Shire of Noosa

Shire of Noosa Queensland
Location within South East Queensland
Population	55,369 (2018)[1]
• Density	63.6/km2 (164.8/sq mi)
Established	11 May 1910 – 15 March 2008 1 January 2014
Area	870 km2 (335.9 sq mi)[1]
Mayor	Clare Stewart
Council seat	Tewantin
Region	South East Queensland
State electorate(s)	Noosa
Federal Division(s)	Wide Bay
Website	Shire of Noosa
LGAs around Shire of Noosa: Gympie Gympie Pacific Ocean Gympie Shire of Noosa Pacific Ocean Sunshine Coast Sunshine Coast Pacific Ocean

The Shire of Noosa is a local government area about 130 kilometres (81 mi) north of Brisbane in the Sunshine Coast district of South East Queensland, Australia. The shire covers an area of 870 square kilometres (335.9 sq mi). It existed as a local government entity from 1910 until 2008, when it was amalgamated with the Shire of Maroochy and City of Caloundra to form the Sunshine Coast Region. The shire was re-established on 1 January 2014.

History[]

Geological history[]

The Noosa Hinterland was formed during the Oligocene era around 25-30 million years ago when volcanic activity created the ranges. By the beginning of the Neolithic era, Noosa's coast experienced a change in sea level rises when its beaches and waterways began to take shape.

Ancient history[]

The Noosa area was originally home to several Aboriginal groups. They primarily include the tribe to the south, the to the north, and the Kabi Kabi (or Gabbi Gabbi) to the west.

Gubbi Gubbi (Kabi Kabi, Cabbee, Carbi, Gabi Gabi) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken on Gubbi Gubbi country. The Gubbi Gubbi language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Sunshine Coast Region and Gympie Region, particularly the towns of Caloundra, Noosa Heads, Gympie and extending north towards Maryborough and south to Caboolture.^[2]

In 2003, the Federal Court of Australia determined (title claim QC2013/003) that the native title holders for the Noosa area are the Kabi Kabi First Nation.^[3]

Although much of the culture and presence of the traditional owners of the Noosa district has been lost during the short period of white settlement, there still exist many subtle reminders. They include:

• bora rings, used during rituals.
• canoe trees, marks on trees where bark was removed for canoes.
• border/navigation trees, marks on trees used to mark paths and/or tribal borders.
• stone carvings
• burial trees
• middens, shell mound created by thousands of years of discarded shells.
• stone axes
• spoken legends, many local legends which were traditionally passed through the generations survive today.
• place names, many local names are versions of the original Aboriginal names.

It is widely accepted that the name Noosa comes from the local Aboriginal word "Noothera" or "Gnuthuru", in the Kabi Kabi language, for shadow or shady place.^[4] An 1870 map of Noosa shows the Noosa River written as Nusa River. This has led to an unfounded belief that the word Nusa is derived from the Indonesian word for island.^[5]

A Keeping Place of indigenous cultural and sacred objects is maintained at the Noosa Shire Museum, Pomona.

Early European settlement[]

Although reports of the area can be traced back to Captain Cook's voyages in May 1770, European settlement in the region did not proceed until almost a century later. The difficulty of transport in the region, which persisted to the 1920s and beyond, was one major reason for that. European settlement was initially driven by timber logging, and then by a gold rush in the Gympie area, north of Noosa.

In 1871, the Government laid out a port at Tewantin. The surrounding land was duly surveyed and, by 1877, contained two hotels, a boarding house, school, police station and telegraph office. In 1872, the Noosa Heads and coastal region south to Peregian Beach was set aside as an Aboriginal Mission, but that was cancelled in 1878, and land was opened for selection on 15 January 1879. With the construction of the North Coast Railway inland from Tewantin, the port declined in importance after 1890.^[6]

Noosa is a region, not a town. It contains beaches and a beach national park, the cleanest river in South-East Queensland and an extensive trail network inland, linking a number of lifestyle villages, including Cooroy and Pomona. In the last 50 years, Noosa has been transformed from an isolated fishing village to a tourist destination. Although that has had its costs, the shire is known for its generally greener approach to development. Most development in Noosa has been restrained. There are no high-rise buildings, due both to local community pressure and to council planning action, and much remaining native forest. 34.8% of the Noosa district consists of National Parks, Conservation Parks, State Forests, and other generally protected land.

One of the reasons for the popularity of Noosa Heads is that it is one of the few north-facing beaches on Australia's east coast, hence Noosa Beach is relatively protected from the prevailing on-shore wind and from storms.

Council history[]

The area was originally incorporated on 11 November 1879, under the Divisional Boards Act 1879, as part of the Widgee Divisional Board. Noosa was created as a separate shire in 1910, under the Local Authorities Act 1902, with an initial population of 2,000. The first elections were held on 22 April 1910 and resulted in James Duke becoming the first shire chairman. The Noosa Shire Hall was constructed in Pomona in 1911.^[6]

On 8 September 1917, an Honour Roll was unveiled at the Noosa Shire Hall in Pomona, to commemorate those from the district who had left Australia to serve in the armed forces during World War I.^[7]

In the early 1970s, with Queensland Government backing, development commenced in the area around Noosa Sound. In December 1980, the shire headquarters moved to Pelican Street, Tewantin. The former shire hall in Pomona became the , operated by the .^[8][9]

In 1982, the Noosa community elected a young and energetic pro-environment and pro-planning council. The councillors who were most influential in that change were elected in a group called The Resident's Team^{[citation needed]}. They laid the foundation for many of the planning and environmental-protection concepts for which Noosa is now well known^{[citation needed]}. The 1982-1985 Noosa Council was the first to introduce the idea of a development/population cap^{[citation needed]}, the concept of strategic planning, a focus on community arts, and the use of design and landscape controls in development applications, and it produced drafts of many of the first development control plans for each of the Noosa townships. The business lobby, supported by several local media personalities, were successful in replacing that council with a pro-development one in the 1985 election,^{[citation needed]} but the pro-development council was, in turn, largely removed by the Noosa community in 1988, at the next election.^{[citation needed]}

Following the 1988 election of Noosa's first green mayor,^{[clarification needed]} Noel Playford, who was a member of the 1982-1985 Residents Team^{[citation needed]}, Noosa's first formal strategic plan was gazetted, and in 1990, the height of developments was limited to four storeys. In 1993, a major council and community complex covering 9 hectares (22.2 acres) opened at Wallace Park, Noosaville.

In 1995, mayor Noel Playford controversially announced a "population cap" of 56,500 people for Noosa Shire, based on the initial concepts developed during the 1982-1985 Council term.^[10] The population cap was the expected population under the planning scheme if all available land was developed in accordance with it. Noosa council had performed the calculation for all land in the shire and provided the results in strategic planning documents. Noosa was the first council in Australia to do so.^[11]

On 15 March 2008, under the Local Government (Reform Implementation) Act 2007, passed by the Parliament of Queensland in August 2007, the Shire of Noosa was merged with the Shire of Maroochy and the City of Caloundra to form the Sunshine Coast Region. Noosa's mayor, Bob Abbot, won the mayoralty of the new council over Maroochy's Joe Natoli, with 70% of the combined vote.^[12] The amalgamation occurred despite a 2007 referendum in Noosa Shire, conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission, in which 95% of voters rejected amalgamation.^[13]

In 2012, following a change of state government, a proposal was made to de-amalgamate the Shire of Noosa from the Sunshine Coast Region.^[14] On 9 March 2013, 81% of Noosa residents voted to de-amalgamate Noosa from the Sunshine Coast Region.^[15] On 18 March 2013, the Sunshine Coast Regional Council decided its new planning scheme should not apply to those areas that were part of the former Noosa Shire (different attitudes to planning and developments having been a major objection by residents of Noosa Shire to the amalgamation).^[16]

The Shire of Noosa was re-established on 1 January 2014,^[17][18] and the new councillors and mayor were sworn in the next day. In attendance were Warren Truss, Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and member for Wide Bay, as well as David Gibson, Member for Gympie. The ceremony was followed by the first meeting of the council, held at the Cooroy Memorial Hall, Cooroy.^[19]

Structure[]

The elected council consists of a mayor and six councillors. Noosa Shire does not have divisional electoral boundaries.^[20][21]

Current council members[]

Name	Term	Party	Position in council	Notes
Clare Stewart	2020–present	Independent	Mayor	[22]
Frank Wilkie	2014–present	Independent	Deputy Mayor	[22]
Joe Jurisevic	2014–present	Independent		[22]
Brian Stockwell	2016–present	Independent		[22]
Amelia Lorenston	2020–present	Independent		[22]
Tom Wegener	2020–present	Independent		[22]
Karen Finzel	2020–present	Independent		[22]

Towns and localities[]

The Shire of Noosa includes the following settlements:

¹ - includes part of Great Sandy National Park
² - shared with Sunshine Coast Region

Population[]

Year	Population
1933	5,768
1947	5,000
1954	6,296
1961	6,117
1966	6,673
1971	7,746
1976	10,825
1981	17,071
1986	20,328
1991	29,378
1996	41,171
2001	47,321
2006	51,962
2011	56,151
2016	52,149
2018	55,369

Chairmen and mayors of Noosa Shire[]

Elected by fellow councillors:

• James Duke (1910–1911)
• Frank Conroy (1911–1914)
• Eugene von Blankensee (1914–1915)
• Alexander Chapman (1915–1916)
• Charles Livingstone (1916–1917)
• Alexander Parker (1917–1918)
• Alexander Chapman (1918–1919)
• Charles Crank (1919–1920)
• Alexander Parker (1920–1921)

Directly elected:^[23]

• William Ferguson (1921–1927)
• Frederick Bryan (1927–1930)
• Charles Crank (1930–1939)
• William Ferguson (1939–1946)
• Robert McAnally (1946–1955)
• Victor Gee (1955–1958)
• S.T. (Stanley) Adams (1958–1964)
• Ian MacDonald (1964–1980)
• Bert Wansley AM (1980–1988)
• Noel Playford OAM (1988–1997)
• Bob Abbot (1997–2008)
• For mayor during amalgamation (2008–2013) see: Sunshine Coast Region
• Noel Playford OAM (2014–2016)
• Tony Wellington (2016–2020)^[24]
• Clare Stewart (2020–Present)

Culture[]

The Noosa Film Festival was held in Noosa between 2 and 8 September in 1999.^[25] A number of other festivals are also held in Noosa, including the Noosa Festival of Surfing.

is a flourishing and widely reputed centre for performing arts in the area. As well as various other food and cultural festivals, each year Noosa boasts the Noosa Long Weekend Festival, a 10-day (and night) multi-arts genre cultural festival. Theatre, dance, music, food, film, supper clubs, workshops and more are featured as part of the program of free and ticketed events. The festival attracts over 10,000 people each year.

The recently developed in Noosa Heads has become another venue for live theatre and musical performances, as well as a secondary campus for the University of the Sunshine Coast.

The , established 1909, is a yearly event to showcase the shire's best cattle, horsemen etc. The show is held at the Pomona Showgrounds on the second weekend of every September.

Pomona is also home to the Noosa Shire Museum, where European and indigenous history is displayed side by side, and The Majestic Theatre, a performing arts centre for the Noosa Northern Hinterland. An art gallery has been established in the old Pomona Railway Station.

Services[]

The Shire of Noosa operates libraries in Noosaville and Cooroy.^[26] A mobile library service visits the following districts on a weekly schedule: Noosa Heads, Sunrise Beach, Cooran, Federal, Kin Kin, Boreen Point, Peregian Beach and Pomona.^[27]

See also[]

• Noosa Biosphere Reserve
• Noosa National Park
• Noosa Festival of Surfing
• Noosa Triathlon

References[]

Further reading[]

• Wells, Robin A. (2003). In the Tracks of a Rainbow: Indigenous Culture and Legends of the Sunshine Coast. Gullirae Books. ISBN 0-9580854-0-4.
• Cato, Nancy (1979). The Noosa Story: a study in unplanned development. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-7016-2635-6.
• Petrie, Tom (1904). Tom Petrie's reminiscences of Early Queensland. Angus & Robertson Publishers. ISBN 0-207-14629-2.

External links[]

• Noosa Shire Council Home.
• Noosa News - Latest news, local stories and sport from Noosa, on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
• Official Tourism Noosa Website - News, history, accommodation, activities, events & visitor information
• Noosa Arts Theatre Official Website
• Noosa Longweekend Annual Event Official Website

Coordinates: 26°23′19″S 153°02′05.3″E / 26.38861°S 153.034806°E / -26.38861; 153.034806