Shire of Noosa

Ancient history

The Noosa area was originally home to several Aboriginal groups. These primarily include the Undumbi tribe to the south, the Dulingbara to the north, and the Kabi Kabi (or Gabbi Gabbi) to the west.

In 2003 the Australian Federal Court determined (title claim QC2013/003) that the native title holders for the Noosa area are the Kabi Kabi First Nation.^[4]

Although much of the culture and presence of the traditional owners of the Noosa district has been lost during the short period of white settlement, there still exist many subtle reminders. These include:

• bora rings, used during rituals.
• canoe trees, marks on trees where bark was removed for canoes.
• border/navigation trees, marks on trees used to mark paths and/or tribal borders.
• stone carvings
• burial trees
• middens, shell mound created by thousands of years of discarded shells.
• stone axes
• spoken legends, many local legends which were traditionally passed through the generations survive today.
• place names, many local names are versions of the original Aboriginal names.

It is widely represented that the name Noosa comes from the local Aboriginal word (Noothera or Gnuthuru in the Kabi Kabi language) for shadow or shady place.^[5] This is disputed by Dr Eve Fesl, OAM, CM Ph D, a Gubbi Gubbi Language speaker with a doctorate in linguistics. An 1870 map of Noosa shows the Noosa River as Nusa River. The word Nusa is derived from the Indonesian word for island.^[6]

A Keeping Place of indigenous cultural and sacred objects is maintained at the Noosa Shire Museum, Pomona.

Early European settlement

Although reports of the area can be traced back to Captain Cook's voyages in May 1770, European settlement in the region did not proceed for almost a century. This early settlement was primarily driven firstly by timber logging and then secondly a gold rush in the Gympie area, north of Noosa. The difficulty of transport in the region, which persisted to the 1920s and beyond, was one major reason for this.

In 1871, the Government laid out a port at Tewantin, which was duly surveyed and by 1877 contained two hotels, a boarding house, school, police station and telegraph office. In 1872, the Noosa Heads and coastal region south to Peregian Beach was set aside as an Aboriginal Mission, however this was cancelled in 1878 and land was opened for selection on 15 January 1879. With the advent of the railway, Tewantin declined in importance.^[7]

Noosa is a region, not a town. It contains beaches and a beach national park, the cleanest river in South-East Queensland and an extensive trail network inland, linking a number of lifestyle villages, including Cooroy and Pomona. In the last 50 years Noosa has been transformed from an isolated fishing village to a tourist destination. Although this has had its costs the shire is known for its generally greener approach to development. Most development in Noosa has been restrained. Noosa has no high rise buildings, due both to local community pressure and to council planning action, and much remaining native forest. 34.8% of the Noosa district consists of National Parks, Conservation Parks, State Forests, and other generally protected land.

The popularity of Noosa Heads comes from the fact that is it one of Australia's few North facing beaches located on the East Coast, hence Noosa Beach is relatively protected from on-shore wind and storms.

Council history

The area was originally incorporated as part of the Widgee Divisional Board on 11 November 1879 under the Divisional Boards Act 1879. Noosa was created as a separate shire under the Local Authorities Act 1902 in 1910, with an initial population of 2,000. The first elections were held on 22 April 1910 and resulted in James Duke becoming the first shire chairman. The original headquarters for the Shire were constructed in Pomona in 1911.^[7]

On Saturday 8 September 1917, a Honour Roll was unveiled at the Noosa Shire Hall in Pomona. It was to honour and commemorate those from the district who had left Australia to serve in the armed forces during World War I.^[8]

In the early 1970s, development commenced in the area around Noosa Sound with Queensland Government backing. In December 1980, the Shire Chambers moved to Pelican Street, Tewantin. The former shire hall in Pomona became the Noosa Museum operated by the Cooroora Historical Society.^[9][10]

Following the election of Noosa's first green mayor, Noel Playford, in 1988, Noosa's first strategic plan was gazetted, and in 1990 development was limited to four storeys. In 1993, a major Council and community complex covering 9 hectares (22.2 acres) opened at Wallace Park, Noosaville.

In 1995, the mayor Noel Playford controversially announced a "population cap" of 56,500 people for Noosa Shire.^[11] The population cap was the expected population under the planning scheme if all available land was developed in accordance with the planning scheme. Noosa had performed the calculations for all land in the shire and provided the results in the strategic planning documents. Noosa was the first Council in Australia to do so.^[12]

On 15 March 2008, under the Local Government (Reform Implementation) Act 2007 passed by the Parliament of Queensland on 10 August 2007, the Shire of Noosa merged with the Shire of Maroochy and the City of Caloundra to form the Sunshine Coast Region. Noosa's mayor, Bob Abbot, won the mayoralty of the new Council over Maroochy's Joe Natoli with 70% of the combined vote.^[13]

In 2012, following a change of state government, a proposal was made to de-amalgamate the Shire of Noosa from the Sunshine Coast Region.^[14] On 9 March 2013, 81% of Noosa residents voted to de-amalgamate Noosa from the Sunshine Coast Council.^[15] On 18 March 2013, the Sunshine Coast Regional Council decided its new planning scheme should not apply to those areas that were part of the former Noosa Shire (different attitudes to planning and developments having been a major objection by residents of Noosa Shire to the amalgamation).^[16] The Shire of Noosa was re-established on 1 January 2014.^[17][18]

On 2 January 2014 the new councillors and mayor were sworn in with the oath of office; in attendance were Warren Truss, Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and member for Wide Bay as well as David Gibson, Member for Gympie.The ceremony was followed by the first meeting of the council held at the Cooroy Memorial Hall, Cooroy.^[19]