Winter bookings 2018 (June July August Sept) - If you are thinking of a winter escape,
How about a brief early history of the park?
History of the Cotton Tree Caravan Park - Part 1:
The lower reaches of the Maroochy River began to develop as a place of resort in the 1880s. On the southern bank at its mouth, where Cotton Tree Holiday Park is sited, a 215 acre Wharf and Water reserve was gazetted in 1873. Holiday makers informally camped on the reserve among the native Cotton trees (Hibiscus tiliaceus).
The use of the reserve, adjacent to a calm, shallow stretch of the river, reflected the preferences of the Victorian era for seaside swimming, boating and fishing. Similar locations for resort on the North Coast developed in the same period at Caloundra and Tewantin. The Salvation Army established the area as a well known resort location.
A yearly 'Maroochy Heads encampment' was organised over the short break between Christmas and the New Year. The encampment provided a range of religious and leisure activities for local settlers and South Sea Islanders working on sugar cane farms at nearby Buderim, with alcohol, gambling and dancing prohibited. The first reported encampment was in 1896, when over 200 people stayed on the reserve.
Later advertising by the Salvation Army suggests the encampment may have begun as early as 1888. The encampment became a popular annual event. Over Christmas 1905, 400 people camped on the reserve. The surf beach immediately south of the river mouth gradually became more popular for swimming and in 1908 a life saving reel was installed. While the resort charms of the Maroochy region gained wider exposure in the 1900s and outside tourists became more common, campers were predominantly from the Blackall Range and districts surrounding Nambour until the interwar period.