Shute Harbour is a 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 ...

and harbour in the

Whitsunday Region The Whitsunday Region is a local government area located in North Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, it was preceded by two previous local government areas with a history extending back to the establishment of regional local governmen ...

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 , Shute Harbour had a population of 122 people.

Geography

Shute Harbour is in sheltered port for small vessels located approximately 10 kilometres east of

Airlie Beach Airlie Beach is a coastal locality in the Whitsunday Region of Queensland, Australia. In the , Airlie Beach had a population of 1,208 people. Geography Airlie Beach is one of many departure points for the Great Barrier Reef. Cruise ships visi ...

. Serving mainly as a boarding point for ferries between the

Whitsunday Islands The Whitsunday Islands are 74 continental islands of various sizes off the central coast of Queensland, Australia, north of Brisbane. The northernmost of the islands are off the coast by the town of Bowen, while the southernmost islands are of ...

and the mainland, it is also home to many charter boat operations and provides the best access to many Whitsunday island resorts and campsites. The Proserpine–Shute Harbour Road (State Route 59) enters the locality from the west, and ends in the centre.

History

Shute Harbour takes its name from Shute Island which is about south-east of the headland of Shute Harbour. The island was named by in May 1881 by Captain John Fiot Lee Pearse Maclear of

HMS Alert Sixteen ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Alert'' (or the variants ''Alerte'' and ''Alaart''), while another was planned: * , an 8-gun cutter in service from 1753 to 1754. * , a 10-gun cutter launched at Dover in 1777, converted t ...

, possibly after a crew-member of that ship. When the Proserpine Shire Council decided to construct tourist facilities in the area in October 1960, they created a town called Shutehaven. On 31 January 1987, the town of Shutehaven was amalgamated into a larger town of Whitsunday.

Harbour facilities

Once second only to Sydney’s

Circular Quay Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping port, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the northern edge of the ...

as the busiest commuter port in Australia and hosting the largest seaplane airbase in the Southern hemisphere, Shute Harbour has faced many years of uncertainty as most ferry operations have moved to marinas in Airlie Beach. Shute Harbour Transit Facility is managed by the Whitsunday Regional Council. Major redevelopment plans for the facility have been flagged due to ageing infrastructure, however much uncertainty exists with the nature of these plans. There are regular bus and taxi services available to and from the port which take the winding road through

Conway National Park Conway is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 911 km northwest of Brisbane. The park's main feature is the Conway Peninsula which is covered by the largest area of lowland tropical rainforest in Queensland outside Tropical North Que ...

towards the harbour.

References

External links

Shute HarbourConway National Park
{{Whitsunday Region Whitsunday Region Central Queensland Ports and harbours of Queensland Localities in Queensland

Geography

History

Harbour facilities

See also

References

External links