Yeppoon, Queensland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yeppoon is a coastal resort town situated in Central Queensland, Australia. The town is the administrative centre for the Livingstone Shire. Located on Keppel Bay, Yeppoon has a rapidly growing population of 30,000+.

Yeppoon's Main Beach.

Yeppoon is the major town along the tourist strip of the Capricorn Coast, and is around 700 km north of the state capital, Brisbane, and 40 km from its nearest regional centre, the city of Rockhampton. Long stretches of beaches are the main tourist attraction, while the islands of the Keppel Group, in particular Great Keppel Island, are another drawcard. The Rosslyn Bay boat harbour caters for professional and privately owned vessels.

Pineapples and sugar were the major industries of the early town. The first European residents arrived in 1865. Along with other sugar growing areas of Australia, South Sea Islanders were used as labourers on the sugar plantations, often without their consent (see blackbirding)^{[citation needed]}. No sugar is grown in the area today, however pineapples are still a major crop in the region.

North of the town is the Byfield State Forest and National Park. The State Forest is consists largely of pine plantations. The National Park is largely coastal and sand dune based geographical areas. It is popular with Four Wheel Drive enthusiasts.

Further north lies Shoalwater Bay and the Shoalwater military training grounds, and military exercises are regularly held there for soldiers of the Australian, Singapore and United States armed forces. There is a proposed American expansion to the base.

It is home to St. Brendan's College, known for its production of rugby league legends such as Julian O'Neill, Shane Martenee and also PJ Marsh. The other prominent high schools in the region are St. Ursula's College and Yeppoon State High School.

In his ABC 1984 show Spike Milligan: Return of a Legend Spike Milligan referred to Yeppoon as "the only above-ground cemetery in the world", and joked that Yeppoon's citizens couldn't differentiate anything, because Spike couldn't be more right. As a consequence of these remarks and in a harsh retaliation, many residents have branded Milligan an ignorant fool and claim that he is no longer welcome to visit the town^{[citation needed]}.

ABC's Kath and Kim also referred to the town in the second series of the show when talking about a pineapple she bought that came from the region.