Four Mile Beach
Golden crescent of sand once worked by prawn boats, now backed by palms and resorts.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Four Mile Beach in Port Douglas follows one stretch of sand through two economies: the prawn trawlers that kept a shrinking fishing town alive through the nineteen fifties to seventies, and the sugar tramway that once carried Mossman's cane crop along this coast. It traces how a nearly emptied town, down to a couple hundred residents, caught the eye of a nineteen-eighties developer with very different plans. Listen for what this beach fed people, long before anyone thought to sell them the view.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Palm Cove
Palm-fringed beach cove shaped by a settler's century-old road and a homestead swallowed by a resort.
Ellis Beach
Slender five-kilometre stretch of coast with a tiny caravan park, stinger nets, and pumice-strewn sand.
Reef Fleet Terminal
Departure terminal for reef boat trips, built on the site of a World War Two naval wharf.
Port Douglas
Laid-back tropical harbour town where reef trips and rainforest tours depart side by side.
Macrossan Street
Palm-lined main street of restaurants, bars and boutiques leading to a marina and sunset views.
Flagstaff Hill Port Douglas
Old signal lookout and lighthouse site, now a coastal walking trail and the toughest climb in a famous half marathon.