Tin Can Bay celebrates 100 years of growth but locals fear secret is out

Tin Can Bay is a serene coastal hamlet less than three hours' drive north of Brisbane, but word of its seaside charm is out.

Long-time locals watch visitors arrive who never want to leave.

"If you drive along the main street, you'll see lots of caravans and motorhomes for sale, because that's exactly what happens," Tin Can Bay Community and Men's Shed president Paul Boulton said.

"People come in here for a look-see and they say, 'This is a bit of alright.'

"So they buy some property and sell their vans."

Mr Boulton should know — that is exactly what he did 11 years ago.

"My children didn't want me to stay up here, but they're just going to have to get used to it, because I'm going to die here," he said.

It is 100 years since the township of Tin Can Bay was officially established on the coast of Queensland's Wide Bay region.

Tin Can Bay is derived from the Indigenous place name of Tuncanbar, and is home to dolphins and a human population of more than 2,400.

According to Gympie Regional Council, the area is Kabbi Kabbi (Gubbi Gubbi) and Butchulla country.

There are a number of interpretations about what Tuncanbar means, including "place of plenty", "place of dugong" and "paradise".

Like many other regional communities, Tin Can Bay is not immune to the pains that come with population growth.

"I suppose because we live here we would like it to stay the same — it's unique," Tin Can Bay Country Women's Association (CWA) president Wendy Ritchie said.

"We have no traffic lights, we have no roundabouts and we like it as it is."

Locals look to their neighbours a stone's throw away in the tourist mecca of Noosa and the booming Sunshine Coast and do not desire the same trappings of success.

"It used to be very cheap and affordable, housing and rentals up here, but it's gone through the roof now and that's brought growth with it," Mr Boulton said.

"At this stage we're bursting at the seams — there is nothing left in the rental market and the township, in terms of its business, has not grown yet.

"It hasn't met the demand."

And yet it is the quiet life that is luring more and more people, including councillor Jess Milne.

She did some work in the area back in 2013 and became a permanent resident in 2015.

"I absolutely fell in love, I came down here for work and did not want to leave," she said.

"I said, 'This is the place that I want to be.'

"There's nowhere else to be — I always say this is the place to stay or get away."

Tin Can Bay is renowned for its abundant fishing, dolphin feeding and for its Army training facility.

But 100 years ago the town was struggling to get established.

According to old newspaper clippings, the first attempt to formalise land ownership in the area was made in 1918 in the town of Toolara (now known as Crab Creek), but records show that the allotments did not sell.

The Toolara lots were offered again when the Lands Department put 36 town and suburban lots in "Wallu" – Tin Can Bay – up for auction on November 10, 1922.

Ms Milne said 17 of those lots sold and Tin Can Bay was born.

"We had some conflicting dates," Ms Milne said.

"We thought it was in May, but then we found some articles that had the first sale of land on the 10th of November 1922.

"We've gone for November and we just wanted to recognise that we've had a town down here that was formalised 100 years ago and that is quite the achievement."

Tin Can Bay's CWA also turned 100 this year.

Ms Ritchie moved to the town to retire eight years ago.

"The people are so friendly, they're always so happy," she said.

"The people will stop and talk to you, they will say, hi if they don't know you, they will offer to help you.

"Two centenaries in the same year is just wonderful."

Ms Ritchie loves her seaside town just the way it is, but she is realistic about the inevitability of change.

"We've got to go with the flow and move into the 21st century, so I think it will develop quite rapidly," she said.

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