Machans Beach is a beach and coastal

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

of Cairns in the

Cairns Region The Cairns Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Queensland, Australia, centred on the regional city of Cairns. It was established in 2008 by the amalgamation of the City of Cairns and the Shires of Douglas and Mulgrave. H ...

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. In the , Machans Beach had a population of 1,051 people.

Geography

The Barron River and Barr Creek are respectively the southern and northern boundaries of the suburb, while the Coral Sea and

Captain Cook Highway The Captain Cook Highway is a short, regional highway in Queensland which originates in Cairns and terminates in Mossman, where it joins Mossman-Daintree Road, continuing to Daintree. The Captain Cook Highway is used to connect the CBD of Ca ...

form the eastern and western boundaries. The land is flat and just above sea level. The residential development is in the east of the suburb near the coast. The north-eastern coastline is a rocky

sea wall A seawall (or sea wall) is a form of coastal defense constructed where the sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the coast. The purpose of a seawall is to protect areas of human habitation, conservatio ...

, but the south-eastern coastline has a sand beach with the two sections separated by Redden Creek, which flows from the Barron River as a second mouth on the Coral Sea, creating an area known as Redden Island. The Gundy Anton Bridge crosses Redden Creek to connect the mainland part of Machans Beach with Redden Island. Redden Island is an important habit and feeding ground for shorebirds with over 100 species of bird being recorded there, including some rare and endangered species such as the

eastern curlew The Far Eastern curlew (''Numenius madagascariensis'') is a large shorebird most similar in appearance to the long-billed curlew, but slightly larger. It is mostly brown in color, differentiated from other curlews by its plain, unpatterned brown ...

, the

great knot __NOTOC__ The great knot (''Calidris tenuirostris'') is a small wader. It is the largest of the calidrid species. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside bird ...

, the

curlew sandpiper The curlew sandpiper (''Calidris ferruginea'') is a small wader that breeds on the tundra of Arctic Siberia. It is strongly migratory, wintering mainly in Africa, but also in south and southeast Asia and in Australia and New Zealand. It is a v ...

, the

bar-tailed godwit The bar-tailed godwit (''Limosa lapponica'') is a large and strongly migratory wader in the family Scolopacidae, which feeds on bristle-worms and shellfish on coastal mudflats and estuaries. It has distinctive red breeding plumage, long legs, ...

, the

red knot The red knot or just knot (''Calidris canutus'') is a medium-sized shorebird which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada, Europe, and Russia. It is a large member of the '' Calidris'' sandpipers, second only to the ...

, and the

lesser sand plover The lesser sand plover (''Charadrius mongolus'') is a small wader in the plover family of birds. The spelling is commonly given as lesser sand-plover, but the official British Ornithologists' Union spelling is "lesser sand plover". The genus ...

. These migratory shorebirds travel up to 25,000 km each year on their migration between Australian and Asia, some travelling as far north as Siberia and Japan. The majority of the suburb is still used as

freehold Freehold may refer to: In real estate *Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple * Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England * Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice ...

farming land with

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

the predominant crop.

History

Looking south along the esplanade, Machans Beach, 2018 01

The

Yirrganydji people The Yirrganydji (Irrukandji) people are an Indigenous Australian people of Queensland who trace their descent from the ''Irukandji'' and, as such, are the original custodians of a narrow coastal strip within Djabugay country that runs northward ...

(Tjapukai) traditionally inhabited the area. They used dugouts (single outrigger canoes) for fishing. From the canoes they used spears to catch smaller fish and harpoons to catch large sea creatures such as

dugong The dugong (; ''Dugong dugon'') is a marine mammal. It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest m ...

and turtle. In sheltered creeks, the Yirrganydji people established fish traps, fences of lawyer vine and bushes spread across the creek held in position in the creek by a series of stakes. The women would drive the fish into the traps by beating on the water. Some men pulled on the sides of the fish trap to hold it tight while other men speared the fish driven into the trap. According to traditional lore, if a sea snake was caught, it had to be released or else there would be huge storms. Machans beach Cairns qld au 01

The area was first surveyed in 1885, but was not permanently settled until the 1920s. It is named after Richard Machan who was among the first permanent white settlers in the area, having purchased land in the 1920s. Using a

Model T Ford The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relati ...

, Richard Machan provided transportation services to the area. He built a jetty to encourage tourist boats from Cairns to call at nearby Barron Beach. Machans Beach State School opened on 4 February 1952. In 1961, Gundy Anton donated part of his land for use in constructing a bridge across Redden Creek to Redden Island. In 2006, the council approved a local community proposal that the bridge (then known as the Redden Island Bridge) be renamed the Gundy Anton Bridge to reflect both the donation of the land and the considerable community service performed by Anton over the years. Machans Beach was gazetted as a

in 2002, having previously been a locality. At the the suburb recorded a population of 941. Looking south along the sea wall at Machans Beach, 2018

The coastline and waterways in the area are unstable due to storm surge and flooding, which have changed the course of the Barron River over the years. From April 2014 to August 2015, the crumbling seawall along the suburb's northern coastline was rebuilt combined with the construction of a causeway further out to sea to provide greater protection for the growing number of residences along the coastal area following a number of severe storms. The project cost the

Cairns Regional Council The Cairns Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Queensland, Australia, centred on the regional city of Cairns. It was established in 2008 by the amalgamation of the City of Cairns and the Shires of Douglas and Mulgrave. H ...

$16.8M. The drawback of the seawall is that it prevents a sandy beach from forming.

Relationship to airport

Machans Beach is located about 1–2 km north of the Cairns International Airport. Plans to extend the airport in 2011 raised a number of objections from Machans Beach residents in relation to environmental concerns and noise concerns.

References

External links

*
Machans Beach Community Association
{{Cairns Region Suburbs of Cairns 1885 establishments in Australia Populated places established in 1885