Enterprise Channel: Hinchinbrook council wins all-tide access at Dungeness

In game-changing news for North Queensland tourism, the Hinchinbrook Council has won a 30-year battle to create all-tide access to its stunning outer islands and Great Barrier Reef.

Hinchinbrook Island, the world's largest island national Park, photographed from Enterprise Channel at Dungeness. The heavily silted channel is only accessible during high tides. Picture: Cameron Bates

In game-changing news for North Queensland tourism, the Hinchinbrook Shire Council has won a decades-long bureaucratic battle to create all-tide access to the Hinchinbrook and Palm Island Group as well as the Great Barrier Reef.

The Hinchinbrook has been pushing for all-tidal access to and from Dungeness Boat Ramp and the Enterprise Channel for 30 years, with three-term Mayor Ramon Jayo making the issue a centrepiece of his election to office in 2016.

Mr Jayo said it had dredging silt-logged Enterprise Channel that enters the Hinchinbrook Channel would mean “having a safe port again for marine travellers up and down the coast”.

“We will be able to start conducting whale-watching tours through the winter months at reasonable times every single day … reef tours, channel tours, tours to Hinchinbrook Island, fishing trips,” he said.

“One of the things that people don’t realise is that you can book a holiday in Ingham for fishing tours, five, six, seven years in advance because you know that if the weather is bad and you can’t go to the reef, you can still go fishing up the channel.

Views from Dungeness across the Enterprise Channel to Hinchinbrook Island. Lucinda is the gateway to the world’s largest island national park, including daily transfers to and from the Thorsborne Trail, listed as one of the Top 10 hiking treks globally. Picture: Cameron Bates

“Every day of your holiday you will be able to put your boat in the water and you will be able to go somewhere and there are not too many places on the East Coast where you can do that, regardless of what the weather is doing.”

The state government approved dredging the shallow, tidal Enterprise in early 2024 but had dragged its heels on the construction of a rock wall to prevent the channel from re-silting.

Hinchinbrook Mayor Ramon Jayo speaking at the Clubs Queensland event at the Herbert River RSL in Ingham after the community organisation donated $75,000 to the Hinchinbrook Community Support Centre in the wake of the recent Hinchinbrook flood disaster. Picture: Cameron Bates

The council confirmed that approval for the rock wall – which combined with the dredging is estimated to cost around $12 million – had been granted during a general meeting in Ingham on Tuesday.

“The bottom line is that you can’t run a tourism business out of a tide book and the lack of all-tide access into our boat ramps has been holding us back,” he said.

“We have enormous potential to go ahead as a tourism district and tourism is one of the things that we believe is vital to our economic survival … we believe that tourism will flourish because of the ability to get out of a major port at all times.”

An image supplied by the Ingham Coast Guard shows the build-up of sediment at Enterprise Channel, part of the wider Hinchinbrook Channel network, which blocks access to and from the Dungeness Boat Ramp during low tide. The boat ramp is popular with recreational boaties from throughout North Queensland, including Townsville and Charters Towers. Picture: Supplied

Mr Jayo said he could not say what had changed to allow the proposal to finally be able to progress.

“There does seem to have been a new attitude adjustment in the bureaucracy … all of a sudden we seem to be getting better assistance and better cooperation from government circles than we previously had in the last seven years.”

The sun sets over Enterprise Channel, Dungeness, Hinchinbrook. Picture: Cameron Bates

The Hinchinbrook Shire, battling back from the February flood disaster, features multiple tourist attractions spanning Wallaman Falls in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area to Hinchinbrook Island, the world’s largest island national park.

The stunning jungle-clad mountainous island is home to the Thorsborne Trail, rated one of the best five-star hikes in the world.

Dungeness boasts a fishing lodge and hotel and restaurant, while the picturesque seaside-town of Lucinda also provides accommodation and great food options at the Lucinda Hotel Motel.

Enterprise Channel, Dungeness, Hinchinbrook Shire, North Queensland. Picture: Cameron Bates

Mr Jayo said the approval was a “game-changer”.

“The only problem is that we’ve got to find the $12 million to do the work, but the potential is there, we could look at a joint-venture, we can look at developers, we can look at everything to make it happen.”

He said the council was also looking to improve marine access at Forrest Beach, “which also remains a priority of ours”.

Mr Jayo said he hoped that Katter’s Australian Party, which represents Hinchinbrook at the state and federal level, to help secure funding to allow the vital project to progress.

Originally published as Enterprise Channel: Hinchinbrook council wins all-tide access at Dungeness