Mackenzie River is a

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

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. In the , Mackenzie River had a population of 84 people.

Geography

The

Mackenzie River The Mackenzie River (French: ; Slavey language, Slavey: ' èh tʃʰò literally ''big river''; Inuvialuktun: ' uːkpɑk literally ''great river'') is a river in the Canadian Canadian boreal forest, boreal forest and tundra. It forms, ...

forms the southern and eastern boundary of the locality. In the far north of the locality are two protected areas, the Junee National Park and the Junee State Forest. The locality is within the

Bowen Basin coalfields The Bowen Basin Coalfields contains the largest coal reserves in Australia. This major coal-producing region contains one of the world's largest deposits of bituminous coal. The Basin contains much of the known Permian coal resources in Queen ...

and there are a number of active coal mines in the locality, including Foxleigh, Oak Park and Lake Lindsay coal mines with other areas being considered for future mines. A railway line which is part of the Blackwater rail system passes through the south-west of the locality. There are three railway stations on this line within the locality (from north to south): * Fairhill railway station () * Yongala coal siding (), which services the Yongala coal mine in neighbouring

Wyuna ''Wyuna'' is a former Port Phillip Maritime pilot, Pilot tender and Australian Maritime College training vessel. History The ship was built in 1953 by Ferguson Shipbuilders of Port Glasgow, Scotland for the Port Phillip Sea Pilots organisation ...

to the south-west * Mackenzie railway station () Being in the north-west of the locality, the mines within Mackenzie River are not serviced by these stations but via the

Goonyella railway line The Goonyella railway system is located in Central Queensland, Australia. It services the coal mining area of the Bowen Basin, carrying coal to the Hay Point and Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminals 20 km southeast of Mackay, as well as product ...

in neighbouring

Middlemount Middlemount is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Isaac Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Middlemount had a population of 1,899 people. It is nicknamed the "Giant Peanut" by some locals du ...

. The

Fitzroy Developmental Road The Fitzroy Developmental Road is a designated road in the Central Highlands Region of Queensland consisting of three separate sections. The general direction is from south to north. It is nicknamed the Beef Road. Route description Southern sec ...

enters the locality from the east ( Bingegang) and exits to the north-west (Middlemount / May Downs). The land use is predominantly

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

The locality's name presumably derives from the Mackenzie River, which in turn was named by explorer

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 ...

on 10 January 1845, after his friend pastoralist Evan Mackenzie of Kilcoy Station. Mackenzie River State School opened on 21 May 1973, but closed in 2018 after having no students enrol in 2017. It was at 31145 Fitzroy Developmental Road (). The school's website was archived. The Foxleigh opencut coal mine was established in 1999. Oak Park opencut coal mine was established in 2004. Lake Lindsay opencut coal mine was established in 2008.

Demographics

In the , Mackenzie River had a population of 71 people. In the , Mackenzie River had a population of 84 people.

Education

There are no schools in Mackenzie River. The nearest primary schools are in Middlemount and Tieri. The nearest secondary schools are in Middlemount, Blackwater and

Capella Capella is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Auriga. It has the Bayer designation α Aurigae, which is Latinisation of names, Latinised to Alpha Aurigae and abbreviated Alpha Aur or α Aur. Capella is the lis ...

. However, some parts of Mackenzie River are too distant to attend these schools, so other options 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

{{Isaac Region Isaac Region Localities in Queensland