In 1967, it was defined as "the area contained in the [former] Shires of Landsborough, Maroochy and Noosa, but excluding Bribie Island".

[5] The territory of the Kabi includes about 21,000 square kilometres (8,200 sq mi) along the coastline from the 27th parallel northward to the mouth of the Burrum River.

[6] In 1770, James Cook on the deck of HM Bark Endeavour became the first known European to sight the Glass House Mountains, located south-west of Caloundra.

[7] In the 1820s, former convicts John Finnegan, Thomas Pamphlett and Richard Parsons landed on Moreton Island after becoming hopelessly lost fetching cedar.

Thereafter, during the 1830s to 1840s, the district became home to numerous runaway convicts from the Moreton Bay (Brisbane) penal colony slightly to the south.

The Blackall Range, on account of the tri-annual Bunya Festival, served as both a hideout and rallying point for attacks against white settlements.

Many of the Sunshine Coast's towns began as simple ports or jetties for the timber industry during the 1860s and 1870s, as the area once had magnificent stands of forest.

Timber getters used the region's creeks, rivers and lakes as seaways to float out their logs of cedar – the resultant wood being shipped as far afield as Europe.

[10] By the 1890s, diverse small farming (fruit and dairy) had replaced the cattle-and-timber economy of earlier decades.

The 2007 referendum conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission and leading to the merger remained controversial in Noosa Shire, where 95% of voters had rejected amalgamation.

[21] In March 2013, a second referendum resulted in 81% of residents voted to leave the amalgamated Sunshine Coast Region.

Notable beaches include: The Sunshine Coast is home to more individual national parks than any other region in Queensland.

Winters retain warm days, but have cooler nights rendering it falling into the subtropical fold.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data from the May 2019 Labour Force Survey indicate that around 184,200 people were employed in the Sunshine Coast region.

The agriculture, forestry and fishing sector employed 2,600 people, representing 1 per cent of the region's workforce.

As of November 2020 the Sunshine Coast is home of NightQuarter, an Eat Street-style precinct with live music and other immersive experiences.

[33] The Sunshine Coast region is home to many tour operators which are supported by welcomed 3.6 million domestic overnight visitors in the year ending September 2021.

The most common land use by area is grazing native vegetation, which occupies 530 square kilometres or 17 per cent of the Sunshine Coast region.

The most common countries of birth of other residents were England (6.2%), New Zealand (4.5%), South Africa (1.0%), Germany (0.7%), and Scotland (0.6%).