Preston is a rural

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 ...

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. In the , Preston had a population of 346 people. The town of Bonavista is within the south of the locality ().

Geography

The locality is bounded to the west and south by the

Proserpine River The Proserpine River is a river in Whitsunday Region of Queensland, Australia. The river is important to crocodile conservation as it provides habitat for Queensland's most dense population of the animal. The river is used by crocodile touri ...

. The main road route through the locality is Conway Road which enters the locality from the north-west ( Mount Julian / Mount Marlow), passes through the town of Bonavista, and then exits to the south-east (

Conway Conway may refer to: Places United States * Conway, Arkansas * Conway County, Arkansas * Lake Conway, Arkansas * Conway, Florida * Conway, Iowa * Conway, Kansas * Conway, Louisiana * Conway, Massachusetts * Conway, Michigan * Conway Townshi ...

Palm Grove Palm Grove is a suburb of the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located about upstream along Ourimbah Creek from the town of Ourimbah. It is part of the local government area A local government area (LGA) is an adm ...

). The elevation ranges from . The lower-lying land is mostly in the west of the locality and is used for growing

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 ...

. There is a cane tramway to transport the harvested sugarcane to the local sugar mill. The higher land are mostly used for

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to free range (roam around) and consume wild vegetations in order to feed conversion ratio, convert the otherwise indigestible (by human diges ...

on native vegetation.

History

The town of Bonavista was originally called Conway, which was derived from

Cape Conway Cape Conway is the rounded low and ice-free tipped cape forming the south extremity of Snow Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It is a south entrance point for Boyd Strait. ''Tooth Rock'' () rising to and lying to the south is ...

, which was named on 3 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 ...

, commander of

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 ...

, after British Secretary of State for the Southern Department,

Henry Seymour Conway Field Marshal Henry Seymour Conway (1721 – 9 July 1795) was a British general and statesman. A brother of the 1st Marquess of Hertford, and cousin of Horace Walpole, he began his military career in the War of the Austrian Succession. He held ...

. The town was renamed Bonavista from 3 January 1961. However, the road to the town is still called Conway Road.

Demographics

In the , Preston had a population of 296 people. In the , Preston had a population of 346 people.

Education

There are no schools in Preston. The nearest government primary schools are Proserpine State School in Proserpine to the west and Cannonvale State School in Cannonvale to the north-east. The nearest government secondary school is Proserpine State High School, also in Proserpine.

References

External links

* {{Whitsunday Region Whitsunday Region Localities in Queensland