Chalkie's Beach (also known as Stockyard Beach) is located on the western coast of Haslewood Island in the

Whitsunday Islands The Whitsunday Islands are 74 continental islands of various sizes off the central coast of Queensland, Australia, north of Brisbane. The northernmost of the islands are off the coast by the town of Bowen, while the southernmost islands are ...

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 , established_ ...

, Australia. It lies across from the more popular

Whitehaven Beach Whitehaven Beach is on Whitsunday Island, Australia. The island is accessible by boat, seaplane & helicopter from Airlie Beach, as well as Hamilton Island. It lies across from Stockyard Beach, better known as Chalkie's Beach, on Haslewood Isl ...

on the main

Whitsunday Island Whitsunday Island is the largest island in the Whitsunday group of islands located off the coast of Central Queensland, Australia. History Whitsunday Island was inhabited by the sea-faring Ngaro people for around 8,000 years prior to British ...

. The common name originates from a nickname for local businessman David Hutchen, whose yacht, the ''Banjo Paterson'', frequented the beach as a destination in day cruises. "Chalkie" refers to Hutchen's use of a blackboard for scorekeeping in beer-drinking contests following the

Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is an annual event hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, starting in Sydney, New South Wales, on Boxing Day and finishing in Hobart, Tasmania. The race distance is approximately . The race is run i ...

. The alternate name, "Stockyard Beach", comes from the presence of stockyards on the island built to house sheep in the 1920s and 1930s. A fringing coral reef lies offshore, home to a variety of

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

and sea turtles—including the

green turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the Family (biology), family Cheloniidae. It is the only species In biology, a spec ...

and

Hawksbill turtle The hawksbill sea turtle (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Eretmochelys''. The species has a global distribution, that is large ...

—which feed on nearby

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the orde ...

. The beach is a popular destination for snorkelling.

References

External links

* Whitsunday Islands Beaches of Queensland {{NorthQueensland-geo-stub