Bundaberg facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Bundaberg Queensland
(From left to right) Aerial view of Bundaberg and the Burnett River, Bundaberg Post Office and Bundaberg War Memorial, Hinkler House in the Bundaberg Botanic Gardens, Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery, Historic architecture along Bourbong street, Bundaberg Rum Distillery, South Sea Islander wall
Bundaberg Location in Queensland
Population	73,747 (Significant Urban Area) (2021 census)
Established	1870
Postcode(s)	4670
Elevation	15 m (49 ft)
Time zone	AEST (UTC+10:00)
Location	364 km (226 mi) N of Brisbane 114 km (71 mi) NNW of Maryborough 193 km (120 mi) SE of Gladstone 294 km (183 mi) SE of Rockhampton
LGA(s)	Bundaberg Region
County	Cook
State electorate(s)	Bundaberg Burnett
Federal Division(s)	Hinkler
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall 26.5 °C 80 °F 16.3 °C 61 °F 1,142.6 mm 45 in

Bundaberg is a city in the Bundaberg Region, Wide Bay, Queensland, Australia, and is the tenth largest city in the state. It is a major centre of the Wide Bay–Burnett geographical region. The Bundaberg central business district is situated along the southern bank of the Burnett River, about 20 km (12 mi) from its mouth at Burnett Heads, and flows into the Coral Sea. The city is sited on a rich coastal plain, supporting one of the nation's most productive agricultural regions. The area of Bundaberg is the home of the Taribelang-Bunda, Goreng Goreng, Gurang, and Bailai peoples. Popular nicknames for Bundaberg include "Bundy", "Rum City", and "The 'Berg". The demonym of Bundaberg is Bundabergian. In the 2021 census, Bundaberg's urban area has a population of 73,747 people.

The district surveyor, John Thompson Charlton designed the city layout in 1868, which planned for uniform square blocks with wide main streets, and named it ‘Bundaberg’. An early influence on the development of Bundaberg came with the 1868 Land Act, which was a famous Queensland via media, that aimed to create a class of Australian yeoman. Large sugarcane plantations were established throughout the 1880s, with industries of sugar mills, refineries, and rum distilleries that delivered prosperity to Bundaberg. These plantations used South Sea Islanders as indentured labourers, many of whom were blackbirded, a practice considered of form of slavery. The trade was outlawed in 1904, with most South Sea Islanders deported by 1906. Major floods in 1942 and 1954 damaged the river, ending Bundaberg's role as a river port and led to a new port at the mouth of the Burnett river. In the post-war era, Bundaberg continued to grow with its wealth tied to its sugar industry. In 2013, Bundaberg experienced record flooding from Cyclone Oswald, which was the worst disaster in the city's history.

The economy of Bundaberg is based primarily on agriculture, forestry, fishing and tourism, with a gross regional product at about $5.6 billion as of 2023. Bundaberg also has a major distillery and brewery industry that exports to international markets. The city is served by the Port of Bundaberg and the Bundaberg Airport.

Bundaberg has a rich history and culture, along with its humid subtropical climate it is known for its weeping fig trees, dry stone walls, and historic plantations, including the Fairymead Plantation and the Sunnyside Sugar Plantation, the latter of which is the site of a mass grave. Other sites of South Sea Islander cultural significance include Sir Anthony's Rest atop the Bundaberg Hummock and the South Sea Islander Church. Major cultural institutions include the Hinkler Hall of Aviation and the Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery. The city's culinary culture is highlighted by its annual 'Banquet on the Bridge', and an iconic rum and gin culture with Bundaberg Rum originating in the city.

Bundaberg is a popular tourism destination, the city's hinterland includes the historic towns of Childers and Gin Gin, Lake Monduran, Cania Gorge National Park and the Promisedland mountain bike trails. Bundaberg's coastal areas include Bargara and Mon Repos, Deepwater National Park, and the southernmost reaches of the Great Barrier Reef alongside the islands of Lady Musgrave and Lady Elliot.

Geography

Bundaberg from space

Aerial view to the east

Climate

Bundaberg has a subtropical climate with wet hot summers and mild winters. The climate is the most equable of any Australian town or city and ranked 5th on a worldwide comparison. The mean daily maximum temperature is highest in January at 30.3 °C (86.5 °F) Celsius, and the mean daily minimum is lowest in July at 9.9 °C (49.8 °F). The coldest temperature recorded in Bundaberg is −0.7 °C (30.7 °F) degrees Celsius, and some inland areas of Bundaberg sometimes experience frosts. The mean annual rainfall is 1,142.6 mm (44.98 in).

Suburbs

Aerial view to the north

Etymology

City name

The city name is thought to be a combination of bunda, Aboriginal word denoting an important man, and the suffix -berg (town) from the Old English beorg (hill) from the Proto-Germanic *burgs (hill fort) which is also the source of the words -bury, borough, barrow. The city is colloquially known as "Bundy".

Main street

Bourbong Street is the main street of the city and there is some controversy in regards to its spelling; Bourbong was alternatively spelled Boorbong, which is a Bunda Aboriginal word for a 'large waterhole' possibly near the Rubyanna area. The main street was historically also gazetted in the Bundaberg Mail as "Bourbon" street. Rackemann conducted a survey of letterheads printed between 1904 and 1957. Up until 1940 the count for both names was near enough to equal, with in some cases companies carrying both spelling variations in successive years. However, by 1941 there is no reference to "Bourbon" street. Farmer Robert Strathdee's farming selection in the vicinity of the watering holes was recorded on early survey maps as 'Boorbung'. The Bourbong was referred to by Howitt as the name of one of the Bunda initiation ceremonies.

Another possibility is that "Bourbong" refers to "Bairbong", bair (chief) and bong meaning 'dead'. This could refer to a "place at a waterhole where a chief was speared through the eye". Historically the Kalki people referred to Bundaberg as 'Bairbara' or 'place of Chiefs'; the region was referred to as 'Borral Borral'.

History

Timber workers

Cane workers

Burnett River

Bundaberg War Memorial in front of the Bundaberg Post Office, 1948

Pre-Colonial

The local Aboriginal group is the Taribelang Bunda people. They are the inhabitants of the region which stretched from the Burrum river in the south to the Burnett river in the north. The northern side of the Burnett river was inhabited by the Gurang people whose claim area extended north to the Calliope river (Gladstone).

The Bunda moiety names were Balgoin, Barang, Bunda, Derwain and Tandor (Durrumboi in Ridley 1866); the phratry names were Kupaiathin and Dilbai. Wakka inland or wa'pa (slow speech) used the moiety name Banjurr instead of Balgoin stead (Mathew 1910). However, it has been claimed that Bunda was not a clan sub-tribe or tribe only one of the moiety names.

19th Century

The first non-indigenous man to visit the region was James Davis in 1830, an escaped convict from the Moreton Bay Penal settlement. Davis was referred to as Durrumboi by the local Kabi people. He married in this area. (Rev Dunmore Lang 1861, William Ridley 1866). Alfred Dale Edwards, another early settler, was adopted into the Kalkie-speaking clan Yongkonu (Thyeebalang Roth 1910, Archibald Meston 1892). He was given the moiety name 'Bunda'. The Burnett River was identified by John Charles Burnett, after whom it was named during his exploration mission of the Wide-bay and Burnett regions in 1847.

Bundaberg was founded in 1867 as a European township by timbergetters and farmers John and Gavin Steuart. The settlement of Bundaberg originally began on the northern banks of the Burnett River in 1867 but an official survey was undertaken in 1869 and the town was re-sited onto the higher, southern banks. The first land sale held in Bundaberg occurred on 22 August 1872, although two previous sales of Bundaberg land had taken place in Maryborough. The area developed as an agricultural and port town. Initially a number of the early settlers exploited the timber on their selections but as a result of the incentives of the Sugar and Coffee Regulations 1864, sugar became a major component in Bundaberg's development from the 1870s.The first farmers in the area, including Thomas Watson, arrived soon after. Local resident and District Surveyor John Charlton Thompson was directed by the government to survey and plot an area on the South side of the river. The city was surveyed, laid out, and named Bundaberg in 1870.

Timber was the first established industry in Bundaberg. In 1868, Samuel Johnston erected a sawmill in Waterview, on the north bank of the Burnett River (downstream from the Steuart and Watson holdings). Waterview sawmill supplied Rockhampton as well as local needs. It became prominent enough to prompt the government to extend the railway connecting North Bundaberg with Mount Perry, eastward to the Waterview Mill. Waterview sawmill closed in 1903 after being damaged by flood. Experimental sugar cane cultivation in the district followed, and a successful industry grew. The first sugar mill was opened in 1882. The early sugar industry in Bundaberg was based on Kanakas workers, who were kept in a status close to slavery.

The three surveyors named Bundaberg's streets. Thompson was assisted by unregistered surveyor assistants James Ellwood and Alfred Dale Edwards. Edwards preferred using aboriginal names: Kolan, Woongarra, Barolin, Bingera, Kalkie, Moolboolooman, and for streets Tantitha, Bourbong, etc.

20th Century

With the passage of the Local Authorities Act 1902, Barolin Division became the Shire of Barolin and the Borough of Bundaberg became the Town of Bundaberg on 31 March 1903. On 22 November 1913, Bundaberg was proclaimed a City.

The 1911 Queensland sugar strike occurred after the phasing out of South Sea Islander labour in 1904, with workers claiming that many plantation owners had substituted black indentured labourers (sometimes referred to as slaves) with white ones. Workers sought better accommodation, wages and conditions, including an eight-hour day and a minimum weekly wage of 30 shillings, including food. The mobilisation of unionists from Bundaberg to Mossman was a major achievement, with the 1911 strike lasting over seven weeks in Bundaberg where the town's economy was largely based on the sugar industry. The end result of the strike was a Commonwealth Royal Commission into the sugar industry in 1911-12, which had been initially requested by Harry Hall, a Bundaberg AWA organiser in 1908 with a petition signed by 1500 Bundaberg sugar workers. The Royal Commission, with ALF Secretary Albert Hinchcliffe as secretary, concluded the AWA demands had been justified. The union victory was a watershed in organised labour in Queensland and Australia.

In 1912 Bundaberg pioneering aviator, Bert Hinkler builds and successfully flies his own glider on Mon Repos beach. He also completed a noteworthy non-stop flight from London to Turin in 1920. The following year in 1921 Hinkler flies from Sydney to Bundaberg, non-stop, in a record breaking flight of 8 and a half hours, in the process beating a telegram he had sent to his mother, to warn her of his arrival.

The Bundaberg War Memorial commemorating those who died in the Anglo-Boer War and World War I was unveiled by Major-General Charles Brand on 30 July 1921. The Bundaberg digger was imported from Italy and is constructed of Italian marble. The completed memorial, at a cost of £1,650, was the third most costly to be erected in Queensland. It is a major regional memorial and one of the two most intact digger memorials that remain in their original settings of intersections.

In the 1960s the township was completely flooded by the Burnett river. In 1967 Bundaberg celebrated its centenerary by producing a coin and opening the The Bundaberg & District Historical Museum in the Bundaberg Botanical Gardens in Bundaberg North.

21st Century

In December 2010, Bundaberg suffered its worst floods in 60 years, when floodwaters from the Burnett River inundated hundreds of homes.

Two years later, in January 2013, Bundaberg experienced its worst flooding in recorded history. Floodwaters from the Burnett River peaked at 9.53 meters. As of 28 January 2013, more than 2000 properties had been affected by floodwaters, which moved in excess of 70 km/h. Two defence force Blackhawk helicopters were brought in from Townsville as part of the evacuation operation, which ultimately used an additional 14 aircraft.

Demographics

In the 2016 census, the city of Bundaberg had a population of 50,148 people.

In the 2016 Census, there were 69,069 people in Bundaberg (Significant Urban Area). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 4.3% of the population. 81.2% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 3.2%, New Zealand 1.8%, Philippines 0.7%, South Africa 0.5% and Scotland 0.4%. 88.9% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 0.5%, Italian 0.4%, German 0.3%, Afrikaans 0.2% and Tagalog 0.2%. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 26.3%, Catholic 18.7% and Anglican 18.6%.

In the 2021 census, Bundaberg's urban area has a population of 73,747 people.

Heritage listings

Aerial view from the west

Bundaberg has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• Corner of Bargara Road and Zeilke Avenue, Kalkie: Kalkie State School
• Bourbong Street, Bundaberg Central: Bourbong Street Weeping Figs
• Bourbong Street, Bundaberg Central: Bundaberg War Memorial
• Bourbong Street, West Bundaberg: Bundaberg War Nurses Memorial
• Bourbong Street between Bundaberg Central and Bundaberg East: Kennedy Bridge
• 155a Bourbong Street: Bundaberg Post Office
• 184 Bourbong Street, Bundaberg Central: Bundaberg School of Arts
• 191–193 Bourbong Street, Bundaberg Central: Commercial Bank
• 13 Crofton Street: Bundaberg Central State School
• 30 George Street, South Bundaberg: St John's Lutheran Church
• 46 Johnston Street, Millbank: South Sea Islander Church
• 1 Maryborough Street, Bundaberg Central: Fallon House
• corner of Maryborough and Woongarra Streets, Bundaberg Central: St Andrews Uniting Church
• Quay Street, Bundaberg Central: Bundaberg Police Station
• Quay Street, Bundaberg Central, to Perry Street, Bundaberg North: Burnett Bridge
• Quay Street, from Bundaberg Central to Bundaberg East: Saltwater Creek Railway Bridge
• Sir Anthony's Rest Street, Qunaba: Sir Anthony's Rest
• 17 Sussex Street, East Bundaberg: East Bundaberg Water Tower
• Thornhill Street, Bundaberg North: Fairymead House
• 55 Woongarra Street: 4BU Radio Station
• Cnr Woongarra and Maryborough streets, Bundaberg Central: Christ Church, Bundaberg The church sits adjacent to Buss Park which contains a memorial to Bert Hinkler.

Climate

Bundaberg has a warm humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa) with hot, wet summers and very mild, dry winters. Mean maximum temperatures are high for most of the year, from 22.3 °C (72.1 °F) in July to 30.4 °C (86.7 °F) in January. Annual rainfall averages around 997.0 millimetres (39.25 in), with a strong summer maximum and winter minimum. Extreme temperatures ranged from −0.7 °C (30.7 °F) on the 16th of July 1918 to 40.2 °C (104.4 °F) on the 19th of December 1901.

Suburbs of Bundaberg

Aerial view to the north

Increasing population in Bundaberg is extending residential development into rural localities, such as Ashfield.

Economy

Looking down Bourbong Street, Bundaberg town centre.

Bundaberg town centre with Bundaberg General Post Office to the right.

Young woman riding on the back of a turtle at Mon Repos Beach, near Bundaberg, ca. 1930.

Subtropical Bundaberg is dependent to a large extent on the local sugar industry. Extensive sugar cane fields have been developed throughout the district. Value-adding operations, such as the milling and refinement of sugar, and its packaging and distribution, are located around the city. A local factory that manufactured sugar-cane harvesters was closed down after it was taken over by the US multinational corporation Case New Holland. Most of the raw sugar is exported. A bulk terminal for the export of sugar is located on the Burnett River east of Bundaberg. Recent years have seen the reduction of cane farms and in turn increase of Macadamia farms, whoms main market is China.

Another of the city's exports is Bundaberg Rum, made from the sugar cane by-product molasses. Bundaberg is also home to beverage producer Bundaberg Brewed Drinks Vintage Soda, Craft Brewery Ballistic Brewing Company and Craft Distillery's Waterview Distillery and Kalki Moon.

Commercial fruit and vegetable production is also significant: avocado, banana, bean, button squash, capsicum, chilli, citrus, cucumber, custard apple, egg fruit, honeydew melon, lychee, mango, passionfruit, potato, pumpkin, rockmelon, snow peas, stone fruit, sweet corn, sweet potato, tomato, watermelon, zucchini. Macadamia nuts are also grown. Due to the year-round farm work available in Bundaberg, the city has a high number of working hostels for backpackers looking to extend their working holiday visa in Australia. The hostels provide backpackers with work on farms across the Bundaberg area. However, the hostels and farms have received huge criticism in the press and on social media due to the treatment some backpackers have faced. .....

Because of its high rate of unemployment, Bundaberg has been referred to as the "dole capital of Australia".

Tourism

Tourism is an important industry in Queensland, and Bundaberg is known as the 'Southern 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 nearby town of Bargara is an increasingly popular holiday and retirement destination.

Bundaberg Rum Tours

Nearby beaches are popular with both locals and tourists. Moore Park Beach, to the city's north, has 20 kilometres (12 mi) of golden sandy beach. Beaches on the southern side of the Burnett River are (from north to south) the Oaks Beach, Mon Repos, Nielson Park, Bargara Beach, Kellys Beach, Innes Park and Elliott Heads.

Cania Gorge National Park, Deepwater National Park, Eurimbula National Park and Kinkuna National Park, located in the Bundaberg region are popular with campers and bush-lovers.

Tours of the Bundaberg Rum distillery and attractions at Bundaberg Botanic Gardens, such as the 2 ft narrow gauge Australian Sugar Cane Railway, are also popular with tourists. The Mystery Craters, 35 unexplained water-filled holes in the ground, discovered in 1971 at South Kolan, are also a tourist attraction.

Opened in 2002 by the former member for Hinkler Paul Neville, the Tom Quinn Community Centre gardens (a multiple "Bundy in Bloom" winner) is a site to be seen with local flora and fauna, its own cafe, marketplace, chapel, green house, training facilities, woodwork and indigenous nature section.

Opened in December 2008, the Hinkler Hall of Aviation is an historical aviation tourist attraction that celebrates pioneer solo aviator Bert Hinkler. In 1928, Hinkler was the first person to fly solo from England to Australia. The museum includes an exhibition hall, featuring multi-media exhibits, a flight simulator, a theatre, five aircraft and the historic Hinkler House.

Other local attractions and events include the Whaling Wall, East Bundaberg Water Tower, Baldwin Swamp Environmental Park, Alexandra Park Zoo, Buss Park, Barrell House, Bundy in Bloom, Whale watching, reef tours of Lady Musgrave & Lady Elliiot islands, the Bundaberg Show, Bundaberg & Childers Regional Art Galleries, the Bundaberg Gliding school, Fishing Charters, the Bundaberg International Air Show, and the Woongarra Marine Park.

Bundaberg has ghost tours.

Museums and galleries

The Bundaberg region contains a variety of museums and art galleries that showcase the region's history and culture.

• Hinkler Hall of Aviation
• Hinkler House
• Fairymead House and Sugar History Museum
• BRAG, the Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery
• CHARTS, the Childers Art Space
• Bundaberg and District Historical Museum
• Bundaberg Railway Museum
• Bundaberg Rum Distillery Tours
• Bundaberg Botanic Gardens containing the 'Hinkler Hall of Aviation', 'Hinkler House', 'Fairymead House' and the 'Bundaberg Steam Tramway Preservation Inc.'
• Mystery Craters in South Kolan
• Schmeider's Cooperage (Bundy Kegs)
• Bundaberg Ginger Beer

South Kolan Mystery Craters

Bundaberg Rum Factory, Bundaberg

Memorials

• Bundaberg War Memorial
• Hinkler Memorial

Culture

Arts and entertainment

Bundaberg has two cinemas. The Reading Cinemas, on Johanna Boulevarde, west Bundaberg, and the Moncrieff Entertainment Centre (formerly known as the Moncrieff Theatre), located on Bourbong Street, central Bundaberg. The Moncrieff Entertainment Centre also holds live musical and theatrical performances year round.

The Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery (BRAG) is a large multi-purpose visual arts facility located in central Bundaberg. The Bundaberg Regional Council operates a public library at 49 Woondooma Street.

Media

The NewsMail newspaper is published in Bundaberg from Monday to Saturday. It is available in print and online. Several community newspapers are also available including the Guardian, The Bugle & the Bundaberg Coastline

Bundaberg is served by three commercial television stations (Seven Queensland, WIN Television and 10) and publicly owned services (ABC TV) and (SBS).

Local news coverage of Bundaberg and the Wide Bay is provided on all three commercial networks with both Seven News and WIN Queensland's WIN News half-hour bulletins airing at 5:30 each weeknight. Southern Cross Austereo also airs brief local news & weather updates at various intervals throughout the day on Channel 10.

Popular culture

The city has featured in several films:

• The Delinquents (1989), starring Kylie Minogue, which was set in Bundaberg, but partly shot in Brisbane
• The Mango Tree (1977)
• Talking Back at Thunder (2014), starring Steven Tandy
• Flathead (2024), a docufiction film directed by Jaydon Martin

Sport

Mitchell Langerak, former Bundaberg footballer, who is now playing for Nagoya Grampus in the J1 League

Most major Australian sporting codes are played in Bundaberg.

Australian rules

Bundaberg has two current clubs playing in the AFL Wide Bay competition.

• Across The Waves Bundaberg Eagles (merger of North Bundaberg and Souths/ATW Magpies)
• Brothers Bulldogs (formerly West Bundaberg)

Basketball

Bundaberg has two professional teams competing in the ConocoPhillips Central Queensland Cup. They are the Bundaberg Autobarn Bulls (men) and Bundaberg Bears (women) and both feature local players.

Rowing

Bucca Weir, west of Bundaberg, is an eight lane rowing course home to Bundaberg Rowing Club. It hosts the Queensland School's Championship Regatta each year in September, as well as numerous local regattas.

Rugby league

The Bundaberg Rugby Football League is a nine-club competition run under the Queensland Rugby League's Central Division. Bundaberg competes in the Central Division's 47th Battalion Shield and the Bundaberg Grizzlies formerly competed in the Queensland Cup statewide competition.

Soccer

The Bundaberg Soccer Football Association was formed at the Grand Hotel on 1 May 1923. In 2023 Bundaberg Football will celebrate the centenary of formation of the Association, however there's evidence that soccer football has been played in Bundaberg and surrounding districts since at least the 1890's.

Bundaberg was home to the Bundaberg Spirit soccer club. They participated in the Queensland State League against other teams across Queensland.

Tennis

The Bundaberg & District Tennis Senior Association operates eleven floodlit clay courts in Drinan Park, Bundaberg West at the corner of George & Powers Streets. Competition tennis is played all year round. The Bundaberg & District Junior Tennis Association operates five artificial grass courts, and two granite courts.

Croquet

Bundaberg Croquet Club is the oldest Croquet club in Australia.

Community groups

The Bundaberg branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association meets at the QCWA Hall at 15 Quay Street, Bundaberg Central. The Hinkler branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association meets at the McDonalds Central Bundaberg on the corner of Woongarra & Targo Street, Bundaberg Central.

Education

There are many public and private primary schools in Bundaberg. Bundaberg South State School opened on 11 May 1891, with an enrollment of 167 students and under the direction of William Benbow. The school celebrated its 125-year anniversary in 2016.

Bundaberg has three public high schools, Bundaberg North State High School which opened on 29 January 1974, Bundaberg State High School which opened on 30 January 1912 (the second-oldest high school in Queensland that is still open) and Kepnock State High School which opened on 28 January 1964. There are also three main private secondary schools: Shalom Catholic College, St Luke's Anglican School, and Bundaberg Christian College.

There is a campus of the Wide Bay Institute of Technical and further education on Walker St and a campus of the Central Queensland University, located adjacent to the airport. There is a campus of the Booth College at the Salvation Army's Tom Quinn Community Centre.

Transport

View of Bundaberg town centre from the Burnett River bridge.

Bundaberg Airport has flights to Brisbane and Lady Elliot Island. The city is home to the Jabiru Aircraft Company, which designs and manufactures a range of small civil utility aircraft.

Bundaberg's bus operator is Duffy's City Buses. As of 2013, they transport over 1000 passengers in town services, and over 2000 passengers in school services every day. Routes extend to the beach suburbs of Burnett Heads, Bargara, and Innes Park. Stewart & Sons also operates bus services in the area.

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. The closed North Bundaberg station formerly served the Mount Perry railway line and is now a museum.

South of Bundaberg at 24°56'43"S 152°22'5"E, there is one of the weirdest crossings of two railway lines, as there criosses a narrow gauge railway line of a sugar plantage a normal gauge railway on a drawbridge [1].

Bundaberg is situated at the end of the Isis Highway (State Route 3), approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi) east of its junction with the Bruce Highway. Many long-distance bus services also pass through the city.

Bundaberg Port is located 20 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of the city, at the mouth of the Burnett River. The port is a destination for ships from Australia and overseas. It is predominantly used for shipping raw sugar and other goods related to that industry such as Bundaberg Rum.

Military

Bundaberg houses two military bases. Bundaberg Army Barracks and Training Ship (TS) Bundaberg. Bundaberg barracks contains mostly infantrymen and army cadets. TS Bundaberg houses mostly Cadet staff and Navy Cadets.

Sister cities

The city council responsible for the Bundaberg Region maintains Sister City arrangements with two cities.

City	Since
Nanning, China	12 May 1998
Settsu, Japan	9 November 1998

People

Notable residents

Bert Hinkler is memorialised in many places throughout Bundaberg

Mal Meninga is an inductee of the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame

• Mason Barbera, racing driver
• Clint Bolton, association football player, Socceroo, 2 time A-League championship winning player
• Joshua Brillante, Australian soccer player
• David Carter, tennis player
• Wayne Coles-Janess, producer and director, documentary and feature films
• Allan Davis, Road racing cyclist, 2009 Tour Down Under Winner
• Troy Elder, field hockey player
• Steve Goodall, cyclist, 1978 Commonwealth Games Bronze Medalist, 1976 Olympian
• Noel Hazzard, rugby league footballer
• Coen Hess, rugby league footballer
• Bert Hinkler, pioneer aviator
• Antonio Kaufusi, rugby league footballer
• Felise Kaufusi, rugby league footballer
• Olivia Knight, Irish-Australian poet, essayist, translator and teacher
• Mitchell Langerak, association football player, A-League championship winning player
• Rosemary Lassig, Olympic swimmer
• David Surrey Littlemore, architect
• Ben Marschke, rugby league footballer
• Errol McCormack, retired Chief of Air Force (1998–2001), Officer of the Order of Australia (1998)
• Rheed McCracken, 2012 Summer Paralympics, won a silver and bronze medal
• Sarah McLellan, dancer and entertainer, lead singer of the group Lez Zeppelin and blogger of "The Aussie who ate the Big Apple" currently living in New York
• Mal Meninga, rugby league footballer and coach
• Tom Miles, professional athlete/sprinter, winner 1927 Stawell Gift, 1928 World Champion
• Gladys Moncrieff, singer
• Clinton Moore, freestyle motorcross rider
• Vance Palmer, writer
• Jayant Patel, the alleged "Doctor Death" of the Bundaberg Base Hospital
• Ian Quinn, Golden Guitar winner & singer/songwriter
• Tony Rea, rugby league footballer and coach
• Chris Sarra, 2004 Queenslander of the Year
• Donald Smith, operatic tenor
• Michelle Steele, Winter Olympian at the 2006 Winter Olympics
• Don Tallon, Australian cricketer
• Keith Thiele, World War II Pilot (awarded DSO, DFC & 2 medal bars)
• Tommy Trash, ARIA and Grammy nominated Australian DJ & Producer
• Shane Tichowitsch, darts player

Representatives

Current

• Tom Smith, (Labor), State member for Bundaberg
• Keith Pitt (Liberal National Party of Queensland), Federal member for Hinkler

Former

• Prime Ministers Andrew Fisher and Frank Forde both represented Federal electorates that included Bundaberg, though neither was originally from the area.

See also

In Spanish: Bundaberg para niños