What's a seaside town without an esplanade? In Bowen it can be found at the southern end of Herbert Street
where the commercial buildings of the CBD give way to the open space in front of the Grand View Hotel.
The 'esplanade' (seen here looking off to the south-west) goes by the somewhat exotic name of the Santa Barbara Parade and runs almost the entire length of the foreshore of Port Denison. To the right of the intersection are the buildings of the Tourist Information Centre, the town wharf, the Catalina Memorial and the Port Denison Sailing Club.
A stroll along the foreshore in the opposite direction takes one past various historic memorials and markers, a playground, public BBQ and picnic areas and ends at the Bowen small boat marina.
as hopefully this panoramic shot demonstrates.
We began our stroll of discovery by heading off to the right towards the unmistakably colourful 'big mango' which advertises
the location of the Bowen Tourist Information Centre, an impressive building sited at the entrance to the town wharf plaza (more of this shortly).
If ever those who visit Bowen are unaware of the role played by the town and many of its population in the making of the blockbuster film 'Australia', this is soon corrected by the plethora of information boards surrounding the Information Centre....and with some reason. This was a major undertaking.
As this board proclaims 'Bowen did indeed become Darwin'. The foreshore area between Dalrymple Street and the jetty, now green open space and the formal esplanade, was transformed. Hundreds of tonnes of red soil transformed Herbert Street into dusty Darwin, whilst movie prop buildings sprang up everywhere across the foreshore open space.
Here are a few 'fast facts'.
The townsfolk certainly embraced the project with gusto, and the local economy received a huge fillip.
You may recall that in my offering relating to the Bowen CBD I referred to the old Department of Transport building and the role it assumed during the filming. And here it is as the HQ of the Carney Cattle Company!
Although filming took place in other Australian locations, including Sydney, Kununurra and Darwin itself, Bowen was the epicentre. And the locals still talk about it!
It was slightly surreal to be wandering around the 'set' of this movie and trying to imagine the extraordinary hustle and bustle which its production created. The film received mixed reviews, but from a purely financial perspective it would have to be considered successful, grossing $213.3 million from a $130 million budget. Not a bad little earner.
But enough of fantasy....back to today's Bowen and our foreshore ramble, south-west along the pathway beyond the Information Centre
where the well maintained lawns and public BBQ facilities
held far greater appeal than the rocky, mangrove studded 'beach' on the other side of the path.
At the end of the 'formal' walking path, we came across this unusual building,
a most impressive memorial which commemorates Bowen's involvement with the Catalina Flying Boats during the Second World War.
Although we had noticed a number of plaques on various buildings in the CBD which told of the role they had played in housing Catalina crews during that period, we had no idea of the extent of the role Bowen played in relation to this part of Australia's war effort.
Glass walls overlooking Port Denison carry photos of these iconic aircraft in flight,
whilst a solid wall at the rear of the building bears testament to our involvement in various conflicts over the years,
including, to my personal delight, acknowledgement of Australian peacekeeping efforts (and unlike Gladstone, this time the dates for Cyprus are correct!).
The Catalina played a pivotal role in Australia's defence against the Japanese, and the Bowen facility was critical in the efforts to maintain the airworthiness of these aircraft.
True to my usual form (and for any interested), I'll let the most excellent Queensland Government website 'Queensland WW ll Historic Places' present the tale:
"A Japanese attempt to capture Port Moresby and gain a foothold in the
Solomon Islands was thwarted in early May 1942 during the Battle of the
Coral Sea. RAAF Catalinas flew many hours of reconnaissance missions
over the Coral Sea searching for the Port Moresby invasion fleet.
As the
battle began an urgent request was made by the RAAF for a flying boat slipway at
Bowen to maintain the Catalinas of Nos. 11 and 20 Squadrons, based
there. The first slipway was built at the harbour end of Brisbane
Street, north of the town jetty. This section of Brisbane Street is
still of concrete construction. The slipway was prefabricated with heavy
timbers bolted together in sections. The majority of the structure was
underwater and suffered badly from marine borers.
In August 1942 RAAF No.22 Operational Base Unit was established at
Bowen to undertake administration and maintenance of the base. The RAAF
took over the local picture theatre as a maintenance workshop and most
of the squadron officers and ground crews were accommodated in various
hotels, houses and shops in the main streets of Bowen. The Denison Hotel
served as squadron headquarters and officer's accommodation. Adjacent
shops were used as an airmens' mess, station headquarters, and station
store and guard room. Private houses along Dalrymple and George Streets
became airmens' barracks, electrical shops, carpenters' shops, an
instrument makers' shop, a sergeants' mess, transport sections and a
photographic section. Elsewhere in the town houses were converted into a
hospital and dental clinic, a parachute store and general equipment
stores. Many of the wartime requisitioned buildings in the town survive
as private shops and dwellings.
In November 1942 Nos. 11 and 20 Catalina squadrons moved their base
from Bowen to Cairns. RAAF No.43 Catalina Squadron was formed at Bowen
in May 1943. The squadron moved to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria
during August to conduct night minelaying operations at Japanese-held
ports in the Netherlands East Indies.
RAAF No.1 Flying Boat Maintenance Unit was formed at Bowen in October
1943. Following the decision to upgrade the development of Bowen as a
flying boat repair depot, the AWC placed an order for a concrete
slipway. The MRC was again responsible for supervising construction of
the slipway and additional buildings erected through the Department of
Public Works. From the new slipway and concrete maintenance hardstand,
additional roadwork was undertaken along Thomas Street and Sinclair
Street to provide access within the town, for up to four aircraft
hideouts with maintenance hardstands and tie-downs.
Requisitions for additional buildings and services including two
cantilever maintenance hangars at the repair depot were received by the
AWC in April 1944. The cantilever hangars were designed to cover and
shade the nose and wings of the flying boats during maintenance. No.1
Flying Boat Maintenance Unit was disbanded in March 1947. Following the
war one of the hangars was dismantled and re-erected at the Rose Bay
flying boat base at Sydney. Part of another wartime building is now
incorporated in the clubroom of the Port Denison Sailing Club."
The slipway, essential in retrieving these wonderful workhorses from the sea, still remains as part of the memorial,
as does one of the heavy cement tie down blocks.
Beyond the memorial, looking across to the stark white building of the Port Denison Sailing Club beyond a row of stylised wind socks, the old hardstand is painted with the outlines of some of the aircraft, including their authentic identification markings.
From this area of the foreshore we could look back across the low tide flats of Port Denison to the town wharf
with its two tugs tied up alongside at the 'working end'.
It was time to do an about turn and take a closer look at the wharf, beginning with the plaque at the shore end. It seems that the good folk of Bowen are totally committed to this clear, see-though type of information board, which may well be decorative and different, but they are bloody hard to photograph meaningfully.
What all the printing actually told us was that the Bowen town wharf was completed in 1886 and immediately became a very important part of the local economic infrastructure as it allowed for ease of shipment of both mining and agricultural goods which were being produced in increasing quantities.
Prior to the construction of the jetty, ships arriving at the port of Bowen had to lie offshore. Goods were unloaded off these vessels onto small lighters from which they were then transferred onto horse drawn drays pulled as far out as possible across the sand flats. This was obviously a most labour intensive and slow process.....the advent of the wharf put an end to all that drudgery.
These commercial activities ceased some time ago, but as we had seen this historic jetty remains home to the tugs which service the Abbot Point coal terminal.
As I set off out along the shore end of the structure
the sign posted at the beginning was somewhat less than encouraging. What a fine example of corporate risk aversion (or should that read 'handwashing'?)!
Undeterred by this raft of warnings I pushed on past a catamaran rather oddly moored up, lying on her keel on the mud amongst the thick mangroves (midge central if nothing else)
and out along the jetty to the point where the new joined the old and cement gave way to wood.
Here the original wooden wharf curves away from the remainder of the newer section
which continues seaward in a straight line.
What I found interesting was the fact that the Abbot Point tugs actually tie up alongside the older section of the jetty (to which access for us 'alsorans' is completely restricted) , and as you
can readily see, there is nothing pretty about these craft. Serious working boats indeed.
The far end of the wharf opens out into what is a very well found fishing platform with facilities for visiting vessels which are too large to safely enter the small boat marina to come alongside. I had high hopes of casting a line or two from this vantage point, but alas, other matters overtook me.
The return walk to shore provided good views along the foreshore towards the marina on the one hand
and, on the other, the area of the foreshore with the Catalina memorial we had just visited.
It was now time to explore the second section of Santa Barbara Parade which begins
at this interesting little plaza adjacent to the Information Centre (the green expanse opposite was 'Darwin').
As we toddled along this part of the of the Port Denison foreshore, we soon found that this was 'history corner', beginning with a large stone cairn (see previous photos) commemorating the establishment of the port itself.
Not too far distant from this a much more modest 'stele' acknowledged the contributions of one George Elphinstone Dalrymple, a noted explorer, in the establishment of Bowen.
Old George must have been well regarded indeed. The chunk of granite on which his commemorative plaque is affixed was brought out to Bowen all the way from his birthplace in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
And then for something completely different. This innocuous looking lump of rock had to be here for a reason, and certainly warranted closer inspection.
And here we found this small, round almost insignificant looking metal disc firmly set into the face of the stone. We were at a loss.
Fortunately a nearby explanatory sign came to the rescue. This was the spot on which the original survey mark, dating back to hydrographic survey carried out in Port Denison in 1887, was chiseled on what became known as Datum Rock. So there you have it!
The kiddies playground right next door was much more in tune with today,
and as we looked at the state of the 'beach' immediately below this spot (with the marina in the distance), we decided it was just as well the local and visiting children had another place to play.
Even the stretch of sand between here back to the jetty was not what we would consider terribly user friendly (I'll have much more to say about the highly regarded Bowen beaches later).
Beyond the playground, the walking path took us past a public picnic and BBQ area
to the quite large and very well designed Bowen skate park.
By now we had almost reached the southern or right had wall of the marina and the end of today's jaunt on foot.
A couple of days later, and now happily ensconced in the cabin of the Cruiser, we drove out along the appropriately named Starboard Drive which traverses the top of the southern marina breakwater wall, past the section of the small boat moorings
to the far end where we came across the second of Bowen's yachting establishments, this time the home of the North Queensland Cruising Yacth Club.
A roadway around the northern end of the basin
provided access to the 'working' section of the marina
where the local fishing trawlers tie up in what at first appears something of a confused jumble of craft in front of the several fish processing establshiments to be found here in Bowen.
The fish wholesale and retail outlets of the Bowen marina are well know for both range and quality of produce. Here one can buy fresh fish for home cooking and consumption
or take a seat in one of the dining areas where hot fish and chips are obviously the meal of the day.
Here too, a range of ship's chandlers and repairers ply their trade. This 'Debbie' victim has a long way to go before she is again seaworthy.
We did make one sortie to the fish market, wallet in hand, on the morning of the State of Origin rugby match and left rejoicing with green scallops, prawns and a fine fillet of red emperor. Recent heavy winds had kept most of the trawlers alongside over the past few days (and us with our heads down in our van) as a result of which I was a little disappointed with the range of fish available, but on the other hand this does confirm that what is on offer is indeed very recently caught.
Well, I think this is more than enough of the Bowen foreshore and Port Denison. In my next we shall wander about inspecting the much vaunted Bowen beaches, a jaunt which left us completely underwhelmed, but as always I'll let you make your own judgement.
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