Mount Morgan, Queensland
Encyclopedia
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It is situated on the Dee River, 38 kilometres south of the city of Rockhampton
Rockhampton, Queensland
Rockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....
, and is 680 kilometres north of the state capital, Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
. The Burnett Highway
Burnett Highway
The Burnett Highway is an inland rural highway located in Queensland, Australia. The highway runs generally north - south, from its junction with the Bruce Highway, just south of Rockhampton, to Nanango. Length is approximately 550 kilometres...
passes through the town. At the 2006 census
Census in Australia
The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...
, Mount Morgan had a population of 2,447.
The town was the administrative centre of the Mount Morgan Shire
Shire of Mount Morgan
The Shire of Mount Morgan was a Local Government Area located in the Capricornia region of Central Queensland, Queensland, Australia, about south of the regional city of Rockhampton...
until March 2008, when it was amalgamated with neighbouring local government areas to form the Rockhampton Regional Council.
It is also the site of Queensland's most polluted river (the Dee River).
History
Mount Morgan Mine
Mount Morgan Mine was a copper, gold and silver mine in Queensland, Australia. Mining began at Mount Morgan in 1882 and continued until 1981.Over its lifespan, the mine yielded approximately 262 tonnes of gold, 37 tonnes of silver and387,000 tonnes of copper....
has produced gold, silver and copper. Among those making a fortune from this mine was William Knox D'Arcy
William Knox D'Arcy
William Knox D'Arcy was one of the principal founders of the oil and petrochemical industry in Persia .-Early life:...
. D'Arcy used his fortune to finance oil exploration in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, which led to the formation of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (now BP
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
).
The Mount Morgan Mine
Mount Morgan Mine
Mount Morgan Mine was a copper, gold and silver mine in Queensland, Australia. Mining began at Mount Morgan in 1882 and continued until 1981.Over its lifespan, the mine yielded approximately 262 tonnes of gold, 37 tonnes of silver and387,000 tonnes of copper....
finally closed in 1981, having produced vast quantities of gold during its lifetime. During the mining operation, most of the mountain was mined away, and the town now lies adjacent to a 300 m deep acid-water filled pit. Mining companies still prospect today in the area, and plans to extract further gold from tailings at the mine site are always under development. The Queensland Government, through its Department of Natural Resources Mines and Water have begun a rehabilitation project of the minesite.
Heritage and tourism
Tourism plays a large part in the economy of the town today. A number of historic buildings still exist in the town, and tourists can take excursions to the remains of the mine. The area was host to one of the few rack railwayRack railway
A rack-and-pinion railway is a railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with this rack rail...
s (as part of the line from Mount Morgan to Rockhampton) to operate in Australia. The rack portion of the line was replaced by a conventional adhesion railway in the 1950s. In turn, the replacement line was closed in 1987, and the town no longer has a rail connection. There is a regular bus service between Rockhampton and Mount Morgan are provided by Young's Bus Service.
Events
Mount Morgan is known to hold the Golden Mount Festival in the main street (pictured right) at the end of April or the start of May as part of the Labour Day holiday. The festival usually starts on a Friday and finishes the next Monday. The Morgan Street is closed to vehicles during Saturday of the Festival for the day for markets and activities such as floats and "Running the Cutter" races.Notable people from Mount Morgan
- Alma MoodieAlma MoodieAlma Templeton Moodie was an Australian violinist who established an excellent reputation in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. She was regarded as the foremost female violinist during the inter-war years, and she premiered violin concertos by Kurt Atterberg, Hans Pfitzner and Ernst Krenek...
, German-based concert violinist and teacher
