Koumala, Queensland


Koumala is a town and coastal locality in the Mackay Region, north Queensland, Australia. Yukan is a neighbourhood in the north of the locality where the Yukan railway station is located.

Geography

In the east, Cape Palmerston National Park protects the landscape surrounding Mount Funnel and Cape Palmerston. To the west is the Hatfield Range known locally are the Koumala Range. A gravel road over this range provides alternate access to the Sarina hinterland and was the only route available for several years after the paved route over the Sarina range was destroyed by landslides that occurred during Cyclone Debbie. The main rail line to between the Bowen Basin Coal mines and the port of Hay Point also passes over this range with speed restrictions to 60 km/hr on the downhill section of line because of several derailments which have occurred in this section of track.

History

Koumala Post Office opened on 28 February 1884.
The town name Koumala originally derives from the name of its railway station, which was named in 1914 after a sugar property used by Alfred H. Burbank, a sugar grower and surveyor, using a Fijian word indicating sweet potato.
The name Yukan is an Aboriginal word meaning rain.
The town was part of the former Shire of Sarina.
Koumala State School opened in August 1922 and caters for children from Prep to Year six. The railway goods shed and associated huts doubled for school purposes from 1922 to 1923 when a proper school house was built, as well as for social functions until a hall came into being.
Yukan State School opened on 1929 and closed circa 1942.
At the 2011 census, Koumala had a population of 789.

Heritage listings

Koumala has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
The Mackay Regional Council operates a mobile library service on a fortnightly schedule at Bull Street near the school.
The Koumala branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association meets at the CWA Hall at 33 Brown Street.