| Hill inlet is one of the most popular walks in the Whitsundays. Offering spectacular views of Whitehaven Beach and Hill inlet from it's easy to reach lookout. |
| Hill Inlet walk is usually started from Tongue Bay where most visiting vessels anchor. After a short dinghy ride ashore, the easy track meanders to the lookout with spectacular views of Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Island and the shifting sands of Hill Inlet. The track can then be followed along a boardwalk to Hill Inlet and Whitehaven Beach where the sand is an awesome white and about 98% pure silica. The sand is about as fine as sand can be. |
| Hill Inlet on the eastern side of Whitsunday Island was named on 15 September 1912 by the crew and charterers of the yacht Gulnare after the owner of the yacht, Frederick Charles Lumley-Hill of Bowen. The sand within the mouth of the inlet is the same pure silica sand as that comprising Whitehaven Beach and its surrounds. As such it is suitable for the finest glass-making being the right quality for optical lenses and has attracted the attention of miners of mineral sands and in 1962 leases were given over part of the inlet for dredging by Bowen Mineral Company. Plans were to remove 1000 tonnes per month, with the assurance none would come from Whitehaven Beach but only from the seaward side of Hill Inlet. (Proserpine Guardian 28 September 1962, 14 December 1962) In the event the proposal did not proceed and the leases lapsed. |
