The name Eimeo was derived from selection name used by Jeremiah Downs Armitage, an early settler in the 1870s, after his birthplace Moorea (also called Eimeo) in Tahiti. His father Elijah Armitage was a missionary in the South Seas.[2][7][8]
Armitage engaged in many occupations, including timber cutting, fruit growing and operating a boarding house and/or hotel.[9] Armitage's lasting legacy to the area is the avenue of mango trees he planted, probably in the 1880s, to delineate the track leading from the main Mackay access road, through his property, to his boarding house/hotel. These trees survive to the present day and are listed on the Queensland Heritage Register. Palm Avenue is also a significant and well known feature of the suburb.[10]
In the 1930s a roller skating rink was established next to the hotel.[9]
Eimeo Post Office opened on 24 January 1949 and closed in 1972.[12] The present Eimeo Pacific Hotel was built in 1954 on the site of Armitage's boarding house.[9]
Demographics
In the 2011 census, the suburb of Eimeo had a population of 3,309 people.[13]
In the 2016 census, the suburb of Eimeo had a population of 3,230 people.[14]
In the 2021 census, the suburb of Eimeo had a population of 3,285 people.[1]
There are no schools in Eimeo. The nearest primary and secondary schools are Eimeo Road State School and Mackay Northern Beaches State High School, both in neighbouring Rural View to the south.[6]
^"How Eimeo Got Its Name". Daily Mercury. Vol. 70, no. 42. Queensland, Australia. 18 February 1936. p. 8. Archived from the original on 7 February 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
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