Mission Beach is a coastal town and

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

in the Cassowary 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 , established_ ...

, Australia. In the , the locality of Mission Beach had a population of 815 people.

Geography

Mission Beach is bounded on the east by the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down the Australian northeast coast. Most of it is protected by the Fre ...

. Clump Point () is the northern end of a sandy beach long facing the

which runs south to

Tam O'Shanter Point Tam O'Shanter Point is a headland located in South Mission Beach, Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia on the north-eastern part of Rockingham Bay in the Coral Sea. It is part of the Coastal Wet Tropics Important Bird Area, identifi ...

South Mission Beach South Mission Beach is a coastal town and locality in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , South Mission Beach had a population of 932 people. Geography As the name suggests, South Mission Beach is south of Mission Beac ...

at the southern end.

History

Djiru

The region has been inhabited for at least the past 5,000 years by a rainforest dwelling people collectively known as the

Djiru people The Djiru, otherwise spelt Jirru, Are an Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional lands are along the coasts of Northern Queensland, mainly the area around Mission Beach. Language Djiru is a dialect of the Dyirbal language Country The Dj ...

. Remains of middens, fish traps, rock-shelter paintings and ceremonial sites are located around Mission Beach and Dunk Island. Djiru people made large wooden swords and built wet-season villages consisting of dome-shaped huts thatched with palm fronds and paperbark.

British exploration

Lieutenant

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

sailed through the area in 1770, naming Dunk Island. Clump Point was descriptively named in 1848 by Captain

Owen Stanley Captain Owen Stanley FRS RN (13 June 1811 – 13 March 1850) was a British Royal Navy officer and surveyor. Life Stanley was born in Alderley, Cheshire, the son of Edward Stanley, rector of Alderley and later Bishop of Norwich. A brother w ...

of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

survey ship HMS ''Rattlesnake''. On board was the

Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...

exploration party led by Edmund Kennedy which was landed to the south of the region to begin their ill-fated overland journey. After the disembarkation of Kennedy's group, Captain Stanley anchored off Dunk Island and he and his crew remained in the vicinity for ten days. They traded with the local Djiru people until a crew member shot at them after being prevented from entering a nearby village.

The shipwreck of the ''Maria''

On 26 February 1872, the brig ''Maria'' carrying 75 people of a gold prospecting expedition to

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

was wrecked upon Bramble Reef. The survivors escaped the sinking ship on 3 boats and 2 rafts. Two of the boats made it safely to the nearest British settlement of

Cardwell Cardwell may refer to: Places Australia *Cardwell, Queensland United States *Cardwell, Missouri *Cardwell, Montana * Cardwell Hall, Kansas State University Canada *Cardwell Parish, New Brunswick People *Alvin B. Cardwell (1902–1992), America ...

, but the other three craft were washed up on the shoreline at and around what is now Mission Beach. Up to ten of these crew members, including the captain, were found to have been murdered by Aboriginal people residing in this region. Lieutenant Sabben of the

was sent to recover the captain's boat and find any survivors. Upon reaching the beached boat they were attacked by about 120 Aboriginal men. In resisting the attack, 8 native people were killed. Fearing further attacks, Magistrate Brinsley Sheridan, ordered Sub-Inspector Robert Arthur Johnstone of the Native Police "to inflict decisive punishment". Johnstone and his troopers were significantly aided by another Royal Navy officer in Captain

John Moresby Rear Admiral John Moresby (15 March 1830 – 12 July 1922) was a British naval officer who explored the coast of New Guinea and was the first European to discover the site of Port Moresby. Life and career Moresby was born in Allerford, Somerset, ...

who provided additional armed marines and a large

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

. Moresby described how "several unfortunate blacks were shot down by the native troopers, who showed an unrestrained ferocity that disgusted our officers". A six-year-old boy was taken during this raid and sent to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

by the "kind act" of Lieutenant Francis Hayter. The boy died there from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

three years later. Johnstone and his troopers, together with armed sailors and volunteer riflemen, scoured the coast from Cardwell north to Cooper Point, searching every Aboriginal camp they came across for any traces of the men. Newspapers reported that Johnstone's detachment of Native Police killed a total of 93 local Aboriginal people in the ''Maria'' reprisals. Accusations of Johnstone and others having "punished the innocent together with the guilty" and partaking in "slaughtering whole camps, not only of men, but of women and children" even reached the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, Robert Herbert. The claims were dismissed by Lord Normanby, Governor of Queensland, on the grounds that the Aboriginal people of the north "are numerous, savage, treacherous, and very commonly cannibals". Various localities around Mission Beach were named after entities and events involved in the shipwreck of the ''Maria'' including Maria Creek and the

Johnstone River The Johnstone River, comprising the North Johnstone River and the South Johnstone River, is a river system located in Far North and North Queensland, Australia. The headwaters of the river system rise in the Atherton Tablelands. The north ...

British settlement

Up until the late 1870s, the area was still considered too dangerous for British settlement and the Djiru were able to maintain their traditional livelihood in a landscape that had the "appearance of some wealthy nobleman's estate." Charles Freshney's logging company started to cut down the groves of cedar trees around Clump Point from 1880. They employed Aboriginal people for timber hauling, paying them with tobacco and tools. The first white settlers to establish a landholding in the region were the Cutten brothers (Herbert, Leonard, James and Sidney), who took up their selections in 1886. They built a homestead which they called Bicton (now Bingil Bay), and farmed

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree ''Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South a ...

es, bananas,

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...

s, coffee, citrus fruit and

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family ( Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the ...

s. By 1890, the Cutten brothers were not able to support the remaining Djiru living on what was now their property. The Cuttens threatened to exterminate the Djiru and burnt down their main camp, but kept around 40 people to labour on their plantations. Initially these workers were indentured on government wages but by 1910 the Cuttens were accused of paying their remaining Djiru labourers with rum. The Cuttens starting selling out of the area in 1918 after a cyclone destroyed their plantations. After the Cutten brothers, the Unsworths settled at Narragon Beach, the Garners came and settled at Garners Beach, and the Porter brothers settled at what the locals refer to as Porter's Creek (also called Wongaling Creek) at the south end of North Mission Beach.

Hull River Aboriginal Settlement

In the early 20th century

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

banana farmers used Aboriginal people as labourers in the Tully River region.

Opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...

addiction and conflict with British settlers resulted in the

government creating an Aboriginal internment centre, the

Hull River Aboriginal Settlement Hull River Aboriginal Settlement, sometimes incorrectly referred to as Hull River Aboriginal Mission, was an Aboriginal reserve established in 1914, located at the present location of Mission Beach in the Hull River National Park, Queensland, A ...

, at the present

John Martin Kenny John Martin Kenny was a superintendent during the Queensland Aborigine Protection era. He arrived at Hull River National Park, Hull River on 1 September 1914 and established the Hull River Aboriginal Settlement. His mother was Catherine Kenny ( ...

was appointed superintendent in September 1914. There was no mission in the religious sense; the settlement had characteristics of a

penal settlement A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer to ...

. Forced removals from other regions swelled the population to around 500 by 1916. Many ran away and about 200 people died there in 1917 during an epidemic. On 10 March 1918, a category 5 cyclone hit the Innisfail area, killing at least 100 people in the region. A storm surge in the Mission Beach area swept hundreds of metres inland leaving debris 7m up in some trees. This cyclone destroyed the Hull River Aboriginal Settlement, killing the superintendent Kenny, his daughter and other residents. The surviving residents were forcibly moved to a new settlement on

Great Palm Island Great Palm Island, usually known as Palm Island, is the largest island in the Palm Islands group off Northern Queensland, Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal community, the legacy of an Aboriginal reserve, the Palm Island Aboriginal Sett ...

Development of the town

In the late 1920s after the construction of a road from

El Arish ʻArish or el-ʻArīsh ( ar, العريش ' , ''Hrinokorura'') is the capital and largest city (with 164,830 inhabitants ) of the North Sinai Governorate of Egypt, as well as the largest city on the entire Sinai Peninsula, lying on the Mediter ...

, the area became a popular camping place. It was known as Mission Beach due to the mistaken belief that the Hull River Aboriginal Settlement previously located in the region was a religious mission. Mission Beach developed into a town during the 1940s and 50s with the Mission Beach Post Office opening on 15 December 1949. Mission Beach State School opened on 27 January 1953 in the "tropical jungle" of Mission Beach. On 1 February 1993, the school re-opened at a new site in

Wongaling Beach Wongaling Beach is a tropical beachside coastal town and locality in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Wongaling Beach had a population of 1,245 people. Geography The locality takes its name from th ...

to the south. On 20 March 2006, Cyclone Larry crossed the coast in between Mission Beach and Innisfail. In addition to structural damage to property, Cyclone Larry also had a tremendous impact on the

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

and animals of the region. A shortage of rainforest fruit saw

cassowaries Cassowaries ( tpi, muruk, id, kasuari) are flightless birds of the genus ''Casuarius'' in the order Casuariiformes. They are classified as ratites (flightless birds without a keel (bird anatomy), keel on their sternum bones) and are native t ...

seeking food in built up areas and, unfortunately, a number were hit and killed by cars. On 3 February 2011, the eyewall of Severe Tropical

Cyclone Yasi Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi () was a powerful and destructive tropical cyclone that made landfall in northern Queensland, Australia in early 2011, causing major damage to the affected areas. Originating as a tropical low near Fiji on 26 Jan ...

crossed the coast near Mission Beach. Wind gusts estimated up to , leaving behind significant damage. A

storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the n ...

estimated to have reached destroyed several structures along the coast and pushed up to inland. Most of the beach had lost its sand and all of the towns structures were damaged to some degree, with many houses completely destroyed. There were no reports of fatalities or injuries in Mission Beach. In the , the locality of Mission Beach had a population of 815 people. In 2019, Mayfair 101, an Australian-based investment consortium, bought 200 properties in Mission Beach as well as nearby Dunk Island with the view to transform the area into a "tourism mecca". By August 2020, Dunk Island had been repossessed by the former owners, and investigations by the

Australian Securities and Investments Commission The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is an independent commission of the Australian Government tasked as the national corporate regulator. ASIC's role is to regulate company and financial services and enforce laws to pro ...

led to the freezing of assets of 14 property trusts Mayfair 101 had used to buy land in and around Mission Beach.

Economy

The Mission Beach area also supports a sizeable agricultural industry, particularly the cultivation of sugar and bananas.

Education

There are no schools in Mission Beach. The nearest government primary school is Mission Beach State School in Webb Road, Wongaling Beach. The nearest government secondary school is Tully State High School in Tully to the south-west.

Amenities

Mission Beach Uniting Church is at 2224 Tully Mission Beach Road (). It is part of the Cassowary Coast Uniting Church. The Mission Beach Barracudas

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club fields teams that play in the local Johnstone River Football Association league.

Events

In September, Mission Beach hosts the annual Cassowary Festival. This festival was created to promote the unique wildlife of the region and to celebrate the community through music, activities and education. The town also formerly celebrated the annual aquatic festival, it has since been discontinued since 2017.

Tourism

The beach is flanked by green mountains rising just a short distance inland, and provides views out to the

Family Islands Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideall ...

. Close to shore at Mission Beach lies a shallow reef; during very low tides portions of this reef are exposed. The reef runs from the mouth of Porter's Creek at the south end of North Mission Beach almost to Clump Point, and is a popular fishing spot. Surrounded by

World Heritage A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

on one side and the

listed

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

on the other, Mission Beach is home to many wildlife species, most notable is the

cassowary Cassowaries ( tpi, muruk, id, kasuari) are flightless birds of the genus ''Casuarius'' in the order Casuariiformes. They are classified as ratites (flightless birds without a keel on their sternum bones) and are native to the tropical forest ...

. This large flightless bird can be found in the

surrounding the area but appears to be thriving in spite of land clearing, traffic and predators such as wild dogs and feral pigs. Much of the area is part of the

Coastal Wet Tropics Important Bird Area The Coastal Wet Tropics Important Bird Area comprises a disjunct 521 km2 stretch of coastal and subcoastal land in tropical Far North Queensland, Australia. It extends from just south of Cairns in the north for about 150 km to Cardw ...

, identified as such by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because of its importance for the conservation of lowland

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equatori ...

birds.BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Coastal Wet Tropics. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 16 December 2011. Mission Beach is also the mainland gateway to Dunk Island, with water-taxis shuttling day-trippers out to the island.

In popular culture

* In Episode 7, Season One of

The Real Housewives of Melbourne ''The Real Housewives of Melbourne'' (abbreviated ''RHOMelbourne'') is an Australian reality television series that premiered 23 February 2014 on Arena. It was developed as one of the international installments of ''The Real Housewives'', an Ame ...

, the Housewives stayed at a five-star resort in Mission Beach. * Series 2 and 3 of '' Escape from Scorpion Island'' was filmed at Mission Beach. * The Australian television series ''

Sea Patrol ''Sea Patrol'' is an Australian television drama that ran from 2007 to 2011, set on board HMAS ''Hammersley'', a fictional patrol boat of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The series focused on the ship and the lives of its crew members. Despi ...

'' has filmed five of its series in the waters off the Mission Beach area. *The 2022 Netflix series

Irreverent ''Irreverent'' is an Australian drama television miniseries that was released on 30 November 2022 on Peacock in the United States and on 4 December 2022 on Netflix in Australia and New Zealand. ''Irreverent'' follows the story of an American cr ...

was filmed in and around Mission Beach and its church.

References

External links

*
''Mission Beach History''
Archived website by Helen Pedley.
University of Queensland: Queensland Places: Mission Beach
{{authority control Populated places in Far North Queensland Populated places established in 1914 Cassowary Coast Region 1914 establishments in Australia Coastline of Queensland Localities in Queensland