Marcoola is a coastal town and

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivi ...

in the

Sunshine Coast Region The Sunshine Coast Region is a local government area located in the Sunshine Coast district of South East Queensland, Australia. It was created by the amalgamation in 2008 of the City of Caloundra and the Shires of Maroochy and Noosa. It co ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. In the , the locality of Marcoola had a population of 3,173 people.

Geography

Marcoola includes part of the pristine Mount Coolum National Park, borders with the

Maroochy River The Maroochy River is a river in South East Queensland, Australia. The river rises from the eastern slopes of the Blackall Range and flows east through Eumundi, before entering the sea at Cotton Tree, Maroochydore. Other populated centres in ...

and is part of the Maroochy River Catchment Area and includes urban developments of Town of Seaside and Mount Coolum Shores.

Sunshine Coast Airport Sunshine Coast Airport (formerly Maroochydore Airport) is an Australian international airport located at the northern end of the Sunshine Coast and approximately north of centre of Brisbane, within South East Queensland agglomeration. It ...

is located within the suburban boundary of Marcoola.

History

The name Marcoola was a coined name and reflects its location between

MARoochydore Maroochydore ( ) is a coastal town in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. The town was subdivided from the Cotton Tree reserve by Surveyor Thomas O'Connor in 1903. The land was acquired from William Pettigrew who had a timber de ...

and COOLum. In March 2009 a ship called,

MV Pacific Adventurer MV ''Pacific Mariner'', formerly MV ''Pacific Adventurer'', is a 1123 TEU geared multi-purpose container ship that gained notoriety after causing Queensland's largest oil spill on the east coast of Australia in March 2009. The ship is owned by ...

, spilled 270 tonnes of oil off the coast of Brisbane causing damage to the Marcoola coastline among other areas and costing the state millions of dollars. In the , the locality of Marcoola had a population of 3,173 people, of which 50.4% were male and 49.6% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 2.6% of the population.

Environment

Many species persist in this region, including flora such as

paperbark ''Melaleuca'' () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of ''Leptospermum''). They range in size f ...

open forest and woodland,

Banksia aemula ''Banksia aemula'', commonly known as the wallum banksia, is a shrub of the family Proteaceae. Found from Bundaberg south to Sydney on the Australian east coast, it is encountered as a shrub or a tree to in coastal heath on deep sandy soi ...

(Wallum Banksia) woodland, and open

heathland A heath () is a shrubland habitat (ecology), habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great B ...

. There is also a population of the endangered Mount Emu she-oak. The region provides essential habitat for

Ground Parrot The genus ''Pezoporus'' contains three Australian species: the night parrot (''Pezoporus occidentalis'') and the cryptic ground parrots, the eastern ground parrot (''Pezoporus wallicus'') and the western ground parrot (''Pezoporus flaviventris' ...

s which are regularly recorded and it is believed a subpopulation between 15 and 19 birds exists in Marcoola, making this the largest subpopulation within the Sunshine Coast and consequently important for the species persistence. Many other popular bird species have also been recorded in the area in recent years.

Ecosystem services Ecosystem services are the many and varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment and healthy ecosystems. Such ecosystems include, for example, agroecosystems, forest ecosystem, grassland ecosystems, and aquatic ecosystems ...

in the region contribute to improved water quality of the Maroochy River by removing nutrient loads, retaining floodwaters and maintaining local flows before flowing directly into the sea. Other benefits include the high value to wildlife and by providing habitat refuge. The area also provides critical habitat for species which rely on the area for breeding and feeding (such as acid frogs, the 'vulnerable' wallum froglet, wallum sedge frog, wallum rocketfrog). Marcoola coastal region is part of the Australian Commonwealth's, Temperate East Marine Region, and consists of several 'nationally important wetlands' and '

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

' locations.Protected Matters Search Tool
Department of the Environment and Energy website, published: 28 May 2015, accessed: 21 September 2018

References

External links

* {{Sunshine Coast Region Suburbs of the Sunshine Coast Region Coastline of Queensland Localities in Queensland