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Shute Harbour Road goes through the middle of Cannonvale. On Shute Harbour Road you will find the main shopping complex which contains a variety of shops including a large supermarket, hairdresser, bakery, butchers, seafood & takeaway food outlets, sports shop, clothes boutiques, florist, pharmacy, post office, photo processing outlet, cafes, shoe shops, newsagency, liquor store, video shop, travel agency, phone & phone accessory shop, music store, jewellery store, banks and gymnasium.
Across the opposite side of the road are the local Primary School and Preschool. The local community pool is located within the grounds of the Primary school. All are located within a short work of the Cannonvale Beach.
A little further along Shute Harbour Road is the local TAFE college which provides for the education and training of the locals specialising in fine-tuning in the hospitality industry. The college has its own restaurant which the students use to cater for the public regularly. The public library is located on the grounds as well.
A separate group of little shops called the "Cannonvale Markets" are located further along Shute Harbour Road.
Cannonvale/ Cannon Valley In 1819, 1820 and 1821 Lieutenant P. P. King, RN,
in HMS Mermaid and HMS Bathurst passed through Whitsunday waters and his chart denotes a 'low valley'
south of Mount Dryander, the latter named by him during his 1820 voyage. The valley remained so marked
until in 1866 Commander G. S. Nares, RN, in HMS Salamander named it 'Cannon Valley' after the ship's
assistant surgeon, Richard Cannon. As settlement spread out from Proserpine in the
late 1800s the name 'Cannon Valley' was used to describe the valley as far as the coast and as the sea-side
area was settled its features were referred to as 'Cannon Valley Beach', 'Cannon Valley Baths' etc.
The name 'Cannon Valley' thus became well entrenched in describing the seaward end of the valley as well as
the entire valley itself. Over the years however the name 'Cannonvale' emerged as a designation of the seaward end of the valley. It seems it initially was used by the post office
in an endeavour to define more clearly the various mail runs undertaken by contractors and appears first in
their records in 1907.
The Proserpine Guardian of 2 and 9 September 1911 carried an advertisement from
the Postmaster General inviting tenders for mail runs,
one of which was 'No. 477 Ð Proserpine and Cannonvale' and post office records of the time
described Cannonvale as 'the beach portion of mail service 477'..A map made in 1913 held in the Whitsunday Shire Council 'Alterations to Rate Book 1914Ð 1943' clearly
shows the 'Town of Cannonvale' as does the Government Gazette of May 1913 in the same
book.
There are several other maps of that era in the same book which show the Town of Cannonvale so the name
was official in those days. Another item officially announces the sale of leases in the Town of Cannonvale
on 7 March 1916. The name could not have been popular locally and it is difficult to find any reference to it in council minutes or the Proserpine Guardian during the early
years. Council minutes of 2 April 1914 make a passing reference to 'Canonvale' with only two 'n's' instead of
three which seems to indicate how unknown the name was.
Another mention is made in minutes of 5 July 1923 and in the Proserpine Guardian of 6 September 1924 the Government advertised land for sale at
'Cannon Vale'. From about 1927 onwards, after the sale of more land at Cannonvale, mention of the new
name abounds, though apparently only grudgingly accepted by the public.
The Proserpine Guardian of 11 June 1948 contains an item commenting on the erection of a road sign on Shute Harbour Road
pointing to 'Cannon Vale' and rather tartly remarks that the area it points to is still known as 'Cannon
Valley Beach'. In 1930 as tourism expanded in the area and resorts appeared on various islands, most of the sea voyages to and from those islands commenced at Cannonvale,
either from the beach in front of Cannonvale shops or later from Shingley beach. Tourists were ferried to their
boats in dinghies and could not avoid getting their feet wet and these difficulties gave rise to pressure for
the building of a jetty at Cannonvale with a number of sites in prospect.
In August 1934 a telegraph, telephone/ trunk line office was also opened in Mrs Ross' store. The name
'Deauville' was never popular with residents and in 1947 a request was made by the Progress Association
to have it changed to 'Cannonvale Beach' and in October the change was made. The new name
remained in force until the post office was closed on 31 January 1975 at which time it was operating from
the Cannonvale Beach store near the waterfront where it had been re-located in 1967.
*The above History is reproduced by kind permission of Mr. Ray Blackwood
from his book The Whitsunday Islands-An Historical Dictionary. Please
visit his site here to find out more
facts, myths and mythunderstandings
of the Whitsundays.
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