Poona

Situated on the Great Sandy Strait in Queensland, Poona is a little hideaway village nestled in the State forest overlooking the world heritage listed Fraser Island and the pristine waters of the Great Sandy Strait. It's an ideal place to lap up the serenity and witness nature at its best.

Although quietly secluded, Poona is only two and half hours drive north of Brisbane or one and half hours from the Sunshine Coast. Coming from the north, Poona is a 25 minute drive from the Heritage City of Maryborough and north of Tin Can Bay/Rainbow Beach. Access is via the Cooloola Coast Rd linking Maryborough and Tin Can Bay. Maryborough with all the services of a city, is a convenient place for shopping.       Open Map

With boating access to the Great Sandy Strait and the southern parts of Fraser Island, Poona boasts some of the best estuarine fishing in southern Queensland. The protected waters and the expansive mangrove lined creeks make it the ideal fishing territory.

Poona offers great opportunities to just relax or take a walk on the various trails and see some of the wonderful local wildlife including numerous bird species. In spring the wildflowers are also on display. Part of the Ramsar protected wetlands there are a number of migrating shorebirds to see. The Strait is a marine haven for dolphins, turtles and dugong.

For those interested in fishing, crabbing, sailing, kayaking, bushwalking, bird watching, etc. Poona is the ideal holiday location. There is so much to offer visitors and holiday makers.

Poona, has in the order of 500 homes and a permanent population around 600 but swelling to double/triple that number on weekends and holiday times. Holiday accommodation options are available at the Poona Palms Holiday Park or through Fraser Coast Real Estate.

Places to Eat

Kiosk located at the caravan park - 101 Boronia Drive), hosts Don & Pauline offer a wide variety of supplies as well as fresh barista coffee.
Poona Palms Holiday Park   ☏ (07) 4129 8167

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Poona Bay Cafe, 110 Boronia Drive. Stop in for a great burgers, fish and chips along with a range of fresh cakes etc. to go with their great coffee. ☏ (07) 4129 8820

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For more information on our town follow the links at the top of the page or click on the icon to download, print & fold the 'Welcome to Poona' Brochure.    

Photos of first Poona property - constructed circa 1900
Photos supplied by Dr John Price

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Poona's History

Although a relatively new township, Poona has an intriguing history and like many of the surrounding townships, the place name derives from Butchulla language. The name 'Poona' in Butchulla means 'Bloodwood tree'.

Our traditional owners were generally hunters and gatherers in the area of the Great Sandy Strait and K'gari (Fraser Island). Like all places adjacent to the island, the area is high in remnant evidence of Butchulla occupation and has immense marine and terrestrial resources available.

Traditional owners have undertaken cultural assessments in the Poona area and we know Poona Point is of noted cultural significance to the Butchulla people and so too, there are many parts of the adjacent bushland that have identified aspects of cultural significance. The large Fig Tree on Poona Point is now listed on the Council's 'Register of Significant Trees'.

The South Sea Islanders (Kanakas), first arriving in 1867 and working on the cane farms around Maryborough, are understood to have regularly trekked many miles to Poona to a great source of fresh seafood and are said to have adapted the Butchulla established fish traps. The remnants of those fish traps can still be seen today.

Fishing and crabbing in the area were renowned, with many of those pioneers living in shanties along the foreshore and on both sides of Poona Creek. Many of the decendants of those early fishermen, like the Davies', Wheeler's and Schwarzrock's remain in our region. Some still involved in the fishing industry.

Adjacent to the cliff (at the town entrance) on Poona Creek was the site of an early dugong hunting industry with a boiling down works for the oil extraction. So too, were reports of a similar site on Poona Point. The oil was promoted as having great medicinal properties and distributed to soldiers on the front in WW1. A dugong processing factory operated on Stewart Island but the ultimate decline in dugong numbers led to the industry closing in the 1880's.

An intriguing bit of history in these early times (1903) was the murder of Henry Wheeler. Henry, a fisherman with a house on Poona Creek (south bank) was shot and killed by his daughter Clara, after many hours of argument between the two. Clara, with the aid of a fisherman based on the north bank of Poona Creek, assisted her in getting to Boonooroo where she then went into Maryborough on horse back to surrender to Police. The matter went before the courts but no conviction. After subsequently marrying and a couple of children, died at an early age of a kidney condition. The Wheeler house was destroyed by fire some years afterwards.

The Great Sandy Strait was exploited for its huge oyster beds from about 1870 for around 30 years until the industry was decimated by an introduced pest (NZ mud worm). The Moreton Bay Oyster Co along with James Clark and R W Leftwich and Sons had extensive leases in Great Sandy Strait. There was a large oyster camp situated on Hook Pt but so too, a number of the oystermen (various leaseholders) had their camps on the Poona shore. Licensed oyster leases covered the entire Poona foreshore, extending from the mouth of Poona Creek, north around the point, heading well towards Tuan.

Early settlers were the Jamieson family; graziers from Tiaro. There was a single dwelling on a clearing at Poona Point which was believed to have been constructed around 1900. Access to the property was via a sand track and a crude log bridge across Stony Creek. In the adjacent aerial photo of 1940 you can see evidence of the track and where it crosses Stony Creek.

The home was at one stage in the ownership of a Captain Moffat and later another seafarer, Captain Middleton. The last owners of the house were the Armstrong family having acquired the house together with the freehold of one square mile (640 acres). This transfer of title was believed to have taken place in the 1930's.

Poona, has a link to the early timber industry being a staging point in the transfer of cut logs by water from the Tin Can Bay area to Maryborough. Norm Armstrong was a WW11 survivor of Changi Prison and after the war turned his hand to sawmilling with Poona being a great source of abundant Cypress Pine. Following the milling of the Cypress Pine, Norm Armstrong became the original developer in Poona, having gained approval for the first parcels of land (27 lots) to be subdivided on the road known then as New One Chain Rd. The original subdivided lots sold at auction on 11 February 1967 with prices generally in the $100 to $200 range. As can be seen in the adjacent photo, the original subdivision was on the corner of what is now known as Boronia Drive and Outridge Avenue. The original house was demolished at this point in time.

In the 60's and 70's there were a number of fishing shacks dotted around the foreshore and on Poona Creek. Unsealed roads and sand tracks were the standard but the township really started to take shape in the 70's with a number of houses erected along the foreshore side of Boronia Drive and Outridge Avenue. In the early 90's Poona took a new direction with the development of new housing estates. Roads were sealed and kerb and channelling more the standard.

The population grew and has been increasing at about 20 newcomers per year. In the 2021 Census, the town had 471 private dwellings and a permanent population of 576. The median age was 66. (Census 2021). Obviously in more recent years the population has taken a quantum leap and likely now to have reached a population in the order of 800.

Within, and on the surrounds of the township there are several walking trails many of which follow the historic fishermen/crabbers' tracks, leading to foreshore areas, creeks and fishing spots. These tracks are now more the domain of people wishing to explore the local fauna and flora.

Poona subdivision plan - 1967
Photo supplied by Dr John Price

Poona 1940

Poona 2017

Dept of Natural Resources -aerial photography .

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