If there is one thing interesting about Tannum Sands it's that there's one thing interesting about Tannum Sands. Actually, I jest, there is indeed more than just one thing. There's a whole heap of of mildly amusing tangential things that are of interest to many residents and would-be visitors to the area. However, instead of spoiling all those surprises for you I'll let you go find most of those things out for yourself. I'll try to stick to what I know best about Tannum (as it's called), which is HF radar and my observations of tangential things!
Yes, HF radar, not the major draw card for most to this little sub-tropical hamlet, but it is the reason that I've come to know the place well enough to know that it would be a fine place to call home. It is a small town with probably as close to perfect climate as you'll ever want. It does get a little warm in summer, but believe it doesn't get anywhere near as hot as this place and has one-tenth the population. Really it is a lovely place where one can actually enjoy (eh-hmm!) the warm ocean water without fear of being killed or seriously injured by an innocuous floating blob of gelatinous matter. It is the ocean and in the ocean (and other ecosystems too) there are sharks and other creatures that will try to eat if provoked. All things being equal though, it is a lovely spot, and you can perform this activity with some frequency and consistency, which sadly I've not done more than once there.
Tannum owes its existence to the Boyne River, which I find interestingly named. For it reminded the little known early 19th century surveyor of Queensland John Oxley of the River Boyne in central east Ireland. I've not been there myself, so I cannot corroborate John Oxley's supposition, and to be quite honest, I think it maybe unfair to make modern day comparisons as the river itself (the Boyne River in Queensland) has been dammed to form Lake Awoonga; which is notable in beauty as well as being the sole water source for the region. This brings me, somewhat, to the real nitty gritty of this little blog entry. For you see what I find most interesting about Tannum Sands, of course beyond my own technical work there, is that it, and it's adjacent town Boyne Island are part of the region in Queensland that may be the most significant economic region in all of Queensland, making it one of the most economically important regions in all of Australia. Now this is a bit of a bold claim that I make and many other Australians may take umbrage against it. However, I'll reiterate, that it is merely one of the most. Whether it be 7th out of 10 or 35th out of 50 I'll leave that for you to decide. The region of central Queensland does not merely owe its economic prestige because some lucky fossicking metal detector dude, Jack Lange, found this 1.1 kilogram nugget:
Of which, Jack had this to say of the event: "I called this magnificent … nugget the 'Providence Nugget' because of the circumstances surrounding its discovery. My brother Ed and I decided to try an area we hadn't prospected before in northern Queensland. I detected the nugget within minutes of getting out of my vehicle at only about 45 cm depth! Another week of searching the surrounding area produced nothing … so this was truly a providential find, thus the 'Providence Nugget'". Good on ya! Jack. However, that north Queensland. This is north Queensland:
Rather, this amazing find does not make this region the most economically significant per capita in all of Queensland on it's own, but the combination of the Boyne Island Smelter and the Gladston Power Station and wealth of large scale energy projects that have and are being invested in the area, do. In fact the Gladstone Power Station powers all dwellings (for the most part) from Gladstone to the tip of Cape York, an entire 2000 kilometres north run powered mainly by one 1.7 MW coal fired power plant. I find this impressive. So while I type these words here now, I give thanks to those down there in Gladstone keeping the lights on for us north Queenslanders some 1000 kilometres away. (That, and while I'm giving tangential gratuity out, thanks to SheSimmers for providing me with a guide on how to make a delicious Black Rice Pudding recipe that is indeed fuelling these wildly amusing thoughts!)
Beyond these heavy players of industry in the region there is also other thriving major projects, which will only continue to grow throughout the rest of this decade. One thing that is planned in the waters between Port Curtis, Facing Island, and the Boyne River is extensive dredging for primarily projects that are associated with Liquefied Natural Gas and the beloved coal seam gas (which is of course turned into LNG). This dredging and some of these projects are quite controversial, to say the least. In fact there are real problems with LNG in Port Curtis (see image below to get a frame of reference) that are occurring now with respect to the dredging and expansion of the LNG projects. Since Gladstone sits at the doorstep of the worlds most prominent and significant coral reef systems, The Great Barrier Reef, it comes as no surprise on the sensitivity of this topic. Essentially overall plan, with respect to dredging, is to dump the effluence out in the Coral Sea in a patch of ocean bottom that is not inhabited by corals but is within the Great Barrier Reef marine park. Those planning and backing the dumping explain that the dredging and dumping will be done with the utmost caution – adhering to all state regulations. Along with this dumping will come a steady stream of funds for each ton of dredge sediment dumped in the park boundaries. Frankly, to be insensitive to the range of political and economic issues at stake, it sounds like whoring the environment to me. However, my pocket is not being directly lubed by this and I don't really think expansion of coal mining, production, and energy consumption is a good way forward for Queensland, but that's my political hat and it's rather tight when it comes to matters concerning how we invest in our energy future.
Regardless, as my opinion means very little on the matter, it is our radars which are in a good position to continue to provide useful and meaningful data to operational oceanographers. So next time your in Tannum and you see some poles on the beach know they're doing a little bit of good for this stretch of coast. Here is a very uninteresting photo of two of the twelve antenna in Tannum Sands so you know what to look for.
Until later … diver down.
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