Explore Calen, Queensland, Australia, with this interactive street and satellite map. You can “grab” the Calen, QLD map and move it around to re-centre it. You can change between standard map view and satellite map view by clicking the small square in the bottom left-hand corner of the map. You can use the zoom buttons on the lower right side of the map to zoom in or out to street-level detail.
This page also offers TOPO MAPS — Geoscience Australia topographic mapping and the classic NATMAP 1:250 000 sheets — plus a labelled MGA grid overlay, a distance and bearing tool, and a GPS grid-reference readout. See How to Use This Map below. You will find live weather, local and world news further down the page.
This interactive map shows the street layout and satellite imagery for Calen, Queensland, Australia. Use the Map and Satellite buttons above to switch between street map and aerial imagery views. Use the + and − buttons to zoom in or out, or scroll your mouse wheel while holding the Control key to zoom. On a touchscreen, use a two-finger pinch gesture to zoom in and out.
Click ⛶ Fullscreen to expand the map to fill your screen for a larger view. To return to the normal page view, press the Escape key on your keyboard, click the ✕ Exit Fullscreen button that appears above the map, or on a mobile device tap the back button (Android) or the close icon (iOS).
Drag the map to pan to any area of Queensland or beyond. Switch to Satellite view to see high-resolution aerial photography of Calen and surrounding areas, including streets, buildings, parks and waterways.
TOPO MAPS — NEW. Click the green 🔍 Search Maps button below the map to open a second map with a Base map row offering three choices. OSM is the standard OpenStreetMap street map. Topo shows the Geoscience Australia National Base Map — seamless topographic mapping covering the mainland, Tasmania and the external territories. NATMAP 250K shows the classic NATMAP 1:250 000 map sheets, mosaicked nationwide — the printed sheets generations of Australians navigated the outback with. The search box finds any Australian town, suburb or landmark by name, so you are not limited to Calen.
Reading the map like a paper sheet. Click Grid to overlay the Map Grid of Australia (MGA), labelled along the edges exactly as a printed topographic sheet is — at normal zoom the squares are one kilometre across, so you can read a six-figure grid reference by eye and judge distance directly off the map. Click Measure, then tap two points, to get the distance between them together with the grid bearing in degrees and mils, the true bearing, and the magnetic bearing to set on a compass.
Click 📍 My position to take a single GPS reading from your device. It marks where you are and reports your position as an MGA grid reference as well as plain latitude and longitude — the grid reference being what emergency services and search and rescue work from — with a Copy position button so you can paste it straight into a text message. It takes one reading and stops, rather than tracking continuously, to conserve your battery. Note that map tiles need mobile coverage, but a GPS reading does not — your coordinates stay correct even where the map itself cannot load, which across much of inland Australia is most of the time.
Map search is available for a limited number of queries per session to manage costs. Be specific — search precisely for best results.
| Locality | Calen |
| State | Queensland (QLD) |
| Local Government Area | Mackay Regional |
| Country | Australia |
| Timezone | Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) - no daylight saving |
| Remoteness | Outer Regional Australia |
| Latitude | -20.89523 |
| Longitude | 148.74213 |
| Population | 386 |
| Density | 5.4 /km² |
| Area | 71.9 km² |
| Elevation | 26 m |
| Postcode | 4798 |
| Area Code | 07 |
| Distance to Brisbane | 850 km north-northwest |
Calen is a locality in the Mackay Regional local government area of Queensland, Australia. It is a small community with a population of 386. The locality covers an area of 71.9 km², giving a population density of about 5.4 people per km². It sits at an elevation of around 26 m above sea level. It lies approximately 850 km north-northwest of Brisbane. Calen is located at 20.8952°S, 148.7421°E. It observes Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) - no daylight saving. Postcode: 4798. The Australian Bureau of Statistics classifies the area as Outer Regional Australia.
Calen sprawls across the coastal plain, a scatter of corrugated iron roofs and dusty roads under a sky that often blazes with an intense, high-noon sun. It lies 53.6 km west-north-west of Mackay, QLD (from Mackay, QLD: bearing 301°T), and is situated 20.2 km west of Seaforth. The air here carries the faint, sweet scent of sugarcane, a pervasive perfume that softens the sharp edges of the landscape. To the west, the land begins to swell into rolling hills, their slopes a patchwork of emerald cane fields and the deeper green of scattered bushland, where the silhouette of the Connors Range hums faintly on the horizon. The O'Connell River, a languid ribbon of brown water, threads its way through the district, its banks fringed with paperbarks and the occasional, sun-bleached skeleton of a fallen tree, testament to the powerful floods that can reshape the land. Even on a still day, there’s a gentle breathing to Calen, a sense that the land itself is alive and aware.
The history of Calen is inextricably linked to the cultivation of sugarcane, a crop that has shaped its fortunes and its very character since the early days of settlement. This fertile river country, once the domain of the Birri people, was cleared and planted, transforming the landscape into the productive heart of a regional economy. The hum of cane trains, a familiar soundtrack to the latter half of the year, speaks of the ongoing industry, of livelihoods tied to the planting, growing, and harvesting of this sweet grass. Local businesses, from the general store to the mechanics, all feel the pulse of the agricultural cycle, their success mirroring the fortunes of the cane farms that surround them. While the larger centres might draw the crowds, Calen retains a quiet dignity, a sense of community forged in shared labour and the enduring rhythms of the land.
Sources: curated tourist landmarks, CAPAD 2024 (Australian protected areas), OpenStreetMap.
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This page provides a street and satellite map of Calen, Queensland. Live weather conditions with current observations and a 7-day forecast are powered by Open-Meteo. Real-time local news and world news feeds keep the page current, while an editorially written description provides background on Calen, in the Mackay Regional local government area.
Detailed location data for Calen includes the postcode (4798), telephone area code (07), and local government area (Mackay Regional), with an ABS remoteness classification of Outer Regional Australia. These are among the most commonly searched location details for any Australian city, town or locality.
Search Maps opens a second, independent map. It searches OpenStreetMap for any Australian town, suburb or landmark by name; offers Geoscience Australia topographic mapping and the classic NATMAP 1:250 000 sheets as base layers; overlays a labelled Map Grid of Australia (MGA) so the map can be read like a printed topographic sheet; measures distance and grid, true and magnetic bearings between any two points; and takes a single GPS fix reporting your position as an MGA grid reference and as latitude and longitude. Map tiles require mobile coverage, but a GPS position does not, so the coordinates remain correct even where the map cannot load.
Location data is drawn from Geoscape Administrative Boundaries (GDA2020) and enriched with GeoNames and Australian Bureau of Statistics data, matched by coordinate proximity — ensuring the correct Calen is identified even where the name is shared across multiple localities.
| Page generated | October 2026 |
| Location data | Geoscape Administrative Boundaries (GDA2020); enriched with GeoNames and ABS 2021 Census data, matched by coordinate proximity |
| Map layers | Google Maps; © OpenStreetMap contributors; © Geoscience Australia National Base Map and NATMAP 1:250 000 (CC BY 4.0); magnetic declination from NOAA NCEI (World Magnetic Model) |
| Description | Editorial description generated with AI assistance from verified Geoscape, ABS and GeoNames location data. |