Grey nomads enjoying the tropical warmth of north Queensland were among those who felt the strong shakes from a magnitude-5.8 earthquake off the coast of Bowen.
There have been no reports of damage as a result of this afternoon’s quake.
Senior seismologist Jonathan Bathgate told the ABC that the quake posed no tsunami threat, but a large portion of the Queensland coast felt some shaking.
“We know it’s been felt all the way from the Sunshine Coast up to north of Townsville,” he said. “At this stage we’ve had almost 1,000 reports come in to our earthquake alert centre here in Canberra of people having felt the earthquake.”
At least six aftershocks have since been recorded, the highest of them magnitude 4.0.
One woman holidaying with her family on Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays was ABC journalist, Brigid Glanville.
“It certainly shook everyone up,” she said. “I went into the general store and a few things came off the shelves and everyone is talking about it.”
Experts say earthquakes have been particularly active in Queensland over the past two years. There were three earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 just off the coast of Fraser Island late last year and also near Eidsvold.
This afternoon’s earthquake is the second strongest ever recorded in Queensland, according to Geoscience Australia data. It was only beaten by a magnitude 6.0 quake off the coast of Gladstone in 1918.
* Did you feel this afternoon’s quake? Have you ever been affected by a freak natural occurremce while travelling? Comment below.
Yep woke me up. Though it was the RAAF again till the wife came home and said there had been a quake. Shook the house, just like a large truck driving past.