Middleton 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 Winton The Shire of Winton is a Local government in Australia, local government area in Central West Queensland, Australia. It covers an area of , and has existed as a local government entity since 1887. Its administrative centre is located in the tow ...

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 , the locality of Middleton had a population of 45 people.

Geography

The locality is on the

Kennedy Developmental Road The Kennedy Highway is a highway in northern Queensland, Australia. It runs as National Route 1 for approximately 243 km from Smithfield, Queensland, Smithfield, on the northern outskirts of Cairns, to the Gulf Developmental Road in the vic ...

, northwest of the state capital

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

and southeast of the regional centre of

Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive mines in world history, based on co ...

. Lying within the locality is the former site of Collingwood (), a town that lost out in regional competition to its neighbour, Winton. It had been given up by about 1900. The region in which Middleton lies is a circular zone that has been shown to be a crustal anomaly. Scientists from

Geoscience Australia Geoscience Australia is a statutory agency of the Government of Australia that carries out geoscientific research. The agency is the government's technical adviser on aspects of geoscience, and serves as the repository of geographic and geolo ...

believe that it is an

impact structure An impact structure is a generally circular or craterlike geologic structure of deformed bedrock or sediment produced by impact on a planetary surface, whatever the stage of erosion of the structure. In contrast, an impact crater is the surface e ...

formed by an asteroid that struck the area about 300 million years ago. Final proof of this as the anomaly's genesis has not yet been found.

History

European exploration of the Middleton area began with explorer John McKinlay's expedition in search of the missing

Burke and Wills expedition The Burke and Wills expedition (originally called the Victorian Exploring Expedition) was an exploration expedition organised by the Royal Society of Victoria (RSV) in Australia in 1860–61. The exploration party initially consisted of ninet ...

in 1862. McKinlay named a watercourse in the area Middleton Creek after his second-in-charge Thomas Middleton. The Middleton Hotel was established at the creek crossing as a

Cobb & Co Cobb & Co was the name used by several independent Australian coach businesses. The first company to use 'Cobb & Co' was established in 1853 by American Freeman Cobb and his partners. The name grew to great prominence in the late 19th century, ...

changing station on the route between Winton and Boulia. Middleton Provisional School opened on 1908 and closed on 1913. Another Middleton Provisional School opened in 1937 and closed circa 1943. Middleton Post Office opened by March 1916 (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 1889) and closed in 1968. The 2016 film '' Goldstone'' was filmed in Middleton.

Demographics

In the , the locality of Middleton and the surrounding area had a population of 121 people. In the , the locality of Middleton had a population of 9 people. In the , the locality of Middleton had a population of 45 people.

Heritage listings

The Elderslie Homestead () on the Winton-Boulia Road is a

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 ...

site.

Education

There are no schools in Middleton. Although the nearest primary and secondary school is Winton State School in Winton to the east, it is sufficiently distant that

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 would be alternatives.

Facilities

The town has been mostly abandoned and now consists of the Middleton Hotel, campground and the disused hall.

References

{{authority control Towns in Queensland Shire of Winton 1916 establishments in Australia Localities in Queensland