Mission Beach, Queensland


Mission Beach is a small coastal town and locality in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census Mission Beach and surrounding villages had a total population of 3,597 people.

Geography

Mission Beach is bounded on the east by the Coral Sea. The popular tourist destination of Dunk Island lies offshore.
Today, what were once separate villages have now grown such that they are considered one town, Mission Beach. The villages are, from south to north, South Mission Beach, Wongaling Beach, Mission Beach, Bingil Bay, Brooks Beach and Carmoo. Development is also continuing at Garners Beach to the north.
Clump Point is the northern end of a sandy beach long facing the Coral Sea which runs south to Tam O'Shanter Point in South Mission Beach at the southern end.

History

Clump Point was descriptively named by Captain Owen Stanley of the Royal Navy survey ship HMS Rattlesnake.
In 1872 it was alleged by two sailors, that the captain and some of the crew of the ill-fated Maria which was wrecked in a "typhoon", were killed and eaten by Aboriginal people north of Tam O'Shanter Point. Survivor Thomas Ingham attests that the Aboriginal group were initially friendly with his party, until joined by another unfriendly group. A group of vigilantes raided the area now called South Mission Beach and attacked a local Aboriginal camp. In 1916 Ingham wrote: "Sub-Inspector Johnstone gave short-shrift to the cannibals, who had eaten the captains party, and the brutes who had speared me and taken my belt was seen to be wearing it around his head like a crown. That sealed his fate. This belt saved my life when I gave it to him. It made him a king when he crowned himself with it and bought about his demise. Sub-Inspector Johnstone gave it back to me, and I have kept it ever since." The river Louisa was renamed Maria Creek after the wreck. Johnstone River was named after Sub Inspector Johnstone.
The first white settlers, the Cutten brothers, came to Mission Beach area in 1882 and settled at Bingil Bay, where they farmed mangoes, bananas, pineapples, coffee, citrus fruit and coconuts. They also manufactured their own coffee. Produce was shipped south on cargo-boats. Before this the only white people to enter this area were the timber-getters who sometimes camped on the beach and retrieved timber from the adjacent rain forests. They employed local Aborigines for their assistance in their timber hauling, paying the Aboriginal labourers with tobacco and tools. After the Cutten brothers, the Unsworths settled at Narragon Beach, the Garners came and settled at Garners Beach, and the Porter brothers settled at what the locals refer to as Porter's Creek at the south end of North Mission Beach.
In the early 20th century Chinese banana farmers used Aboriginal people as labourers in the Tully River region. Opium addiction and conflict with European settlers resulted in the Queensland government creating an Aboriginal internment centre, the Hull River Aboriginal Settlement, at the present South Mission Beach. John Martin Kenny was appointed superintendent in September 1914. There was no mission in the religious sense; the settlement had characteristics of a penal settlement. The whole settlement was destroyed in the cyclone of 10 March 1918 and Superintendent Kenny and his daughter were killed by debris. The surviving residents were forcibly moved to a new settlement on Great Palm Island.
Mission Beach Post Office opened on 15 December 1949.

Demographics

In the 2006 census Mission Beach had a population of 515.

Education

Mission Beach State School opened on 27 January 1953 and is located at Webb Road Wongaling Beach. It is a Prep to Year 6 school and details of the curriculum, facilities and resources can be found on the .

Festivals

In early October there is the evolve music festival than shows mostly local musicians and a few bands from around Australia. There is a market there that has food, clothes, jewellery, and other festival stuff.

Sport

plays a big part in the town, with Tully Tigers the main club.

Tourism

Mission Beach is now a thriving tourist town that has been able to maintain its small town feel. One reason for this is that the town is spread out along a thin strip of land between the ocean and the hills and farmland behind. This has spread out a large tourism market, and the village doesn't feel as busy as one might expect.
The beach is flanked by green mountains rising just a short distance inland, and provides views out to the Family Islands. Close to shore at Mission Beach lies a shallow reef; during very low tides portions of this reef are exposed. The reef runs from the mouth of Porter's Creek at the south end of North Mission Beach almost to Clump Point, a popular fishing spot which is also the main departure and arrival point for the Dunk Island Ferry.
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 appears to be thriving in spite of land clearing, traffic and predators such as wild dogs and feral pigs. Much of the area is part of the Coastal Wet Tropics Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for the conservation of lowland tropical rainforest birds.
Mission Beach is also the mainland gateway to Dunk Island, with water taxis and ferries shuttling guests and day-trippers out to the island and its resort.
Like many other small Australian towns, Mission Beach has built a monument to its most famous characteristic. The big cassowary, standing 5 metres high, can be found at the Wongaling Beach shopping complex.

Cyclones

Cyclone Larry

On 20 March 2006, Cyclone Larry crossed the coast in between Mission Beach and Innisfail. In addition to structural damage to property, Cyclone Larry also had a tremendous impact on the rainforest and animals of the region, and it will take many years to recover. A shortage of rainforest fruit saw cassowaries seeking food in built up areas and, unfortunately, a number were hit and killed by cars.

Cyclone Yasi

On 3 February 2011, the eyewall of Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi crossed the coast near Mission Beach. Wind gusts estimated up to, leaving behind significant damage. A storm surge estimated to have reached destroyed several structures along the coast and pushed up to inland. In the hours after the storm's passage, police were unable to venture beyond their station grounds as the situation had yet to be declared safe. Most of the beach had lost its sand and all of the towns structures were damaged to some degree, with many houses completely destroyed. Near sunrise on 3 February, there were no reports of fatalities or injuries in Mission Beach.

Agriculture

The Mission Beach area also supports a sizeable agricultural industry, particularly the cultivation of sugar and bananas. Boutique wineries specialising in tropical fruit wines can also be found in Mission Beach and nearby Kurrimine Beach.

In popular culture