Caloundra is a coastal town at the southern most end of the Sunshine Coast Region in South East Queensland, Australia. Just short of 90 kilometres north of the Brisbane central business district, Caloundra is accessible from Landsborough railway station, 21 km away, and the Caloundra bus station.

Gubbi Gubbi is an Aboriginal language spoken on Gubbi Gubbi country. The Gubbi Gubbi language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Sunshine Coast and Gympie Regions, including the towns of Caloundra, Noosa Heads, Gympie and extending north towards Maryborough and south to Caboolture.

In 1875, Robert Bulcock, an English immigrant who founded a Brisbane newspaper and later represented the Brisbane electorate of Enoggera in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, bought 277 acres of land in the region. A town was surveyed in the 1870s, and land sales commenced in 1883. The first allotments of land in Caloundra were advertised for public auction on 28 August 1883. The map states ‘the land is of a sandstone nature, undulating and ridgy, heavily timbered with Gum, Bloodwood, Tea-tree and Oak’. A 1907 map shows several sections from George Street to Ernest St advertised for auction on 7 January 1907 by the Government Land Office.

With its proximity to beaches, the area became popular with tourists and several hotels and guest houses were set up to accommodate them. In 1917, Bulcock’s son, Robert Bulcock Jr, who was a councillor in the Shire of Landsborough, subdivided part of the land into 404 lots. This area became known as Bulcock Beach. ‘Bulcock Estate’ was advertised for auction on 16 August 1917, with an edge of the Estate mapped as adjacent to Tripcony’s store and the Tramway terminus.

In 1919, 29 subdivided allotments of ‘Caloundra Heads Estate’ were advertised to be auctioned. A map advertising the auction shows the majority of blocks were on Albert Street between King Street and King’s Beach. Another undated map shows more blocks of this estate were advertised for auction on King Street towards Ernest Street. By 1933, Caloundra had a population of 271.

During World War II, the area became key to Australian defence due to defensive positions along the beaches. Radar stations and machine gun pits were mounted, and Australian and US armed forces came to the area. From the early 1950s onwards, Caloundra experienced a boom in development and population, and by 1968, it had come to dominate the Shire of Landsborough so completely that the council chambers were relocated to Caloundra. this is new place to Visit caloundra.