Keppel Sands

Separated by Coorooman Creek from the larger towns of Emu Park and Yeppoon to the north, Keppel Sands is a charming village-style township centred on fishing and holiday making.

Facilities in Keppel Sands include a hotel, caravan park, motel, Australia Post outlet, local cafe, and two boat ramps. The Coast Guard is located at Pumpkin Creek at the southern edge of the town.

Keppel Sands is home to many retirees and is a popular location for fishing and crabbing.

Once Keppel Sands went by the name of The Sandhills. Sandhills along the beachfront was about all there was until a sleepy town amidst the sugar cane plantations started to emerge. That’s all changing these days, particularly since real estate started going ‘through the roof’.

The majority of the sugar cane plantations have all but gone and a different community has developed, partly due to tourism, a burgeoning real estate market and, one would imagine, the excellent fishing.

A ‘must visit’ is the Joskeleigh South Pacific Museum, which highlights the role played by the Kanakas, brought out by the ‘blackbirders’ to work the sugar cane fields as indentured labour.