On the 23rd of May, 1770 a converted British coal carrier renamed the Endeavour landed near the mouth of a large lagoon along the eastern coast of a land the crew called New Holland.

Joseph Banks, a rich young London playboy with big shoulders and a ponytail, wrote in his journal that the tropical vegetation was “a sure mark that we were upon the point of leaving the Southern temperate Zone”.

Banks, described by newspapers of the time as a bed-breaking ladies man, had financed the greatest scientific expedition of the time, and waded through mangroves where big green ants waited in ambush.

He later wrote with wounded hands that when annoyed these ants “revenged themselves ... very sufficiently upon their disturbers, biting sharper than any I have felt in Europe”.

In the mud under the mangrove trees were innumerable oysters, including those that created pearls. Pelicans flocked to the shoals and sand dunes, and Banks carefully studied a bustard, a bird with a long, slightly curved white neck and a black-capped head; the span of its orange-brown wings was impressive. The crewmen shot one weighing eight kilograms, which was cooked for dinner, and Banks declared he had eaten no bird to equal its taste since leaving England more than two years earlier for a voyage of discovery around the world.

The ship’s skipper, a towering Yorkshireman named Lieutenant James Cook – soon to be a captain – named the place Bustard Bay. The town that grew nearby is called Seventeen Seventy, after the year of the Endeavour’s visit, and next to it is the beautiful and historic settlement of Agnes Water.

The arrival of the Endeavour marked the first time on record that Europeans stepped ashore on the soil of what is now Queensland, although the Meerooni people had lived there for thousands of years.

International border closures saw tourism boom at the town of 1770 and Agnes Water – along what is now called Queensland’s Discovery Coast – and the area is often referred to as the “Byron Bay of the North” because of its spectacular scenery and popularity with visitors. The surrounds are as stunning as they were when Banks and Cook first laid eyes upon them.

The twin towns are also located between two major regional centres, an hour and a half from both Bundaberg and Gladstone.

The Edge on Beaches Resort is situated in a prime location between Agnes Water and 1770 and the Management and Letting Rights are on sale for $2,434,000.

Craig Cornish, from Ray White, says the property is a hidden gem that won't stay hidden for long. Well-heeled tourists from Brisbane, Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast flock by car to this idyllic, beachside paradise and given demand along the sublime coastline, prices are expected to boom in the region.

Seventeen Seventy is the closest access point from the mainland to stunning Lady Musgrave Island and the Resort benefits strongly from tourism to the Island.

Edge on Beaches is 19 years young. It has 57 units with 30 of them – all air conditioned – in the letting pool, and it is just 250 metres to a stunning beach with a private pathway direct from the resort straight to the surf.

The property is returning $446,000 per annum in net operating profit, with a $112,000 per annum salary with CPI annual increases.

There are 23 years left on caretaker and letting agreements, and the current onsite manger has run the resort for the last 9.5 years.

There are four swimming pools (two of them heated), and three BBQs.

The huge manager's unit is one of the best in the complex and has three bedrooms and three bathrooms.

There is also tropical low maintenance landscaping with a sprinkler system.

Local amenities and infrastructure continue to develop. There is an established Foodworks in the local neighbourhood shopping centre, with a new IGA supermarket development underway and a new high school/ Christian college to be completed soon.

Edge on Beaches presents as an ideal opportunity for a husband and wife operation or young family to take over the business.

Alternatively a new investor could keep the current onsite manager in place.

“It’s a stunning location,” Mr Cornish said, “the coastline is magnificent, and the property offers a very good business opportunity.”