1972: An Airport Serving Australia’s Sunshine Coast is Officially Opened

August 19, 1972

In the southeastern area of Australia’s state of Queensland, Caloundra Airport on the Sunshine Coast was officially opened. This airport is specifically located in Caloundra West, a suburb of the coastal town of Caloundra.

Those taking part in the Saturday afternoon opening of Caloundra Airport included Joh Bjelke-Petersen (1911-2005), who was premier of Queensland from 1968 to 1987. In his remarks, Bjelke-Petersen emphasized the long-term importance of the airport to the region. “This will open up hundreds of new opportunities for Coloundra,” he proclaimed.

Coloundra Airport is managed by Sunshine Coast Airports, which a business unit of the Sunshine Coast Regional Council. While there are not any regular passenger flights in or out of Caloundra Airport at this time, the facility is home to a total of 19 businesses. In addition, there are aviation services such as skydiving, flight training, and airborne scenic tours available at this airport. Since 1986, Caloundra Airport has also been the location for the Queensland Air Museum.

Photo Credit: Shiftchange (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share 4.0 International license at Deed – Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International – Creative Commons)

For more information on Caloundra Airport, please check out Caloundra Airport – Wikipedia

Additional information on the 1972 opening of this airport is available at 24 Aug 1972 – Premier Opens Caloundra Airport – Trove (nla.gov.au)