My Town Magazine, Discover Queensland Edition January/February 2017 Edition 93 | Page 18

A BIT ABOUT QUEENSLAND

labour sourced from the South Pacific through a form of forced recruitment known at the time as “ blackbirding ”. The Australian Labor Party has its origin as a formal organisation in Queensland and the town of Barcaldine is the symbolic birthplace of the party . June 2009 marked the 150th anniversary of its creation as a separate colony from New South Wales . A rare record of early settler life in north Queensland can be seen in a set of ten photographic glass plates taken in the 1860s by Richard Daintree , in the collection of the National Museum of Australia . The Aboriginal occupation of Queensland is thought to predate 50,000 BC , likely via boat or land bridge across Torres Strait , and became divided into over 90 different language groups .
During the last ice age Queensland ’ s landscape became more arid and largely desolate , making food and other supplies scarce . This led to the world ’ s first seed-grinding technology . Warming again made the land hospitable , which brought high rainfall along the eastern coast , stimulating the growth of the state ’ s tropical rainforests .
Tropical North Queensland is the northern part of Queensland , Australia , an area from about the city of Mackay north to the tip of Cape York .
The tropical region of Queensland covers 54 % of the state ’ s area some 934,600 square kilometres ( 360,900 sq . mi ), and includes the whole area above the latitude 23.5 degrees south , taking in an area from Rockhampton north . However , what is generally accepted as Tropical “ North ” Queensland includes the cities of Mackay , Townsville and Cairns and the Australian islands of the Torres Strait . It also includes several world heritage listed areas , such as the Great Barrier Reef and the Wet Tropics .
North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland . Queensland is a massive state , larger than many countries , and the tropical northern part of it has been historically remote and undeveloped , resulting
Queensland Flag
in a distinctive regional character and identity .
South East Queensland ( SEQ ) is a bio-geographical , political , and administrative region of the state of Queensland in Australia , which contains 3.4 million people out of the state ’ s population of 4.8 million . The area covered by South East Queensland varies , depending on the definition of the region . Its most common use is for political purposes , and covers 22,420 square kilometres ( 8,660 sq . mi ) and incorporates 11 local government areas , extending 240
Image , Sunset at Scarborough Boat Harbour , By Jalyn Photographics kilometres ( 150 mi ) from Noosa in the north to the Gold Coast and New South Wales border in the south ( some sources include Tweed Heads ( NSW ) which is contiguous as an urban area with Brisbane / Gold Coast ), and 140 kilometres ( 87 mi ) west to Toowoomba ( which is simultaneously considered part of the Darling Downs region ).
South East Queensland was the first part of Queensland to be settled and explored by Europeans . Settlements initially arose in the Brisbane and Ipswich areas with activity by European immigrants spreading in all directions from there . Various industries such as timber cutting and agriculture quickly developed at locations around the region from the 1840s onwards . Transport links have been shaped by the range of terrains found in South East Queensland .
Source : Wikipedia
18 My Town Magazine , Discover Queensland