Millaroo 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,

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 , the locality of Millaroo had a population of 96 people.

Geography

The locality is bounded to the west by the Burdekin River. The place is located about south-east of Townsville, about inland from the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down the Australian northeast coast. Most of it is protected by the Fre ...

. It 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.

History

Queensland State Archives 1820 Millaroo Experiment Station buildings under construction November 1955

The name Millaroo comes from Millaroo Creek, which in turn was recorded by surveyor Robert Abbott in 1895, but the original of that name are unknown. There was a pastoral property of that name. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, a number of soldier settlement blocks were established in the area for the purpose of growing

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

, but it was not successful. In 1952, there was a plan to establish a new irrigation area along the Burdekin River based around a new town. The town to be called Millaroo was to be established as a "modern" "first class" planned town with reserves, parks, and industrial zones suitable for a population of 6,000 (a similar population to that of Ayr at that time). The buildings were to be constructed with brick and concrete to reduce the fire risk. In 1952, the Millaroo Research Station was established by the

Queensland Department of Agriculture and Stock The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries is a department of the Queensland Government which aims to maximise the economic potential for Queensland's primary industries on a sustainable basis through strategic industrial development. The sec ...

to undertake agricultural research to benefit North Queensland. The Burdekin Gorge Weir () on the Burdekin River (between Ravenswood and

Mount Wyatt The Rawson Mountains lie within the Queen Maud Mountains to the southeast of the Ross Ice Shelf. They stand between the head of the Amundsen and Scott Glaciers. Peaks within the range include Mount Wyatt (2930 m) and Mount Weaver (2780 m). Feat ...

) was completed in November 1953 to provide water for irrigation. This led to the land at Millaroo switching to growing sugarcane. Millaroo State School opened on 19 July 1954. Millaroo Post Office opened on 1 July 1955 and closed in 1972. At the , Millaroo had a population of 200. In the , the locality of Millaroo had a population of 96 people.

Education

Millaroo State School is a government primary (Early Childhood-6) school for boys and girls at Cunningham Street (). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 9 students with 3 teachers (2 full-time equivalent) and 6 non-teaching staff (2 full-time equivalent). There is no secondary school in Millaroo. The nearest secondary school is Home Hill State High School in

Home Hill Home Hill is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Burdekin, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Home Hill had a population of 2,954 people. At the delta of the Burdekin River, it is a sugarcane growing area with underground wa ...

to the north-east, but, given the distance, families may prefer to use

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

or boarding schools.

References

External links

* {{authority control Towns in Queensland Shire of Burdekin Localities in Queensland