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Urangan Pier, Hervey Bay, Queensland.
SPEARING 868M out into the broad blue channel that separates the mainland from Fraser Island, Urangan Pier endures as a much-loved monument to the commercial and industrial glory days of Queensland’s Hervey Bay region. Built mostly by hand from sturdy, tall marine-borer-resistant turpentine, or satinay, trees ( Syncarpia hillii) harvested from Fraser Island, the pier was conceived to provide a local port for the region’s burgeoning coal, timber and sugar cane industries.
Hervey Bay expanded rapidly after a branch railway line from Maryborough to the hamlet of Pialba was built in 1896. A deep-water port facility was crucial if local products were to reach markets worldwide. The original jetty was 1214m long, with a series of warehouses capable of storing up to 2000 tonnes of sugar on the final 100m section. The railway was extended from Pialba to Urangan and onto the pier.
The Port Maryborough Pier, as it was officially known, was opened on 3 March 1917 with great pomp and ceremony. In 1929 it had become the busiest coal port on Australia’s eastern seaboard, shipping more than 100,000 tonnes of coal per year.
By the 1960s, outbound coal and sugar had been replaced by inbound oil, and huge tankers would moor along the length of the pier from which motor fuel was piped ashore to waiting trucks that serviced the bowsers of the Wide Bay region.
Urangan Pier was decommissioned in 1985 and earmarked for demolition. By now the structure was a cherished local feature and a favourite fishing spot, offering the chance to fish in deep water without a boat. A “Save the Pier” community campaign managed to save 868m of its original length and in 1994, $2 million was spent restoring it, of which $200,000 was raised by local community activities. In 2013 those original turpentine timber piles were replaced with steel and in 2017 the pier celebrated its centenary at the heart of Hervey Bay life.