Emerald is a town and
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
Central Highlands Region
Central Highlands Region is a local government area in Queensland, Australia. In the , the Central Highlands Region had a population of 27,836 people.
History
'' Wadja'' (also known as ''Wadjigu'', ''Wadya'', ''Wadjainngo'', ''Mandalgu'', a ...
,
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.
Situated on the Nogoa River, Emerald lies approximately 270 kilometres west of Rockhampton and serves as major service centre for the region's extensive agricultural and mining industries. Emerald's climate is classified as
subtropical
The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...
, with hot summers and mild winters. The town is the headquarters for the
Central Highlands Regional Council. In the , the locality of Emerald had a population of 14,904.
Emerald was founded as the
terminus
Terminus may refer to:
Ancient Rome
*Terminus (god), a Roman deity who protected boundary markers
Transport
*Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination
*Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end des ...
of the
Central Western railway line
The Central Western railway line is a railway line in Queensland, Australia. It was opened in a series of sections between 1867 and 1928. It commences at Rockhampton and extends west to Winton.
History
Following the separation of Queensl ...
in 1879, however this lasted only a year before subsequent lines were built to
Springsure
Springsure is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Central Highlands Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Springsure had a population of 950 people.
Geography
Springsure is situated by road ...
and
Clermont leading to Emerald becoming a transport hub. The town's development accelerated in the 1980s onwards, primarily due to its proximity to the Bowen Basin coalfields, leading to rapid population growth and urban expansion.
Emerald's economy is diverse, encompassing agriculture, mining, and renewable energy. The Central Highlands is known for its fertile soils; its agricultural products include
cotton
Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...
,
grain
A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...
,
citrus
''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes.
''Citrus'' is nativ ...
,
grape
A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters.
The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...
, and
sunflower
The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a species of large annual forb of the daisy family Asteraceae. The common sunflower is harvested for its edible oily seeds, which are often eaten as a snack food. They are also used in the pr ...
cultivation. Emerald is also an important
freight
In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in ...
and
logistics
Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (economics), point of consumption according to the ...
hub for
Central Queensland
Central Queensland is an imprecisely-defined geographical division of Queensland ( a state in Australia) that centres on the eastern coast, around the Tropic of Capricorn. Its major regional centre is Rockhampton. The region extends from the Cap ...
, being the site of north Australia's first inland port. The town is served by the
Emerald Airport
Emerald Airport is an airport serving Emerald, Queensland, Emerald, a town located in the Central Highlands district of Queensland, Australia. It is located south of the Emerald town centre, on the Gregory Highway (Springsure Road). The airp ...
.
Located just south of Emerald, the
Fairbairn Dam
The Fairbairn Dam is an earth-filled embankment dam across the Nogoa River, located southwest of in Central Queensland, Australia. Constructed in 1972 for the primary purpose of irrigation, the impoundment created by the dam serves as one of ...
, creates Lake Maraboon, one of Australia's largest artificial lakes its capacity is approximately three times larger than
Sydney Harbour
Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a ria, natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove River, Lane ...
. Spanning up to 150 square kilometres when full, the lake is a popular destination for water sports, fishing, and camping. Emerald is also a tourist destination to access the
Carnarvon National Park
Carnarvon National Park is located in the Southern Brigalow Belt bioregion in the Maranoa Region in Central Queensland, Australia. The park is 593 km northwest of Brisbane. It began life as a reserve gazetted in 1932 to protect Carnarvon ...
and
Carnarvon Gorge
Carnarvon Gorge is located in the Southern Brigalow Belt bioregion in Central Queensland (Australia), 593 km northwest of Brisbane. Primarily created by water erosion, Carnarvon Gorge is around 30 kilometres long, located in Carnarvon Natio ...
, one of Australia's most iconic wilderness landscapes.
History
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 ...
include the
Gayiri people who occupied the area for tens of thousands of years before European colonisation began in the nineteenth century. The
Gayiri (Kairi, Khararya) language region takes in the landscape of the Central Highlands Region, including Emerald and the
Nogoa River
The Nogoa River is a river in Central Queensland, Australia.
Course and features
The river rises on the Carnarvon Range, part of the Great Dividing Range, in the Carnarvon National Park and flows in a generally north easterly direction towards ...
.
The first European to explore the area was
Ludwig Leichhardt
Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt (; 23 October 1813 – ), known as Ludwig Leichhardt, was a German explorer and naturalist, most famous for his exploration of northern and central Australia.Ken Eastwood,'Cold case: Leichhardt's disappearanc ...
between 1843 and 1845.
The British Colony of Queensland was
established in 1859.
The town takes its name from the pastoral run Emerald Downs, a name chosen circa 1860 by pastoralist
Peter Fitzallan Macdonald
Peter Fitzallan MacDonald (4 September 1830 – 19 June 1919) was an Australian politician. He was a Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly.
Early life
MacDonald was born in Campbelltown, New South Wales to Alexander Macdonald and his w ...
. It has been claimed that the origin of that name relates to the finding of the
emerald
Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr., and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991). ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York ...
gemstone, but another claim is that it was named for the lush green pastures in the area.
Emerald was established in 1879 as a base for the
Central line railway from
Rockhampton
Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite.
The Scottish- ...
.
Emerald Post Office opened on 5 June 1879.
Emerald State School opened on 3 November 1879. A secondary department was added to the school in 1919 but that department was closed in 1921. The secondary department reopened in 1959 and operated until the separate Emerald State High School opened in 1969.
St Patrick's Catholic School was established on 31 January 1902 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 Honora "Nano" Nagle in 1775. The sisters of the congregation use th ...
.
They provided a boarding facility for girls and boys from 1906 to 1961. The last of the Presentation Sisters left the school in 1992 after which it was operated by the
Rockhampton Catholic Education Office.
Emerald North State School opened on 29 January 1980. A preschool was added on 20 February 1980. A special education unit opened on 23 January 1984. The preschool and special education units closed in 1999.
The Emerald campus of the Capricornia School of Distance Education opened on 1 February 1993.
The new Emerald Library building opened in 1994.
Marist College was established in 1996 by the
Marist Brothers
The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic Church, Catholic religious institute of Religious brother, brothers. In 1817, Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from Fr ...
.
Denison State School opened on 28 January 1997.
It takes its name from the County of Denison, which was named after Sir
William Denison
Sir William Thomas Denison (3 May 1804 – 19 January 1871) was Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land from 1847 to 1855, Governor of New South Wales from 1855 to 1861, and Governor of Madras from 1861 to 1866.
According to Percival Se ...
, the Governor General of the Australian Colonies in the 1850s.
In October 1999, as part of the Van Gogh Project, the
Big Easel was unveiled in Emerald.
Emerald Christian College (originally known as Emerald Educational College) opened in 2001.
The citrus industry was severely affected by a
citrus canker
Citrus canker is a disease affecting ''Citrus'' species caused by the bacterium '' Xanthomonas citri''. Infection causes lesions on the leaves, stems, and fruit of citrus trees, including lime, oranges, and grapefruit. While not harmful to huma ...
outbreak that started in 2004 and was declared over in early 2009.
More than half a million citrus trees located around Emerald had to be destroyed.
The visitor information centre opened on 26 September 2005.
In 2007, the Emerald Uniting Church was enlarged by the Uniting congregation at
Fernlees when that church was closed.
St Brigid's Catholic Primary School was established in 2014 by the Rockhampton Catholic Education Office.
Ontrack College Emerald opened in February 2018 (originally called Ontrack Special Assistance College). It was established by the Emerald Christian College to support students who are disengaged from mainstream schooling.
On 17 April 2020, the
Queensland Government
The Queensland Government is the state government of Queensland, Australia, a Parliament, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, ...
re-drew the boundaries of
localities
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 ...
within the Central Highlands Region by replacing the locality of
The Gemfields with three new localities of
Rubyvale,
Sapphire Central and
Anakie Siding (around the towns of Rubyvale,
Sapphire
Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, cobalt, lead, chromium, vanadium, magnesium, boron, and silicon. The name ''sapphire ...
, and
Anakie respectively). This included adjusting the boundaries of other existing localities in the Region to accommodate these changes; Emerald gained the north-eastern corner and eastern parts of The Gemfields but losing a small area on its western boundary to the new Anakie Siding, increasing the area of the locality from .
Geography
Emerald lies on the
Nogoa River
The Nogoa River is a river in Central Queensland, Australia.
Course and features
The river rises on the Carnarvon Range, part of the Great Dividing Range, in the Carnarvon National Park and flows in a generally north easterly direction towards ...
, a tributary of the
Fitzroy River.
The town lies approximately from the
Coral Sea
The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down t ...
coast and approximately west of the city of
Rockhampton
Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite.
The Scottish- ...
by road at the junction of the
Capricorn and
Gregory
Gregory may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Gregory (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Gregory (surname), a surname
*Gregory (The Walking Dead), fictional character from the walkin ...
highways. Emerald sits approximately south of the
Tropic of Capricorn
The Tropic of Capricorn (or the Southern Tropic) is the circle of latitude that contains the subsolar point at the December (or southern) solstice. It is thus the southernmost latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. It also reach ...
.
Climate
Emerald has a
hot semi-arid climate
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of sem ...
(
Koppen Koppen is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Dan Koppen (born 1979), American football offensive lineman
* (1929–1990), German literary scholar
* (1855–1922), German author
* Otto C. Koppen (1901–1991), American aircraf ...
: ''BSh'') with very hot, relatively wet summers and very mild, dry winters with cool nights. Warm to hot weather dominate for most of the year, with mean maximums ranging from in January to in July. The average annual rainfall is , with a summer maximum. Temperature extremes have ranged from on 15 December 1919 to on 4 July 1899.
The original weather station was at the post office, starting in 1883. It closed in 1992, in favour of a new weather station at the airport south east.
Flooding
Some of the recorded floods to have occurred in the region include 1863, 1864, 1868, 1870, 1871, 1872, 1875, 1876, 1878, 1882, 1887, 1890, 1894, 1896, 1898, 1906, 1912, 1918, and
1950
Events January
* January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed.
* January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...
(when rain was recorded in Queensland). 1956 was the wettest year on record with rainfall, and the 1970s also had similar rainfall to the 1860s and 1870s.
Prior to the 1990s, flood damage to residential properties was almost non-existent. The biggest impact of flooding of the Nogoa River in Emerald itself was that one side of Emerald was cut off from the other and caravans at the Carinya Caravan Park would be towed to higher ground each time the Nogoa River rose, to prevent the caravans from being completely submerged. This caravan park is now the site of the Centro Property where Coles Supermarket and other businesses operate. A former swamp area is now part of Kidd Street (a housing development) which was an old river course. The watercourse that extended along the back of the hospital, past the rear of Woolworths and past the Information Centre has been converted into a channel with a concrete section on one side near the information centre, reducing the channel in size by approximately two-thirds. This area has been allowed to be developed in the vicinity of Creek Street.
Fairbairn Dam
The Fairbairn Dam is an earth-filled embankment dam across the Nogoa River, located southwest of in Central Queensland, Australia. Constructed in 1972 for the primary purpose of irrigation, the impoundment created by the dam serves as one of ...
overflowed for the first time in 17 years on 19 January 2008. Major flooding in Emerald occurred a few days later as the Nogoa River broke its banks. The floods resulted in 1,000 houses being affected and more than 2,500 people being evacuated. The 2008 floods did not reach the heights of flooding in previous years.
Demographics
In the , the locality of Emerald had a population of 14,356.
In the , the locality of Emerald had a population of 14,904. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 5% of the population. 77% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were New Zealand (4%), Philippines (1.7%), South Africa (1.4%) and England (1.1%). 83% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...
at 0.9%, and
Tongan at 0.8%. 36.9% of people identified as non-religious, followed by 21.8% Catholic, and 10.6% Anglican.
Heritage listings
Emerald has a number of
heritage-listed
This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and human-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In ma ...
sites, including:
*
Emerald railway station, Clermont Street (Capricorn Highway)
Economy
Emerald is a service town for a large number of industries in the area. Extensive coal mining operations are carried out in the district, including at
Kestrel coal mine
The Kestrel Coal Mine is an underground coal mine located in the Bowen Basin at Crinum, 51 km northeast of Emerald in Central Queensland, Australia. In 2013, the mine had coal reserves amounting to 158 million tonnes of coking coal, o ...
,
Gregory coal mine and
Ensham coal mine. Cotton is grown in the area, and is processed at the Yamala Cotton Gin, while other agricultural activities include grape, citrus and
grain
A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...
growing.
Emerald Solar Park is immediately west of the town () and generates up to 74MW of electricity.
Education
Emerald State School is a government primary (Preparatory to Year 6) school for boys and girls on the eastern corner of Anakie Street and School Lane ().
In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 316 students with 25 teachers (21 full-time equivalent) and 14 non-teaching staff (8 full-time equivalent).
Emerald North State School is a government primary (Early Childhood to Year 6) school for boys and girls at Campbell Street ().
In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 249 students with 25 teachers (23 full-time equivalent) and 29 non-teaching staff (18 full-time equivalent).
It includes a special education program.
Denison State School is a government primary (Preparatory to Year 6) school for boys and girls at 16 Gray Street ().
In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 497 students with 36 teachers (33 full-time equivalent) and 20 non-teaching staff (14 full-time equivalent).
It includes a special education program.
Capricornia School of Distance Education is a government primary and secondary (Early Childhood to Year 12) school for boys and girls at the corner Gray and Gladstone Streets ().
In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 775 students with 72 teachers (64 full-time equivalent) and 21 non-teaching staff (15 full-time equivalent).
It includes a special education program.
The school operates from the Denison State School campus.
Emerald State High School is a government secondary (7–12) school for boys and girls at Old Airport Drive ().
In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 780 students with 62 teachers (59 full-time equivalent) and 33 non-teaching staff (22 full-time equivalent).
It includes a special education program.
St Patrick's Catholic Primary School is a Catholic primary (Preparatory to Year 6) school for boys and girls at 41 Yamala Street ().
In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 491 students with 31 teachers (29 full-time equivalent) and 16 non-teaching staff (9 full-time equivalent).
St Brigid's Catholic Primary School is a Catholic primary (Preparatory to Year 6) school for boys and girls at 6311 Gregory Highway ().
In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 202 students with 16 teachers (15 full-time equivalent) and 8 non-teaching staff (5 full-time equivalent).
Marist College Emerald
Marist College Emerald is a Catholic, co-educational day school located in Emerald, a rural town located in the Central Highlands, about 3 hours west of Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia.
The college draws students from Emerald, as well as ...
is a Catholic secondary (7–12) school for boys and girls at 30 Jeppesen Drive ().
In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 569 students with 50 teachers (47 full-time equivalent) and 25 non-teaching staff (19 full-time equivalent).
Emerald Christian College is a private primary and secondary (Preparatory to Year 12) school for boys and girls at 6373 Gregory Highway ().
In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 196 students with 22 teachers (20 full-time equivalent) and 18 non-teaching staff (10 full-time equivalent).
Ontrack College Emerald is a private primary and secondary (7–10) school at 114 Borilla Street ().
It seeks to provide for students fwho have disengaged from mainstream schools.
In 2023, the school had an enrolment of 25 students with teachers and 2 non-teaching staff (1.6 full-time equivalent).
Central Queensland University
Central Queensland University (branded as CQUniversity) is an Australian public university based in central Queensland. CQUniversity is the only Australian university with a campus presence in every mainland state. Its main campus is at Norman ...
has a campus in Emerald.
Amenities
Central Highlands Regional Council operates Emerald Library at 44 Borilla Street, Emerald.
The Emerald 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 QCWA Rooms at 45 Borilla Street.
Emerald Uniting Church is at 49 Yamala Streets (corner of Borilla Street, ).
Calvary Christian Church is at 11 Gladstone Street ().
Attractions
To the west of the town is an area known as
The Gemfields, with small towns such as
Sapphire
Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, cobalt, lead, chromium, vanadium, magnesium, boron, and silicon. The name ''sapphire ...
and
Rubyvale indicating the type of gems found there. The
sapphire
Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, cobalt, lead, chromium, vanadium, magnesium, boron, and silicon. The name ''sapphire ...
fields located here are the largest in the southern hemisphere.
The
Fairbairn Dam
The Fairbairn Dam is an earth-filled embankment dam across the Nogoa River, located southwest of in Central Queensland, Australia. Constructed in 1972 for the primary purpose of irrigation, the impoundment created by the dam serves as one of ...
, a short drive to the south of the town, was opened in 1972, and holds back the waters of Lake Maraboon.
The lake covers an area of up to , making it one of the largest artificial lakes in the country. When full, it holds three times more water than
Sydney Harbour
Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a ria, natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove River, Lane ...
. This extensive water supply has allowed the cotton industry to flourish in the area, and the lake is a boon for local
water sports
Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms ...
.
Erected in 1999, the world's largest
Vincent van Gogh sunflower painting is situated in Moreton Park. The structure is high.
It is one of seven works around the world by Cameron Cross in which he reproduces
Van Gogh's sunflowers for the Van Gogh Project. He chose Emerald as a site for his work as it is a sunflower-growing area and has an annual sunflower festival. Being an oversized reproduction, it is considered one of
Australia's Big Things
The big things of Australia are large structures, some of which are novelty architecture and some sculptures. In Australia, big things have come to be seen as a uniquely Australian phenomenon, although they emerged at the same time as the so-c ...
.
Events
Emerald holds an annual sunflower festival in the week before
Easter
Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...
.
Media
Newspapers
''Emerald Today'', published each Friday, is the local Emerald newspaper. The newspaper focuses on local news and sport.
Radio
Emerald is served by two local commercial stations, one
local ABC station and one local community station.
4HI is the oldest local radio station in Emerald, beginning transmissions from their local studio in November 1981. The station offers local breakfast and drive programming from their Emerald studio and carries nationally syndicated programming from 2GB Sydney.
In the late 1990s, youth-orientated commercial station Hot FM was launched in Emerald. Even though the station plays local commercials and imaging on a local frequency, no programming on the station originates from Emerald. Until 2013, the breakfast program which aired on Hot FM in Emerald was a regionally networked program from Townsville. It was subsequently replaced with the Hot FM CQ breakfast program that originates from Gladstone.
Emerald is served by ABC Capricornia, the region's ABC Local Radio station. ABC Capricornia is broadcast on a local frequency, but no programming originates from Emerald as the station's local breakfast and morning programs are relayed to the Emerald transmitter from Rockhampton.
Emerald is also served by local community radio station, 4EEE.
Television
Emerald receives all available ABC and commercial television stations from Rockhampton, and therefore local news bulletins ''Seven News'' and ''WIN News'' are broadcast to Emerald, with the bulletins occasionally featuring local news from the Central Highlands region.
Sport
The most popular sport in Emerald is
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
. The town has two teams, the Emerald Tigers and the Emerald Brothers, both of whom compete in the
Central Highlands Rugby League competition, administered by the
Queensland Rugby League
The Queensland Rugby Football League QRL Constitution, 2009: 3 (QRL QRL Constitution, 2009: 2) is the governing body for rugby league in Queensland. It is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL Commission) and selects the mem ...
.
Notable residents
*
Ethan Bullemor, Australian rugby league player
*
Damian Gibson, Australian rugby league player
*
Mitchell Langerak
Mitchell James Langerak ( ; born 22 August 1988) is an Australian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Melbourne Victory.
Club career Melbourne Victory
Langerak signed his first professional contract in February 2007, with A-Le ...
, Australian footballer
*
Alan McIndoe
Alan McIndoe (born 14 May 1964) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. A Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representative , he played club football in the New South Wales Rugby ...
, Australian rugby league player
See also
*
Emerald Airport
Emerald Airport is an airport serving Emerald, Queensland, Emerald, a town located in the Central Highlands district of Queensland, Australia. It is located south of the Emerald town centre, on the Gregory Highway (Springsure Road). The airp ...
References
External links
*
Town map of Emerald, 1985Emerald State High School Homepage
{{Authority control
Mining towns in Queensland
Towns in Queensland
Central Highlands Region
1879 establishments in Australia
Populated places established in 1879
Localities in Queensland