Hervey Bay

History

Butchulla (also known as Batjala, Badtjala, Badjela, and Badjala) is the language of the Fraser Coast region, including K’gari. Butchulla language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Fraser Coast Regional Council, particularly the towns of Maryborough and Hervey Bay extending south towards Double Island Point and north to Burrum Heads. The indigenous Batjala people including the Kabi Kabi are the traditional owners of Hervey Bay. Batjala means Bat-No and Jala-tongu. The first recorded European sighting of Hervey Bay was made by James Cook while carrying out his running survey of the east coast of Australia, on 22 May 1770. By noon Cook's ship was in a position a little over half-way across the opening of Hervey Bay heading for Bundaberg. When Cook first discovered Hervey Bay, he did not realise that Fraser Island was separated from mainland Australia; Cook did not travel far enough south due to the shallow depths of the waters in the Bay. Cook named the bay "Hervey's Bay" after Augustus John Hervey (1724–1779), later Third Earl of Bristol, a naval officer who became a Lord of the Admiralty the year Endeavour returned. Until around the mid-1980s the area was serviced by a rail link from the main North Coast line that diverted from Aldershot and went through Takura, Walligan, and Nikenbah, before continuing on to Pialba and Urangan. The line was a major freight point for the Port of Maryborough and for the sugar cane industry until road transport assumed the role. On 18 February 1984, the Town of Hervey Bay was officially proclaimed as the "City of Hervey Bay", due to its increasing population and growth in its business sector and tourism industry. Despite this, many of the local residents still saw it as a small seaside…

Most-observed species

• Rainbow Lorikeet

  Trichoglossus haematodus (Linnaeus, 1771) · Aves
  1,242
• Noisy Miner

  Manorina melanocephala (Latham, 1801) · Aves
  1,191
• Australian Ibis

  Threskiornis molucca (Cuvier, 1829) · Aves
  1,088
• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  936
• Pied Butcherbird

  Cracticus nigrogularis (Gould, 1837) · Aves
  879
• Magpie-lark

  Grallina cyanoleuca (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  845
• Welcome Swallow

  Hirundo neoxena Gould, 1842 · Aves
  834
• Torresian Crow

  Corvus orru Bonaparte, 1850 · Aves
  799