Golden Beach is a suburb of the Sunshine
Coast, Queensland, Australia, located within
the Caloundra urban centre directly southwest
of the Caloundra CBD. At the 2011 Australian
Census the suburb recorded a population of
5,179. Golden Beach is a coastal suburb with the
Pumicestone Passage forming its eastern
boundary. It is mostly fully developed with low
density residential housing. A canal from the
passage passes through the suburb from east
to west leading into the canal developments of
the neighbouring suburb of Pelican Waters. The
long sandspit at the northern tip of Bribie Island
protects Golden Beach from the Coral Sea.
However, this section of the Pumicestone
Passage is very narrow and very shallow (less
than 2 metres (6 ft 7 in)) with shifting sand and
mud banks, which makes the northern sandspit
highly dynamic in shape through natural
processes of sand/mud buildup and erosion.
During storms, waves may cross over the
sandspit from the Coral Sea into the
Pumicestone Passage, with the potential to
break though the sandspit to create new
entrances to Pumicestone Passage. The
creation of new entrances would impact on
Golden Beach and Pelican Waters, which would
then be exposed more directly to the stronger
wave action of the Coral Sea as opposed to the
calmer waters of the Pumicestone Passage.