The wonderfully named Queensland community of Turkey Beach is determined to attract more grey nomads into town.
The new president of the Turkey Beach Progress Association, Luke Streeter, says improving the town’s health services and trying to set up a new overnight camping area will be the group’s top priorities.
Mr Streeter says he wants to put the beachside village, 90 minutes south of Gladstone, on the older traveller radar.
“They drive 28km in from the Bruce Highway to find there is nowhere for them to spend the night,” he told the Gladstone Observer. “This is taking money away from the town and the community. It’s time Turkey Beach was brought into the 21st century … we want to put it on the map.”
According to the 2011 Census figures, Turkey Beach has a population of 470, a median age of 47 years.
Have you visited the ‘tucked away’ community? Would a camping option in Turkey Beach persuade you to detour off the Bruce for a look? Comment below.
Yes we go ware we are welcome and avoid ware we are not, we spend our money in towns that want us there and when we are not made welcome we go out of our way not to spend a cent… Money talks and BS walks.
Great place but needs to allow longer stays to allow the fisher folk to really explore the area.
agree with Bill need time to get the boat down and set up ready to fish.
definitely would visit, planning to be in the area June 2014 so will go and spend our $’s agree totally with Pete
most definitely…We have family at Gladstone so it would give us an option of not imposing on them (or becoming the Griswalds camped in their front yard lol) when visiting. Forward thinking is what will help these small towns survive so top marks to the Turkey Beach progress assn.
Would gladly visit, would like to be able to stay at least 2 nights and need toilets. Happy to do our shopping in the town.
have to agree with jan, if a dump point and potable water(happy to pay) were available we would love to visit and explore. a 3 night max would be ideal for us.
Sounds great, look forward to spending a few nights in Turkey Beach in the near-ish future.
Would go into Turkey Beach for sure if there was somewhere to camp either free or at a reasonable price. When we free camp and buy some supplies in a nearby town we always tell the shopkeepers we would not be spending any $$$$ if it was not for free camps.
Great idea, a cheap basic safe place to camp over the southern winter months would be wonderfull.
It is freezing there in the southern winter months. Be great to have somewhere not too far from Agnes if it were for more than a night. Good fishing. We park in a mates driveway in Biloela and do the Moura Weir etc frees and have all old friends up that way would use the camping.
We have been wanting to stop there o/nite as we r always traveling to Rockhampton from Brisbane. Will certainly use it
We head north for the winter every year and would love to call into Turkey Beach.
Not sure if I would be classed as a GN, but I do like to go off the beaten track especially if I know that I get a free camp area.. that has access to amenities..
3 month touring the USofA in a mini RV and only spent 15day’s in a RV park..
J
is there room for the big rigs??
I have been into Turkey Beach looking for somewhere to stay. No go, so we left and went elsewhere. I liked the place and was looking for somewhere to fish. The town down the road (not as good) got my money.
I think we would need more than 24hour stopover. Maybe allow 7 days like Bedford weir..with a donation box or pay at council office. We woyld be happy to shop and get fuel if available if we were there a little more than a day.
I would stay if there were some facilitys and you could buy fuel and general groceries, etc. Don,t need anything flash. Workmans beach at Anes Waters is great.something like that would be good.Thanks, Bill
I’m from Adelaide it looks like I will put it on my next travelling itinerary. Free would be nice but a modest fee would also be attractive
It is a pity that as soon as a little town offers some free camping, suddenly caravanners then want toilets,etc. this cost for a small town to provide toilets etc and the upkeep is expensive and would probably end up in no free camping
Yeah, for sure….
If ya gunna get the boat off, you need at least 10 days.
Day 1, arrive
Day 2 get boat off etc
Day 3 – 8 fishing, beers & meal in pub etc
Day 9 clean everything that’s been in the salt
Day 10 packup in preparation for departing.
But as soon as the Big Name Caravan Parks find out they can make a dollar from the travelling public, we move out, maybe never to return again.
For a payment system, why not something like they have at the delicatessens in the big supermarkrts where you take a ticket to be served. Except you put $2 in and get a ticket with a date stamp on it which you display on the dashboard.
Hello everyone my name is Luke Streeter. I am the new president of the Turkey Beach Progress Association. I’m the person that put the article in the Gladstone Observer last Monday. I have just been talking to a man by the name of Terry Spann at our local general store. Terry informed me the article was posted on this site so I thought I would jump on and have a look, and also give you all an update. I have only just taken over the presidency of the Association in late September this year. Yes we are looking to put a camp spot here in the town. Our first general meeting since the AGM is actually this Monday coming, 11th November. I will certainly have more information for you all after that meeting. We have a few hurdles to overcome before we can get the campground approved. One being we have to get a majority vote from the towns residents before we can put it to council. I don’t think getting it passed through council will be a problem as much as it will be getting it passed by a few of the residents. But we will certainly be doing our best. After the meeting this coming Monday I do hope to have a petition at the local shop for everyone to sign. As far as amenities go, there is a toilet block down at the water front park. However the proposed site for the campground is about 150 metres from there. So we will be looking at other options for the park and a new amenities block. Unfortunately we don’t have the facilities for showers as the entire town depends on their own rain water which doesn’t come very often to be honest.. The Turkey Beach general store, owned by Jeff & Allison Randall, stocks everything from fishing gear, groceries, ice, bait, fuel, alcohol, cigarettes, and 10L spring water bottles. They have got everything. And are very friendly people as well. We do tell people if you are only looking to stay the night at the moment, to feel free to pull up in the boat ramp car park. Usually nobody has ever complained to my knowledge as long as its not an extended stay. For now I look forward to coming back to u all with some promising news in the near future. I wish you all a happy holiday. Thank you for your time.
We love small country towns for a night or two. Water us always a problem after a few days but sounds like the town has a bit of a problem there! We always try & do some shopping so we can leave some money in the town. Keep in mind a large number of travellers are self contained with shower & toilet these days & just want a level area to stopover. A dump point is always welcome. Good luck with plans & we hope to be a visitor in the future.
Hello Everyone, Well as promised I am getting back to you with some answers after Monday nights meeting. I am very pleased to inform everyone that the town has given the go ahead for you all to stay for a 48 hour period free of charge from now on. Yes it is on 48 hours. Although I am sure in time we can have this extended. At this early stage there is no designated area signed. But we are working on that with council. For the time being anywhere along the esplanade is ok. The boatramp carpark is probably the best bet at the moment. That way you will not be annoyed by traffic. There is a toilet block on the esplanade although we do not have shower facilities as of yet because of lack of water. Also no electricity. We have summited to council a request to have a dump point put in. They have agreed to this but as you all know this could take some time. The local general store has all you need including grocery items, fuel, bait, gas, 10L bottles of fresh spring water, and alcohol. The sign at the turnoff saying no camping will be removed by council in time, but for the time being please put the word around that people can now ignore this sign. We look forward to having you all come stay in our community. Happy Holidays to all.
Luke Streeter
President
Turkey Beach Progress Association Inc.
It is now 2017. Last post I can see is 2013. Any campers since 2013?
Hi I am just inquiring about staying at Turkey beach looks like a beautiful quiet town we have a 4×4 and camper trailer with a generator would it still be possible to stay a couple of nights there or not thankyou
Hi we are very much wanting to visit your beautiful little town on our travels would it still be possible to stay overnight or not thankyou
Turkey Beach is certainly in my plans to visit on the round Australia trip. I hope the 48 hours will still be in place and hopefully a longer stay.