Bowen

History

Biri (also known as Birri) is a language of Central and North Queensland. Biri refers to a language chain extending from Central Queensland towards Townsville and is often used as a universal name for other languages and/or dialects across the region. The language area includes the towns of Bowen, Ayr, Collinsville and Nebo. Yuru (also known as Juru, Euronbba, Juru, Mal Mal, Malmal) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken on Yuru country. The Yuru language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Shire of Burdekin, including the town of Home Hill. Captain James Cook named Cape Gloucester on his voyage of exploration up the Australian coast in 1770. This "cape" turned out to be an island, and Gloucester Island dominates the view from Bowen's eastern beaches. Behind the island is a bay that forms an excellent port, which the town came to be built around. Shipwreck survivor, James Morrill, resided briefly in the area around the year 1850 with the local Aboriginal clan during his seventeen years living as a castaway. In 1859 Captain Henry Daniel Sinclair led an expedition to the area in response to a reward offered by the colony of New South Wales for finding a port somewhere north of Rockhampton. They came across a "most splendid harbour" which Sinclair named Port Denison after the colonial governor of New South Wales, William Denison. On the shore they found "several acres of ground resembling a garden...full of a vegetable resembling nuts" which the local Aboriginal people had constructed. On 11 September 1860, George Elphinstone Dalrymple on his naval excursion in the schooner Spitfire to search for the mouth of the Burdekin River, landed in Port Denison. He named and climbed Mount Gordon to survey the region and observed…

Geography

Bowen is located on the north-east coast in North Queensland, at exactly twenty degrees south of the equator. Bowen is halfway between Townsville and Mackay, and by road from Brisbane. Bowen sits on a square peninsula, with the Coral Sea to the north, east, and south. To the south-east is Port Denison and Edgecumbe Bay. On the western side, where the peninsula connects with the mainland, the Don River's alluvial plain provides fertile soil that supports a prosperous farming industry. Merinda is a hinterland town west of the town of Bowen. The Bruce Highway enters the locality from the east, approaches but does not enter the town of Bowen itself, but then turns west to pass through Merinda before exiting the locality to the north-west. The Collinsville-Newlands line extends to the coal-handling port at Abbot Point, also within the locality of Bowen. The railway station servicing the port is the Abbot Point railway station. Heronvale is a small coastal town by road south of the town of Bowen, accessed via the Bruce Highway and then Heronvale Road.

Most-observed species

• Silver Gull

  Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae (Stephens, 1826) · Aves
  397
• Magpie-lark

  Grallina cyanoleuca (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  350
• Rainbow Lorikeet

  Trichoglossus haematodus (Linnaeus, 1771) · Aves
  316
• Blue-faced Honeyeater

  Entomyzon cyanotis (Latham, 1801) · Aves
  308
• Crested Pigeon

  Ocyphaps lophotes (Temminck, 1822) · Aves
  301
• Black Kite

  Milvus migrans (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  294
• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  263
• Masked Lapwing

  Vanellus miles (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  262

Most recent

• M 5 — 2020-04-15
  32 km NNW of Whitsundays, Australia
• M 4.3 — 2016-08-18
  50 km N of Whitsundays, Australia
• M 4 — 2016-08-18
  43 km N of Whitsundays, Australia
• M 5.7 — 2016-08-18
  37 km NNW of Whitsundays, Australia
• M 4.3 — 2011-09-17
  44 km NNW of Collinsville, Australia
• M 4 — 2011-04-16
  45 km NNW of Collinsville, Australia