Hervey Bay
Hervey Bay (/ˈhɑːrvi/) is a city on the coast of the Fraser Coast Region of Queensland, Australia. The city is situated approximately 290 kilometres (180 mi) or 3½ hours' highway drive north of the state capital, Brisbane. It is located on the bay of the same name open to the Coral Sea between the Queensland mainland and nearby K'gari (also known as Fraser Island). The local economy relies on tourism which is based primarily around whale watching in Platypus Bay to the north, ferry access to K'gari, accessible recreational fishing and boating and the natural north facing, calm beaches with wide undeveloped foreshore zones. In October 2019, Hervey Bay was named the First Whale Heritage Site in the world by the World Cetacean Alliance, for its commitment to and practices of sustainable whale and dolphin watching. A 2010 study by Deakin University showed that people on the Fraser Coast area including Hervey Bay, were the happiest in Australia. At June 2018, there were an estimated 54,674 people in Hervey Bay, having grown by an annual average of 1.31% year-on-year over the preceding five years.
| Hervey Bay Queensland | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
View over the city and Hervey Bay Airport towards the Great Sandy Strait War Memorial in Freedom Park University of Southern Queensland Urangan Pier Humpback whale in Hervey Bay with K'gari | |||||||||
Hervey Bay | |||||||||
| Coordinates | 25.29°S 152.84°E | ||||||||
| Population |
| ||||||||
| • Density | 586.6/km2 (1,519.4/sq mi) | ||||||||
| Postcode(s) | 4655 | ||||||||
| Area | 93.2 km2 (36.0 sq mi) (2011 urban) | ||||||||
| Time zone | AEST (UTC+10:00) | ||||||||
| Location | |||||||||
| LGA(s) | Fraser Coast Region | ||||||||
| Region | Wide Bay-Burnett | ||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Hervey Bay | ||||||||
| Federal division(s) | Hinkler | ||||||||
| |||||||||
The area that became Hervey Bay is on the traditional lands of the Butchulla people. The city takes its name from Hervey Bay, named by James Cook in 1770 in honour of Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol. Several small townships developed along the bayside, the earliest being Pialba in 1863. From 1863 to 1906, the Wide Bay region became a central part of the Pacific Slave trade, with more than 12 thousand South Sea Islanders brought to the cotton and sugarcane plantations in Maryborough and Hervey Bay. During World War II, the region operated a training school for the Z Special Unit special forces. Hervey Bay boomed from the 1980s on and was proclaimed a city in 1984.