Pioneer River, Mackay
Pioneer River in the 1870s, from the Rawson Album [John Oxley Library neg. 110586]
This image was taken in the 1870s and shows Mackay as a newly developing frontier town. As early as 1862 the Collector of Customs was writing with notification of the Mackay River (to be named the Pioneer River later in the same year) as a port of entry and clearance.
Queensland Government Gazette, 11 October 1862, p.571
Another early resident of the area wrote to the Colonial Treasurer that the river at Mackay "has proved to be navigable for about ten miles from its mouth and to be well adapted for shipping ... This river must eventually be a very important shipping port as it will be the shipping port for all the country on the head of the Isaac and Connors Rivers."
TRE/A3 62/1914 Queensland State Archives
By the year 1870 there were wharves and other commercial premises under construction along the river banks, and by 1872 a ferry was being advertised for conveying passengers from one side to the other. Erosion along the banks was already a concern, and in 1872 tenders were called for the erection of timber embankments.
Brisbane Courier, 3 February 1872, and Mackay Mercury, 30 November 1872
This picture was taken from the Rawson Album, containing photographs of the Rawson family who were early pioneers in the Mackay District. Edmund Stansfield Rawson owned 'The Nyth', and his brother Charles Collinson 'The Hollow'.
QuickTime panorama | Static panorama | 1918 Cyclone | Customs House | Michelmore's Warehouse | Post Office | Prince of Wales Hotel | The Leichardt Tree
Other TimeWalks panoramas: Brisbane | Other Queensland Towns | TimeWalks Home
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Last updated: 9th August 2011
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