Whitsunday Coast
While the tourist promotion materials for the Whitsundays — the region within the Queensland Government-defined boundaries extending from Wangaratta Creek (which flows into Upstart Bay) and the O'Connell River south of Proserpine — the Whitsunday Coast usually refers to the coastline between Gloucester Island and Cape Conway's southern extension and the 74 islands that lie off the shore.
Extending the northern boundary into Port Denison would suit Bowen's tourist operators, but accessing the iconic islands south of Hayman, which lies around 66 kilometres due east of Bowen, would require a passage around Gloucester Island or through the Gloucester Passage. By contrast, Airlie Beach — the region's generally accepted tourist hub — lies around 31 kilometres southwest of Hayman.
Similarly, while the developers behind Laguna Quays might have aspired to draw tourist traffic away from Airlie Beach, a location within the Mackay Region's boundaries and a 42-kilometre passage to Lindeman — the southernmost of the main resort islands — mitigated against those ambitions.
So, within these pages at least, the Whitsunday Coast refers to the 60-kilometre stretch of coastline south of Gloucester Island centred on Airlie Beach and the 74 islands, which are subdivided into four main groups:
- The Whitsunday Group, including Dent, Hamilton, Hayman, Hook and Whitsunday Island (notable for the white sands of Whitehaven Beach).
- The Lindeman Group, including Lindeman Island and Shaw Island.
- The Molle Group, including Daydream(formerly West Molle), Long, North and South Molle.
- The Northern Group, including Armit, Gloucester and Saddleback.
