From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Whitsunday Region

Field	Value
type	lga
name	Whitsunday Region
state	qld
image_map1	Whitsunday LGA Qld 2008.png
map_caption1	Location within Queensland
image	ProserpineAerialAug2017.jpg
caption	Aerial view of Proserpine, the service & administrative centre and ultimately gateway to the region by road, rail and air
pop	37152
pop_year
pop_footnotes
est	2008
area	23819
area_footnotes
mayor	Ry Collins
seat	Proserpine
region	North Queensland
stategov	Whitsunday
stategov2	Burdekin
fedgov	Dawson
fedgov2	Capricornia
logo	Whitsunday regional council logo.svg
url	http://www.whitsunday.qld.gov.au/
near-n	Coral Sea
near-ne	Coral Sea
near-e	Coral Sea
near-se	Mackay
near-s	Isaac
near-sw	Isaac
near-w	Charters Towers
near-nw	Burdekin
logo_upright	1.2

The Whitsunday Region is a local government area located in North Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, it was preceded by two previous local government areas with a history extending back to the establishment of regional local government in Queensland in 1879.

It has an estimated operating budget of A$48.8m.

In the , the Whitsunday Region had a population of 37,152 people.

History

Prior to 2008, the new Whitsunday Region was an entire area of two previous and distinct local government areas:

the Shire of Bowen;
and the Shire of Whitsunday.

The Bowen Municipality was constituted on 7 August 1863 under the Municipalities Act 1858 (a piece of New South Wales legislation inherited by Queensland at its separation four years earlier). On 11 November 1879, the Wangaratta Division was created as one of 74 divisions around Queensland under the Divisional Boards Act 1879. With the passage of the Local Authorities Act 1902, Wangaratta became a shire and Bowen became a town on 31 March 1903.

On 19 January 1910, the Shire of Proserpine was excised from Wangaratta. It was renamed on 18 February 1989.

On 2 April 1960, the Town of Bowen was abolished, and merged into the Shire of Wangaratta, which was renamed Bowen.

In July 2007, the Local Government Reform Commission released its report and recommended that the two areas amalgamate. Both councils and residents across the board opposed amalgamation, although amalgamation with each other was the preferred option of each if forced to choose. On 15 March 2008, the Shires formally ceased to exist, and elections were held on the same day to elect councillors and a mayor to the Regional Council.

In 2012, a petition signed by over 1600 people requested that the Whitsunday Region be de-amalgamated. Although the number of signatories was sufficiently large, the Queensland Government refused the request for a de-amalgamation vote arguing that the financial modelling did not show that deamalgamation would be financially viable.

In March 2017, many areas of the Whitsunday Region were damaged by Cyclone Debbie. The Proserpine Council Chambers was extensively damaged.

Cyclone Debbie recovery

A new $6 million council administration building will be constructed in Proserpine during late 2018/2019, after this facility is completed workers that are temporarily being housed in Cannonvale will re-locate back to Proserpine. This will be a major new building that will also include a new disaster hub and resilience center.

Wards

The council is split into six divisions, each returning one councillor, plus a mayor.

Towns and localities

The Whitsunday Region includes the following settlements:

Bowen area:

Bowen
Collinsville
Binbee
Bogie
Brisk Bay
Gumlu
Guthalungra
Inveroona
Merinda
Mount Coolon
Mount Wyatt
Newlands
Queens Beach
Scottville
Springlands Whitsunday area:
Proserpine
Airlie Beach
Andromache
Brandy Creek
Breadalbane
Cannon Valley
Cannonvale
Cape Conway
Cape Gloucester
Conway
Conway Beach
Crystal Brook
Daydream Island
Dingo Beach
Dittmer
Flametree
Foxdale
Glen Isla
Gloucester Island
Goorganga Creek
Goorganga Plains
Gregory River
Gunyarra
Hamilton Island
Hamilton Plains
Hayman Island
Hideaway Bay
Jubilee Pocket
Kelsey Creek
Laguna Quays
Lake Proserpine
Lethebrook
Mandalay
Mount Julian
Mount Marlow
Mount Pluto
Mount Rooper
Myrtlevale
Palm Grove
Pauls Pocket
Preston
Riordanvale
Shute Harbour
Silver Creek
Strathdickie
Sugarloaf
Thoopara
Wilson Beach
Woodwark

Libraries

The Whitsunday Regional Council operate public libraries at Bowen, Cannonvale, Collinsville, and Proserpine.

Heritage register

The Whitsunday Regional Council maintains the Whitsunday Local Heritage Register.

Demographics

Proserpine, a major population centre in the Whitsunday Region, home to the region's hospital, railway station, airport and a variety of educational facilities from early education up to secondary school.

Year	Population
(Total)	Population
(Bowen)	Population
(Whitsunday)	Notes
1933	11,477	7,543	3,934
1947	11,700	8,083	3,617
1954	13,094	8,518	4,576
1961	14,604	9,491	5,113
1966	15,616	9,342	6,274
1971	16,651	10,231	6,420
1976	19,038	11,292	7,746
1981	24,478	13,645	10,833
1986	25,945	14,364	11,581
1991	29,388	14,161	15,227
1996	31,202	14,411	16,791
2001	32,021	13,698	18,323
2006	36,158	14,625	21,533
2011	31,426
2016	33,778
2021	37,152

List of mayors

#	Name	Party
1	Mike Brunker
2	Jennifer Whitney
3	Andrew Willcox
4	url=https://www.whitsundayrc.qld.gov.au/our-council/about-council/mayors-and-councillors	title=Mayors and Councillors }}
5.	Ry Collins

References

(27 March 2019). "3218.0 – Regional Population Growth, Australia, 2017-18: Population Estimates by Local Government Area (ASGS 2018), 2017 to 2018". [[Australian Bureau of Statistics]].
"Collins’ victory confirmed in Whitsundays mayor race". News Corp.
(4 February 1960). "Order in Council".
Queensland Local Government Reform Commission. (July 2007). "Report of the Local Government Reform Commission".
(20 September 2012). "No de-amalgamation for Whitsundays". [[Whitsunday Times]].
(1 April 2017). "Proserpine Council Chamber damaged in Cyclone Debbie". Whitsunday Regional Council.
(23 May 2018). "$5m funding windfall for Proserpine". Whitsunday Regional Council.
"Opening hours and locations".
"History and Heritage".
{{Census 2011 AUS
{{Census 2016 AUS
{{Census 2021 AUS
"2008 Whitsunday Regional Council - Mayoral Election - Election Summary".
"2012 Whitsunday Regional Council - Mayoral Election - Election Summary".
"2016 Whitsunday Regional Council - Mayoral Election - Election Summary".
(2020). "2020 Local Government Elections: Saturday, 28 March 2020". [[Electoral Commission of Queensland]].
"Mayors and Councillors".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

whitsunday-region local-government-areas-of-queensland 2008-establishments-in-australia

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Whitsunday Region — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report