Te Kowai is a 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 , Te Kowai had a population of 227 people.

Geography

The locality is bounded by the

Pioneer River The Pioneer River is a river in North Queensland, Australia. The long river flows through the city of . History Captain John Mackay and his party were the first Europeans to discover the river in 1860. Mackay named it Mackay River after his ...

to the north, by the

Mackay Ring Road The Mackay Ring Road is a bypass route near Mackay, Queensland, Australia The proposed full length of the road is long and will be built in 3 stages. Stage 1 opened in September 2020. Stage 1 is in length and connects the Bruce Highway to t ...

to the north-east and east, and Bakers Creek (the watercourse) to the south-west and south. The land is flat and low-lying, between above sea level, and is used for growing

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 ...

. The

Peak Downs Highway The Peak Downs Highway links the towns of Mackay, Queensland, Mackay and Clermont, Queensland, Clermont in the Australian state of Queensland. It represents the main link between Queensland's Whitsunday Islands, Whitsunday Coast and the Central ...

enters the locality from the east (

Racecourse A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also us ...

) and exits to the west (

Alexandra Alexandra () is a female given name of Greek origin. It is the first attested form of its variants, including Alexander (, ). Etymology, Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; genitive, GEN , ; ...

).There is a network of

cane tramways The rail network in Queensland, Australia, was the first in the world to adopt narrow gauge for a main line. In 2013, it claimed to be the second largest narrow gauge network in the world. The network consists of the following lines: *the N ...

in the locality to transport the harvested sugarcane to the sugar mills.

History

The name of the suburb is derived from a former railway station, itself derived from a nearby sugar plantation named after a New Zealand tree,

kōwhai Kōwhai ( or ) are small woody legume trees within the genus '' Sophora'', in the family Fabaceae, that are native to New Zealand. There are eight species, with '' Sophora microphylla'' and '' Sophora tetraptera'' being large trees. Their natu ...

. The name was shortened and the

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

definite article In grammar, an article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech. In English, both "the" ...

"Te" added. The Te Kowai sugar mill was established in 1874 at and operated until 1894 when it amalgamated with the Palms Mill. Te Kowai State School opened on 13 November 1883 and closed in December 1968. It was at 5 Te Kowai Foulden Road (). Constructed on the Mackay railway line, initially from

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 ...

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England *Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States *Éton, a commune in the Meuse depa ...

, commenced on 14 November 1883 and was completed on 10 August 1885. In Te Kowai it followed the route of the present-day Peak Downs Highway with the Te Kowai railway station at . The line closed in 2009. Te Kowai Presbyterian Church opened on 8 December 1918.

Demographics

In the , Te Kowai had a population of 218 people. In the , Te Kowai had a population of 227 people.

Education

There are no schools in Te Kowai. The nearest government primary schools are Dundula State School in neighbouring Bakers Creek to the south-west, Walkerston State School in Walkerston to the west, and Mackay West State School in West Mackay to the north-east. The nearest government 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 ...

in South Mackay to the east.

Facilities

Mackay South Water Recycling Facility (also known as Bakers Creek Water Treatment Plant) is a

sewage treatment Sewage treatment is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable to discharge to the surrounding environment or an intended reuse application, thereby preventing water p ...

plant at the western end of Temples Lane (). Operated by 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 ...

, the plant processes waste water from 63,000 people. It provides high quality recycled water for irrigation as required by farmers (reducing drawdown of

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

) with any remaining water being discharged into Bakers Creek. As the water is high in nutrients, it is better for the environment to use it on crops than to add it to the nutrient load of the creek. The sludge that remains after processing is centrifuged to remove remaining water and the solid waste is sold as nutrient-rich compost for farms.

Weather Station

Te Kowai weather station is a

weather station A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasting, weather forecasts and to study the weather and clima ...

at Te Kowai, operated by the

Bureau of Meteorology The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM or BoM) is an executive agency of the Government of Australia, Australian Government that is responsible for providing Weather forecasting, weather forecasts and Meteorology, meteorological services to Australia a ...

. This weather station does not run on weekends and public holidays.

References

{{Mackay Region Mackay Region Localities in Queensland