Brandon is a rural town and

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

in the

Shire of Burdekin The Shire of Burdekin is a Local government in Australia, local government area located in North Queensland, Australia in the Dry Tropics region. The district is located between Townsville and Bowen, Queensland, Bowen in the River delta, delta ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. In the , Brandon had a population of 1,094 people.

History

Brandon was surveyed as a site for a township in 1882 and the first allotments were sold later that year. The town is named after Henry Brandon a sugar pioneer in the Mackay and Lower Burdekin regions. Henry Brandon was also the son-in-law of the colonist,

Korah Halcomb Wills Korah Halcomb Wills (13 February 1828 – 7 December 1896) was an English-born hotelier and politician in the northern regions of colonial-era Queensland. He was elected as one of the first mayors of the colonial settlement of Bowen in the 1860 ...

. Brandon Post Office opened on 6 September 1883. Brandon Provisional School opened in the town on 9 April 1888. It became Brandon State School on 11 July 1898. Kalamia State School opened beside the Kalamia Sugar Mill on 18 July 1928. In the , the town of Brandon had a population of 783. In the , the locality of Brandon had a population of 1,267 people. In the , the locality of Brandon had a population of 1,094 people.

Heritage listings

Brandon has a number of

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many ...

sites, including: * 27 Spiller Street: St Patrick's Catholic Church

Economy

Brandon is a

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

growing area with underground water supplies to irrigate crops. Wilmar Sugar Australia operates two sugar mills in Brandon, the Kalamia Sugar Mill in the north-east of the locality on Lilliesmere Road beside the Lilliesmere Lagoon () and the Pioneer Sugar Mill in the west of the locality on Pioneer Mill Road ().

Education

Brandon State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at Drysdale Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 45 students with 4 teachers and 6 non-teaching staff (4 full-time equivalent). Kalamia State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at Lilliesmere Road (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 14 students with 1 teacher and 5 non-teaching staff (2 full-time equivalent). There are no secondary schools in Brandon. The nearest government secondary school is

Ayr State High School Ayr State High School is a heritage-listed state secondary school at 82–90 Wickham Street, Ayr, Queensland, Ayr, Shire of Burdekin, Queensland, Australia. It is one of three high schools in Ayr, the others being Burdekin Catholic High Scho ...

in neighbouring

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire Subdivisions of Scotland, council area and the historic Shires of Scotlan ...

to the east.

References

External links