Mackay, Queensland

Mackay is a city on the Coral Sea coast of Queensland, Australia, about 803 kilometres north of Brisbane, founded in 1862 on land traditionally owned by the Yuwibara people and renamed for explorer John Mackay, who led an 1860 expedition to the Pioneer Valley. Its 2021 census population of 84,333 makes it Australia's 22nd largest city; long known as the sugar capital, it now serves as the gateway to the Bowen Basin, Australia's largest coal reserve, extracting more than 100 million tonnes of coal a year. Mackay is also home to the nation's largest South Sea Islander population.