Bundaberg, Queensland

Bundaberg is a city in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Burnett River, approximately 385 kilometres north of the state capital, Brisbane. Bundaberg is a major centre within Queensland's Wide Bay-Burnett region. The population of the City of Bundaberg is just over 50,000. The combined population of Bundaberg and surrounding Burnett Shire is about 74,000. Bundaberg is projected to have a population of 92,000 by 2016.

The city name is thought to be an artificial combination of bunda, the Kabi Aboriginal word denoting important man and the German suffix berg indicating mountain. The city is colloquially known as "Bundy".

The local Aboriginal group is the Gurang Gurang (goo-rang goo-rang) people.

Bundaberg has sister city agreements with Nanning, China and Settsu City, Japan.

History

Bundaberg was founded by timbergetters John and Gavin Steuart and Lachlan Tripp in 1867. The first farmers in the area arrived soon after. Timber was the first established industry in Bundaberg. In 1868, a sawmill was erected on the Burnett River, downstream from the Steuart and Watson holdings. The city was surveyed, laid out and named Bundaberg in 1870.

Experimental sugar cane growing in the district followed and a successful industry grew. The early sugar industry in Bundaberg was supported by Kanaka labour. Bundaberg was gazetted a town in 1902 and a city in 1913.

Industry

Subtropical Bundaberg is dependent to a large extent on the local sugar industry. Extensive sugar cane fields extend throughout the district, and value-adding operations such as the milling and refinement of sugar and its packaging and distribution are located around the city. A bulk terminal for the exportation of sugar is located on the coast east of Bundaberg. Another of the city's better-known exports is Bundaberg Rum, which is made from the sugar cane by-product molasses. Bundaberg is also home to beverage producer Bundaberg Brewed Drinks.

Commercial fruit and vegetable production is also prominent throughout the district, most notably tomatoes, zucchinis, capsicums, legumes and watermelons are grown in abundant quantities.

Tourism

Tourism is an important industry to Queensland and Bundaberg is known as the 'Gateway to the Great Barrier Reef'. The city lies near the southern end of the reef in proximity to Lady Elliot and Lady Musgrave Islands. The world famous Mon Repos turtle rookery is located on the coast just east of Bundaberg, as is the town of Bargara, an increasingly popular holiday and retirement destination.

The northern bank of the Burnett River between the Tallon and Burnett bridges is home to a colony of flying foxes. The bats leave the river at dusk and fan out all over the city to look for food.

Tours of the famous Bundaberg Rum distillery are also popular with tourists.

Climate

Bundaberg has a subtropical - Temperate climate with warm summers and cool winters. The mean daily maximum temperature is highest in January at 30.3 Celsius, and lowest in July at 10.0 degrees Celsius^{[citation needed]}. With the coldest tempreture recorded in bundaberg a mere 0.8 degrees Celsius and some inland areas of bundaberg do get frequent frosts. The mean annual rainfall is 1141.0 millimetres [1].

Transport

Bundaberg is situated at the end of the Isis Highway (State Route 3), approximately 50 km east of its junction with the Bruce Highway. Bundaberg is serviced by several Queensland Rail passenger trains, including the Tilt Train and is approximately four and a half hours north of Brisbane by rail. Many long-distance bus services also pass through the city. Bundaberg has its own airport, with flights to Brisbane and Lady Elliot Island. Adjacent to the airport is a campus of Central Queensland University. The city is home to the Jabiru Aircraft Company, which designs and manufactures a range of small civil utility aircraft. Bundaberg Port is located 20 kilometres northeast of the city, at the mouth of the Burnett River. The port is a destination for ships from Australia and overseas. It is predominatly used for shipping sugar cane and other goods related to that industry such as Bundaberg Rum.

People of Bundaberg

Notable Residents

Well-known inhabitants of Bundaberg include:

• Bert Hinkler, pioneer aviator
• Gladys Moncrieff, singer
• Vance Palmer, writer
• Don Tallon, Australian Cricketer
• Mal Meninga, rugby league footballer
• Chris Sarra, 2004 Queenslander of the Year
• Michelle Steele, Australian skeleton representative at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
• Clint Bolton, Sydney FC football (soccer) player

Representatives

Current

• Jack Dempsey, (National Party of Australia), State member for Bundaberg
• Paul Neville (National Party of Australia), Federal member for Hinkler

Former

• Prime Ministers Andrew Fisher and Frank Forde both represented Federal electorates that included Bundaberg, yet neither was from there.

Bundaberg public health problems

Bundaberg attracted national media attention in 2005 due to the alleged incompetence of Bundaberg Base Hospital surgical director Jayant Patel (also known as "Doctor Death"), who was implicated in the deaths of up to 87 patients.

Bundaberg also was the location of another health-related disaster in 1928, when 12 children died shortly after receiving injections of diphtheria vaccine. At the time, the vaccine was created by the toxin-antitoxin, or TAT process, where diphtheria toxin was combined with antibodies from horses, which served to eliminate the toxicity of the toxin while leaving it intact enough to stimulate a long-lasting immune response in the recipient. The vaccine, produced by the State Serum Institute in Perth, world renowned for the quality of its work and products, was dispensed to the city's children without incident; however, two weeks later, when they received a booster shot, all the children became very ill, and 12 died. Initial fears that the TAT process had failed to neutralize the diphtheria toxin in this instance were allayed when an investigation by an Australian Royal Commission, headed by future Nobel Prize winning immunologist Macfarlane Burnett, found that the vaccine had become contaminated by Staphylococcus aureus during the first round of injections. During the two week gap, these bacteria had multiplied in the vaccine, producing a different toxin (see toxic shock syndrome). As a result of this finding, the Royal Commission issued a strong recommendation, adopted by all major manufacturers, that all vaccines packaged in containers containing multiple doses incorporate an antibacterial preservative. After testing of various compounds for toxicity and compatibility with the vaccine, the optimal preservative was determined to be thimerosal, which, ironically, has now become controversial due to questions of its own toxicity.

Radio Stations

• ABC Wide Bay 855 AM/100.1 FM- Due to the terrain of the area, both AM and FM frequencies are used.
• 4BU 1332 AM (commercial)
• Sea FM 93.1 (commercial)- Part of the SEA FM network, owned by Macquarie.
• Hitz FM 93.9 (commercial)-
• 4DoubleB 96.3 FM (community)
• 4BCR 94.7 FM (community)
• 95.5 FM (narrowcast)
• 97.1 FM (narrowcast)
• Classic FM 98.5 FM
• Triple J 99.3 FM
• Radio National 100.9 FM

Trivia

• The 1989 film, The Delinquents, starring Kylie Minogue was set and filmed in Bundaberg.

• The 1977 film, The Mango Tree, was set and filmed in and around Bundaberg.

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