Rainbow Beach

History

The town's war memorial, commemorating those who died in the World War I and subsequent conflicts, was refurbished in 1993 and is also located in Laurie Hanson Park. Rainbow Beach State School opened on 28 January 1986. The Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd opened on 15 September 1993. The church and hall were relocated from Yeronga in Brisbane and re-erected in Rainbow Beach after a 15-hour journey. The church had operated in Yeronga under the same name from 1958 to 1992. Rainbow Beach Library was opened in 2012.

Geography

Rainbow Beach is bounded to the east by Wide Bay in the Coral Sea. The name of the town derives from the rainbow-coloured sand dunes fronting the beach. According to the legends of the indigenous Kabi Kabi people, the dunes were coloured when Yiningie, a spirit represented by a rainbow, plunged into the cliffs after doing battle with an evil tribesman. The sand colours derive from the rich mineral content, including rutile, ilmenite, zircon, and monazite. A black dune of ilmenite sands, overgrown by dune vegetation, can be found north-west of the main town. It is currently being mined for sale to China, with complete removal expected to take two years. The Cooloola Section of the Great Sandy National Park borders the town to the south. A number of walking tracks through the national park depart from the southern outskirts of Rainbow Beach. That includes the northern end-point of the Cooloola Great Walk. By road, Rainbow Beach is from the Bruce Highway town of Gympie, and from the Queensland state capital, Brisbane. Rainbow Beach has a warm humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa) with hot, very wet summers and very mild, drier winters. The wettest recorded day was 24 August 2007 with of rainfall. The town experiences 84.6 clear days and 120.7 cloudy days. Extreme temperatures ranged from on 12 January 2002 and 16 December 2019 to on 19 July 2007.

Most-observed species

• Willie-wagtail

  Rhipidura leucophrys (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  1,364
• Brown Honeyeater

  Lichmera indistincta (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827) · Aves
  1,080
• Little Wattlebird

  Anthochaera chrysoptera (Latham, 1801) · Aves
  1,053
• Noisy Friarbird

  Philemon corniculatus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  1,037
• Rainbow Bee-eater

  Merops ornatus Latham, 1801 · Aves
  995
• Welcome Swallow

  Hirundo neoxena Gould, 1842 · Aves
  989
• Bar-shouldered Dove

  Geopelia humeralis (Temminck, 1821) · Aves
  949
• Lewin's Honeyeater

  Meliphaga lewinii (Swainson, 1837) · Aves
  932