Seaforth

History

In 1899 the Queensland Government bought Seaforth Estate from H.M. Finlayson, a pioneer selector, as a settlement and named it Springcliff; however local residents always called it Seaforth and it was officially renamed Seaforth in 1966. Finlayson Point is named after Finlayson. The old provisional school building was relocated to become the Seaforth Presbyterian Church, which opened in May 1949 and which served the congregation until May 1961 when the present church was opened. It later became known as the Seaforth Uniting Church after Methodist Church entered into the amalgamation to create the Uniting Church in Australia. There is a former church building at 53 Palm Avenue ().

Geography

Seaforth is a small holiday and fishing town located north-northwest of Mackay. Finlaysons Point is a headland at the northernmost of the locality (). The coastline near the point and extending along the north-east coastline is a sandy beach. The town is beside the beach with most of the residential development in the town or along that stretch of coast. The southern part of the locality is mountainous, rising to elevations of above sea level. The northern part is lower and flatter with typical elevations of above sea level and used for cropping (mostly sugarcane). Apart from this, the predominant land use is grazing on native vegetation. * Mount Sweetland () and the following mountain passes: * Macartneys Gap () * Acacia Island (also known as Chings Island) ().

Most-observed species

• Australasian Figbird

  Sphecotheres vieilloti Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 · Aves
  288
• Laughing Kookaburra

  Dacelo novaeguineae (Hermann, 1783) · Aves
  286
• Bar-shouldered Dove

  Geopelia humeralis (Temminck, 1821) · Aves
  263
• Spangled Drongo

  Dicrurus bracteatus Gould, 1843 · Aves
  213
• Varied Triller

  Lalage leucomela (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827) · Aves
  209
• Masked Lapwing

  Vanellus miles (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  183
• Bush Thick-knee

  Burhinus grallarius (Latham, 1801) · Aves
  178
• Rufous Shrikethrush

  Colluricincla rufogaster Gould, 1845 · Aves
  178