The timeline of holidays on Queensland’s Hayman Island is long and deep. It emerges as a parallel unfolding of Australian resort tourism and hospitality, from where it all started and how far we have come. From down-home and happily daggy to stylish and sophisticated, almost every style signpost is there, and all of it relevant to respective eras.

My Hayman associations started at the turn of the 1970s and ’80s when my two young sons and I shared a cabin for a fortnight. I turned toasty-brown on a sunbed, and the lads hounded the marine biologist for umpteen beach walks. They discovered a love of reef life and corals that persists to this day. Then there was the food. “Wow, Mum, there’s so much to eat and it’s all free!” Meals were served buffet style with Hawaiian flourishes and for years afterwards, and several more Hayman holidays, the boys would demand coloured cocktail onions and chunks of cheddar on toothpicks skewered into pineapples when we had parties at home. We’d even memorised the ditty of the times: “The hum-drum world of work-a-day … Is half a million miles away … Ah! Lovely Hayman Island is the place to holiday!” I would seriously pine for Hernando’s Hideaway Disco and carbon-copy typed menus announcing South Seas Prawns Oriental and sophisticated sides of Pommes Parisienne.

Australia’s “first romantic comedy drama”, ominously titled White Death, was shot on the island by legendary deep-sea angler and film-maker Zane Grey in 1936. Two years later, a fisherman’s castaway “chalet” on Hayman was a single-roomed, fibro-clad structure with a corrugated-iron roof. All so simple and humble and just steps across white sand to the aquamarine waters.

The dream has undergone myriad interpretations since, always keeping up with fashion. The three-storey Pool and Lagoon wings with staggered terraces we see today are from the late-’90s and have been successfully refurbished and updated by a series of management companies, some of which went down the route of decidedly non-tropical red awnings, French cuisine, carving trolleys and chandeliers. Today, the resort is in the hands of InterContinental and far from resting on laurels, an additional accommodation category has been launched, new executive chef installed, and there’s an expanded emphasis on separate enclaves for families and adults-only. The privately owned four-bedroom Residences, high on a hill, are popular for serviced holiday rentals, offering imperious views. And a three-bedroom Beach House with direct sea-and-sand access is a similarly spacious option.

In the grown-ups category, 12 smart Beachfront Pavilions were opened in September at the resort, still fresh from its $135m refurbishment in 2019. These latest options are set in a front-row curve at a remove from the main resort. The exclusive compound feels like its own satellite but it’s an easy stroll back to all the facilities, or a golf buggy is on call via a dedicated concierge service. The single-level squat pavilions have blackened timber exteriors and blocky, modular contours. The beachy vibe comes from cream, pale grey and muted blue interiors, and a clever indoor-outdoor veranda room with sliding glass doors that open to trimmed lawns, a pair of sun-lounges, and a strand of sand that provides good fossicking for shells at low tide. To one side of each pavilion is a smallish but private above-ground circular heated pool with built-in seating and steps.

Huge TVs pop down, James Bond-style, from the ceiling, and press panels operate all functions, including curtains that swish and sway a little alarmingly as they zoom to open and close. The huge bathroom features a tub of wallowing scale and a cargo of luxurious Australian-made Sodashi amenities, and there’s a ton of storage and hanging space that, at first, seems excessive but also encouraging for those fortunate enough to be hunkered down for an extended stay. It’s a perfect little holiday redoubt, a skip from the sea, but planets removed from those long-ago chalets. Reassuringly, though, gangs of sulphur-crested cockatoos still swoop and squawk and high-stepping curlews patrol the pathways and occasionally appear on the doorstep, signalling their arrival with harsh, throaty calls.

This luxury accommodation joins the upper tier of Beach Villas with private pools, and terrace suites in the Pool Wing with direct swimming access. The full inventory range covers a (rather confusing) 28 categories, grouped according to location and view, but none could be classified as basic. The lowest-tariff Retreat Courtyard Rooms, for example, have no views but are charming in scale and feel like little tropical habitats with a semi-alfresco bathroom and walled outdoor area. These are tucked along a lane behind the Beach Villas with immediate access to pools and restaurants.

And so to dine. Buffets rule at light-filled Pacific for breakfast and the spread is of the sort to set up any idle holidaymaker for the day. A multitude of cold and hot items are arrayed across a flow of counters, and diligent investigation will lead you to the Indian corner for freshly made puffy bread, irresistibly fragrant curries, and abundant side dishes. You might spot executive chef Paul Lewis darting about and overseeing proceedings but, for a personalised encounter, book his guided tour of the main kitchen, culinary masterclass and chef’s table (with a keen view of the brigade in action over dinner). These small-group insights are sometimes held with visiting winemakers or merchants. It’s fun, unfussy, genuinely illuminating and the stuff of newly minted Hayman memories. Make mine the clear, soft flavours of coral trout cooked in paperbark to instantly recall the evening. Unforgettable, too, are wood-fired pizzas at Amici, seafood poke salad bowls while seated at high white tables at poolside Aqua, and the salt and pepper soft-shell crab “sando” with a hit of smoked siracha mayo at Asian-inspired Bam Bam. Children’s menus are available at most venues and dietary requirements well catered for.

The Grove boutique is filled with fashionable resort wear and has a good café attached for a casual meal, snack or takeaway. I buy a Hayman Island candle with scents of fruit, rosewood, musk, vanilla and balsam. I plan to burn it sparingly and inhale deeply to instantly summon the destination, because my elder son is a father now and I am a doting Nonna. Another generation of family holidays. When my granddaughter turns five next year, we’ll be off together, hand in hand, hitting that breakfast buffet like it’s 1979.

Susan Kurosawa was a guest of
InterContinental Hayman Island Resort.