Wurtulla is a coastal suburb six km north of Caloundra. It is one of four suburbs in the Kawana Waters coastal residential project, begun in 1960 by Alfred Grant Pty Ltd in conjunction with the Queensland State Government and the Landsborough Shire Council. The name was proposed by Alfred Grant, relying on a doubtful source for Aboriginal words and their meanings: one of Justine Kenyon's editions of The Aboriginal Word Book (Lothian: Melbourne) apparently stated that Wurtulla meant 'south'.
Kawana Estates, associated with L.J. Hooker, took over the Kawana project, and subdivisions at Wurtulla began in about 1980. It was the last of the coastal Kawana Waters suburbs to be developed, and by then the resident wild-flower conservationist, Kathleen McArthur (1915-2000) had been able to get her message through about the special flora of the wallum country. The Currimundi Lake Conservation Park at the southern end of Wurtulla was reserved in 1975.
Wurtulla is on the Nicklin Way arterial road, with several canals to the west. Adjacent to Nicklin Way there are the Kawana Waters Bowls Club, a large retirement complex and the Wurtulla Village shopping centre. Wurtulla's census populations have been:
| census date | population |
|---|---|
| 2006 | 5350 |
| 2011 | 5587 |
Kathleen McArthur, Living on the coast, Kenthurst, NSW, Kangaroo Press, 1989
Kawana Waters entry
