Yeppoon, Queensland

Yeppoon is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Livingstone, Central Queensland, Australia. Yeppoon is renowned for its beaches, tropical climate, and the islands out on the bay. Twenty-five minutes from the city of Rockhampton, Yeppoon is the principal town on the Capricorn Coast, a string of seaside communities stretching more than 150km from north to south. The beaches and shallow coves provide a destination both for tourists and miners settling down in Central Queensland. Offshore, there are 27 islands including Great Keppel Island which is 20km from Yeppoon.GeographyYeppoon is located on Keppel Bay, around 700km north of the state capital, Brisbane, and 40km from Rockhampton City. It is within the local government area of Shire of Livingstone (between 2008 and 2013, it was within the Rockhampton Region).HistoryThe Capricorn Coast was part of the traditional lands of the Darumbal Aboriginal people. Yeppoon was first settled by the Ross family in 1865 who took up large landholding along the length of the Capricorn Coast. Fruit crops, cattle, and wool were the major industries of the early town. A short-lived period of sugar cane growing followed from 1883 to 1903, which failed due to unseasonal rains and lack of financial backing. Along with other sugar growing areas of Australia, South Sea Islanders were used as labourers on the sugar plantations, often without their consent (see blackbirding). Pineapples, mangoes, and other tropical fruit became the mainstay of local agriculture in the new century, with cattle grazing and fishing also contributing to the local economy.