East Mackay is a coastal

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

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 ...

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 , East Mackay had a population of 3,725 people.

Geography

As the name suggests, East Mackay is the suburb to the east of the city centre. It is flat low-lying coastal land (less than 10 metres above sea level). It 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 and the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down t ...

to the east. There is a sandy beach along the foreshore to the sea known as Town Beach. East Mackay has the following sandy beaches: * Iluka Beach (Town Beach) () * Illawong Beach (Far Beach) () which extends into South Mackay and Paget It is possible to swim at the beaches at high tide, but, as the tide goes out, extensive mudflats are revealed. The suburb is mostly used for residential purposes except for the northern part of the suburb at the mouth of the Pioneer River, which is a

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

known as the Sandfly Creek Environmental Reserve and managed 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 wetland serves a number of purposes, acting as a levee against

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of Wind wave, waves, Ocean current, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts ...

, providing a habitat for

shorebirds FIle:Vadare - Ystad-2021.jpg, 245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflats in order to foraging, forage for food c ...

and other fauna, and providing a walking track for visitors.

History

Victoria Park State School opened on 1 July 1926. On 27 January 1970, the school was divided to create a separate Victoria Park State Infants School for the early years of schooling, but on 16 December 1994 the infants school was merged back into the main school. The infants school was at 43-47 Skakespeare Street (the triangular block enclosed by Shakespeare Street, Hague Street and Macrossan Street, ).

Demographics

In the , East Mackay had a population of 3,564 people. In the , East Mackay had a population of 3,725 people.

Education

Victoria Park State School is a government primary (Early Childhood to Year 6) school for boys and girls at 15 Goldsmith Street (). In 2016, the school had an enrolment of 612 students with 48 teachers (45 full-time equivalent) and 36 non-teaching staff (23 full-time equivalent). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 643 students with 51 teachers (47 full-time equivalent) and 43 non-teaching staff (27 full-time equivalent). It includes a

special education Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual di ...

program. Mackay Positive Learning Centre is a specific-purpose primary and secondary (6–12) school at Shakespeare Street (). The role of Positive Learning Centres is to re-engage with school-age children who need intervention to enable them to return to conventional schooling or to transition into vocational training.

Amenities

The Bluewater Trail which connects a number of popular recreation areas passes through East Mackay roughly following the riverside and coastline. Queens Park at Goldsmith Street has a number of amenities including an orchid house, a band rotunda, a cricket pitch, picnic tables and playgrounds. A number of areas in the park can be hired for weddings.

References

External links

* {{Mackay Region Suburbs of Mackay, Queensland