Building a tourism destination for more than a century

Attracting visitors has been the goal of Mackay and the Whitsundays for more than a century.

Barry Dean at the Mackay Tiger Moth Museum. Picture: Tony Martin

ATTRACTING visitors from the south and around the world has been the goal of Mackay and the Whitsundays for more than a century.

It began in earnest when Mackay was finally linked by rail to Rockhampton, and Brisbane, in 1921 and then to Townsville in 1923.

Soon, rail travel began to eclipse boarding a steamer at Flat Top Island, and by the end of the decade the possibilities of air travel had caught the public's imagination.

By 1930, the Daily Mercury ­relayed news of a Swiss tourist-trade expert's visit to the region. It was his assessment that not enough was being done to attract visitors.

Months later a new tourist company, Mackay Tours Ltd, was formed to "stimulate and promote the tourist traffic" to the region's beauty spots, including the islands.

The first batch of tourists bound for Lindeman Island were waved off on December 20, 1930.

Opening of the Mackay Airport, 1930Photo Daily Mercury Archives

Mackay Airport had been declared open in April 1930, and more infrastructure and technological advances followed, including the opening of Eungella Chalet in 1933 and introduction of diesel-drawn airconditioned trains in the 1950s, which carried still more tourists to the region.

 

A letter to the editor about promoting tourism in Mackay, September 21, 1945: Picture: Daily Mercury Archives

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Former Mackay Mayor Ian Wood, later a Queensland Senator, was an outspoken champion of the tourism potential of the Mackay region. He promoted the Mackay region's natural wonders, including Eungella, and also enhanced the city's tropical look by planting palms along its main streets.

 

ROUGH TRIP: This sleek tourist bus which drove into Mackay on July 26, 1956 attracted a good deal of attention, but the luxury it afforded didnt quite match the state of the regional roads at the time.Photo Daily Mercury Archives

The Royal Tour of 1954 brought the newly-crowned Queen Elizabeth to Mackay.

The Daily Mercury reported the event would bring "world publicity" to the Great Barrier Reef.

As many in Mackay fondly remember, Roylen Cruises ran charters to nearby islands and reefs until 2000.

"Brampton Island was the main attraction for Mackay," Barry Dean said. "We'd drop 300 people at Brampton for the day and carry through 50 people to Hayman and Lindeman."

Books - Train on Brampton Island in 1960s from Those Were The Days by Ron and Elizabeth Morrison

Mr Dean said the Daily Mercury played an essential role in promoting the islands as well as events like the Mackay Tourism Festival. But he said it was also there when the cruises to Brampton,

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