Ayr, Queensland

Ayr is a town in Queensland, Australia near the delta of the Burdekin River. It is within the Burdekin Shire, which produces the most sugar cane per square kilometre in Australia utilizing underground water supplies and water from the Burdekin Dam to irrigate crops when rains fail.

Ayr is located 88 km south of Townsville on the Bruce Highway and 12km away from the (smaller) town of Home Hill. It is 112km north of Bowen and 290km north of Mackay. Ayr has a population of approximately 9000. It has the usual chain stores, ten pin bowling, a toyshop, drive in movie, cinema and 6 pubs. Ayr has several banks including the Commonwealth, ANZ, Suncorp, National and Bendigo Bank. Alva beach, a popular area for fishing and swimming, is located 16km east of Ayr.

Ayr has several state primary schools (Ayr, East Ayr, Kalamia and several others in surrounding areas) and some private primary schools, including the Burdekin Christian College. Ayr has one state high school and one private high school. Ayr State High School was the 8th public secondary high school in Queensland. The private high school is called the Burdekin Catholic High School.

Several sports are played in Ayr, such as Touch football which is competitive and popular. The majority of people that live in Ayr support the North Queensland Cowboys in Rugby League. Rugby League and Rugby Union are both also popular sports. Karrie Webb (golfer) was born in Ayr and also grew up in Ayr.