Ooralea is a southern

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 ...

of Mackay 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 , Ooralea had a population of 3,691 people.

Geography

Ooralea is an outer

of Mackay. The Peak Downs Highway bounds the suburb to the north and 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 ...

bounds the suburb to the east. Although a suburb, Ooralea is only partially used for residential housing with the rest still used for farming

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 ...

. The Mackay Regional Council anticipates further suburban development in this suburb. The Mackay Harness Racing Club operates the Ooralea Racecourse in the north-east corner of the suburb (). A number of streets near the racecourse are named for champion thoroughbreds such as Makybe Diva Drive,

Phar Lap Phar Lap (4 October 1926 – 5 April 1932) was a New Zealand-born champion Australian Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse. Achieving great success during his distinguished career, his initial underdog status gave people hope during the ear ...

Parade, Gunsynd Street and Bernborough Avenue.

Central Queensland University Central Queensland University (branded as CQUniversity) is an Australian public university based in central Queensland. CQUniversity is the only Australian university with a campus presence in every mainland state. Its main campus is at Norman ...

operates its Mackay campus at Ooralea bounded by Boundary Road and University Drive ().

History

Ooralea was originally known as Planlands after the Planlands railway station on the now defunct Mackay railway line which ran parallel to the Peak Downs Highway. The railway station was opposite the race track (); it no longer exists. The Ooralea railway station was named by J. Strachan, the Mackay railway traffic manager in the

Queensland Railways Department Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Queensland Rail is owned by the Queensland Government, and operates both suburban and interurban rail services in South East Queensland, as well as long-distance passenger t ...

Demographics

In the , Ooralea had a population of 3,366 people. In the , Ooralea had a population of 3,691 people.

Education

There are no schools in Ooralea. The nearest government primary schools are Mackay West State in neighbouring West Mackay to the north-east and Dundula State School in neighbouring Bakers Creek to the south. The nearest government secondary school is Mackay State High School in South Mackay to the north-east.

Amenities

There are a number of parks in the area: * Bernborough Avenue Park () * Bradco Ave Park () * Dickens Ave Park () * Downing Street Park () * George Moore Park ()

References

External links

* {{Mackay Region Suburbs of Mackay, Queensland