Vast land offers something for everyone
Tropical rainforests, busy beaches, empty beaches, farmland, bushland and flat red plains - Queensland has it all.
Queensland has many different regions. According to the government website, WorkLivePlay, the regions are:
Cairns and Far North Queensland
Townsville
Mackay-Whitsunday
Rockhampton
Gladstone
Wide Bay Burnett
South East Queensland - Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and the Gold Coast
South West & Darling Downs
The Central West
Mount Isa and the North West
The government website, WorkLivePlay, is a great resource for anyone researching Queensland, not least because it has a fantastic interactive map that provides a snapshot of the regions.
The website also provides key information on Skilled and Business Migration as well as Queensland Government sponsorship options.
Cairns & Far North
This region includes the fast growing city of Cairns as well as major tourist destinations like Port Douglas, the Atherton Tablelands, Mossman, the Daintree Rainforest and rugged spots such as Cooktown all the way up the Cape York Peninsula. The region includes the world-famous Great Barrier Reef.
Click here to read the dedicated story on Cairns.
Townsville
Located 1500 kilometres north of Brisbane, Townsville is one of the largest cities in Queensland's North.
It is also home to a growing port, national and international mining offices, world-class marine science research, a defence force base, tourism and education.
Click here to read our dedicated story on Townsville.
Mackay-Whitsunday Region
Another tropical paradise, the region is famous for sailing, its beautiful islands and laidback lifestyle.
The economy is sustained by tourism, agricultural, industries including sugar, mining, mining services, engineering and construction.
More recently it was the victim of some of the worst flooding in 20 years - a reminder the region is very much in the tropics.
The Central University of Queensland has a campus in Mackay, it is also served by Mackay Base Hospital (part of the state government department Queensland Health),
Annual events not to miss include the Mackay Festival of Arts and the finish of the Sydney to Mackay Yacht Race
More information
Mackay Tourism
Mackay City Council
Click here to read our dedicated story on the Whitsundays
Rockhampton
The City of Rockhampton is located 42 kilometres inland from what is known as the Capricorn Coast and 636 kilometres north of Brisbane.
Known as the beef capital of Australia, other industries include agriculture, mining, a manufacturing, retail, healthcare and tourism.
Annual events include the Beef Expo and the QREX mining exhibition. The city boasts a number of historic buildings, the famous Rockhampton Art Gallery, Rockhampton Botanic Gardens and its own zoo. The Capricorn Coast and Keppel islands a re a 30 minute drive from Rockhampton.
Queensland Rail has a large workforce in "Rocky" to service the hub for the main north coast rail line and the line that travels through from the major coalfields in the west to the port of Gladstone in the south.
Rockhampton also has an airport and is the base for several major trucking companies.
There is a major military training base just north of the city, which has seen a large number of Australian and overseas military personnel in the city. It also has a good range of state and private schools, TAFE colleges and a campus of Central Queensland Univerity. It also has its own major league basketball, rugby union and rugby league teams.
More information:
Rockhampton Regional Council
Gladstone
Gladstone is 550 kilometres North of Brisbane and is considered Queensland's largest port.
Industries include port operations, tourism, mining, alumina refineries, aluminium smelting and shale oil processing. The tourism sector features fishing, boating, a number of national parks and proximity to the Great Barrier Reef.
Gladstone has a modern regional airport with connections to Brisbane, Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns. Qantaslinks subsidiary airline Sunstate Airlines services the Gladstone region.
The region is serviced by a well maintained network of roads. The main north-south route is the Bruce Highway and the primary western route is via the Dawson Highway. Gladstone itself 21km off the Bruce Highway.
Regular freight and passenger rail services are available from Gladstone to inland and coastal centres in Queensland, and also to interstate capital cities.
The tilt train passenger service takes less than six hours to travel from Brisbane to Gladstone. Information about rail options to and from Gladstone can be found on the Queensland Rail (QR) Traveltrain site.
While houses in new estates tend to be four-bedroom brick and tile, the region has the usual mix of housing options older, elevated Queenslanders with wide verandas, weatherboard high-set homes and a smaller number of units/apartments.
Gladstone is home to the Central Queensland Institute of TAFE and a campus of Central Queensland University. It also has a number of private and state schools.
More information:
Gladstone City Council
Gladstone-Brisbane Yacht Race
Gladstone Festivals & Events
Wide Bay Burnett
This region is the coastal hinterland between Caloundra and Gladstone. It has an enviable climate and some of Queensland's most famous coastal communities. Attractions include Noosa and Fraser Island - a heritage-listed National Park.
With a bountiful supply of coastal features, Bundaberg is known as the southern gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and hosts the sugar industry. The city of Maryborough has a strong engineering sector. Other major industries include tourism retail, property, business and agriculture.
South East Queensland
Location:
Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
Accommodation:
Housing options in South East Queensland vary from fibro beach shacks at the coast to heritage-listed workers cottages in the inner city suburbs, sprawling riverside homesteads out to the west, cutting-edge inner urban apartments and prestigious canal development homes on the bay.
Education:
Queensland has an excellent education system. The school year usually runs from January to December and is broken into four semesters. Tertiary qualifications can be obtained at one of the many universities with campuses in the South East region, including:
Griffith University, Queensland University of Technology, The University of Queensland, James Cook University, Bond University, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australian Catholic University.
In addition to the numerous specialist private colleges located throughout South East Queensland, there are also eight institutes of Technical and Further Education (TAFE):
Bremer Institute of TAFE, Brisbane North Institute of TAFE, Gold Coast Institute of TAFE, Moreton Institute of TAFE, Metropolitan South Institute of TAFE, Southbank Institute of TAFE and Sunshine Coast Institute of TAFE.
For more information:
TAFE Queensland
Independent Schools Queensland
Transport:
The City of Brisbane has direct and frequent transport services to both domestic and international destinations.
Brisbane's modern airports offer an excellent choice of frequent scheduled international and domestic flights. Additional domestic airports are located at Coolangatta on the Gold Coast, and Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast.
An integrated train, bus and ferry network connects the greater Brisbane area to Noosa in the north, south to Coolangatta and west to Helidon. Only one ticket is required for all modes of public transport.
Worth noting is the free loop bus service that operates all day through the central business district of Brisbane, and the twin-hulled CityCat catamarans that stream down the Brisbane River each day. These CityCats also offer an opportunity to see Brisbane's riverside suburbs.
Extensive statewide and interstate coach and rail services operate from the Brisbane Transit Centre in the heart of the city.
A number of ferry services connect the islands of Moreton Bay to the mainland. For services to Moreton Island, try the MiCat and the Combie Trader.
Stradbroke Ferries and SeaStradbroke both travel to and from North Stradbroke Island.
More information:
The Sunshine Coast
The Tourism Sunshine Coast website is a fantastic resource with information on public transport in Getting Around; maps, information on accommodation and entertainment and even the weather. Main Sunshine Coast centres include Maroochydore, Nambour, Gympie, Noosa Heads, Caloundra, Coolum and Mooloolaba.
Brisbane
Brisbane is growing rapidly and there is so much to do and see and many great suburbs to live in. Sources of information include The Courier-Mail newspaper published Monday to Saturday and The Sunday Mail and their websites including sections on entertainment, real estate, cars and jobs.
Gold Coast
Click here for more information on the Gold Coast This will take you to the Moving Here section of goldcoast.com.au - a fantastic site and the online sister to The Gold Coast Bulletin newspaper. This section of the site will also tell you all you need to know about special events, who to contact to get utilities on, provide a real estate overview and more.
South West and Darling Downs
Stretching to the South Australian border, this region is famed for its fresh produce, fine wines and beautiful wild flowers. It produces approximately one third of Queensland's agricultural output.
Major industries include cotton, manufacturing, mining, hospitality, health and education.
The city of Toowoomba, the region's service centre for agriculture, is home to the University of Southern Queensland, one of Queensland's largest universities.
Central West
About 13 hours by road from Brisbane and a two-and-a-half hours by plane, this region is renowned for its laidback outback and country lifestyle.
The region is the birthplace of many Australian icons. The song Waltzing Matilda was written here; a shearer's strike in the town of Barcaldine led to the formation of the Australian Labor Party and Qantas was founded in the towns of Winton and Longreach.
The Central West produces about 40 per cent of Queensland's coal and supports agriculture including beef, sheep and goat. Other industries include mining, health education and tourism.
Mt Isa and North West region
With the surrounding area holding enormous mineral deposits, the city of Mount Isa is home to one of the world's largest underground mines. It is the central commercial, administrative and industrial centre for the vast North West Region.
The outback of the North Western region is known as the land of legendary cattle drives. Features include rugged mountain ranges, eucalyptus and red gum forests, inland sea fossil sites and flooded water courses. Other famed natural attractions are the World Heritage-listed Riversleigh Fossil area and Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill Gorge) National Park.
