Mission Beach, Queensland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mission Beach Queensland
Mission Beach
Population:	929 (2001 census)
Established:	1914
Postcode:	4852
Location:	1,590 km from Brisbane 138 km from Cairns 235 km from Townsville 51 km from Innisfail
LGA:	Johnstone Shire
State District:	Hinchinbrook
Federal Division:	Kennedy

Mission Beach is a small village along the Coral Sea in Queensland, Australia. Dunk Island 4km from the northeast shore.

[edit] History

In the early twentieth century Chinese banana farmers employed Aborigines as labourers in the Tully River region. Opium addiction and conflict with European settlers was resolved by the Queensland government creating an Aboriginal settlement at the present Mission Beach. Superintendent John Martin Kenny started the necessary work on 1 September 1914. There was no mission in the religious sense. The settlement had characteristics of a penal settlement.

The Mission Beach structures were destroyed in the cyclone of 10 March 1918 and were not rebuilt. Superintendent Kenny and his daughter were killed by the storm. The Aborigines were subsequently moved to Palm Island, Queensland.

[edit] Tourism

Mission Beach is now a thriving tourist town that has been able to maintain its small town feel. It is comprised of small communities that stretch north from Tam O'Shanter Point through South Mission, Wongaling, Mission Beach, Clump Point and Bingil Bay. The beachfront, flanked by green mountains rising just a little way inland coupled with the many tropical islands visible offshore.

Surrounded by World Heritage rainforest on one side and the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef on the other, Mission Beach is home to many wildlife species, most notable is the Cassowary. This large flightless bird can be found in the rainforest surrounding the area but is facing extinction due to land clearing, traffic and predators such as wild dogs.

Like many other small Australian towns, Mission Beach has built a monument to its most famous characteristic. The big cassowary stands 5 metres high at Wongaling Beach as part of the shopping complex and towers above the surrounding buildings. It also is the home town of famous movie star Rachael Fulton(stars in Dior, and the long road)^{[citation needed]}.