Coast and hinterland from Mount Beerwah north to roughly Eumundi declared a "Bunya Bunya Reserve" for the protection of the bunya tree after Andrew Petrie advised him of the importance of bunya groves in Aboriginal culture. However, during the 1840s and 1850s, the Bunya Bunya Reserve and its vicinity became the scene of some of the most bitter skirmishes of Australia's Black War. The Blackall Range, on account of the tri-annual Bunya Festival, served as both a hideout and rallying point for attacks against white settlements. By the 1850s, timber cutters and cattlemen had started exploiting the area; in 1860 the Bunya Bunya Reserve was scrapped.

Many of the Sunshine Coast's towns began as simple ports or jetties for the timber industry during the 1860s and 1870s, as the area once had magnificent stands of forest. Likewise, the region's roads often began as snigging tracks for hauling timber. Timber getters used the region's creeks, rivers and lakes as seaways to float out their logs of cedar – the resultant wood being shipped as far afield as Europe.

During the Gympie Gold Rush (1867), prospectors scaled the Sunshine Coast mountains to develop easier roadways to and from the gold fields of Gympie. After the construction of the railway line to Gympie, the coastal and river towns, being mostly ports for the early river trade, were bypassed.

By the 1890s, diverse small farming (fruit and dairy) had replaced the cattle-and-timber economy of earlier decades. Sugar cane and pineapples proved especially important to produce for the district. Many small hamlets and towns now emerged. Produce was initially taken by horse to Landsborough, then to Eudlo in 1891.

20th century

The post-World War I era saw the rise of the "seaside shack". The seaside shack provided the opportunity for the coastal "getaway" with modest investment. From 1914 to 1946, they popped up all along the North Coast (because it was north of Brisbane). Seaside shacks were exceedingly cheap and were an early use of the concept of recycling. Many were built of disused or second grade timber, all kinds of materials were used for the holiday seaside shack, including fibro cement, metal containers, and left-over farm sheds; even disused trams were sold off as seaside shacks.

Especially after World War II, the Sunshine Coast grew into a holiday and surfing destination. This tendency was further expanded in the development boom of the 1960s and 1970s.

Then known as the Near North Coast, the renaming of the South Coast to become the Gold Coast triggered interest in renaming the Near North Coast to increase the tourist appeal. Names considered included the Silver Coast, the Diamond Coast, and Suncoast. Suncoast was rejected as it was copyrighted by a proprietary company. In 1967, it was officially renamed the Sunshine Coast.

Around the same time, various tourist attractions and theme parks were created, such as the Big Pineapple in Woombye.

After the 1980s, the Sunshine Coast experienced rapid population growth. As of 2016, it had become one of the fastest-growing regions in Australia.

21st century

The Moreton sugar mills closure in 2003 removed a market for the district's 120 cane growers who had been harvesting cane in the region.

In 2008, The Shire of Noosa, Shire of Maroochy and City of Caloundra merged to form the Sunshine Coast Region. The 2007 referendum conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission and leading to the merger remained controversial in Noosa Shire, where 95% of voters had rejected amalgamation.

In March 2013, a second referendum resulted in 81% of residents voted to leave the amalgamated Sunshine Coast Region. On 9 November 2013 an election resulted in Noel Playford being elected to take office as mayor on 1 January 2014 with the new council.

Sign in to keep reading

4 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

More in Cities

Washington, D.C.Capital city of the United StatesBerlinCapital and largest city of GermanyChicagoMost populous city in Illinois, USViennaCapital and largest city of AustriaPhiladelphiaMost populous city in Pennsylvania, USBostonCapital and largest city in Massachusetts, United States