McEwens Beach is a coastal town and rural

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

in the

Mackay Region The Mackay Region is a local government area located in North Queensland, Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, it was preceded by three previous local government areas with modern histories extending back as far as 1869. It has an estimat ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. In the , the locality of McEwens Beach had a population of 159 people.

Geography

The locality is bounded to the east by the Coral Sea with a long sandy beach along the length of the coast, also known as McEwens Beach (). The town of McEwens Beach is on the south-eastern coast facing Sandringham Bay (). The north-east of the locality is Bakers Creek Conservation Park (). The aim of the park is to protect the shore birds. This includes both the Australian

beach stone-curlew The beach stone-curlew (''Esacus magnirostris'') also known as beach thick-knee is a large, ground-dwelling bird that occurs in Australasia, the islands of South-east Asia. At and , it is one of the world's largest shorebirds. It is less stri ...

which is deemed as vulnerable as well as migratory shore birds. The town is a small residential area along the south-east coast, accessible via McEwens Beach Road. The area surrounding the town is undeveloped, being mostly marshland. The west of the locality is used to grow

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of 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 stout, jointed, fib ...

while the middle of the locality is used for

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to free range (roam around) and consume wild vegetations in order to feed conversion ratio, convert the otherwise indigestible (by human diges ...

on native vegetation. There is a cane tramway in the west of the locality to transport the harvested sugarcane to the local sugar mill for processing.

History

From the 1920s the location was known as McEwen’s Beach, after Robert Field McEwen who had purchased land in the area. The area was named as a township by the Queensland Place Names Board on 11 December 1980.

Demographics

In the , the locality of McEwens Beach had a population of 202 people. In the , the locality of McEwens Beach had a population of 159 people.

Amenities

The

Mackay Regional Council The Mackay Region is a local government area located in North Queensland, Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, it was preceded by three previous local government areas with modern histories extending back as far as 1869. It has an estimat ...

operates a mobile library service on a fortnightly schedule at Aura Street. McEwens Beach Reserve is a foreshore park to the south of the town (). There is an foreshore esplanade at the north of the town ().

Education

There are no schools in McEwens Beach. The nearest primary school is Chelona State School in neighbouring Chelona to the south-west. The nearest secondary school is

Mackay State High School Mackay State High School is a government secondary school at 123 Milton Street, South Mackay, Mackay, Mackay Region, Queensland, Australia. The school offers education to students from grades 7 to 12 and provides a range of academic programs ...

Mackay Mackay may refer to: *Clan Mackay, the Scottish clan from which the surname "MacKay" derives Mackay may also refer to: Places Australia * Mackay Region, a local government area ** Mackay, Queensland, a city in the above region *** Mackay Airport ...

to the north.

References

{{authority control Towns in Queensland Mackay Region Coastline of Queensland Localities in Queensland