Hervey Bay () is a city on the coast of the

Fraser Coast Region 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 K'gari. ...

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. The city is situated approximately or 3½ hours' highway drive north of the state capital,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. It is located on the bay of the same name open to 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 ...

between the Queensland mainland and nearby

K'gari K'gari ( , ), also known by its former name Fraser Island, is a World Heritage List, World Heritage-listed sand island along the south-eastern coast in the Wide Bay–Burnett region of Queensland, Australia. The island lies approximately nort ...

(also known as Fraser Island). The local economy relies on tourism which is based primarily around

whale watching Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and dolphins (cetaceans) in their natural habitat. Whale watching is mostly a recreational activity (cf. birdwatching), but it can also serve scientific and/or educational purposes.Hoyt, E. ...

in Platypus Bay to the north, ferry access to

, accessible recreational fishing and boating and the natural north facing, calm beaches with wide undeveloped foreshore zones. In October 2019, Hervey Bay was named the First Whale Heritage Site in the world by the World Cetacean Alliance, for its commitment to and practices of sustainable whale and dolphin watching. In the , Hervey Bay had a population of 57,722 people. A 2010 study by Deakin University showed that people on the Fraser Coast area including Hervey Bay, were the happiest in Australia. The area that became Hervey Bay is on the traditional lands of the

Butchulla The Butchulla, also written Butchella, Badjala, Badjula, Badjela, Bajellah, Badtjala and Budjilla, are an Aboriginal Australian people of K'gari, Queensland, and a small area of the nearby mainland of southern Queensland. Language The Butchul ...

people. The city takes its name from

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 ...

, named by

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 ...

in 1770 in honour of

Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol Vice admiral (Royal Navy), Vice-Admiral Augustus John Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, Privy Council of Ireland, PC (19 May 1724 – 23 December 1779) was a Royal Navy officer and politician. He commanded the sixth-rate HMS Phoenix at the Battle of Mi ...

. Several small townships developed along the bayside, the earliest being

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 , the suburb of Pialba had a population of 4,151 ...

in 1863. From 1863 to 1906, the Wide Bay region became a central part of the Pacific Slave trade, with more than 12 thousand

South Sea Islanders South Sea Islanders, formerly referred to as Kanakas, are the Australian descendants of Pacific Islanders from more than 80 islandsincluding the Oceanian archipelagoes of the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, the Gilbert Islands ...

brought to the cotton and

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 ...

plantations in Maryborough and Hervey Bay. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the region operated a training school for the

Z Special Unit Z Special Unit () was a joint Allied special forces unit formed during the Second World War to operate behind Japanese lines in South East Asia. Predominantly Australian, Z Special Unit was a specialist clandestine operation, direct action, lo ...

special forces Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

. Hervey Bay boomed from the 1980s on and was proclaimed a city in 1984.

History

(also known as Batjala, Badtjala, Badjela, and Badjala) is the language of the Fraser Coast region, including K’gari. Butchulla language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Fraser Coast Regional Council, particularly the towns of Maryborough and Hervey Bay extending south towards

Double Island Point Double Island Point is a coastal headland in Queensland, Australia. It is the next headland north of Noosa, Queensland, Noosa and is within the Cooloola, Queensland, Cooloola section of the Great Sandy National Park, at the southern end of W ...

and north to Burrum Heads. The indigenous Batjala people including the

Kabi Kabi The Kabi Kabi people, also spelt Gubbi Gubbi, Gabi Gabi, and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people native to South Eastern Queensland. During the Australian frontier wars of the 19th century, there were several mass killings of ...

are the

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

of Hervey Bay. Batjala means Bat-No and Jala-tongu. The first recorded European sighting of

was made by

while carrying out his running survey of the

east coast of Australia The eastern states of Australia are the states adjoining the east continental coastline of Australia. These are the mainland states of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, and the island state of Tasmania. The Australian Capital Territory ...

, on 22 May 1770. By noon Cook's ship was in a position a little over half-way across the opening of Hervey Bay heading for

Bundaberg Bundaberg () is the major regional city in the Wide Bay-Burnett region of the state of Queensland, Australia. It is the List of cities in Australia by population, ninth largest city in the state. The Bundaberg central business district is situa ...

. When Cook first discovered Hervey Bay, he did not realise that Fraser Island was separated from mainland Australia; Cook did not travel far enough south due to the shallow depths of the waters in the Bay.History of Hervey Bay
. Retrieved 31 July 2014. Cook named the bay "Hervey's Bay" after Augustus John Hervey (1724–1779), later Third Earl of Bristol, a naval officer who became a

Lord of the Admiralty This is a list of lords commissioners of the Admiralty (incomplete before the Restoration, 1660). The lords commissioners of the Admiralty were the members of the Board of Admiralty, which exercised the office of Lord High Admiral when it was ...

the year Endeavour returned. Until around the mid-1980s the area was serviced by a rail link from the main North Coast line that diverted from

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

and went through Takura, Walligan, and Nikenbah, before continuing on to

and Urangan. The line was a major freight point for the

Port of Maryborough The Port of Maryborough, Queensland, was opened in 1847 and in 1859 it was declared a port of entry, meaning that overseas and intercolonial vessels could arrive and depart direct, although there appears to have been considerable uncertainty ...

and for the sugar cane industry until road transport assumed the role. On 18 February 1984, the

Town of Hervey Bay A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

was officially proclaimed as the "City of Hervey Bay", due to its increasing population and growth in its business sector and tourism industry. Despite this, many of the local residents still saw it as a small seaside village. Along with the City of Maryborough and the Shire of Woocoo, as well as parts of the

Shire of Tiaro The Shire of Tiaro was a local government area in the Wide Bay–Burnett region of Queensland, Australia, between the regional cities of Gympie and Hervey Bay about north of the state capital, Brisbane. The shire covered an area of , and existe ...

, it was amalgamated into the

on 15 March 2008. The Hervey Bay Library opened in 1997 and had a major refurbishment in 2014. A new library is under construction with an expected completion date of mid 2026. The new library and community hub are part of the Hinkler Regional Deal.

Demographics

In the , Hervey Bay had a population of 52,073 people. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 4.0% of the population. The median age of people was 48 years, ten years older than the national median age. 74.6% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 5.9%, New Zealand 3.5%, Germany 0.8%, Scotland 0.6%, and Philippines 0.6%. 88.4% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included German 0.5%, French 0.2%, Mandarin 0.2%, Dutch 0.2%, and Italian 0.2%. The most common responses for religion were no religion 28.0%, Anglican 20.5%, and Catholic 18.9%. In the , Hervey Bay had a population of 57,722 people.

Heritage listings

Hervey Bay has a number of

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and human-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In ma ...

sites. K'gari is listed on the

World Heritage List World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

. The Woody Island Lighthouses are listed on the

Queensland Heritage Register The Queensland Heritage Register is a heritage register, a statutory list of places in Queensland, Australia that are protected by Queensland legislation, the Queensland Heritage Act 1992. It is maintained by the Queensland Heritage Council. As ...

Transport

Hervey Bay is situated approximately 3½ hours' drive north of

, via the

Bruce Highway The Bruce Highway is a major highway in Queensland, Australia. Commencing in the state capital, Brisbane, it passes through areas close to the eastern coast on its way to Cairns in Far North Queensland. The route is part of the Australian Natio ...

and 30 minutes' drive north-east of Maryborough. The city is also served by the high-speed Tilt Train, which has connections from Maryborough West or nearby

Howard Howard is a masculine given name derived from the English surname Howard. ''The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names'' notes that "the use of this surname as a christian name is quite recent and there seems to be no particular reason for ...

. The city is served by the

Hervey Bay Airport Hervey Bay Airport is the main airport for the city of Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia and the Fraser Coast region which incorporates the nearby city of Maryborough. The airport, which is located southeast of Pialba, re-opened in mid-20 ...

, with direct flights from Brisbane (

QantasLink QantasLink is a full-service, Regional airline, regional brand of Australian flag carrier airline Qantas. As of 2024, QantasLink provides over 2,000 flights each week to 65 metropolitan, regional and remote destinations across Australia, as wel ...

) Sydney and Melbourne (

Jetstar Airways Jetstar Airways Pty Ltd, trading as Jetstar, is an Australian low-cost airline headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Qantas, created in response to the threat posed by the airline Virgin Blue (now known as ...

). The

City of Hervey Bay The City of Hervey Bay was a Local government in Australia, local government area located in the Wide Bay–Burnett region of Queensland, Australia, containing the urban centre of Hervey Bay as well as the northern half of Fraser Island. The Cit ...

(now the

) has released an airport master plan which includes future provision of a

taxiway A taxiway is a path for aircraft at an airport connecting runways with Airport apron, aprons, hangars, Airport terminal, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have a hard surface such as Asphalt concrete, asphalt or concrete, although sma ...

parallel to the main runway, additional car parking and a larger terminal. The city is also served by passenger ferry to Fraser Island, as well as both scheduled and unscheduled vehicular ferries.

Railway

Despite Hervey Bay's growing popularity, no plans have been made for a new railway line to the city. The previous passenger and freight line branched off the North Coast main line at Colton, just north of Maryborough. Trains stopped at many stations along the line, but the main stations were Pialba and Urangan. The railway then extended along the

Urangan Pier Urangan Pier is a historic pier in Urangan, Queensland, Urangan, Hervey Bay, Queensland, 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 ...

. The line carried out pineapples and local goods from the city. The line was closed in 1993. The tracks from Nikenbah to Urangan were removed and the Pialba – Urangan line was converted into a

rail trail A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a Right of way#Rail right of way, railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed but may also share the rail corr ...

. Traces of the railway line are still visible in Urangan. There are two semi-removed crossings (Everything but the tracks was removed) near the end of Pier Street and the track's

ballast Ballast is dense material used as a weight to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within ...

is still slightly visible from where the mobility corridor ends.

Governance

Hervey Bay is the largest population centre within the

. The current mayor of the Fraser Coast Regional Council is George Seymour first elected in a by-election held in May 2018 and re-elected in the 2020 quadrennial election and again at the 2024 election. A total of ten councillors are elected every four years. The

Electoral district of Hervey Bay Hervey Bay is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland. It contains the majority of its namesake city, Hervey Bay, and also includes K'gari, formerly known as Fraser Island. Members for Hervey B ...

has Queensland's second highest share of residents aged over 60. Hervey Bay is represented in the

Parliament of Queensland The Parliament of Queensland is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature, legislative body of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland. As provided under the Constitution of Queensland, the Parliament consists o ...

by Liberal National member David Lee, and in the

Commonwealth Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Parliament of the Commonwealth and also known as the Federal Parliament) is the federal legislature of Australia. It consists of three elements: the Monarchy of Australia, monarch of Australia (repr ...

by the Nationals member for Hinkler,

Keith Pitt Keith John Pitt (born 31 August 1969) is an Australian diplomat and former politician. He is a member of the National Party and represented the Division of Hinkler in Queensland between the 2013 federal election and January 2025. He was a mem ...

Climate

Hervey Bay has a warm

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: Cfa) with hot, wet summers and very mild, relatively dry winters. Mean maximum temperatures range from in July to in January. The coast is predominantly affected by south east

trade wind The trade winds or easterlies are permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere, ...

s; keeping the temperatures down in summer and up in winter. Annual rainfall averages around , with a maximum in summer and autumn. Extreme temperatures, moderated by the ocean, have ranged from on 16 July 2007 to on 5 December 2012.

Tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

s can affect the town during the austral summer, with Cyclone Hamish (2009) as a Category 5, and

Cyclone Oswald Tropical Cyclone Oswald was a tropical cyclone that passed over parts of Queensland and New South Wales, Australia over a number of days, causing widespread impact including severe storms, flooding, and water spouts. Coastal regions of Queen ...

(2013) from

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

es spawned by the cyclone. However, Fraser Island affects weather in Hervey Bay, protecting the marine environment from open ocean storm effects.

Localities

Hervey Bay began as a dispersed community spread over numerous small, seaside villages. As the area grew, these communities amalgamated and became suburbs . The current urban area includes the following settlements: * Booral * Bunya Creek *

Craignish Craignish (Scottish Gaelic, ''Creiginis'') is a peninsula in Argyll and Bute, on the west coast of Scotland. It lies around south of Oban, and north-west of Lochgilphead. The peninsula is around long, and is aligned along a north-east to ...

* Dundowran * Dundowran Beach * Eli Waters * Kawungan * Nikenbah *

* Point Vernon * Scarness * Sunshine Acres * Susan River * Takura * Toogoom *

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignt ...

* Urangan * Urraween * Walligan * Wondunna

Education

Hervey Bay has 14 schools. Hervey Bay also has two Higher Education institutes, a campus of the

University of the Sunshine Coast The University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC; formerly abbreviated as USC until 2022) is a public university based on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. After opening with 524 students in 1996 as the Sunshine Coast University College, it ...

and the Wide Bay Institute of TAFE. and a State Government Special School. The

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

has a Regional Clinic campus at Hervey Bay for students in their third year of their medical degree.

Amenities

The Fraser Coast Regional Council operates the Hervey Bay Library at 161 Old Maryborough Road,

. Wetside Water Park, a free water playground on the Esplanade, is one of the most popular public spaces in Hervey Bay. The Hervey Bay Regional Gallery is the regional gallery for the Fraser Coast. LifeChurch Hervey Bay meets at the Community Centre at 22 Charles Street in

. It is part of the

Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia The Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia is a Christian denomination with its origins in Wesleyan Methodism. It is the organisational name for contemporary The Wesleyan Church in Australia. (The historic Wesleyan Methodist denomination in Aust ...

Media

Local commercial FM radio stations are Breeze 102.5, Triple M 103.5, Hit 101.9 and Rebel 106.7. Along with a number of other regional Australian newspapers owned by

NewsCorp The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Formerly inc ...

, the ''Hervey Bay Independent'' newspaper ceased publication in June 2020. In April 2022, the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

opened a bureau at Hervey Bay to improve its coverage of the Fraser Coast. Staffed by two locally-based journalists, the new bureau on Boat Harbour Drive was opened as part of the ABC's regional expansion.

Commerce

Hervey Bay and the Fraser Coast region's largest shopping centre is Stockland Hervey Bay. It is a regional shopping centre located in the suburb of Urraween. Stockland Acquired the centre in April 2011, at the time it had a floor area of 15,600 square metres, and 48 stores. In 2013 Stockland begun construction of a $115 million redevelopment that would double the floor area to over 35,000 square metres. The development would include an additional 70 specialty stores and a 500-seat food court, taking the total number of stores to 110.

Sports

Hervey Bay has an active sporting community with the geography and climate encouraging a diverse range of activities. The natural foreshore area of Hervey Bay has a long bike and pedestrian path that visibly integrates recreational fitness into the environment and community. Competition sports are generally regional and played against nearby cities,

, Maryborough and

Gympie Gympie ( ) is a city and a Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. Located in the Greater Sunshine Coast, Gympie is about north of the state capital, Brisbane. The city lies on the Mary River ( ...

. The calm waters and gently sloped beaches make recreational and competitive water sports popular and accessible. These include sailing, kite boarding, water skiing, wake boarding, kayaking, out-rigging, snorkelling, scuba diving, and ocean swimming. The Hervey Bay Triathlon started in 1988 and has been raced annually since.

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

is popular in Hervey Bay. The city has two senior clubs competing in the AFL Wide Bay competition: Hervey Bay Bombers based in Wondunna and the Bay Power based in Urangan. Both field senior men's, women's and junior teams. The local rugby league team, Hervey Bay Seagulls, are the cornerstone of rugby league in the Hervey Bay area.

Whale watching

Hervey Bay is the

capital of Australia, with

humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the monotypic taxon, only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh u ...

s migrating along the coast between April and October every year. Researchers at The Oceania Project conducted a 25-year study which found the bay was an important social hub for humpback whales. Whale number have increased from about 2,000 in 1992, to around 33,000 in 2018. Hervey Bay is a stopover for mature female humpback whales. Mature females visit Hervey Bay during August in company with the cohort of immature males and females. During September and October Hervey Bay is dominated by Mature females with new calves. The humpback whales are known to be very relaxed in the company of the whale watching vessels.

Southern right whale The southern right whale (''Eubalaena australis'') is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus ''Eubalaena''. Southern right whales inhabit oceans south of the Equator, between the latitudes of 20� ...

s have also been recorded with increasing sighting rates.

In popular culture

The 2023 film '' 13th Summer'' was filmed in Hervey Bay.

Sister cities

According to the Australian Sister Cities Association, Hervey Bay has two

sister cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is International relations, a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there ar ...

: *, Japan *, China.

References

External links

* * * Town maps
Sheet 1Sheet 2Sheet 3Sheet 4

Hervey Bay

Old Hervey Bay City Council Website
{{Authority control Coastal cities in Australia