Sarina is a rural town and coastal

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

Mackay Region The Mackay Region is a local government area located in North Queensland, Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, it was preceded by three previous local government areas with modern histories extending back as far as 1869. It has an estim ...

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 , Sarina had a population of 5,522 people.

Geography

Sarina lies just inland of the east coast of Queensland, south of the city of

Mackay Mackay may refer to: *Clan Mackay, the Scottish clan from which the surname "MacKay" derives Mackay may also refer to: Places Australia * Mackay Region, a local government area ** Mackay, Queensland, a city in the above region *** Mackay Airport ...

, and approximately north of the city of

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of ...

. The

Bruce Highway The Bruce Highway is a major highway in Queensland, Australia. Commencing in the state capital, Brisbane, it passes through areas close to the eastern coast on its way to Cairns in Far North Queensland. The route is part of the Australian Nat ...

passes through the locality from south to north, as does the North Coast railway line. The town of Sarina is located on Plane Creek, which flows into the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down the Australian northeast coast. Most of it is protected by the Fren ...

, but most of the urban development is on the northern side of the creek. The Bruce Highway and the railway line pass through the town, which is served by the

Sarina railway station Sarina railway station is located on the North Coast line in Queensland, Australia. It serves the town of Sarina. Opposite the single platform lies a crossing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a ...

. Plane Creek West (previously known as Plane Creek Upper) is a neighbourhood within the locality (), approximately west of the town of Sarina. The neighbourhood of Oonooie lies 6.8 km south of the town () and is the name of a former railway station on the North Coast line, which was named on 29 April 1915, reportedly after a principal clanswoman of that area. The neighbourhood of Mount Convenient lies north of the town () and is the name of a former railway station on the North Coast line, which was named on 30 October 1913 after a nearby peak, Mount Convenient. The neighbourhood of Swayneville lies south-west of the town (). The

Goonyella railway line The Goonyella railway system is located in Central Queensland, Australia. It services the coal mining area of the Bowen Basin, carrying coal to the Hay Point and Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminals 20 km southeast of Mackay, as well as product ...

passes along the eastern boundary of the locality towards the

Hay Point Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticated ...

coal terminal. Mount Chelona ( above sea level) is located in the north of the locality near where the Bruce Highway exits the locality north to Alligator Creek.

History

'' Yuwibara (''also known as ''Yuibera, Yuri, Juipera, Yuwiburra)'' is an

Australian Aboriginal language The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

spoken on Yuwibara country. It is closely related to the Biri languages/dialects. The Yuwibara language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the

.' Sarina was originally known as Plane Creek, but took its present name from the Sarina Inlet which was in turn named after Sarina, the

Greek mythological A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of d ...

enchantress, by William Charles Borlase Wilson, a surveyor, some time before 1882. Plane Creek Provisional School opened on 5 August 1897. In 1907 it became Plane Creek State School. In 1912 it was renamed Sarina State School. On 31 January 1956 a secondary department was added to the school, which operated until January 1964, when Sarina State High School opened. Plane Creek Upper Provisional School opened on 1900 and closed on 1969. On 1 January 1909 it became Plane Creek Upper State School. In 1928 it was renamed Plane Creek West State School. It closed in 1969. On Sunday 29 March 1908, the foundation block was laid for an Anglican church, adjacent to the court house. On Sunday 18 October 1908, the church was officially opened by Reverend T. Hely-Wilson. The church was dedicated to St Luke the Evangelist. Hillside State School opened in 1909 and closed on circa 1926. Middle Creek Provisional School opened in 1915. In 1916 it was renamed Laburnum Grove Provisional School. It closed circa 1941. St Anne's Catholic Primary School was officially opened on 23 May 1925 by the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They ...

. Mount Chelona State School opened on 4 September 1933 and closed circa 1941. Swayneville State School opened on 26 August 1935.

Sarina State High School Sarina State High School is located in the small rural town of Sarina, Queensland, Australia. The school had 600 students in 2013 with a reported 20 percent continuing studies at University. Sarina State High previously boasted a marine aquar ...

opened on 28 January 1964. In 2014, the school celebrated its 50th anniversary. At the , Sarina had a population of 3,285. In the 2011 census, Sarina had a population of 5,730 people. On 24 October 2014 the former Mount Pelion State School building was moved to Sarina from the Northview State School in Mount Pleasant (where it was relocated in 1987) to be restored as part of the Sarina Art and Craft Centre in Railway Square. In the , Sarina had a population of 5,522 people.

Heritage listings

Sarina has a number of

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many i ...

sites, including: * Broad Street ():

Sarina Air Raid Shelter Sarina Air Raid Shelter is a heritage-listed former air raid shelter at Broad Street, Sarina, Mackay Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1942. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 3 May 2019. The Sarina Air Raid Sh ...

*Broad Street ():

Sarina War Memorial Sarina War Memorial is a heritage-listed memorial at Broad Street, Sarina, Mackay Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1919 by Melrose and Fenwick. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 5 December 1997. History The Sa ...

Economy

Industries include sugar cane growing and milling, cattle grazing and agriculture. It is a major supplier of

ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a h ...

through

Wilmar International Wilmar International Limited (); is a Singaporean food processing and investment holding company with more than 300 subsidiary companies. Founded in 1991, it is one of Asia's leading agribusiness groups alongside the COFCO Group. It ranks amon ...

's Plane Creek sugar mill (). Approximately north is the second largest export coal terminal in Australia, and one of the biggest coal distribution terminals in the world,

Education

Sarina State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at Broad Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 465 students with 35 teachers (33 full-time equivalent) and 24 non-teaching staff (17 full-time equivalent). It includes a

special education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

program. Swayneville State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 952 Sarina Marlborough Road (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 112 students with 12 teachers (10 full-time equivalent) and 11 non-teaching staff (6 full-time equivalent). It includes a special education program. St Anne's Catholic Primary School is a Catholic primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 3 Range Road (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 210 students with 20 teachers (17 full-time equivalent) and 15 non-teaching staff (7 full-time equivalent). Sarina State High School is a government secondary (7-12) school for boys and girls at Anzac Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 743 students with 64 teachers (61 full-time equivalent) and 43 non-teaching staff (27 full-time equivalent). It includes a special education program.

Amenities

The

Mackay Regional Council The Mackay Region is a local government area located in North Queensland, Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, it was preceded by three previous local government areas with modern histories extending back as far as 1869. It has an estim ...

operates a library at 65 Broad Street () and operates a mobile library service on a fortnightly schedule at Swayneville near the school. The library facility opened in 1984 with a major refurbishment in 2013. The Sarina branch of the

Queensland Country Women's Association The Queensland Country Women's Association (QCWA) is the Queensland chapter of the Country Women's Association in Australia. The association seeks to serve the interests of women and children in rural areas in Australia through a network of loca ...

meets at the QCWA Hall at 2 Broad Street (). There are a number of churches in Sarina, including: * St Michael's Catholic Church at 1 Range Road () *St Luke's Anglican Church at 58 Broad Street () *Sarina Uniting Church at 7 Range Road () *Wesleyan Methodist Church at 87 Range Road () *Sarina Presbyterian Church at 23 Sarina Beach Road () *New Life Church at 1 Leslie Street ()

Sport

Sarina is home of the Sarina Crocodiles, a

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

club, producing Queensland representative players including

Martin Bella Martin Bella (born 26 March 1964), nicknamed Munster, is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. A , he represented Queensland and Australia, and played his club football for a number of clubs in Austral ...

Dale Shearer Dale Shearer (born 25 July 1965), also known by the nickname of "Rowdy", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. A Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representative ...

, Kevin Campion,

Daly Cherry-Evans Daly Cherry-Evans (born 20 February 1989) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in the NRL and Australia at international level. He captains Manly and won the 2011 NRL Grand ...

and dual international

Wendell Sailor Wendell Jermaine Sailor (born 16 July 1974) is an Australian former professional rugby footballer who represented his country in both rugby league and rugby union – a dual code international. In rugby league Sailor was a member of the succes ...

Attractions

A large

cane toad The cane toad (''Rhinella marina''), also known as the giant neotropical toad or marine toad, is a large, terrestrial true toad native to South and mainland Central America, but which has been introduced to various islands throughout Oceania ...

statue, called Buffy, is situated in the town centre on the Bruce Highway () in honour of Sarina's cane farming history. Buffy was made from fibreglass in the early 1980s for a

parade float A float is a decorated platform, either built on a vehicle like a truck or towed behind one, which is a component of many festive parades, such as those of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, the Carnival in São Paulo, the Carnival of Viareggio, the Ma ...

for the Apex Sugar Festival. The name Buffy comes from the species name

bufo marinus The cane toad (''Rhinella marina''), also known as the giant neotropical toad or marine toad, is a large, terrestrial true toad native to South and mainland Central America, but which has been introduced to various islands throughout Ocea ...

. Buffy has been painted for the "state of origin" football game multiple times and has even been stolen. To try and deter further theft, buffy has been chained to the concrete slab on broad street where he resides, though this hasn't stopped people from decorating Buffy with "Queenslander" flags and state of origin banners. The Sarina Arts & Craft Centre is at 1 Railway Square () adjacent to the Mackay Region Visitor Information Centre. It occupies three historic buildings: the old court house built in 1906, the old jail built circa 1906, and the former Mount Pelion State School building built 1926. Sarina Museum is also in Railway Square () in the former Catholic presbytery relocated to this site in 2001. Also in Railway Square is the Sarina Sugar Shed (), an information centre about the sugar industry. It shows how sugar is grown and processed using a working miniature sugar mill into an array of products.

Notable people from Sarina

– former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer, represented Australia and Queensland * Kevin Campion – Former professional Rugby league represented Queensland * Paul Campion – Radio host *

– Professional Rugby league player, represented Queensland and Australia *

– Professional Rugby league and

Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player *

– former professional

footballer, represented Australia and Queensland

References

External links

* * {{authority control Mackay Region Towns in Queensland North Queensland Coastline of Queensland Localities in Queensland