Whitsunday is a coastal town in the

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 ...

of Airlie Beach in the

Whitsunday Region The Whitsunday Region is a Local government areas of Queensland, local government area located in North Queensland, North Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, it was preceded by two previous local government areas with a history extending ...

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.

History

The town takes its name from the Whitsunday Passage which was named on 4 June 1770 by Lieutenant

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

HMS Endeavour HMS ''Endeavour'' was a British Royal Navy research vessel that Lieutenant James Cook commanded to Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia on his First voyage of James Cook, first voyage of discovery from 1768 to 1771. She was launched in 1764 as t ...

because it was religious festival of

Whitsun Whitsun (also Whitsunday or Whit Sunday) is the name used in Britain, and other countries among Anglicans and Methodists, for the Christian holy day of Pentecost. It falls on the seventh Sunday after Easter and commemorates the descent of the H ...

. On 31 January 1987, the town was created to encompass the whole of the urbanised area around the Whitsunday Coast, replacing the separate towns of Airlie (within the locality of Airlie Beach), Cannonvale (within the locality of the same name) and Shutehaven (within the locality of Shute Harbour) in addition to the locality of Jubilee (now Jubilee Pocket).

References

External links

*
Town map (western part, around Cannonvale)

Town map (centre part, around Airlie Beach)

Town map (eastern part, around Shute Harbour)
{{authority control Whitsunday Region Towns in Queensland