Scarness, a coastal locality 32 km north-west of Maryborough, is part of the Hervey Bay urban area. It adjoins the eastern side of Pialba.
In common with Pialba and Urangan, Scarness had a scattering of holiday houses along the foreshore by the 1880s, a trend which grew when the railway to Pialba was opened in 1896 and extended to Urangan in 1913. The Scarborough Hotel was the most prominent building, from which the name Scarness was derived.
By the early post World War II years Scarness' census population approached 600. It later blended in with the Hervey Bay holiday and retiree culture. There are two camping/caravan grounds, two churches, the Hervey Bay tourist information centre, the historical museum buildings, and a popular beach and jetty. Scarness' census populations have been:
| census date | population |
|---|---|
| 1921 | 244 |
| 1947 | 590 |
| 2006 | 3320 |
| 2011 | 3473 |
Frances Chan, Hervey Bay and the Fraser Coast, Rockhampton, Central Queensland University Press, 1999
