Pacific Paradise is a
suburb of
Maroochydore
Maroochydore ( ) is a coastal town in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia.
The town was subdivided from the Cotton Tree reserve by Surveyor Thomas O'Connor in 1903. The land was acquired from William Pettigrew who had a timber de ...
in the
Sunshine Coast Region,
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.
In the , Pacific Paradise had a population of 2,190 people.
[
]
Geography
Pacific Paradise is bounded to the south by the Maroochy River
The Maroochy River is a river in South East Queensland, Australia. The river rises from the eastern slopes of the Blackall Range and flows east through Eumundi, before entering the sea at Cotton Tree, Maroochydore. Other populated centres in ...
, to the south-west by the Sunshine Motorway, to the north-east by Finland Road, to the north loosely by the North Shore Connection Road.
The suburb is part of the Maroochydore
Maroochydore ( ) is a coastal town in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia.
The town was subdivided from the Cotton Tree reserve by Surveyor Thomas O'Connor in 1903. The land was acquired from William Pettigrew who had a timber de ...
urban centre and is located by road north of Maroochydore CBD via the Sunshine Motorway.
The residential areas are in the north-east of the suburb () with the remainder of the suburb being undeveloped land, either used for farming or unused because it is marshland.
History
Thousands of years before European occupancy, the north shore of the Maroochy River was the land resource area of the Toombra clan of the Undanbi people. They educated their children in matters relating to sustenance and preservation of culture. Using the natural landscape as a schoolroom, skills and knowledge were acquired by observation and through tutoring by their elders.
Europeans commenced to occupy the land from the 1880s but no provisions were made for establishing a school. Selectors among whom were William Harry Baker, William Parsons, Amos Wickerson and William Godfrey purchased Crown land to free range
Free range denotes a method of farming husbandry where the animals, for at least part of the day, can roam freely outdoors, rather than being confined in an enclosure for 24 hours each day.
On many farms, the outdoors ranging area is fenced, ...
cattle and horses as well as growing citrus crops. In the 1890s two children, Eleanor May and Harry Searle, were born to the Baker family who owned Portion 102V, Parish of Maroochy, County of Canning
The County of Canning is a county (a cadastral division) in Queensland, Australia. The county consists of almost all of the former Shires of Caboolture, Maroochy and Kilcoy and the former City of Caloundra. Its main urbanised areas are centr ...
(the location of Pacific Paradise State School today).
Attendance at a school for sixty days in a year had become compulsory in Queensland in 1875. Some of the children in the area in the late 1880s were aged between six and twelve years, but because their parents lived more than from the nearest school, the children were exempted from attending school. However one family, the Peatlings, sent their youngest son Frederick John, to the Diddillibah Provisional School that opened in 1885. Other children were either taught at home by their parents or did not receive any schooling. Many of the families suffered great hardship from a flood of the Maroochy River in 1893. The site of the present-day Pacific Paradise State School was under water.
The initial phase of urbanisation began in the 1950s. Major improvements for access to the area included the David Low Way
David Low Way is a Australian road connecting the many coastal townships of the Sunshine Coast with the two large city centres of Maroochydore in the south and Noosa Heads in the north. The route is an alternative coastal route to the Sunshin ...
, the David Low Bridge at Bli Bli
Bli Bli () is a rural town and locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Bli Bli had a population of 7,801 people. Geography
A few kilometres inland from the Maroochydore urban area, Bli Bli rises above the wetland ...
, and the Maroochy Airport. The government and private developers saw the potential for seaside resorts.
In March 1959 the chairman of Maroochy Shire Council
The Shire of Maroochy was a local government area about north of Brisbane in the Sunshine Coast region of South East Queensland, Australia. The shire covered an area of , and existed as a local government entity from 1890 until 2008, when it ...
, Arthur Low, proposed to Jack Pizzey
Jack Charles Allan Pizzey (2 February 1911 – 31 July 1968) was a Queensland Country Party politician. He was Premier of Queensland, in a coalition with the Liberal Party, from 17 January 1968 until his death on 31 July that year. To date, h ...
, the Queensland Minister for Education, that sites for future schools should be acquired in the area. The District Inspector of Schools investigated and recommended land in the north-west corner of Portion 598, Parish of Maroochy as a site to be reserved for school purposes.
By the 1980s, the areas now Mudjimba, Marcoola and Pacific Paradise had become medium-density residential areas with a further major development of planned as the Maroochy Woods Estate and Maroochy Waters Estate in addition to a development of 87 lots in the Suncoast Estate at Marcoola. In 1982 Gordon Simpson, the state government member for Cooroora, recognised the necessity for a school to cater for the growing population. However, the Queensland Education Department claimed there would be only 86 children which was insufficient to erect a primary school and claimed that the school reserve was "half low-lying tea-tree swamp" and not adequate for school facilities.
In 1986 there was overcrowding at Bli Bli State School with 488 children enrolled, necessitating a new school. Architects, Microvitch & Microvitch, designed a campus similar to one at Morayfield East State School in which the facilities of a preschool were integrated with those of a primary school Grade 1. The school complex was built over a period of five months. The buildings were single-storey on a concrete slab.
The area was officially named Pacific Paradise on 27 July 1991. The school was officially named Pacific State School on 3 December 1991.
On 28 January 1992, Pacific Paradise State School was officially opened with 370 students in the main school with a further 50 pre-schoolers.
In the , Pacific Paradise had a population of 2,190 people.
Education
Pacific Paradise State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 14-24 Menzies Drive (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 563 students with 44 teachers (37 full-time equivalent) and 25 non-teaching staff (16 full-time equivalent). It includes a special education
Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...
program.
There is no secondary school in Pacific Paradise. The nearest secondary school is Maryoochydore State High School in Maroochydore
Maroochydore ( ) is a coastal town in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia.
The town was subdivided from the Cotton Tree reserve by Surveyor Thomas O'Connor in 1903. The land was acquired from William Pettigrew who had a timber de ...
.
Amenities
The Sunshine Coast Regional Council
The Sunshine Coast Region is a local government area located in the Sunshine Coast district of South East Queensland, Australia.
It was created by the amalgamation in 2008 of the City of Caloundra and the Shires of Maroochy and Noosa. It cont ...
operates a mobile library
A bookmobile or mobile library is a vehicle designed for use as a library. They have been known by many names throughout history, including traveling library, library wagon, book wagon, book truck, library-on-wheels, and book auto service. Bookm ...
service which visits Lerner Street.
References
Attribution
This Wikipedia article contains material fro
Pacific Paradise State School History
published by The State of Queensland under CC-BY-4.0, retrieved 19 April 2020
archived
on 19 April 2020.
Further reading
*
{{Sunshine Coast Region
Suburbs of the Sunshine Coast Region
Maroochydore
1991 establishments in Australia
Populated places established in 1991