Bokarina is a coastal suburb on the Sunshine Coast, midway between Caloundra and Maroochydore. It is one of several suburbs laid out on the area once known as Kawana Island (bounded by Currimundi Creek and the Mooloolah River), later named Kawana Waters. The name 'Bokarina' was bestowed at the request of the land developer, Alfred Grant Pty Ltd, in the belief that the name was an Aboriginal expression indicating 'middle' ie half-way along the Kawana Waters land-development scheme (1969).
Bokarina emerged in the early 1980s, described as Bokarina Beach, with an initial subdivision between the foreshore reserve and the sports complex on Nicklin Way. The district schools, Kawana Waters High and Bokarina Primary, opened in 1986 and 1987. (In 2006 these adjoining schools were merged as Kawana Waters State College.) The subdivisional layout was completed by the mid-1980s, although the southern end of the suburb remained undeveloped.
There is a foreshore comprising a beach backed by a wide public reserve. Immediately north of the college there are the Kawana swimming pool (1991) and Quad Park sports complex (2001). The sports complex, containing the Sunshine Coast Stadium, hosts both sporting and large scale cultural events.
Bokarina's census populations have been:
| census date | population |
|---|---|
| 2006 | 1350 |
| 2011 | 1235 |
Anne Wesley et al., Kawana's yesterdays: an introduction to the history of Kawana Waters, Caloundra, John Frederick Groves, 2007
