The town was originally called Musgrave, but on 1 December 1961 it was officially changed to Flying Fish Point. The town's name comes from the headland, which in turn was named by explorer
George Elphinstone Dalrymple on 4 October 1873, after the twelve ton cutter Flying Fish which was the principal vessel of his North East Coast Expedition. C
Thomas Henry Fitzgerald had successfully established sugarcane plantations in the
Mackay area and in April 1880 came to Flying Fish Point and planted
sugarcane there on 15 June 1880. The focus of his sugarcane interests shifted further up the Johnstone River resulting in the establishing of Geraldton (later
Innisfail) as the major sugarcane growing area. Flying Fish Point with its sandy beach instead became a popular holiday town for the area. The first Catholic mass was celebrated in Flying Fish Point on 1 January 1940 in Edwin Shaw's hut. Flying Fish Point Provisional School opened on 23 January 1899. It closed on a number of occasions due to low student numbers. It also closed for a period in 1918 after the school building was destroyed in a cyclone in March 1918. The school also closed for a period in
World War II from about February 1942 when people were evacuated from the district due to fears of a
Japanese invasion but the school did not reopen until 1947. It is unclear when it became Flying Fish Point State School as it is today. == Demographics ==