What is Mackay known for?
Mackay is a city on Queensland's central coast, known as a major sugar region, a service hub for coal mines, and for wildlife at Eungella and Cape Hillsborough.
Sugarcane fields surround Mackay, and the city is one of Australia's largest sugar-producing districts. Its port has a bulk sugar terminal.
The Bowen Basin coal mines lie inland, and many workers live in Mackay.
Wildlife
Eungella National Park is one of the best places to see wild platypuses. At Cape Hillsborough, kangaroos and wallabies gather on the beach at sunrise.
Mackay has art deco buildings, rebuilt after a cyclone in 1918. It is a gateway to the Whitsundays.
The city's Bluewater Lagoon, beside the Pioneer River, is a free public swimming area with water slides. The Mackay Regional Botanic Gardens showcase plants of central Queensland. Nearby Finch Hatton Gorge offers swimming holes and rainforest walks, and the Pioneer Valley is dotted with small farming towns. Cyclones are a risk in the wet season, and Mackay has strong building standards as a result.
Did You Know?
Eungella is said to mean land of cloud in a local Aboriginal language.