Leshan
City profile
Leshan is located where the Dadu, Minjiang, Qingyijiang rivers meet in Sichuan Province, China about 120 kilometres from Chengdu.
It has a territory of approximately 12,800m2 with a population of 3.68 million.
Leshan is a prosperous town with beautiful scenery and many historical buildings, temples and stone tablets.
It has a humid sub-tropical climate and is the site of the world's largest stone statue of Buddha.
Current status
The Hervey Bay - Leshan Sister City relationship has remained active and strong since its inception in 1997.
This is largely due to the excellent Foreign Affairs staff in Leshan and many of the formal as well as informal relationships established at many levels of government.
A new agreement was re-signed in 2009 between Fraser Coast and Leshan.
A delegation including Mayor Gerard O'Connell, CEO Lisa Desmond, Cr Trevor McDonald and Cr Chris Loft, along with Ed Gibson from the Hervey Bay Boat Club, Anne O'Brien from Riverside Christian College and Lawrie and Joy Beacham from Jeeepart Recyclers travelled to Leshan in September 2014.
Whilst there, they attended an Economy and Trade meeting in Leshan new Hi-tech zone, the Opening Ceremony of the Australian Garden, a visit to Leshan Experimental Middle School, a visit to Zhuge Liang Memorial Hall and a tour through the International Tourism Trade Expo.
Chinese garden
A Chinese garden is located at the Hervey Bay Botanical Gardens, Urangan.
It includes a moon gate and cloud wall, main entry, feature fountain, circular court, pond, an arbour, timber bridge, pavilion and curved bench.
Australian Garden, Leshan
The Australian Garden is located in the west part of Leshan centre district, on the left side of the Dadu river bridge, the way to the new high-tech zone.
It covers an area of 9,000 square meters. The cost of investment is 2.29 million RMB.
The garden includes the characteristics of the ecological environment and construction of Fraser Coast Regional Council and Queensland.
The completion of the Australian Garden enriches the form and content of the park and square in Leshan.
Visit to the Fraser Coast
A delegation of six from Leshan visited the Fraser Coast in May 2016 for three days. The delegation, headed by Vice Mayor Liao Lei, met with the new Council and toured both education and tourism facilities on the Fraser Coast.
School exchange
In February 2014, 27 students and teachers from Leshan No. 1 school visited Urangan State High School.
During their visit to Hervey Bay, the students attended school classes with their host brothers / sisters.
They were hosted by the Urangan High School LOTE Chinese students. Whilst here, the students did a tour of Maryborough and enjoyed a lunch with some of our Councillors.