Blair Athol is a former town within Clermont in the

Isaac Region The Isaac Region is a local government area located in Central Queensland, Queensland, Australia created in March 2008 as a result of the report of the Local Government Reform Commission released in July 2007. In the , the Isaac Region had a po ...

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. It was obliterated by the development of the

Blair Athol coal mine The Blair Athol Coal Mine is a coal mine located in the Bowen Basin of Central Queensland, Australia. It is located over the former site of the township of Blair Athol. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 195 million tonnes of thermal coal, ...

History

Early settler James MacLaren took up a pastoral run in the area in 1863 and named it Blair Athol after the village

Blair Atholl Blair Atholl (from the Scottish Gaelic: ''Blàr Athall'', originally ''Blàr Ath Fhodla'') is a village in Perthshire, Scotland, built about the confluence of the Rivers Tilt and Garry in one of the few areas of flat land in the midst of the G ...

, the location of

Blair Castle Blair Castle (in Scottish Gaelic: ''Caisteil Bhlàir'') stands in its grounds near the village of Blair Atholl in Perthshire in Scotland. It is the ancestral home of the Clan Murray, and was historically the seat of their clan chief, chief, the ...

of the

Duke of Atholl Duke of Atholl, named after Atholl in Scotland, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland held by the head of Clan Murray. It was created by Queen Anne in 1703 for John Murray, 2nd Marquess of Atholl, with a special remainder to the heir male ...

in Scotland. While sinking a well in 1864, he discovered coal on the property. By 1873, early shafts were dug, revealing extensive seams of coal. At that time, around 100 people were living in the town and there was a hotel, although no township had been officially surveyed. The town was surveyed in 1878. Blair Athol Provisional School opened on 6 November 1893. In 1894, were reserved for a school. In 1903, it had an average attendance of over 30 students. It became a State School in 1909. In 1911, tenders were called to relocate and extend the school building as up to 150 students were expected due to expansion of the mine and the new town survey (around the railway station) meant that the school needed to be moved to a more central location. In 1918, funding was approved to build a new school. On 18 May 1922, the

Queensland Governor The governor of Queensland is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in the state of Queensland. In an analogous way to the governor-general at the national level, the governor performs constitutional and ceremonial func ...

Matthew Nathan Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Matthew Nathan (3 January 1862 – 18 April 1939) was a British soldier and colonial administrator, who variously served as the governor of Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Hong Kong, Natal and Queensland. He was Under-Secre ...

officially opened Australia's first open cut mine at Blair Athol. Blair Athol Post Office opened on 1 July 1927 (a

receiving office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

had been open from 1910) and closed in 1966. By the 1970s, it became apparent that there were significant coal seams under the town. In order to construct an open cut mine, the town had to be sacrificed. The school closed on 31 December 1974. In 1981, a reunion was held at the community hall to mark the final end of the town, following which all of the town was demolished. Only the cemetery remains.

References

External links

* {{authority control Towns in Queensland Isaac Region Clermont, Queensland

History

References

Further reading

External links