page_title: Bucasia, Queensland
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Bucasia, Queensland / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Essie McKay and Althea Cook on the beach in Bucasia, 1931 They are both wearing seaweed.
context_page_description: Bucasia is a coastal town and one of the largest suburbs of Mackay in the Mackay Region, Queensland, Australia.
context_section_description: In 1874, Bucasia was originally called Marara but was later named Seaview. In 1938, it was decided that there were too many places called Seaview and so it was renamed Bucasia after Father Pierre-Marie (Paul) Bucas (born in 1840 in Saint-Jean-la-Poterie;Morbihan in France), the first Roman Catholic priest in Mackay.
  Starting in 1874, Father Bucas acquired 1680 acres of land through  a series of purchases in present-day Bucasia, which he used to establish a community for displaced Aborigines. He also established the St Joseph's orphanage, operated by the Sisters of St Joseph until 1880, after which it was run by the Sisters of Mercy. In 1884, concerns about malaria resulted in the orphans being relocated in 1885 to the Meteor Park orphanage near Rockhampton (later known as Neerkol). The swamp in the west of the Bucasia locality is still known as Orphanage Swamp.
  Over time, Bucasia developed as a holiday area but has now become a permanent residential area.
  Bucasia State School opened on 29 January 1985.
  In 1988, a memorial to Father Bucas was unveiled on Bucasia Esplanade.
  In 2008, the Mackay Regional Council constructed a waste water treatment plant in Bucasia, serving the northern suburbs. The two basin sequencing batch reactor can process up to 4 megalitres per day.
  In the 2011 census, Bucasia had a population of 4,257 people.
  In 2015, illegal tree clearing occurred on Bucasia foreshore, a problem in many coastal communities where foreshore trees block residential views. The trees were planted to stabilise the dunes, protect the beach, and provide habitat for wildlife.
caption: Holiday-makers on the beach in Bucasia, 1931
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