Esk is a 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

Somerset Region The Somerset Region is a local government area located in the West Moreton region of South East Queensland, Australia, about northwest of Brisbane and centred on the town of Esk. It was created in 2008 from a merger of the Shire of Esk and th ...

South East Queensland South East Queensland (SEQ) is a bio-geographical, metropolitan, political and administrative region of the state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.8 million people out of the state's population of 5.1 million. T ...

, Australia. In the , Esk had a population of 1,698 people.

Geography

Esk is approximately northwest of

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

on the

Brisbane Valley Highway The Brisbane Valley Highway is a state highway in Queensland, Australia. It links the Warrego Highway near Ipswich and the D'Aguilar Highway about north of Harlin. Its direction follows the approximate course of the Brisbane River. It is par ...

. It was named after the River Esk in Scotland and England. It is the administrative centre of the

. The town of Esk is contained in the Queensland

electoral district of Nanango Nanango is an electoral division in the state of Queensland, Australia. Notable towns include Nanango, Kingaroy and Crows Nest. It has existed twice. It was first created in 1912, and was replaced by Barambah in 1950. It was recreated in ...

History

StateLibQld 1 116908 View across the grass to Cressbrook Homestead, ca

Jagara (also known as Jagera, Yagara, Yugarabul, Yuggera and Yuggerabul) is one of the Aboriginal languages of South-East Queensland. There is some uncertainty over the status of Jagara as a language, dialect or perhaps a group or clan within the local government boundaries of

Ipswich City Council The City of Ipswich is a local government area in Queensland, Australia, located within the southwest of the Brisbane metropolitan area, including the urban area surrounding the city of Ipswich and surrounding rural areas. Geography The Ci ...

, Lockyer Regional Council and the

Somerset Regional Council The Somerset Region is a local government area located in the West Moreton region of South East Queensland, Australia, about northwest of Brisbane and centred on the town of Esk. It was created in 2008 from a merger of the Shire of Esk and ...

. Esk formed part of the southern border of the Garumga clan of the Dalla tribe. The land around Esk was first explored by Captain

Patrick Logan Captain Patrick Logan (1791 – October 1830) was the commandant of the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement from 1826 until his death in 1830 at the hands of Aboriginal Australians who objected to him entering their lands. As he had been hated by co ...

in 1830. The town was established to service the short-lived

copper mine Copper extraction refers to the methods used to obtain copper from its ores. The conversion of copper consists of a series of physical and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with country depending on the ore source, loca ...

s of Eskdale and Cressbrook Creek. Settlers moved into the region during the 1840s. Mount Esk Post Office opened on 1 February 1874 (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 1873) and was renamed Esk by February 1881. Mount Esk State School was opened on 1 November 1875 and was renamed Esk State School in 1887. On Sunday 25 November 1883, the Esk Primitive Methodist Church was opened with services conducted by the Reverend Willian Little. It was a timber church, . It became the Esk Methodist Church after the amalgamation of Methodist denominations in 1902. A new church was constructed in 1907. In 1886, the

Brisbane Valley railway line The Brisbane Valley railway line was a railway connection in Queensland, Australia connecting Ipswich, west of Brisbane, to the upper Brisbane River valley. Progressively opened between 1884 and 1913, the railway provided a vital transport lin ...

reached Esk from

Lowood Lowood is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Somerset Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Lowood had a population of 4,159 people. Geography The town is on the Brisbane River, west of the ...

. Several sawmills were built and in 1904 a butter factory opened. The timber industry declined in the 1920s. St Agnes' Anglican Church was dedicated on Monday 28 October 1889 by

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

William Webber. On 30 November 1920, Dr Graham Butler laid the foundation stone of the Esk War Memorial. The finished memorial was unveiled by General

Lachlan Chisholm Wilson Lachlan Chisholm Wilson, (11 July 1871 – 7 April 1947) was a soldier and lawyer from Queensland, Australia. He was a brigadier general in the Australian Light Horse during the First World War. Early life Lachlan Chisholm Wilson was born on 11 ...

on 27 August 1921. The memorial records the names of 462 Shire residents who enlisted during the First World War. It also contains bronze honour rolls bearing the names of 83 local men who died during the war. Four commemorative plaques have subsequently been added to the structure. The war memorial stands in Esk Memorial Park, which also contains a memorial to Captain Logan, who was murdered while exploring the

Brisbane Valley The Somerset Region is a local government area located in the West Moreton region of South East Queensland, Australia, about northwest of Brisbane and centred on the town of Esk. It was created in 2008 from a merger of the Shire of Esk and t ...

in 1830. In July 1941, a Lutheran church was opened. Dairying slowed from the 1960s onwards, which has eventually led to the decline of the town's importance as a major rural centre. 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 ...

, Esk had a population of 1,166. The Esk Library opened in 2009. The Caboonbah Homestead was destroyed by fire on 10 May 2009. During the 2010–11 Queensland floods, the centre of Esk was flooded when Redbank Creek burst its banks for the first time in recorded history. In the 2011 census, Esk had a population of 1,755 people.

Heritage listings

Esk 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: * Ipswich Street ():

Esk War Memorial Esk War Memorial is a heritage-listed memorial at Ipswich Street, Esk, Somerset Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by George Brockwell Gill and built in 1920 by Frank Williams & Co. It is also known as Esk Memorial Park. It was add ...

* Ipswich Street: St Agnes Anglical Church and Rectory * Ipswich Street: St Andrews Presbyterian Church

Economy

The small town serves as a centre for a rich farming area.

Education

Esk State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 49 East Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 172 students with 15 teachers (13 full-time equivalent) and 9 non-teaching staff (6 full-time equivalent). As there is no high school in Esk, students from the Esk State School typically attend Toogoolawah State High School in Toogoolawah, Lockyer District High School in Gatton or Lowood State High School in

or private schools in and around

Amenities

The

operates a public library at 19 Heap Street. Esk township is also serviced by a local Hospital and racecourse and plans are underway for a retirement village. The Esk 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 5 Heap Street. Esk Uniting Church is at 78 Ipswich Street (). It is part of the Brisbane Valley

Uniting Church The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) was founded on 22 June 1977, when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost all the churches of the Congregational Unio ...

. Esk Post Office is at 97 Ipswich Street ().

Attractions

Nearby attractions include

Lake Somerset The Somerset Dam is a mass concrete gravity dam with a gated spillway across the Stanley River in Queensland, Australia. It is within the locality of Somerset Dam in the Somerset Region in South East Queensland. The main purpose of the dam i ...

and

Lake Wivenhoe Lake Wivenhoe is the name both a lake formed by the Wivenhoe Dam and the locality which contains it in the Somerset Region, Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Qu ...

, both lakes created by dams which provide a number of camping areas with facilities and opportunities for water-based recreational activities including boating, canoeing, fishing and skiing and Ravensbourne and Crows Nest National Parks. The historic

Bellevue Homestead Bellevue Homestead is a heritage-listed homestead currently located in Coominya, Somerset Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from to . It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. The Bellevue property was t ...

is located in the area. Also close by are the peaks Glen Rock and Mount Esk.

Media

Esk is serviced by a Christian radio station on FM 87.6 MHz.

Notable people from Esk

* Douglas Berry (1907–1957), butcher and Liberal MP in the 1950s *

Roderic Dallas Roderic Stanley (Stan) Dallas, (30 July 1891 – 1 June 1918) was an Australian fighter ace of World War I. His score of aerial victories is generally regarded as the second-highest by an Australian, after Robert Little, b ...

(1891–1918), First World War fighter ace *

The Kransky Sisters The Kransky Sisters are an Australian musical comedy trio created, written and performed by Annie Lee (Mourne) and Christine Johnston (Eve) initially with Michele Watt (Arva – 2000 til 2006) and later with Carolyn Johns (Dawn – 2007 onwards) ...

, a comedy musical trio who claim to be "from Esk, in Queensland" before every show *

Henry Newton (bishop) Henry Newton (5 January 1866 – 25 September 1947) was an Anglican colonial bishop who served two Southern Hemisphere dioceses in the first half of the 20th century. Early life Newton was born Henry Wilkinson, the son of Thomas Wilkinson ...

(1866–1947), Anglican colonial bishop

References

External links

University of Queensland: Queensland Places: EskEsk Shire CouncilEsk Tourism Association
* – a detailed description of Esk in 1929 {{Authority control Towns in Queensland Populated places established in 1872 Suburbs of Somerset Region 1872 establishments in Australia Localities in Queensland