Woolgar is a rural

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

in the

Shire of Richmond The Shire of Richmond is a local government area in north western Queensland, Australia. It covers an area of , and has existed as a local government entity since 1916. It is part of the Gulf Country. In the , the Shire of Richmond had a popul ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. In the , Woolgar had a population of 17 people.

Geography

The Woolgar River rises in the north-east and flows through to the south-west, exiting to Burleigh. Stawell River (also known as Cambridge Creek) enters the locality from the east (the locality of

Dutton River Dutton River is a rural locality in the Flinders Shire, Queensland, Australia. In the , Dutton River had a population of 66 people. Geography The ''Flinders River'' flows through from south-east to south-west. ''Dutton River'' (the watercour ...

) and exits to the west (Burleigh), where it becomes a tributary of the Woolgar River. The Dutton River enters the locality from the east (the locality of Dutton River) and forms part of the south-eastern boundary of the locality before exiting to the south (

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

) where it becomes a tributary of the

Flinders River The Flinders River is the longest river in Queensland, Australia, at approximately . It was named in honour of the explorer Matthew Flinders. The catchment is sparsely populated and mostly undeveloped. The Flinders rises on the western slopes o ...

. Mount Norman is the north-west of the locality (), rising to above sea level. The

Richmond–Croydon Road Richmond–Croydon Road is a continuous road route in the Richmond, Croydon and Etheridge local government areas of Queensland, Australia. It is part of the shortest route from the / area to and . It is also part of the inland freight ne ...

crosses the north-western corner of the locality, entering from the west ( Saxby) and exiting to the north-west ( Bellfield). The Rungulla Resources Reserve is in the north of the locality (). Apart from this protected area, the land use is

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to free range (roam around) and consume wild vegetations in order to feed conversion ratio, convert the otherwise indigestible (by human diges ...

on native vegetation.

History

In 1880, gold was found in Woolgar, initiating a

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

. The gold rush followed the common pattern of individual miners initially engaging in panning for gold, followed by digging to find shallow reefs, and then companies raising capital for the equipment to search for deep reefs. On 14 September 1881, Sub-inspector Henry Pollock Kaye of the Native Mounted Police, was responding to complaints from at the Woolgar gold fields townspeople of the

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

persons stealing and other offences. Together with other police and a native trooper, he mustered the indigenous persons to remove them from the area. It was indicated there may have been up to 800 indigenous persons in the area, although only some thirty to forty were to be removed. Within fifteen minutes of Sub-inspector Nichols leaving to get other officers, Kaye was fatally speared by the persons. A retaliatory

massacre A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians Glossary of French words and expressions in English#En masse, en masse by an armed ...

is believed to have occurred against the indigenous persons. Woolgar Upper Provisional School opened on 19 June 1901 and Woolgar Lower Provisional School opened on 24 June 1901, to work together as part-time schools (meaning a single teacher was shared between them). They closed in October 1903 but reopened in April 1904. Woolgar Lower Provisional School closed on 11 October 1906 while Woolgar Upper Provisional School continued as a full-time school and closed circa 1912. In 2000, the Woolgar Valley Aboriginal Corporation became the lessee of the Middle Park pastoral station, '"to provide opportunities for the

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

of that area, the Woolgar people, who mostly live in

Yarrabah Yarrabah (traditionally ''Jarrabah'' in the Gunggandji language spoken by the indigenous Gunggandji people) is a coastal town and locality in the Aboriginal Shire of Yarrabah, Queensland, Australia. It is an Aboriginal community. In the , t ...

Hopevale Hope Vale (also known as Hopevale) is a town within the Aboriginal Shire of Hope Vale and a coastal locality split between the Aboriginal Shire of Hope Vale and the Shire of Cook, both in Queensland, Australia. It is an Aboriginal community. ...

and

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

Demographics

In the , Woolgar had a population of 8 people. In the , Woolgar had a population of 17 people.

Education

There are no schools in Woolgar nor nearby. The alternatives are

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

and boarding school.

References

{{Shire of Richmond Shire of Richmond Localities in Queensland