Flying Fish Point

History

The town was originally called Musgrave, but on 1 December 1961 it was officially changed to Flying Fish Point. The town's name comes from the headland, which in turn was named by explorer George Elphinstone Dalrymple on 4 October 1873, after the twelve ton cutter Flying Fish which was the principal vessel of his North East Coast Expedition. C Thomas Henry Fitzgerald had successfully established sugarcane plantations in the Mackay area and in April 1880 came to Flying Fish Point and planted sugarcane there on 15 June 1880. The focus of his sugarcane interests shifted further up the Johnstone River resulting in the establishing of Geraldton (later Innisfail) as the major sugarcane growing area. Flying Fish Point with its sandy beach instead became a popular holiday town for the area. The first Catholic mass was celebrated in Flying Fish Point on 1 January 1940 in Edwin Shaw's hut. Flying Fish Point Provisional School opened on 23 January 1899. It closed on a number of occasions due to low student numbers. It also closed for a period in 1918 after the school building was destroyed in a cyclone in March 1918. The school also closed for a period in World War II from about February 1942 when people were evacuated from the district due to fears of a Japanese invasion but the school did not reopen until 1947. It is unclear when it became Flying Fish Point State School as it is today.

Geography

Flying Fish Point is on the northern shore of the mouth of the Johnstone River as it enters the Coral Sea.

Most-observed species

• Southern Cassowary

  Casuarius casuarius (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,278
• Masked Lapwing

  Vanellus miles (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  960
• Australasian Figbird

  Sphecotheres vieilloti Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 · Aves
  889
• Metallic Starling

  Aplonis metallica (Temminck, 1824) · Aves
  817
• Artamus leucorhynchos

  Artamus leucorhynchos · Aves
  776
• Magpie-lark

  Grallina cyanoleuca (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  775
• Willie-wagtail

  Rhipidura leucophrys (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  708
• Common Myna

  Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  669

Most recent

• M 3.6 — 2011-03-15
  30 km NE of Innisfail Estate, Australia