Bargara
Aerial photograph of Bargara, 2003
Is a town located on the central coast of Queensland, Australia. The town lies 384 kilometres north of the state capital Brisbane and just 13 kilometres (8 mi) east of Bundaberg. Bargara is considered to be a satellite town of Bundaberg, with only sugar cane fields separating the two centres. Between 1912 and 1948, a railway connected the two centres. At the 2006 census, Bargara had a population of 5,525.
Bargara has grown significantly over the last decade, becoming a popular tourist and retirement destination. The main streets of Bargara are The Esplanade and The Promenade. The Esplanade runs along the Bargara Beach foreshore, and is lined with several modern holiday homes and units. The Promenade contains several hotels, restaurants and clothing shops. Bargara is also a popular fishing, swimming and surfing location. The famous Mon Repos turtle rookery is located just north of Bargara. A wall in the reserve dating back to the very early days of settlement was constructed using Kanaka labour and rocks taken from the nearby sugarcane fields.
History
Prior to 1921 Bargara was officially known as Sandhills. The Sandhills Provisional School opened in 1893, and was renamed Bargara State School in 1921. The name Bargara is derived from the names of two adjacent localities, Barolin and Woongarra.
Bargara Shire
Bargara, a coastal town of over 5000 people, is 13 km north-east of Bundaberg. It is the largest coastal town in the region of the mouth of the Burnett River, and was the administrative seat of the former Burnett Shire. Bargara was originally known as Sandhills, an acknowledgement of the unstable coastal sand formations that were the subject of land development in the late 1880s. An early purchaser found that his holiday house alternately had sand drifts banked up against it or denuded foundations. Stabilisation was achieved with marum grass plantings in the 1920s. The land behind the sandhills is a complete contrast. Sloping Hummock, a remnant volcanic formation named by Matthew Flinders in 1802, hosts the the geologically rare cinder cone and provides fertile land for sugar cane.
Augustus Barton, a semi-retired grazier, took an interest in sugar farming and built his Mon Repos homestead c1884, using scoria stones from Sloping Hummock to build walls around the cane fields. The finest surviving example of the stone walls, constructed using South Sea Islander indentured labour, is behind the Mon Repos beach and is listed on the Queensland heritage register. (The Mon Repos sugar plantation became the Qunaba refinery in 1900 when it was taken over the Queensland National Bank, hence ‘Qunaba’). The Sandhills land development coincided with a similar venture at Burnett Heads, and the promoter lobbied for a railway. As evidence of good intent a hotel was built at Sandhills, but the railway at first only ran a few kilometres from Bundaberg into the cane farms. A railway to Sandhills did not eventuate until 1913, when the quiet seaside village (hotel, school and a few buildings) was renamed by combining parts of the names of two local shires, BARolin and WoonGARRA. In time one ‘r’ was dropped, and the pronunciation shortened to ‘B’garra’.
Among the few buildings at Sandhills was the receiving point for the intercontinental telegraphic cable (1893) from New Caledonia, linking Australia with America. Sandhills had a second brush with intercontinental communications when Bundaberg’s Bert Hinkler first successfully launched his glider from a Mon Repos dune in 1912. Below the dune, the beach remains famous as a sea turtle hatchery. The Bargara railway gave Bundaberg residents ready access to a seaside resort. Woongarra Shire, which supported the railway, converted a pasture reserve a kilometre north of Bargara to a picnic ground, Nielson Park. In 1922 the first of numerous railway picnics to Nielson Park began, ultimately drawing 100 railway carriages of visitors from Gladstone, Mount Perry and Maryborough. The year before, the Bundaberg Surf Life-Saving Club had been erected at Nielson Park, and within a few years a golf course was laid out. The most prominent built landmark was the two storey Marlau guesthouse, later the Grand Pacific flats and a World War II coastwatch station.
Aerial view of Bargara, 2005
The Bargara and Nielson Park Progress Association promoted the beach resort and lobbied for a reticulated supply to replace the well water. Growth ensued, and Bargara topped 500 in 1954. New golf links were laid out in the 1950s. A causeway to the south over Money’s Creek provided space for expansion and several estate subdivisions were launched in the 1970s. A foothill of Sloping Hummock was the site of a panoramic subdivision, while the coastal Don Pancho Beach Resort epitomised the era’s trend to leisure development. Woongarra Shire Council was in the vanguard of this development phase, planning a sewerage scheme in 1968 and completing it in 1971. A proposed boat harbour did not proceed, the project instead proceeding at Burnett Heads.
Bargara’s population doubled during the 1970s to about 1700. During the 1990s growth rates remained stable, the population reaching 5000. Bargara’s southern growth shaded into the adjoining town of Innes Park. The vacationing population is considerable, accommodated in bayside caravan/camping parks, motels and apartments. Nielson Park Beach is the site of the surf life-saving club. The Coral Coast visitor information centre was opened in 2004. There are golf and bowling clubs and a retirement village, while the absence of a high school illustrates the town’s older demographic profile. The town centre has three churches and local shops, and out of the centre there are a drive-in shopping centre and the former Burnett Shire offices (Burnett Shire was formed from an amalgamation of Gooburrum and Woongarra Shires in 1994).
Mon Repos Conservation Park
Barolin Rocks Dive Site
From November to March each year, adult turtles come ashore to lay eggs on Mon Repos beach. About one weeks later young turtles emerge from the eggs and start their journey to the sea. The best time to see turtles nesting is after dark from mid November to February. Hatchlings usually leave their nests at night from mid January until late March. Is a turtle rookery located on Queensland’s central coast, 14 km east of Bundaberg. Mon Repos hosts the largest concentration of nesting marine turtles on the eastern Australian mainland and supports the most significant nesting population of the endangered loggerhead turtle in the South Pacific Ocean region. Successful breeding here is critical if the loggerhead species is to survive. Flatback, green and leatherback turtles also nest along the Bundaberg coast, but in much smaller numbers.
Queensland Parks & Wildlife Service rangers operate guided tours nightly during the breeding season. Mon Repos is becoming an increasingly popular tourist attraction, with around 25,000 visitors every season. Beach access is now managed during the season to ensure that the impact of humans on nesting sea turtles is minimal. The Italian title of the area reflects the fact that it was owned by the Italian Government between 1890 and 1925 after they had laid the first telegraph cable from Australia to the Italian dependency of New Caledonia. The cable came ashore on Mon Repos beach. Mon Repos is Italian for “My Rest”.
Barolin Rocks Dive Site
Woongarra Marine Park in the Bundaberg region offers some of Queenslands most accessible shore diving including this site at Barolin Rocks. The rocky coastline provides you with plenty of colourful hard and soft corals to explore only a few metres from the shore. Small to
Cochrane Artificial Reef Dive Site
medium size species of reef fish, rays and some pelagics abound on the reef’s edge. You also have a very good chance of seeing nudibranchs, moray eels, turtles, sea snakes and wobbegong sharks on this dive.
Cochrane Artificial Reef Dive Site
Cochrane Artificial Reef in Woongarra Marine Park offers a variety of sites just off the coast from Bargara, Elliot Heads or Riverview in the Bundaberg region. Explore the 33 metre wreck ‘Ceratadus II’ (Sand Dredge), two Mohawk aircraft, King Air aircraft, water tower and a huge concrete modules, pipes and other structures. There are manta rays, dolphins, pelagics, friendly estuary cod, family of grouper, coral trout, red emporer, mackeral, tuskfish, leopard sharks rays and numerous coral reef species.
Hoffman’s Rocks Dive Site
Hoffman's Rocks Dive Site
Hoffman’s Rocks is a colourful dive in Woongarra Marine Park which can be accessed from Bargara. A feature of the dive is split bommie – two large submerged rocks with a swim through and small cave. Diver’s will be treated to seeing resting turtles, bull rays, groupers and wobbegong sharks. There is a vast array of soft corals (gorgonia sea fans and ‘trees’ of ‘pom poms’) and scattered hard corals. Many varieties of nudibranchs are unique to this location. Schools of barracuda and trevally, lionfish, cuttlefish and even Olive sea snakes are attracted to this area.
Kanaka Walls and The Basin
The stone walls built by the Kanakas can be seen on Bargara Road near the western edge of town and there are long walls near the road between Bargara and Mon Repos. Of particular interest is The Basin (at the very southern end of the Esplanade), a sheltered swimming area which was built out of local volcanic rock by Kanaka labour.
The Hummock
Just off the main road between Bargara and Bundaberg is an interesting volcanic outcrop (a remnant of a volcanic cylinder cone) which Matthew Flinders named ‘Sloping Hummock’. Over the years it has become known simply as ‘The Hummock’. It offers a good view of the surrounding countryside. The ocean can be seen to the east and to the west the sugar cane fields stretch to the city of Bundaberg with the tall smokestacks of the Bundaberg Rum Distillery clearly visible.
Mon Repos Environmental Park
North of Bargara is Mon Repos Environmental Park. Combining a pleasant beach with an interesting tidal lagoon and a substantial Kanaka wall it is well worth a visit. Nesting sea turtles come ashore at night within a few hours of high tide from November through to January to lay their eggs while the hatching turtles usually leave their nests between January and March. The Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service have gone to considerable trouble to protect the environment with boardwalks to the narrow beach and special viewing locations for visitors. The French title of the area is related to the fact that it was owned by the French Government from 1890-1925 after they laid the first communication cable from Australia to New Caledonia.
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