South along Highway 1, 132 kilometres from Rockhampton, is the deepwater port and industrial centre of Gladstone. CQUniversity Gladstone, located beside the Gladstone yacht harbour, is home to the University's Engineering and Environmental Management Complex devoted to research and training, and which provides a venue for conferences and residential schools.

Gladstone, a rapidly growing city of about 27 000 people is about six and a half hours by road from Brisbane on National Highway 1.

Gladstone is remarkable for having managed the successful coexistence of the industry that fuels dynamic economic growth, and tourism based on the beaches, islands and reef of the World Heritage Listed Great Barrier Reef area of which it is a part.

The city is the main departure point for some of the best known dive sites in the southern Barrier Reef, including Heron Island. The city is a short drive from the Discovery Coast, the home of the most northern surfing beaches on the east coast of Australia.