Mackay Tourist Attractions

Mackay (pop. 40,000), situated on a monotonous stretch of the Bruce Highway, is often called the sugar capital of Australia. It has a good claim to the title, for the five sugar mills processing sugar cane from the plantations that characterize the landscape of this region supply a third of the country's total output of sugar. The first sugar-cane plantation was established in 1866, and soon afterwards the first sugar mill was built and Mackay was declared a town.As a port, Mackay ships not only huge quantities of sugar but also coal from the opencast mines in central Queensland (Hay Point). Its large harbor was created by the construction of a breakwater in 1939. Alongside sugar, coal, beef, dairy farming, timber working and the growing of tropical fruits an increasingly important contribution to the town's economy is now being made by tourism.A number of handsome buildings - the Town Hall, the Commonwealth and National Banks, the courthouse, the police station, the customs house - have been preserved from Mackay's early days. The town's streets are lined with palms. Queens Park has a beautiful array of flowers, tropical trees and shrubs and an orchid house.The tourist office in Mackay is housed in a replica of an old sugar mill in Nebo Road.