Benaraby is a rural town and

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

in the

Gladstone Region Gladstone Region is a local government area in Queensland, Australia. The council covers an area of , had an estimated resident population at 30 June 2018 of 62,979, and has an estimated operating budget of A$84 million. History Gladstone Reg ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, Australia.

Geography

The town of Benaraby in the north-east of the locality with two neighbourhoods based around two former railway stations of the same name: * Alkina () * Marrawing () The

Bruce Highway The Bruce Highway is a major highway in Queensland, Australia. Commencing in the state capital, Brisbane, it passes through areas close to the eastern coast on its way to Cairns in Far North Queensland. The route is part of the Australian Nat ...

enters the locality from the east (

Tannum Sands Tannum Sands is a coastal town and locality in the Gladstone Region, Queensland, Australia. Geography The locality is bounded to north-east by the Coral Sea, to the north-west and west by the Boyne River, and to the south-west by Station Cr ...

), bypasses the town to the north, exiting to the north ( Wurdong Heights). Lake Awoonga is in the south of the locality and is the impoundment of the Boyne River by the

Awoonga Dam Lake Awoonga was formed on the Boyne River by the dam located from Gladstone, in Central Queensland, Australia. It is approximately 30 minutes drive from Gladstone, via Benaraby. Lake Awoonga is the main water supply for the Gladstone regio ...

. The Boyne River flows north from the dam through the locality, passing east of the town and then forms part of the north-eastern boundary of the locality.

History

Boyne River Provisional School opened on 12 July 1886 and closed in November 1886. It reopened on 24 Aug 1903. In 1907, it was renamed Benaraby Provisional School. On 1 January 1909, it became Benaraby State School. Benaraby Post Office opened around 1912 (

receiving offices A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

known as ''Boyne Bridge'', ''Boyne River'', ''Annandale'' and ''Benaraby'' had been open from 1890) and closed in 1982. The population of Benaraby at the was 594. Originally a rural locality, in recent times it has become more of a residential suburb for the workers in Gladstone,

Boyne Island Boyne Island is a coastal town and locality in the Gladstone Region, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Boyne Island had a population of 4,760 people. Boyne Island is south of Gladstone. Geography It is located on the west bank o ...

and

. In the , the locality of Benaraby had a population of 1,219 people.

Education

Benaraby State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 17 O'Connor Road (). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 105 students with 7 teachers (5 full-time equivalent) and 11 non-teaching staff (6 full-time equivalent). There are no secondary schools in Benaraby. The nearest government secondary school is

Tannum Sands State High School Tannum Sands State High School (TSSHS or often Tannum High) is a public high school located in Tannum Sands, Gladstone Region, Queensland, Australia. Each grade has an average of about 213 students. It is the first and only secondary school est ...

in neighbouring

to the north-east.

Amenities

Benaraby contains a petrol station, a primary school, a community hall, a nursery and three accommodation providers.

"This Big" sculpture

In June 2017, a 4.5 metre tall sculpture called "This Big" was installed at the Caltex Truck & Travel Centre on the Bruce Highway at Benaraby which was officially unveiled in September 2017. Commissioned by site owner Martin Spinks, the "This Big" sculpture depicts a giant pair of hands measuring a

barramundi The barramundi (''Lates calcarifer'') or Asian sea bass, is a species of catadromous fish in the family Latidae of the order Perciformes. The species is widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific, spanning the waters of the Middle East, Sout ...

. Inspired by the Gladstone Region's

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

industry and fishing culture, it was created by Lump Studio in Melbourne where ten people worked on the sculpture over a period of six months before it was transported to Benaraby where it took three days to install. The sculpture consists of

corten steel Weathering steel, often referred to by the genericised trademark COR-TEN steel and sometimes written without the hyphen as corten steel, is a group of steel alloys which were developed to eliminate the need for painting, and form a stable rus ...

, aluminium and

powder coating Powder coating is a type of coating that is applied as a free-flowing, dry Powder (substance), powder. Unlike conventional liquid paint which is delivered via an evaporating solvent, powder coating is typically applied electrostatically and then P ...

3D modelling In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical coordinate-based representation of any surface of an object (inanimate or living) in three dimensions via specialized software by manipulating edges, vertices, an ...

was used to create the hands which consist of 226 pieces of steel welded together. A total of 11 separate aluminium segments make up the barramundi. The "This Big" sculpture was officially unveiled by '' Escape with ET'' host and former rugby league player

Andrew Ettingshausen Andrew "ET" Ettingshausen (born 29 October 1965) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. He played his first grade Australian club football for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks ...

on 23 September 2017. Ettingshausen said the sculpture is not only intended to be a designated highway landmark but to also represent Benaraby as being the gateway to newly created fishing zones and "the real start of the barramundi fishery in Queensland".

References

External links

* {{authority control Towns in Queensland Gladstone Region Localities in Queensland