Coastline Calling - Our Beaches

The Australian propensity for gravitating to the seaside for holidays, or any excuse at all, exhibited itself from the earliest days of settlement in the Proserpine area. While it is not practical to say precisely when any particular beach became a feature of the area, “Coastline Calling” relates some of the highlights in the evolution of our beach scene.
Undoubtedly, the first to become popular was the beach at Cannonvale (or Cannon Valley Beach as it was originally known) with the spread of farming down Cannon Valley towards the end of the 19th century. The first inhabitants occupied Jubilee Pocket (later to become known as Airlie) in 1904.
Photographs of the time show a more extensive beach than exists today and as happened in the following years at other beaches, holiday shacks sprang up. For decades from 1911, Cannon Valley was regarded as the best place to be for the Boxing Day Sports each year.
Soon, however, a competitor beach appeared as farming spread into the Preston/Conway area. The “Bowen Independent” (January 7, 1911) described a picnic held by “Prestonites … at the mouth of the Proserpine River during the Christmas holidays.” This marked the beginning of a surge in popularity for today’s Conway Beach and in October 1912, farmers from the Preston area cut a rough track through to the beach which was first known as Preston Beach. Thereafter, the beach became the venue for annual formal picnics at Easter and Christmas which were important events on the social calendar for many years.
Next on the scene was New Beach on the western side of the Proserpine River mouth. In December 1922, the “Bowen Independent” reported that a group of local enthusiasts had cut a road to a “new beach” through the property of Goorganga, then owned by E. G. Lascelles who gave his blessing to the venture.
At first this beach was known as Goorganga Beach but the “Bowen Independent” description of 1922 stuck and this beach today is still known as New Beach. Difficulty of access denied its development which, in 1935, was measured in one spot to be about 80 metres wide. New Beach was also known as Shepherd’s Beach.  
Over the years, the track was maintained by locals, the council not willing to assist other than donating some culvert pipes in 1929. Old photographs of the road to the beach show a track that would quickly bring a modern car to a shuddering halt. Today, the access road has faded away and entry by land is practicable only by four-wheel drive and subject to the permission of owners.
Meanwhile, as settlement progressed swiftly and cars provided more mobility, yet another beach hit the headlines with the “Proserpine Guardian” (February 26, 1926) announcing the “discovery … (of) The Daddy of them all” when the local chemist, J. M. Harkness, forged a car track from Proserpine through to today’s Dingo Beach. This set in motion a series of picnics organised by the Automobile Club and established Dingo Beach as one of our premier beach sites. Today, it is still extremely popular with locals and visitors alike who also now venture a little further afield along this road to Hydeaway Bay, Monte’s and Cape Gloucester beaches.
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Our love affair with the beach continues to this day.
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Story and photo courtesy Proserpine Historical Museum and including extracts from the weekly feature in the “Proserpine Guardian” written by past PHMS patron, Ray Blackwood.

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