Information about Queensland

Queensland, the Sunshine State, is Australia's second largest state by area and has the third largest population.

Queensland is known for its sunshine, warm seas, cool sea breezes and a generally warm climate all year round.

Queensland's economy is dominated by agricultural, tourist and natural resource activities, with a boom in the tourism and mining industries over the last few years.

The population is mostly in the south-east cities of Brisbane (the Capital), Ipswich, Logan City, and the Gold and Sunshine Coasts. Additional major regional centres are Bundaberg, Cairns, Mackay, Mount Isa, Rockhampton, Toowoomba, and Townsville. There are significant populations in regional cities, making Queensland less centalised in its Capital that other Australian States.
 
Other areas of interest are the Atherton Tablelands,the Bunya Mountains, Carnarvon Gorge, the Channel Country, the Granite Belt,the Great Dividing Range, the Gold Coast, Hinchinbrook Island, the Sunshine Coast, the Whitsunday Islands.

There are also World Heritage listed areas, Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves, Fraser Island, Great Barrier Reef, Riversleigh Fossil Site.

Main tourist areas of Queensland include: Brisbane, Cairns, the Daintree Rainforest, Fraser Island, Gold Coast, The Great Barrier Reef, Port Douglas, North and South Stradbroke Islands, Sunshine Coast amd the Whitsunday Islands.
 
Primary industries include: bananas, bauxite mining, cattle raising, coal mining, copper mining, cotton, tropical and temperate fruit and vegetables, grain crops, peanuts, pineapples, sugar cane, wineries and wool production.

Other industries are processing of primary produce or all kinds, retail trade and tourism.
 
Queensland was settled by Indigenous Australians as long as 40,000 years ago. Dutch, Portuguese and French visitors explored the area and Captain James Cook visited in 1770. There have been a range of issues between Indigenous inhabitants, Pacific Island workers and European settlers in the past. Queensland separated from New South Wales in 1859, and moved ahead rapidly after that.

To find out more about Queensland Tourism Desitinations, visit the Tourism Queensland website.