Kilkivan is a 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

Gympie Region The Gympie Region is a local government area in the Wide Bay–Burnett region of Queensland, Australia, about north of Brisbane, the state capital. It is between the Sunshine Coast and Hervey Bay and centred on the town of Gympie. It was create ...

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. At the , Kilkivan had a population of 713.

Geography

The town is situated on the

Wide Bay Highway The Wide Bay Highway is a short state highway of Queensland, Australia running between Goomeri on the Burnett Highway and a junction on the Bruce Highway. From the junction it is 12 kilometres south to Gympie or 69 kilometres north to Maryboro ...

, north of the state capital,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

and west of

Gympie Gympie ( ) is a city and a Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. In the Wide Bay-Burnett District, Gympie is about north of the state capital, Brisbane. The city lies on the Mary River (Queen ...

. One Mile Creek () meanders through the town, east of the Wide Bay Highway. The town lies in the Mary River drainage basin. Rossmore is a neighbourhood within the locality to the south-west of the town of Kilkivan ().

History

Kilkivan was first inhabited by the

Wakka Wakka Wakka Wakka, or Waka Waka, people are an Aboriginal Australian community of the state of Queensland. Name "''Wakka''" was assigned the meaning "no" by Western linguists who documented the Wakawaka language. Ethnonyms based on the duplication of ...

tribe of the Australian Aboriginal peoples. The town was first settled by Europeans in the 1840s. Queensland’s first gold discovery was at Kilkivan in 1852 and subsequent findings escalated into a gold rush in the 1860s. The town was named for a pastoral run owned by pastoralist John Daniel MacTaggart (1823–1871) after his father's farm name near Drumlemble,

Kintyre Kintyre ( gd, Cinn Tìre, ) is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The peninsula stretches about , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south to East and West Loch Tarbert in the north. The region immediately north ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The nearby Australian 'Glenbarr' property owned by MacTaggart was also named for a nearby Scottish farm. Kilkivan Post Office opened on 8 June 1868. It was known as Neureum between 1876 and 1881. Kilkivan State School opened in March 1876. In 1883, a court house, police quarters and lock-up was built at a total cost of £748 10s. It was a wooden building with an iron roof and consisted of the court house, two bedrooms, sitting room, kitchen, verandahs, and two cells. The

Nanango railway line The Nanango railway line was a narrow-gauge branch railway located in Queensland, Australia. On 31 October 1882, parliament approved the construction of a branch line from Theebine (then called Kilkivan Junction) west to Kilkivan after gold ...

opened in December 1886 as far as Kilkivan. The locality was also served by Mouingba and Bular railway stations on the same line. Anticipation of the line opening brought an increase in the desire to build near the station, which was located on a goldfield. The line was officially closed in early 2010. In 1887, two parcels of land were resumed from the Kilkivan pastoral run: one of (described as "Murray's debatable land") and the other . The land was offered for selection for the establishment of small farms on 17 April 1887. St Matthew's Anglican Church was dedicated in 1888 by Reverend E. C. Osbourne of

. Its closure circa 2013 was approved by Bishop Rob Nolan. Fairfield State School opened circa 1915. In 1916 it was renamed Rossmore State School. It was closed circa 1943. The Kilkivan Library opened in 1967.

The Kilkivan War Memorial commemorates those of the district who served in the wars. It was dedicated on 28 March 1996. At the , Kilkivan had a population of 713.

Heritage listings

Kilkivan 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: * Rossmore Road: Mount Clara smelter

Economy

Major industries today include tourism, beef, dairying and forestry.

Education

Kilkivan State School is a primary and secondary (P-10) school for boys and girls operated by the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended fr ...

at 6 Council Street. In 2016, the school had an enrolment of 97 students with 14 teachers (12 full-time equivalent) and 10 non-teaching staff (7 full-time equivalent).

Amenities

The

Gympie Regional Council The Gympie Region is a local government area in the Wide Bay–Burnett region of Queensland, Australia, about north of Brisbane, the state capital. It is between the Sunshine Coast and Hervey Bay and centred on the town of Gympie. It was create ...

operates a public library at 31 Bligh Street, Kilkivan. The Kilkivan branch of the

Queensland Country Women's Association The Queensland Country Women's Association (QCWA) is the Queensland chapter of the Country Women's Association in Australia. The association seeks to serve the interests of women and children in rural areas in Australia through a network of loca ...

meets at the CWA hall at 6 Park Street. The building was built as the council chambers of the Division of Kilkivan (later the

Shire of Kilkivan The Shire of Kilkivan was a local government area about north-northwest of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. The shire covered an area of , and existed from 1886 until its merger with several other local government areas to ...

) at 26 Bligh Street in 1890, but was purchased and relocated to its present site in 1958. The QCWA branch in Kilkivan was established in 1926. Kilkivan Bowls Club is in Crescent Street.

Attractions

The Kilkivan and District Museum and information centre in the main street features extensive displays which pay tribute to the region's early pioneers. The country town features parks and restored historical buildings. Kilkivan has antique stores, a historical walk, and a cafe and B&B housed in the town's original bank. Kilkivan is one of the few towns on the

Bicentennial National Trail The Bicentennial National Trail (BNT), originally known as the National Horse Trail, is one of the longest multi-use, non-motorised, self-reliant trails in the world, stretching 5,330 kilometres from Cooktown, Queensland, through New South Wa ...

. A stone plaque commemorates the opening of the trail in 1988. The Kilkivan Great Horse Ride is held annually in April. Over 1,000 horses and riders start from five points around Kilkivan and travel along parts of the National Trail to Kilkivan for the Grand Parade down the main street. Mudlo Gap is a popular forest park north of Kilkivan. Mt Clara smelter and chimney

The Mount Clara chimney of Mount Clara Copper Smelter, thought to be the oldest surviving mining industry chimney in Queensland, and also among the first to have been built, is located by road outside town, and is now conserved as a tourist attraction. The Kilkivan to Kingaroy Rail Trail follows the old railway line between the two towns. It is long and passes through

Goomeri Goomeri ( ) is a rural town and locality in the Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Goomeri had a population of 664 people. Geography The town is located on the intersection of the Burnett, Bunya and Wide Bay Hi ...

Murgon Murgon is a rural town and locality in the South Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Murgon had a population of 2,378 people. Geography Murgon is in the region of Queensland known as the South Burnett, the southern ...

Wondai Wondai is a rural town and locality in the South Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Wondai had a population of 1,975 people. Geography Wondai is located to the south of the Bunya Highway, north west of the state capital, Brisbane ...

, Tingoora, Wooroolin, Memerambi, and

Crawford Crawford may refer to: Places Canada * Crawford Bay Airport, British Columbia * Crawford Lake Conservation Area, Ontario United Kingdom * Crawford, Lancashire, a small village near Rainford, Merseyside, England * Crawford, South Lanarkshire, a ...

. The trail from Kilkivan to Murgon is unsealed. The first creek crossing is of Coppermine Creek about south west of Kilkivan. A low level bridge was opened across Wide Bay Creek in October 2021. Short distances between towns means coffee is never far away.

References

External links

* * {{authority control Towns in Queensland Wide Bay–Burnett Gympie Region Localities in Queensland