'Bowen' is a town on the eastern coast of
Queensland,
Australia.
Geography
Bowen is located on the north-east coast of
Australia, at exactly twenty degrees south of the
equator. In fact, the twentieth
parallel crosses the main street. Bowen is halfway between
Townsville and
Mackay, and 1,130 kilometres by road from
Brisbane.
The town of Bowen sits on a square peninsula, with ocean to the north, east, and south. On the western side, where the peninsula connects with the mainland, the Don River's alluvial plain provides fertile soil that supports a prosperous farming industry.
The surrounding
Bowen Shire covers an area of 21,085 square kilometres and includes the principal towns of Bowen and
Collinsville, plus the smaller townships of
Mount Coolon,
Scottville,
Heronvale,
Merinda,
Gumlu, and
Guthalungra. The Bowen Shire is bounded by Wangaratta Creek to the North, Greta Creek to the South and the Inland Highway in the West. The Shires of
Burdekin, Dalrymple, Belyando, Nebo, Mirani,
Mackay and Whitsunday all border the Shire of Bowen.
Climate
The town of Bowen is in the dry tropics. This means it has all the warm sunny weather of a tropical climate, but it is much dryer than one would expect for tropical beaches overlooking the
Great Barrier Reef.
At Bowen's
latitude, the
Trade Winds provide a pleasant breeze. In summer the hottest part of the day is usually about 9am and then the wind kicks in and keeps you cool. It is not unusual in summer for Bowen to be a good ten degrees cooler than
Brisbane , which is a thousand kilometres closer to the
south pole.
The warmest month is January, with an average maximum temperature of 31 degrees
Celsius (88 degrees
Fahrenheit). The coolest month is July, with an average maximum temperature of 25 degrees
Celsius (77 degrees
Fahrenheit) and an average overnight minimum of 14 degrees
Celsius (57 degrees
Fahrenheit).
Demographics
The
Bowen Shire as a whole has a population of 10,518 (2001 Census). At the 2001
census, The town of Bowen had a population of 8368.
[1]
Economy
Bowen enjoys a diversified and prosperous economy based on agriculture, fishing, tourism, and mining. For several winter months, Bowen supplies about 75% of Australia's
tomatoes. The tastiest
mango in Australia is the variety known as the Kensington Pride, which is popularly called the Bowen Special mango. Bowen's unusually dry climate for a tropical location, plus its fertile
alluvial soil, makes it the ideal place to grow a wide variety of small crops, including
tomatoes, rockmelons (i.e.,
cantaloupes), and
capsicums (i.e., green peppers).
Outside the alluvial plain, much of the Bowen Shire is used for beef cattle.
Just north of Bowen is the Abbot Point
coal loading port. Coal mined inland of Bowen in Collinsville and other towns in the Bowen Basin is brought by rail to a deepwater pier to be loaded on bulk carriers. Coal is exported mainly to
Europe and
Japan.
Government
The Bowen Shire's local government consists of a popularly elected Mayor, and a Shire Council consisting of eight councillors. The Shire is divided into three wards (for Bowen, Queens Beach, and Collinsville). Bowen and Queens Beach each elect three councillors and Collinsville elects two.
In 1944 Bowen elected a Communist,
Fred Paterson, to Queensland State Parliament. He was re-elected in 1947, but lost the seat in 1950 when the boundaries were changed to include Bowen in the seat of Whitsunday.
Bowen's current Mayor is Michael R. "Mike" Brunker.
History
Bowen is Queensland's oldest town north of
Rockhampton . It was founded before
Townsville,
Mackay or
Charters Towers and has a colourful past.
Captain
James Cook named Cape Gloucester on his epic voyage of exploration up the Australian coast in 1770. This "cape" turned out to be an island, and Gloucester Island dominates the view from Bowen's eastern beaches. Behind the island is a bay that forms an excellent port, which the town came to be built around. This bay was eventually discovered in 1859 by Captain Henry Daniel Sinclair, in response to a reward offered by the colony of
New South Wales for finding a port somewhere north of
Rockhampton. Sinclair named Port Denison after the colonial governor of New South Wales.
Two years later, Sinclair led one group of settlers by sea, and George Elphinstone Dalrymple led another party overland from Rockhampton. They met on
11 April 1861 at Port Denison and founded the town of Bowen on the next day,
12 April 1861. By this time, the separate colony of
Queensland had been established, and the town was named after Queensland's first colonial governor, Sir
George Ferguson Bowen.
Coincidentally, not only was Bowen founded on the same day that the
American Civil War began, 12 April 1861, but the Civil War caused the
Lancashire cotton famine with the result that many of Bowen's early settlers were from those parts of England affected by the
cotton famine.
Incidentally, the separation of
Queensland from New South Wales meant that Sinclair never did claim the reward for discovering the port . The NSW authorities said it was no longer their concern, and the new Queensland administration had never offered any reward and wasn't going to pay for someone else's promises. So Sinclair went back north to seek his fortune in the town he had helped to create.
Two years later in
1863, the new settlers discovered a sailor, James Morril, who had been shipwrecked 17 years previously just to the north of Bowen. Morril made his home in the new town, and his grave is still to be seen in the Bowen cemetery.
The coral reefs around Bowen have several shipwrecks, including the "Gothenburg" which sank in 1875 with a loss of more than 100 lives. Numerous relics of Bowen's history, from the Aboriginal past onwards, are on display at the Bowen Historical Society's museum.
During
World War 2 Bowen hosted an air force base, flying
PBY Catalina flying boats to search for enemy ships and submarines.
Events
Annual events include the following:
★ May - Collinsvile Catfish Classic
★ June - Gumlu Capsicum Festival
★ June - Bowen Annual Show
★ July - Bowen Multicultural Festival
★ September - Bowen Lions Festival
★ September - Bowen Family Fishing Classic
★ October - Bowen Cup Race Day
Tourism
The Big Mango, Bowen, Queensland.
Bowen is on a peninsula, with ocean on three sides. This gives eight beaches surrounding the town, namely Kings Beach, Queens Beach, Horseshoe Bay, Murrays Bay, Greys Bay, Rose Bay, and the Front Beach. There is also the clothing-optional Coral Bay.
These are all very different in character. Kings Beach and Queens Beach are very long beaches, so long that if you stand on one end of Queens Beach the other end is over the horizon. Kings Beach has a magnificent view of nearby Gloucester Island. On the western half of Queens Beach and all of Kings Beach, it is permitted to walk a dog without a leash.
In contrast, the other beaches are small and cosy. Horseshoe Bay is a magnificent beach with the whole coconut tree tropical paradise ambience. Murrays Bay is even more of a coconut tree paradise, if you can find it. There is a walking track along the hills between Rose Bay, Murrays Bay, and Horseshoe Bay. There is fringing coral reef offshore of those three as well as Coral Bay, which is a clothes-optional beach.
If you're driving along the
Bruce Highway along the
Queensland coast, you have to come off the highway and into the town to get to the beaches.
'Australia' film
In late
2006, it was announced that ''
Australia'', directed by
Baz Luhrmann and starring
Nicole Kidman and
Hugh Jackman, will be filmed in Bowen. It is hoped that the production will provide a significant economic boost to the town and will employ many Bowen locals.
[2][3]
Entertainment
Bowen boasts a cinema, the Summergarden Twin Theatre, The Denison Hotel, The Queens Beach Hotel, The Bowen Memorial Club, and The Grand View Hotel. It also offers four motels and seven caravan parks. There is also a golf course that overlooks Queens Beach.
Colleges
Bowen hosts the Barrier Reef Institute of
TAFE.
Sister cities
Bowen has a sister city in
Japan,
Oseto-cho in
Nagasaki Prefecture.
References
1. Bowen (Urban Centre/Locality)
2. Luhrmann epic to be shot in Bowen
3. Nicole, Hugh meet and greet 'Bowenwood' locals
External links
★ http://www.bowentourism.com.au/
★ http://www.bowen.qld.gov.au
★ http://www.walkabout.com.au/fairfax/locations/QLDBowen.shtml
★ http://www.barrierreef.tafe.net
★ http://www.bowenshs.qld.edu.au/
★ http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/rlq/4791.html
★ http://www.bowenss.qld.edu.au/bowen_history.htm
★ http://www.darwen.org/
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