The Australian Holidays Getaway Project : A National Collaboration

A previous version of this website encouraged people throughout Australia to contribute useful facts and travel related information about their town and/or district. The initiative met with some degree of success and the following contributions for Queensland are published as an extract from the original.

Acacia Ridge
Agnes Water
Aratula
Aspley
Atherton
Auchenflower
Ayr
Bald Hills
Beaudesert
Beenleigh
Biloela
Birdsville
Blackall
Blackbutt
Blackwater
Boondall
Boulia
Brampton Island
Bribie Island
Brisbane

Being the capital city of Queensland, Brisbane is the point of entry for the majority of Queensland visitors. The city is renowned for its excellent climate and laid-back lifestyle. Established as a penal settlement in 1824, Brisbane became the focal point for the huge agricultural and mining industries that developed throughout the state. Brisbane has blossomed into a rapidly growing cosmopolitan city with excellent Brisbane accommodation choices for both business and recreational visitors.

The central city area is quite compact and the dominant feature is the Brisbane River. However, the surrounding suburban growth covers a huge area. The city planning has provided for river-side parks, walks and bikeways and provides  recreational access to the river. Queensland's famous holiday destination, theGold Coast, is an easy one hour drive south on the Pacific Motorway from central Brisbane. The Sunshine Coast is Brisbane's northern holiday playground which is also a one hour trip from the city.

Brisbane's transit centre is the focal point for train and bus services radiating out across Queensland and south into New South Wales. Brisbane holidaymakers will find an extensive network of city bus and ferry services that makes it very easy to tour all the local attractions and highlights.

Broadbeach
This area was vacant open land until 1955 and was the site of sand mining up to that time. The subsequent subdivision of the area broke with traditional patterns in two ways. Firstly in the provision of a beachfront reserve or park stretching the length of the area from Queensland Avenue to Peerless Avenue at Mermaid Beach (where an earlier subdivision reinstated the norm of allotments running right up to the beach) and in the extension of Surf Parade running close to and parallel to the highway effectively breaking the concept of strip development along the highway at that point.

The development of the area was led by the construction of Lennons Broadbeach Hotel in 1955 - now the site of the Oasis Hotel and shopping centre in Victoria Avenue. In recent times, the proliferation ofBroadbeach Accommodation has ensured that holiday makers have a choice of lodgings in all price ranges.

With one or two exceptions, development in the area is low rise consisting of single houses and importantly in a building form of apartments based on a terrace house concept of two storied narrow fronted apartments. This building form and others of similar scale dominate the area. Generally set back from the street with elaborate carports in front that represent a growing dependence on the motor car for transportation and as a status symbol.

Vegetation and planting is introduced and is characteristically of the 1960s. Native shrubs and hibiscus are more common than the ubiquitous palm. Some resort buildings of the period such as the Tropicana Motel at Mermaid Avenue and the Gold Coast highway are important in identifying the period of the area's development.Gold Coast Urban Heritage & Character Study

Bundaberg
Bunya Mountains
Burketown
Burketown is the best location to view the Morning Glory, a spectacular and unique wave formation. Russell White

Burleigh Heads
Stretching from South Nobby to Burleigh Heads this area comprises two distinct sub areas. The northern most portion consist of a strip from Brakes Crescent to the Gold Coast Highway and the second in the town of Burleigh Heads itself clustered around the headland of that name and the national park. The northern section appears to have been subdivided by the mid 1950s but was the site of extensive sand mining in the following decades. The broad beachfront park is a legacy of that activity.

Burleigh township itself is much earlier and was the site of early development including hotels and guest houses to support the increasing interest in surf bathing that took place in the last years of last century and the first of the present century. Nowadays,Burleigh Heads Accommodation is available in all price ranges to suit every need. The beachfront at Burleigh Heads has a sense of centre or focus with its mature stand of Norfolk Island Pines - reputably some of the earliest planted at the coast.

The turn in the highway at Burleigh Heads to skirt the headland and cross Tallebudgera Creek is in itself unusual. It passes an early water hole that is now and has been for some years the bowling club is an important landmark or icon for the area.

In the northern section a series of medium rise residential towers face the esplanade and the reserve. Dating from the 1970s they sit amongst earlier housing and unit development of a lower scale. The hotel and the steep rise to the small residential community at the northern headland helps in establishing the character of this area. Gold Coast Urban Heritage & Character Study

Caboolture
Cairns
Caloundra
Camooweal
Cape York
Carindale
Charleville
Charters Towers
Chillagoe is a genuine taste of the Australian 'Outback' within driving distance of your Great Barrier Reef holiday at Cairns, Mission Beach, Port Douglas or the Daintree. Chillagoe is probably best known for the wonderful cave systems which, mostly existing in above ground limestone deposits, are well mapped and ready to be explored.

Don't miss the aboriginal art sites which can be found around the limestone outcrops, the chance to dip in rockpools along the Walsh River, or visit a local cattle station. Stay in a real country pub and enjoy Chillagoe. David Hudson

Chinchilla
A small country town situated about 4 hours drive west of Brisbane, between Dalby and Miles. It has a population of about 3000. It was originally named "Jinchilla" by Ludwig Leichhardt, who rested in the area. It is widely renowned for it's plentiful rock and watermelons and this is shown by the bi-annual event, the Chinchilla Melon Festival. Jackie Valler

Clear Mountain
Clermont
Cleveland
Cooktown
Coolangatta
Coolangatta is a coastal town located on the Queensland side of the border with New South Wales. It is easy to reach as it is located on Highway 1, has Australia's 5th largest airport and is serviced by all major buslines. Coolangatta has mild winters and warm summers so it is a year roundGold Coast destination. Accomodation is readily available from quality hotels to caravan parks. Coolangatta Beach is one of the safest and does not suffer from building shadows.

From Coolangatta it is an easy drive to visit The Gold Coast, Tweed Valley, Brisbane and Byron Bay, Coolangatta is close to major theme parks, the beach and beautiful hinterland. In June each year Coolangatta hosts The Wintersun Festival, a two week 50's & 60's Nostalgia Festival with heaps of free entertainment and attractions. Barry McNamara

Coolangatta was one of the earliest settlements at the Gold Coast. Once again focused on a steep headland at Port Danger the area was occupied by Europeans from at least 1828 by a convict station and cedar getters soon followed. Selectors followed in the 1860s and a small settlement at Coolangatta was established. In 1883 a township was surveyed.

As a border town Coolangatta included a customs office and boatshed and government wharf. Extension of the railway from Nerang to Tweed Heads in 1903 guaranteed the success of Coolangatta as a holiday township and it flourished from that time forward. Guesthouses and hotels were erected and a commercial centre soon followed.

Little remains of the earliest buildings at Coolangatta but some evidence remains of subsequent development in the early years of the present century. The border fence and gates that until recently were a characteristic of the area have now been removed but the sense of the border remains at Boundary Street running along the ridge of the headland between Queensland and New South Wales. The headland itself is an important landmark and tourist destination.

Coolangatta symbolises the terminus of the Gold Coast and the long strip of beach that begins at Main Beach forty kilometres to the north. Gold Coast Urban Heritage & Character Study

Currumbin
The Currumbin area is one of a particular character. Stretching from Currumbin Creek in the north to Wyberba Street in the south the area is easily identified because of its headlands that project into the beach. The highway skirts to the rear of Currumbin creating something of a quaint backwater.

Even the more usual commercial development of the Gold Coast Highway is absent as the road winds over the headland and past the Currumbin Bird Sanctuary. At the beach front Elephant Rock and Currumbin Rock enclose a discrete surfing beach. Some properties to the south have absolute beach frontage and the elevated land provides opportunities for views unusual at the coast. Many of the houses at Currumbin date from the period of its earliest subdivision and the area contains a substantial grouping of 'fibro' beach houses.

Later development has occurred including some high rise backing onto the hillside at Pacific Parade. Generally the area contains more natural vegetation than other areas of the coast due in part to the difficulty of building on the steep hillsides and in part to the presence of the Currumbin Bird Sanctuary - a long standing icon and landmark at the Gold Coast. The Sanctuary comprises a substantial area of land on both sides of the highway adjacent to Flat Rock Creek. Gold Coast Urban Heritage & Character Study

Coolum Beach
Coominya
Cooroy
Corinda
Cunnamulla
Daintree
Dalby
Darra
Dunk Island
Eidsvold
Emerald
In the middle of nowhere - Queensland inland 'desert'. Gets very hot and dusty in summer, I wouldn't suggest going there in the hot season. Interesting to visit is a mine nearby where you can look for sapphires as they did a long time ago (you get to keep them, too) and have a guided tour through the old mine.Katia

Esk
Eumundi
Fitzroy Island
Fraser Island
Gatton
Gladstone
Glasshouse Mtns
Goondiwindi
Great Keppel Island
Gunpowder
Gympie
Hatton Vale
Hendra
Heron Island
Hervey Bay
Hinchinbrook Island
Hughenden
Ilfracombe
Ilfracombe is located in the Central West of Qeensland, approximately 660 kilometers west of Rockhampton. It is 27 kilometers to the East of Longreach, and is approx. 3 kms below the tropic of Capricorn. The town boasts a single pub (Wellshot Hotel) which is a pleasant place to stop for a meal or a cold beer. Other facilities in the town are a post office, a general store, a school, Council administration buildings, a pool, a new sport & recreation centre, tennis courts, a town hall, and a railway station.

Ilfracombe also has a huge museum, the most of which is comprised of equipment & machinery of yester-year, and the majority of which is along the highway, painted in bright colours. Equipment is being added to the display all the time, and the museum is well maintained. Some of the displays are not likely to be seen elsewhere, as they are the only ones of their kind in Australia. I would encourage people driving to Longreach from places East to stop for a while in Ilfracombe. Rod Shannon

Indooroopilly
Ingham
Injune
Innisfail
Ipswich
Jericho
Jindalee
Julia Creek
Kenilworth
Kenilworth is less than two hours drive north west of Brisbane, situated in the beautiful Mary Valley Country, behind the Blackall Ranges. The Mary River is one of the few Qld rivers that flows due North, flowing from Maleny, through Conondale, Kenilworth, Gympie, Tiaro, Maryborough, and finally flowing to the sea behind Frazer Island. European settlement commenced in 1850, with the lease of an area called Kenilworth Station, the town was cut off when the Station was broken up.

It is still a typical 1920's town, With a butcher, baker, cheese factory, wonderful historical museum, (open Sundays, and other times by arrangement) Bed and Breakfast, hotel, Craft and other shops. The area is noted for easy access to magnificent rain forests (Daintree, eat your heart out!) horse riding and dairy farming. Margie White

Kilcoy
Kingaroy
Kuranda
Kynuna

[See Qld place names L - Z]

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