Yeppoon, Queensland
Encyclopedia
Yeppoon is a coastal resort town situated in Central Queensland
, Australia
. Located on Keppel Bay
, at the 2006 census
, Yeppoon had a population of 13,284.
, and 40 km from its nearest regional centre, the city of Rockhampton
. Long stretches of beach
es 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 and was once the centre of a thriving commercial fishing industry.
North of the town is the Byfield
State Forest
and National Park
. The State Forest
consists largely of pine
plantations and is home to the Byfield Fern (Bowenia Serrulata). The National Park is largely coastal and sand dune based geographical areas. It is popular with Four Wheel Drive
enthusiasts.
The Capricorn Coast was part of the traditional lands of the Dharumbal Aboriginal people. The first Europe
an residents arrived in 1865. Pineapple
s and sugar
were the major industries of the early town. Along with other sugar growing areas of Australia, South Sea Islander
s were used as labourers on the sugar plantations, often without their consent (see blackbirding
). No sugar is grown in the area today, and pineapple production has declined significantly in recent years.
Yeppoon developed as a seaside resort
in the late 19th century, being particularly popular with working-class people from Rockhampton
, in contrast to Emu Park, 20 kilometres south along the coast, which had a more select reputation. Many large company picnics and day outings organised by Rockhampton businesses, such as the Railway workshops and administrative staff, Lakes Creek Meatworks and James Stewart & Co. were held at Yeppoon, particularly after a branch line of the Rockhampton - Emu Park railway was opened in 1910.
Yeppoon and Emu Park were joined by road in 1939 with the completion of the Emu Park - Yeppoon Scenic Highway. Work on the road was started in the early 1930s as a work creation project during the Great Depression
and was finally completed just prior to the Second World War with the construction of The Causeway and bridge between Mulumbin and Kinka beaches.
Yeppoon has the 3rd highest population expansion rate in Australia, and has undergone a very large expansion in recent years including many new residential estates and various shopping centers either under construction or recently completed. During the last population count Yeppoon was recorded as having just over 10 thousand people but now figures are showing that Yeppoon's population is now well over the 15,000 mark.
breeding ground St. Brendan's College
. Professional players Paul Bowman, Matthew Scott
, Tom Hewitt
, Julian O'Neill
, Shane Marteene
, PJ Marsh
and Dave Taylor
are all St. Brendan's alumni.
Central Queensland
Central Queensland is an ambiguous geographical division of Queensland that centres on the eastern coast, around the Tropic of Capricorn. Its major regional centre is Rockhampton and the Capricorn Coast and the area extends west to the Central Highlands at Emerald, north to the Mackay Regional...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Located on Keppel Bay
Keppel Bay
Keppel Bay is a broad bay in Central Queensland, Australia at the mouth of the Fitzroy River. Cape Keppel is at the Eastern end of the bay.The bay and the nearby Keppel Islands were named by Captain Cook when he was there on 27 May 1770, after Admiral Augustus Keppel of the British Royal...
, at the 2006 census
Census in Australia
The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...
, Yeppoon had a population of 13,284.
Geography
Yeppoon is the major town along the tourist strip of the Capricorn Coast, and is around 700 km north of the state capital, BrisbaneBrisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, and 40 km from its nearest regional centre, the city of Rockhampton
Rockhampton, Queensland
Rockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....
. Long stretches of beach
Beach
A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...
es are the main tourist attraction, while the islands of the Keppel Group, in particular Great Keppel Island
Great Keppel Island
Great Keppel Island lies 15 kilometres from the coast off Yeppoon, Central Queensland, Australia. The island is the largest of the eighteen islands in the Keppel Group, and covers an area of more than 14.5 square kilometres...
, are another drawcard. The Rosslyn Bay boat harbour caters for professional and privately owned vessels and was once the centre of a thriving commercial fishing industry.
North of the town is the Byfield
Byfield, Queensland
Byfield is a locality in Central Queensland, Australia. Byfield is located in the Rockhampton Region local government area and in the midst of the Byfield National Park, north west of the state capital Brisbane and north of the regional centre of Rockhampton. At the 2006 census, Byfield had a...
State Forest
State forest
A state forest is a forest that is administered or protected by some agency of a sovereign state.The precise application of the term varies by jurisdiction...
and National Park
Byfield National Park
Byfield is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 35 km north of Yeppoon....
. The State Forest
State forest
A state forest is a forest that is administered or protected by some agency of a sovereign state.The precise application of the term varies by jurisdiction...
consists largely of pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
plantations and is home to the Byfield Fern (Bowenia Serrulata). The National Park is largely coastal and sand dune based geographical areas. It is popular with Four Wheel Drive
Four Wheel Drive
The Four Wheel Drive Auto Company, more often known as Four Wheel Drive or just FWD, was founded in 1909 in Clintonville, Wisconsin, as the Badger Four-Wheel Drive Auto Company by Otto Zachow and William Besserdich.-History:...
enthusiasts.
History
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an residents arrived in 1865. Pineapple
Pineapple
Pineapple is the common name for a tropical plant and its edible fruit, which is actually a multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries. It was given the name pineapple due to its resemblance to a pine cone. The pineapple is by far the most economically important plant in the Bromeliaceae...
s and sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
were the major industries of the early town. Along with other sugar growing areas of Australia, South Sea Islander
South Sea Islander
The Australian label South Sea Islanders refers to the Australian descendants of people from the more than 80 islands in the Western Pacific including the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu in Melanesia and the Loyalty Islands, Samoa, Kiribati, Rotuma and Tuvalu in Polynesia and Micronesia who were...
s were used as labourers on the sugar plantations, often without their consent (see blackbirding
Blackbirding
Blackbirding is a term that refers to recruitment of people through trickery and kidnappings to work as labourers. From the 1860s blackbirding ships were engaged in seeking workers to mine the guano deposits on the Chincha Islands in Peru...
). No sugar is grown in the area today, and pineapple production has declined significantly in recent years.
Yeppoon developed as a seaside resort
Seaside resort
A seaside resort is a resort, or resort town, located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.- Overview :...
in the late 19th century, being particularly popular with working-class people from Rockhampton
Rockhampton, Queensland
Rockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....
, in contrast to Emu Park, 20 kilometres south along the coast, which had a more select reputation. Many large company picnics and day outings organised by Rockhampton businesses, such as the Railway workshops and administrative staff, Lakes Creek Meatworks and James Stewart & Co. were held at Yeppoon, particularly after a branch line of the Rockhampton - Emu Park railway was opened in 1910.
Yeppoon and Emu Park were joined by road in 1939 with the completion of the Emu Park - Yeppoon Scenic Highway. Work on the road was started in the early 1930s as a work creation project during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and was finally completed just prior to the Second World War with the construction of The Causeway and bridge between Mulumbin and Kinka beaches.
Growth
Sport
Yeppoon is home to prominent Rugby leagueRugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
breeding ground St. Brendan's College
St. Brendan's College
This article is about the school in Yeppoon, Queensland, Australia. For the school in Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland, please see St Brendan's, Killarney...
. Professional players Paul Bowman, Matthew Scott
Matthew Scott
Matthew Scott is an Australian professional rugby league footballer and current co-captain for the North Queensland Cowboys of the National Rugby League...
, Tom Hewitt
Tom Hewitt
Tom Hewitt is an actor and Broadway stage performer, and a native of Victor, Montana.-Life:After graduating from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee with the Professional Theatre Training Program's first class in 1981, Tom Hewitt worked with such regional powerhouses as Minneapolis's Guthrie...
, Julian O'Neill
Julian O'Neill
O'Neill then played at fullback in all three games of the 1994 State of Origin series under coach Wally Lewis. During the 1994 NSWRL season, O'Neill played at lock forward for defending premiers Brisbane when they hosted British champions Wigan for the 1994 World Club Challenge. In 1994 and 1995...
, Shane Marteene
Shane Marteene
Shane Marteene is a former rugby league player. He played for the Canterbury Bulldogs, South Sydney Rabbitohs and St. George Illawarra Dragons as a wing and centre....
, PJ Marsh
PJ Marsh
Peter-John "PJ" Marsh is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played for a number of clubs in the National Rugby League. He has also played representative rugby league for Queensland in State of Origin. He is named after his uncle, Peter John Marsh, who was killed in a car...
and Dave Taylor
David Taylor (rugby league)
Dave Taylor is an Australian professional rugby league footballer for the South Sydney Rabbitohs of the National Rugby League...
are all St. Brendan's alumni.