Monto 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

North Burnett Region The North Burnett Region is a local government area in Queensland, Australia in the northern catchment of the Burnett River. Established in 2008, it was preceded by several previous local government areas with histories extending back to the ea ...

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 , Monto had a population of 1,156 people.

Geography

View down Newton Street, the main street of Monto, 2014 02

Monto is located on the

Burnett Highway The Burnett Highway is an inland rural highway located in Queensland, Australia. The highway runs between its junction with the Bruce Highway at Gracemere, just south of Rockhampton, and Nanango. Its length is approximately 542 kilometres. The ...

north-west of

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 south of

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...

. The

Gladstone–Monto Road Gladstone–Monto Road is a road route in the Gladstone and North Burnett regions of Queensland, Australia. The entire route is signed as State Route 69. The Gladstone–Monto Road (number 471) is a state-controlled district road, rated a ...

intersects with the Burnett Highway in the town. The main street in the town is Newton Street.

History

Gureng Gureng (also known as Gooreng Gooreng, Goreng Goreng, Goeng, Gurang, Goorang Goorang, Korenggoreng) is an

Australian Aboriginal language The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

spoken by the Gureng Gureng people. The Gooreng Gooreng language region includes the towns of

Bundaberg Bundaberg is a city in the Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia, and is the tenth largest city in the state. Bundaberg's regional area has a population of 70,921, and is a major centre of the Wide Bay–Burnett geographical region. The Bun ...

, Gin Gin and

Miriam Vale Miriam Vale is a rural town and locality in the Gladstone Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Miriam Vale had a population of 512 people. Geography The town is situated on the Bruce Highway, north of Brisbane, the state capital, and south ...

extending south towards Childers, inland to Monto and Mt Perry. The town takes its name from its railway station, which in turn is an Aboriginal word meaning ''ridgy plain''. Europeans settled in the area in the late 1840s, maintaining large pastoral holdings at the northern end of the Burnett Valley. Gold unearthed along Three Moon Creek — a tributary of the

Burnett River The Burnett River is a river located in the Wide Bay–Burnett and Central Queensland regions of Queensland, Australia. Course and features The Burnett River rises in the Burnett Range, part of the Great Dividing Range, close to Mount Gaeta a ...

— in the 1870s attracted further settlers. The original site of the diggings, north of present-day Monto, has since been flooded by construction of

Cania Dam Cania Dam is a dam in central Queensland, Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller island ...

. The township of Monto was not formally established until 1924 in which year the post office opened. Norton Diggings Provisional School opened circa 1881 and is believed to have been repositioned circa 1892 and renamed Norton Goldfield Provisional School. It closed circa 1903 but reopened in 1904 as Norton Provisional School, but then closed in 1907. Monto State School opened on 25 January 1926. Monto Baptist Church opened on 23 April 1930. It was at 24 Kelvin Street (). It closed in 1997 and passed into private ownership. St Therese's Catholic Primary School was opened on 5 February 1940 by the

Presentation Sisters The Presentation Sisters, officially the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, are a religious institute of Roman Catholic women founded in Cork, Ireland, by the Venerable Honora "Nano" Nagle in 1775. The Sisters of the congre ...

. With dwindling gold reserves, Monto turned its economy towards farming and logging, two of the region's major industries today. Deposits of thermal coal and limestone have been discovered in the shire. Monto State High School opened on 28 January 1964. At the

2006 census 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

, Monto had a population of 1,159. The town was the administrative centre of Monto Shire until its amalgamation in 2008 into the new North Burnett Region local government area.

Amenities

Monto has a cultural and historical complex with a museum reserve, sporting facilities, swimming pool and golf club. Monto Hospital is a 14-bed hospital operated by

Queensland Health Queensland Health is the name of the overall public health service in the state of Queensland, Australia. Like all other states and territories in Australia, the Queensland Government provides low- or no-cost primary, secondary, and tertiary ...

at 35 Flinders Street (). It has a 24-hour emergency service. The

North Burnett Regional Council The North Burnett Region is a local government area in Queensland, Australia in the northern catchment of the Burnett River. Established in 2008, it was preceded by several previous local government areas with histories extending back to the ea ...

operates a public library in Monto at 50 Newton Street. The Monto-Bancroft 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 9 Rutherford Street.

Education

Monto State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 3 Leichhardt Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 110 students with 9 teachers (7 full-time equivalent) and 11 non-teaching staff (5 full-time equivalent). Monto State High School is a government secondary (7-12) school for boys and girls at Mouatt Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 159 students with 23 teachers (20 full-time equivalent) and 19 non-teaching staff (11 full-time equivalent). Monto Cluster Special Education Program is a primary and secondary (Prep-12)

special education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

program at Monto State High School. St Therese's Catholic Primary School is a Catholic primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at Rayleigh Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 88 students with 9 teachers (8 full-time equivalent) and 3 non-teaching staff (2 full-time equivalent).

Heritage listings

Monto 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: * Gladstone-Monto Road: Monto Cemetery No 1 and No 2 * corner of Huxley, Bell & Edison Streets: Monto Watertower and Rotary Park * Lister, Kelvin, Lyell & Faraday Streets: Monto Town Design (also known as Monto Government Administration Precinct) * Newton Street: Hotel Albert * Newton Street: Monto Shire Hall * 53 Newton Street: former Monto Court House * Rutherford Street: former Monto Council Office and Chambers (also known as Sunshine House) * corner Rutherford and Newton Streets: Monto Post Office * Yarrol Road,

Ventnor Ventnor () is a seaside resort and civil parish established in the Victorian era on the southeast coast of the Isle of Wight, England, from Newport. It is situated south of St Boniface Down, and built on steep slopes leading down to the sea. ...

: Ventnor State School

Tourism

Tourism is also a major industry in the region. Besides being a major highway town, the chief local attractions are

Cania Gorge National Park Cania Gorge is a national park in the North Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia, in the locality of Cania. Geography The park is 373 km northwest of Brisbane. The nearest town is Monto. Three Moon Creek is the name of the waterway tha ...

and

, north of town. Monto has also added to its attractions as being () the most northerly

silo art A silo (from the Greek σιρός – ''siros'', "pit for holding grain") is a structure for storing bulk materials. Silos are used in agriculture to store fermented feed known as silage, not to be confused with a grain bin, which is used t ...

installation in Australia. Its "Three Moons" silos depict several stories of the past, including the era of

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface ...

cattle mustering A muster (Au/NZ) or a roundup (US/Ca) is the process of gathering livestock. Musters usually involve cattle, sheep or horses, but may also include goats, camels, buffalo or other animals. Mustering may be conducted for a variety of reasons in ...

and

The Dreaming The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal beliefs. It was originally used by Francis Gillen, quickly adopted by his co ...

. It also has a mural on an old

water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towers often operate in conju ...

Dairy farming

Monto was once the centre of a thriving

dairy industry A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a ...

, with more than 400 dairy farms in the area, but

deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...

in the 1990s changed that. The number of

dairy farm Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a history th ...

s dropped to three.

Mining

In 2006, Monto Minerals floated on the

Alternative Investment Market AIM (formerly the Alternative Investment Market) is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange that was launched on 19 June 1995 as a replacement to the previous Unlisted Securities Market (USM) that had been in operation since 1980. It allows ...

in London, raising approximately A$41 million before expenses. In 2007 it announced plans to begin commercial production of

feldspar Feldspars are a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagioclase'' (sodium-calcium) feldsp ...

ilmenite Ilmenite is a titanium-iron oxide mineral with the idealized formula . It is a weakly magnetic black or steel-gray solid. Ilmenite is the most important ore of titanium and the main source of titanium dioxide, which is used in paints, printing ...

apatite Apatite is a group of phosphate minerals, usually hydroxyapatite, fluorapatite and chlorapatite, with high concentrations of OH−, F− and Cl− ions, respectively, in the crystal. The formula of the admixture of the three most common e ...

and

titanomagnetite Titanomagnetite is a mineral containing oxides of titanium and iron, with the formula Fe2+(Fe3+,Ti)2O4. It is also known as titaniferous magnetite, mogensenite, Ti-magnetite, or titanian magnetite. It is part of the spinel group of minerals. The C ...

from its site at the Goondicum crater, just outside the eastern border of Monto Shire. It was reported in September 2008 that Monto Minerals had placed itself in voluntary administration. The mine was then operated by Belridge Enterprises from September 2012 to June 2013, and Melior Resources from April to July 2015 when production was halted due to low market prices. After resuming operations the mine was again closed when Melior Resources appointed a voluntary administrator in September 2019.

Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

mining company Macarthur Coal also owns large amounts of land in the Mulgildie area.

Climate

Notable people from Monto

Gordon Bennett (artist) Gordon Bennett (9 October 1955 – 3 June 2014) was an Australian artist of Aboriginal and Anglo-Celtic descent. Born in Monto, Queensland, Bennett was a significant figure in contemporary Indigenous Australian art. Early life Born in Monto, ...

Michael Caton Michael Caton (born 21 July 1943) is an Australian television, film and stage actor, comedian and television host, best known for playing Uncle Harry in the Australian television series '' The Sullivans'', Darryl Kerrigan in 1997's low-budget h ...

* Prof. Megan Davis was born here in 1975.Five questions to Megan Davis: on Aboriginal self-determination
, 16 May 2014, The Guardian, Retrieved 12 August 2016 *

Gil Jamieson Gil Jamieson (31 January 1934 – 14 June 1992) was an Australian painter. Jamieson was born in the central Queensland town of Monto in 1934 and died there in 1992. Career Jamieson liked to be thought of as a Romantic. He objected to the la ...

Mal Meninga Malcolm Norman Meninga (; born 8 July 1960) is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Australian national team and a former professional rugby league footballer. Meninga is widely regarded as one of the fin ...

Jeff Seeney Jeffrey William Seeney (born 2 February 1957) is a former Australian politician and the former Deputy Premier, Minister for State Development and Minister for Infrastructure and Planning of Queensland. He was a member of the Legislative Assembl ...

* Mark Steketee *

Daphne Seeney Daphne Seeney (2 February 1933 – 18 September 2020), married name Daphne Fancutt, was an Australian professional tennis player whose career spanned the 1950s. Seeney was a doubles finalist in the 1956 Wimbledon Championships with partner F ...

References

External links

*
Town map of Monto, 1981Monto Shire Council
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20061114221832/http://monto.au.com/ Monto Online {{authority control

Monto Monto was the nickname for the one-time red light district in the northeast of Dublin, Ireland. The Monto was roughly the area bounded by Talbot Street, Amiens Street, Gardiner Street and Seán McDermott Street (formerly Gloucester Street) i ...

Populated places established in 1924 North Burnett Region 1924 establishments in Australia Localities in Queensland