Hewittville

Emu Park is a coastal town and locality on the Capricorn Coast located 21 kilometres (13 mi) south of Yeppoon in Queensland, Australia. It is within the local government area of Shire of Livingstone (between 2008 and 2013, it was within the Rockhampton Region).[2][3] In the 2016 census the locality of Emu Park had a population of 2,130 people.[1]

Home of the famous Singing Ship Monument, the Emu Park land area was explored by Lieutenant James Cook in 1770. It overlooks the islands of Keppel Bay, including Great Keppel Island. Emu Park is a popular tourist spot, and has won several tourism awards, and features fishing, surfing, boating, and unspoiled beaches.

Emu Park is part of the Capricorn Coast in Central Queensland.[4]

Off-shore to the north is Shoal Bay (23°12′10″S 150°48′20″E  /  23.2029°S 150.80551775°E  / -23.2029; 150.80551775  (Shoal Bay ) ).[5]

Emu Park has the following coast features (from north to south):

The northern part of the locality is mostly undeveloped wetlands around Shoal Water Creek (23°14′09″S 150°47′52″E  /  23.2358°S 150.7977°E  / -23.2358; 150.7977  (Shoalwater Creek ) ) which flows into Shoal Bay,[11] while the southern part of the locality is undeveloped wetlands around an unnamed creek. The eastern strip of the locality near the coast is urban in character with housing and services. The centre and west of the locality is mostly used for grazing on native vegetation with some areas of rural residential housing.[4]

Emu Park Airstrip is at the northern end of Henry Street (23°15′18″S 150°48′52″E  /  23.2550°S 150.8144°E  / -23.2550; 150.8144  (Emu Park Airstrip ) ).[12]

The Keppel Bay area was explored by Lieutenant James Cook on the HM Bark Endeavour in May 1770. He named the bay after Admiral Augustus Keppel of the Royal Navy.[13]

British settlement began in the 1860s when the John Jardine established a cattle grazing property south of the current town, at Zilzie, an anagram of Lizzie, the eldest of John Jardine's daughters.[14]

Emu Park township was established in the 1870s when several Rockhampton families built seaside holiday houses on the hills overlooking the two beaches that are a feature of the town – Fisherman's Beach and Pine Beach. Emu Park was connected to Rockhampton by train in 1888 and became a popular, but fairly select, seaside resort from that time on. A branch to Yeppoon, further to the north was opened in 1910.[15]

Hewittville Post Office opened on 12 November 1883 (a receiving office had been open from 1876) and was renamed Emu Park in 1890.[16]

The railway line from North Rockhampton was officially opened on Saturday 22 December 1888 by Archibald Archer, the local Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Rockhampton.[17] Emu Park railway station was on the northern corner of Hill Street and Pattison Street (23°15′24″S 150°49′34″E  /  23.2567°S 150.8262°E  / -23.2567; 150.8262  (Emu Park railway station (former) ) ).

Emu Park State School opened on 3 February 1890.[18] The school was burned down on 26 July 1946 and all early records of the school were lost in the blaze.[19][20][21] The hall was used as a temporary school.[22] The new school building was designed with 2 classrooms for a total 60 students at a cost of £2315.[23][24]

By the 1920s the town hd two large hotels, a cinema, court house, public library, shops and many guest houses for visitors. A small pier was opened by Mrs Bruce, wife of the Prime Minister, Stanley Bruce, in 1926 and Bell Park, a shady park on the shores of Fisherman's Beach was established in the 1930s.[25]

Emu Park Methodist church opened circa February 1920.[26][27] Following the amalgamation of the Methodist Church into the Uniting Church in Australia in 1977, it became the Emu Park Uniting Church.[28]

The railway from Rockhampton closed in the 1960s due to declining passenger numbers and the line to Yeppoon no longer exists.[15]

The Emu Park Library opened in 1984.[29]

In 2011, the town's first supermarket was opened when the Emu Park Village Centre, anchored by a Super IGA-branded supermarket (owned by Drakes Supermarkets), was opened.[30] The popularity of the new supermarket contributed to the closure of the town's firmly established general store, Charlie's Corner, which ceased trading on 30 November 2012.[31] A compliance issue regarding Sunday trading forced Supa IGA to temporarily cease trading on Sundays in 2014, leaving the town without a grocery store for one day of the week which caused much angst and frustration in the community.[32][33] The issue was resolved soon after.[34] In line with the other 21 Drakes-owned stores in Queensland, the Supa IGA branding was completely dropped and the Emu Park supermarket was solely rebranded as a Drakes Supermarkets store in 2017.[35][36]

The Emu Park Community Arts Centre was officially opened on 9 December 2021, with the first exhibition in the venue being held on 11 December 2021.[37] Livingstone Shire Council obtained $1.1 million from the state government for the project with the council also allocating $200,000 to the facility.[38][39] The new arts centre was built where the railway station once stood, after the former art gallery was closed in 2019 when the building it had been situated in for 15 years was sold.[40][41]

At the 2011 census Emu Park had a population of 2,021.[42]

In the 2016 census the locality of Emu Park had a population of 2,130 people.[1]

Some of the descendants of the Woppaburra people evicted from their homeland in the Greater and South Keppel islands live in both Emu Park and Yeppoon.[43]

Emu Park has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

Emu Park State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 26 Fountain Street (23°15′35″S 150°49′15″E  /  23.2597°S 150.8207°E  / -23.2597; 150.8207  (Emu Park State School ) ).[44][45] In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 507 students with 37 teachers (33 full-time equivalent) and 25 non-teaching staff (17 full-time equivalent).[46] It includes a special education program.[44]

There is no secondary school in Emu Park, despite lobbying and support from the local community to have a high school established in the town which has at times become a contentious political issue.[47][48][49][50][51][52][53] The nearest secondary school is Yeppoon State High School in Yeppoon to the north.[4]

Emu Park has facilities for a range of emergency services:

Emu Park Cemetery is on Emu Park Road (23°15′39″S 150°48′05″E  /  23.2608°S 150.8014°E  / -23.2608; 150.8014  (Emu Park Cemetery ) ).[56]

Emu Park-Zilzie Sewage Treatment Plant is at 3620 Emu Park Road (23°15′46″S 150°48′37″E  /  23.2627°S 150.8103°E  / -23.2627; 150.8103  (sewage treatment plant ) ).[57]

Livingstone Shire Council operates the Emu Park library (23°15′23″S 150°49′37″E  /  23.2564°S 150.8270°E  / -23.2564; 150.8270  (Emu Park public library ) ) and Emu Park Cultural Hall (23°15′23″S 150°49′37″E  /  23.2565°S 150.8269°E  / -23.2565; 150.8269  (Emu Park Cultural Hall ) ) at 7-9 Hill Street.[58][59]

The Emu Park branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association meets at CWA Hall at 11 Hill Street (23°15′24″S 150°49′36″E  /  23.2566°S 150.8266°E  / -23.2566; 150.8266  (Emu Park QCWA Hall ) ).[60]

Churches in Emu Park include:

There is a boat ramp at the eastern end of Hill Street at Emu Point (23°15′18″S 150°49′43″E  /  23.2550°S 150.8286°E  / -23.2550; 150.8286  (Emu Park, Hill Street boat ramp ) ). It is managed by the Livingstone Shire Council.[71]

A variety of local sporting organisations can be found within Emu Park, incorporating sports such as rugby league, rugby union, touch football, lawn bowls, croquet, swimming, surf lifesaving, fishing and golf. A $5 million multi-sports facility on Hartley St, jointly funded by the Australian Government, Queensland Government, Livingstone Shire Council and Bendigo Community Bank was officially opened on 19 May 2018, with future plans to expand facilities.[72]

Emu Park Golf Course is a community club (23°15′40″S 150°48′27″E  /  23.2610°S 150.8076°E  / -23.2610; 150.8076  (EMU PARK GOLF CLUB ) ).[67]

In 2014, it was announced that Emu Park would be permitted to enter team into Rockhampton Senior Rugby League's A-grade, reserve and Under 20's competitions for the 2015 season. Home games will be played at the Emu Park Sports Facility on Hartley Street in Emu Park.[citation needed ]

Emu Park hosts a variety of annual community events including:

The town's popular market days are held on the third Sunday of each month in Bell Park.[76]

In 2021 Woodford Folk Festival chose Emu Park Cultural Hall as a venue for their travelling Festival of Small Halls tours of regional Queensland.[77]

Attractions in Emu Park include:

The Singing Ship memorial is located on the headland accessed from Tennant Memorial Drive (23°15′22″S 150°49′45″E  /  23.2562°S 150.8291°E  / -23.2562; 150.8291  (Singing Ship monument ) ). It commemorates the voyage of James Cook on the HM Bark Endeavour in May 1770 during which he explored the bay. The memorial depicts the sail, mast and rigging of the ship, and the "singing" is created by the wind passing through organ pipes within the memorial.[78]

A Centenary of ANZAC memorial is located along the beachfront at the southern end of Emu Street, opposite the Emu Park RSL Sub-Branch (23°15′30″S 150°49′44″E  /  23.2582°S 150.8289°E  / -23.2582; 150.8289  (Centenary of ANZAC memorial ) ).[79]

Since the first stage of the multi-faceted development opened in 2015, the memorial has become a landmark of cultural and historic significance for Central Queensland, while also serving as a tourist attraction for Emu Park itself.[80] The memorial consists of several elements including ANZAC Court featuring a sandstone and sculpture cenotaph, a glass pane artwork, various sandstone plinths, The Gatehouse museum, battle markers, silhouettes of Australian soldiers, a boardwalk and a viewing platform.[81][82]

In 2011, local artist and Vietnam veteran Ross Coulter proposed part of the Emu Park foreshore be developed to incorporate a commemorative Centenary of ANZAC memorial.[83] Coulter's vision was for a new memorial called Anzac Plaza to be established, to complement the existing RSL precinct where the RSL Memorial Hall had been officially opened in 1949.[84]

However, Coulter died on 5 November 2011, the same day the plans were publicly announced.[85] Despite his death, the RSL vowed to progress with Coulter's vision to have a Centenary of ANZAC Memorial established in Emu Park.[83]

A steering committee was formed in 2013 to move forward with the development which Livingstone Shire Council adopted in 2014, launching the project in partnership with the state government, Emu Park RSL, Bendigo Community Bank and Home Corp.[86][87][88]

A symbolic groundbreaking ceremony was held in July 2014, with Coulter's widow Kate Coulter in attendance along with various dignitaries.[89] The first sandstone blocks of the ANZAC Court memorial feature were installed in December 2014, with the first stage of the memorial completed and commissioned in time for Anzac Day commemorations in 2015.[90][81]

Prior to the 2016 Anzac Day commemorations, more than 200 people attended the official opening of The Gatehouse - a structure that houses 26 separate information panels telling the stories of local men and women from Emu Park who served during the World War I, as well as general information about the war.[91] Later that year, three sandstone plinths were unveiled at the memorial to acknowledge the history of the RSL.[92]

In 2017, more elements to the memorial were added including groups of silhouetted figures representing Australian soldiers, and more than forty battle markers.[93]

Since it opened, the Centenary of ANZAC Memorial Precinct has been used for annual Anzac Day and Remembrance Day services, with more than 5000 people attending the dawn service on 25 April 2018.[94][95] The landmark is popular with visitors to the town and many community groups often attend the memorial for educational purposes.[96][97]

Queensland country musician Tony Cook filmed parts of the music video for his single "Country Recognised" at the memorial.[98]