Urangan Pier is a historic

pier Seaside pleasure pier in Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century.">England.html" ;"title="Brighton, England">Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th ...

in Urangan,

Hervey Bay Hervey Bay () is a city on the coast of the Fraser Coast Region of Queensland, Australia. The city is situated approximately or 3½ hours' highway drive north of the state capital, Brisbane. It is located on the bay of the same name open to ...

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. It is a former deep-water, cargo-handling facility originally built to facilitate the export of sugar, timber and coal. The pier, served by the extension of the railway line from Pialba, was used for the transfer of cargo between rail and ships. It was built between 1913 and 1917, originally to a length of 1124 metres. The pier was closed in 1985, and 239 metres of it was demolished. However, due to public outcry, 868 metres of the pier was left, and the land was given to the Hervey Bay City Council (now the

Fraser Coast Regional Council The Fraser Coast Region is a local government area in the Wide Bay–Burnett region of Queensland, Australia, about north of Brisbane, the state capital. It is centred on the twin cities of Hervey Bay and Maryborough and also contains Fraser ...

). By 2009 the last 220-metre section of the pier had been fully restored, and the original timber pylons had been replaced with steel pylons with a plastic covering.

History

Aerial photograph of Hervey Bay looking north, 12 July 1967

The original proposal to establish Urangan as a coal port for the

Burrum River The Burrum River is a river located in the Wide Bay-Burnett region of Queensland, Australia. Course and features The river rises within Lake Lenthall, impounded by Lenthalls Dam at the confluence of several smaller watercourses including Harw ...

mining project did not eventuate due to several factors, mainly because the coal output did not reach original expectations. However, as the Wide Bay area was a chief producer of produce and freight, the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended f ...

made a decision to build a pier at

Construction on the Urangan Pier began in 1913. To reach the deep water channel, it was required to extend (3690 ft) out to sea. Construction was very slow and finished in 1917. The Urangan railway line also began construction in 1913 and branched off the main railway line at

Pialba Pialba is a coastal town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb of Hervey Bay in the Fraser Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It is the central business district of Hervey Bay. In the , Pialba had a population of 3,678 people. Geog ...

. This line was extended along the Urangan Pier as it was being constructed. Once it was completed, it served as one of the main ports of Queensland. UranganPierBoardQLD

Sugar was one of the main exports, however had to be transported from as far north as Bundaberg. When the

Bundaberg Port Port of Bundaberg is located at Burnett Heads, northeast of the city of Bundaberg, 5.6 nautical miles from the mouth of the Burnett River in Queensland, Australia. The port is a destination for ships from Australia and overseas. It is predomin ...

was built in 1958, it took over sugar exports and the Urangan pier ceased exporting sugar. Timber, general cargo and produce was still exported until 1960, when Caltex built an oil terminal adjacent to the Pier. Soon after this was built, freight, goods and produce exports were stopped and fuel became the only import from the pier. After the last ship docked at the Urangan pier in January 1985, Caltex Oil reversed the process of storage, replacing the system of fuel service from Shipping to bulk supply by rail from the

Pinkenba Pinkenba is a town and eastern coastal suburb within the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Pinkenba had a population of 368 people. Geography Pinkenba is a long narrow strip of land on the northern side of the Brisbane River ...

and Colmslie port terminals in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

. This, in turn, led to the closure of the pier and the Urangan branch line, as neither had a use any more. At this stage, the pier was in serious need of repairs. A decision was made by the Queensland Government to dismantle the entire pier. Due to large public outcry, rallying and petitions, the demolition of the pier was stopped. In late 1985, the Queensland Government handed the pier to the Hervey Bay City Council. The council pledged to restore the pier, which began in the late 1990s. Restoration included removing the rail tracks from the pier, encasing the wooden pylons with steel, repairing sleepers, repairing hand rails, and repairing lights. In 1999, the pier was restored to a length of 868 meters. It was officially re-opened by the then-governor of Queensland and the mayor of Hervey Bay,

Peter Arnison Major General Peter Maurice Arnison, (born 21 October 1940) is a retired Australian Army officer who served as the 23rd Governor of Queensland, in office from July 1997 until July 2003. He graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon in ...

and Bill Brennan (respectively) on 27 November 1999.Pier history, Hervey Bay, Australia
Retrieved 27 June 2012.

Urangan Pier model

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

of the pier was made by Mr Harry Coxon in 1917, the same year the original pier was constructed. It is a significant artefact in the Hervey Bay Historical Village & Museum's collection. Two new models are on display in the Hervey Bay Tourism Visitor Centre and in the Hervey Bay Whale Watch office at the Boat Harbour Marina.

Urangan Pier Festival

The first Pier Festival was held in 1986 to help raise funds to save Urangan Pier. Since then it has become a popular fishing competition held annually in September.

Pier to Pub Swim

Pier to Pub Ocean Swim Classic is an annual swimming competition held in April since 1999. The swim is from Urangan Pier to the jetty opposite the Torquay Hotel, while the short swim, called Splash for Cash, is from the corner of the Esplanade and Alexander Street to the jetty opposite the Torquay Hotel.

References

External links