A short history of Port Douglas lagoons, or the lack thereof

Opinion

Shaun Hollis

Journalist

Email Shaun
Last updated:
A grandiose pool design with waterfalls, lifeguards and children jumping off boulders was released in 2019.

“In Rex Smeal Park, the Stinger Pool was made by the community to swim in,” said former property developer Tony McGrath in the book Beneath Tropical Skies by local historian Pam Willis Burden.

“However, it appears that the stingers still got in between the rocks and got in the pool and got bigger,” McGrath said.

“So it eventually got filled in.”

This all happened “before 1986”, according to McGrath, which only stands to illustrate the long history of the Port Douglas community’s desire to build some sort of Cairns-style “lagoon” near the beach.

Reader Cheryl Wellham has even spoken of a time when “my mother-in-law helped with lamington drives back in the late ’60s to get a stinger pool”.

This history was further underlined after hundreds more people commented last month on a Newsport story, and other online posts, about boat builder and author Peter Sayre releasing a new design for a lagoon pool near the Sugar Wharf.

Cairns, Yeppoon and Airlie Beach all have one now, so Port Douglas is being left behind, many people lamented.

And, to rub more sea salt into those old wounds, Sayre’s fresh lagoon plan is the latest in a long line of pool ideas for the waterfront of the town dating back decades to the original failed Stinger Pool.

One design involving local architect Gary Hunt culminated in a long 2011 open letter published on Newsport objecting to the then-council’s consultation process over more than four years.

And, in 2019, a “grand vision to build Australia’s first chemical-free public swimming hole next to Four Mile Beach” was unveiled by Douglas Shire Council.

World-renowned landscape designer Phillip Johnson delivered the most grandiose of designs, including man-made waterfalls, multiple lifeguards and kids jumping off huge boulders - which would surely contravene all sorts of Oc Health and Safety rules these days. 

This plan eventually morphed into the latest scaled-back $4.7m Port Douglas Splash Park design - a water park without lifeguards which was reported less than a year ago to be costing ratepayers about $2.8m.

The council has now started building this splash park at Jalunbu Park behind the surf club, but will this be enough to satisfy those wanting to see a Cairns-style lagoon in Douglas Shire? 

Remember this is a Shire which, at the last count in 2023, had a permanent population of less than 13,000 people.

Tony McGrath used to talk of a time when Port Douglas people just built it themselves when they wanted something, but much financial help from state and federal governments will likely be needed to afford anything bigger than a splash park now.

Watch this space.

 

Support public interest journalism

Help us to continue covering local stories that matter. Please consider supporting below.

Got a news tip?

Send a news tip or submit a letter to the Newsport Editor here.

Comments

Comments are the opinions of readers and do not represent the views of Newsport, its staff or affiliates. Reader comments are moderated before publication to promote valuable, civil, and healthy community debate. Visit our comment guidelines if your comment has not been approved for publication.