Local History

Naming Tin Can Bay

The name Tin Can Bay is itself a bit of a mystery; different sources will cite different origins for the name.

One story goes that the local Aboriginals called the place ‘Tuncunba’, which means ‘Place of Plenty’, ‘ba’ being place and ‘tunba’ meaning plenty. Zachary Skyring, a blood brother of the local indigenous tribe, once said it was the white man who first shortened the name to ‘Tuncun’, which was eventually bastardised as ‘Tin Can’.

Another story is that Tin Can Bay got its name from the huge man-made booms in the bay that were built with surplus war metal in 1945. The story goes that all sorts of bits and pieces would wash up against these barriers, and this flotsam that gathered earned the booms the nicknames of ‘tin can’ or ‘tinnie’ barriers. Hence, Tin Can Bay.

The third story, and the one you will find on Wikipedia, is that Tin Can Bay was a name change from the original name of ‘Wallu’, which happened in 1937. This story also cites Aboriginal words as the origins of Tin Can but this time, the words are ‘tinchin’, meaning ‘mangrove’ in the Yugarabul dialect of the Yuggera language, or ‘tinken’, meaning vine with large ribbed leaves.

Whatever the true origin, the name Tin Can Bay has stuck.

Property and Business Development

The first land blocks in Tin Can Bay were sold in 1922 for the princely sum of 8 pounds. By 1928, the price had risen to a whopping 15 pounds.

In 1932, due to an influx of migrants seeking cheap land after being hit hard by the depression, the population reached a staggering 35 people. At this challenging time, cheap land and plentiful fishing were a strong draw for struggling Aussies.

As the population in Tin Can Bay grew, amenities began to appear. In 1932, the first shop was built by Viv Mason and the telegraph line was extended to encompass the bay. Construction commenced on the Post Office the same year.

The 1930s also saw the road from Goomboorian to Tin Can Bay built by relief workers, improving access to the bay, even if the road wasn’t sealed until 1959. The first school was built in 1935, and in 1939, Mr Mason, owner of the first shop in town, went on to open the doors of the Tin Can Bay Ice Works.

In 1945, the Queensland Fish Board opened the Tin Can Bay Market to handle the selling of the catch, and in 1959, visitors found a better place to stay when Tin Can Bay’s first hotel, the Sleepy Lagoon, opened its doors. 1959 was also the year that electricity arrived in the bay, and a gathering was held to mark the occasion, with the whole town turning out to celebrate.

21st Century Tin Can Bay and Cooloola Cove

Cooloola Cove and Tin Can Bay are home to over 5,000 friendly faces, our beautiful region is a thriving township with shops, cafes, chemists, doctors, vets and gyms, all while maintaining the aura of the sleepy little fishing village it once was.