The Shire of Bowen had its origins in two entities: • the
Borough of Bowen which was constituted as a municipality on 7 August 1863 under the
Municipalities Act 1858 to provide local government within the urban area of
Bowen • the
Wangaratta Division which was created on 11 November 1879 as one of 74 divisions around Queensland under the
Divisional Boards Act 1879 to provide local government in the rural areas surrounding Bowen With the passage of the
Local Authorities Act 1902, the Borough of Bowen became the
Town of Bowen and Wangaratta Division became the
Shire of Wangaratta on 31 March 1903. On 2 April 1960, the Town of Bowen was abolished, and merged into the Shire of Wangaratta, which was renamed Shire of Bowen. On 15 March 2008, under the
Local Government (Reform Implementation) Act 2007 passed by the
Parliament of Queensland on 10 August 2007, the Shire of Bowen merged with the
Shire of Whitsunday to form the
Whitsunday Region. ==Towns and localities==