FRASER COAST CLICK on image to enlarge.

Hervey Bay on the Fraser Coast is situated approximately 290 kilometres north of the state capital, Brisbane, and lies on the coast of a natural bay between the Queensland mainland and nearby Fraser Island. The local economy relies on tourism, for which whale watching, Fraser Island and Lady Elliot Island and Hervey Bay's calm beaches are the major drawcards. It is one of the fastest growing cities in Australia.

The first recorded sighting of Hervey Bay was made by James Cook while carrying out his running survey of the east coast of Australia, on the 22 May 1770. By noon Cook’s ship was in a position a little over half-way across the opening of Hervey Bay heading for Bundaberg. Cook named the bay, Hervey’s Bay after Augustus John Harvey (1724–1779), later Third Earl of Bristol, a naval officer who became a Lord of the Admiralty the year Endeavour returned.

Until recent years, Hervey Bay was a string of small townships stretching along the coast, consisting of Point Vernon, Pialba, Torquay, Scarness and Urangan. Until 1990, the towns were serviced by a rail link from the Main North Coast line that diverted from Aldershot and went to Takura, Walligan, Nikenbah then on to Pialba and Urangan. The line was a major freight point for the Port of Maryborough and for the sugar cane industry until road transport assumed the role.