A
small sugar town about 50km west of Mackay, Gargett is at the eastern approach
to Finch Hatton Gorge and Eungella National Park. The gorge, which is well-appointed
with barbecues, toilets and picnic grounds, has well-defined walking tracks,
one of which rambles through rainforest to a large, waterfall-fed pool. Wild
and majestic, Eungella is one of the most beautiful and accessible national
parks in the state.
Eungella embraces both tropical rainforest and dry forest, and supports a
wide range of plant and native animal life, including platypus. Gargett is
in the centre of a chain of small towns on the
Mackay-Eungella that run through the patchwork of sugar cane fields of Pioneer
Valley. The chain also includes the towns of Marian, Mirani, Pinnacle, Finch-Hatton
and, at the head of the valley, Eungella, which is a Mecca for hang-gliders.
Local museums fill visitors in on a heritage coloured largely by cane and,
briefly in the 1880s, an epidemic of gold fever.
