Bowen is a town on the eastern coast of
Queensland, Australia. At the 2011 census,
Bowen had a population of 10,260.
Bowen is located on the north-east coast, in
North Queensland, Australia, at exactly twenty
degrees south of the equator. The twentieth
parallel crosses the main street.
Bowen is halfway between Townsville and
Mackay, and 1,130 kilometres (700 mi) by
road from Brisbane.

Bowen sits on a square peninsula, with the
Coral Sea to the north, east, and south. To the
south-east is Port Denison. On the western
side, where the peninsula connects with the
mainland, the Don River's alluvial plain provides
fertile soil that supports a prosperous farming
industry. The town enjoys a diversified and
prosperous economy based on agriculture,
fishing, tourism, and mining. Its unusually dry
climate for a tropical location, plus its fertile
alluvial soil, makes it the ideal place to grow a
wide variety of small crops, including tomatoes,
rockmelons, and capsicums (i.e., green
peppers). Outside the alluvial plain, much of
the Bowen area is used for beef cattle.

Just north of Bowen is the Abbot Point coal
loading port. Coal mined inland of Bowen
in Collinsville and other towns in the Bowen
Basin is brought by rail to a deepwater pier to
be loaded on bulk carriers. Coal is exported
mainly to China and India.