Sugar City to cricket centrepiece? How Mackay secured a historic Test, and its bold vision of what’s to come

When Mackay was grappling with an economic crisis that left the city “at the bottom of the trough”, a group of sporting advocates plotted to transform the region into a cricketing epicentre.

While Harrup Park has stood for 78 years, the past decade has been spent building towards a vision: to possess the best arena in regional Queensland capable of bringing international spectacles to the Sugar City.

That moment finally arrived when Australia cruised to victory by an innings and 51 runs against Bangladesh inside two sold-out days at the venue’s Great Barrier Reef Arena.

When asked from Harrup Park if there was a moment in the city’s history with a comparable buzz, restaurateur Adrian Connors – who has lived in the area for 36 years – replied: “I don’t believe there is.”

“Mackay has probably been lacking really big events like this, and I think we’re obviously very capable,” he said.

“It’s probably one of the first times we can actually feel the benefit and the energy and the vibe around town.

“To see people dressed up in their outfits, Australian jerseys, walking down Nebo Road, Bridge Road, Juliet Street, is just unreal, and it’s put a real atmosphere in town.”

A 12-hour drive north of Brisbane and with a population of 130,000, Mackay’s main economic drivers had centred around coal mining and sugar cane.

When the price of coal plummeted in the 2010s, a population exodus, business closures and financial upheaval followed.

But sport, according to mayor Greg Williamson, promised opportunity to diversify the economy.

“When I first got the job in 2016, we were at the bottom of the trough. Sport is one of the ways, I believe, you can pull a community out of that trough,” he said.

Williamson said about $1 million a year was spent to bring sport, business and tourism events to Mackay, with service industries growing their capacity to handle larger-scale spectacles – including NRL semi-finals (2021) and AFLW clashes.

“I’m sure there are a lot of people in Australia saying, ‘Where is Mackay? Why is there a Test match being played in Mackay?’” Williamson said.

“That’s the question you need to have people asking because that will lead to people saying they might come. That leads to investment, and that leads to growth.