Monto () is a rural 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

North Burnett Region The North Burnett Region is a local government area in Queensland, Australia in the northern catchment of the Burnett River. Established in 2008, it was preceded by several previous local government areas with histories extending back to the ear ...

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 Monto had a population of 1,156 people.

Geography

Monto is located on the

Burnett Highway The Burnett Highway is an inland rural highway located in Queensland, Australia. The highway runs from its junction with the Bruce Highway at Gracemere, Queensland, Gracemere, just south of Rockhampton, Queensland, Rockhampton, to the D'Aguilar ...

north-west of

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 south 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- ...

. The Gladstone–Monto Road intersects with the Burnett Highway in the town. The main street in the town is Newton Street.

Ancient past

In the Mississippian era (358-323 mya) also known as the Early

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

period, the area was part of a shallow sea where

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

formed a

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in group ...

that became

carbonate rock Carbonate rocks are a class of sedimentary rocks composed primarily of carbonate minerals. The two major types are limestone, which is composed of calcite or aragonite (different crystal forms of CaCO3), and Dolomite (rock), dolomite rock (also kn ...

(

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

) underlying the area. Cannindah Reef was the largest-known reef from this period.Ancient Cannindah Reef in central Queensland could offer lessons to fight climate change
, Grace Whiteside,

ABC News Online ABC News, also known as ABC News and Current Affairs, is a public news service produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The service covers both local and world affairs, broadcasting both nationally as ABC News, and across the Asia- ...

, 2023-12-27

History

Gureng Gureng (also known as Gooreng Gooreng, Goreng Goreng, Goeng, Gurang, Goorang Goorang, Korenggoreng) is an

Australian Aboriginal language The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

spoken by the Gureng Gureng people. The Gooreng Gooreng language region includes the towns of

Bundaberg Bundaberg () is the major regional city in the Wide Bay-Burnett region of the state of Queensland, Australia. It is the List of cities in Australia by population, ninth largest city in the state. The Bundaberg central business district is situa ...

, Gin Gin and

Miriam Vale Miriam Vale is a rural town and locality in the Gladstone Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Miriam Vale had a population of 493 people. Geography The town is situated on the Bruce Highway, north of Brisbane, the state c ...

extending south towards Childers, inland to Monto and Mt Perry. The town takes its name from its railway station, which in turn is an Aboriginal word meaning ''ridgy plain''. Europeans settled in the area in the late 1840s, maintaining large pastoral holdings at the northern end of the Burnett Valley. Gold unearthed along Three Moon Creek — a tributary of the

Burnett River The Burnett River is a river in the Wide Bay–Burnett and Central Queensland regions of Queensland, Australia. Course and features The Burnett River rises in the Burnett Range, part of the Great Dividing Range, close to Mount Gaeta and east ...

— in the 1870s attracted further settlers. The original site of the diggings, north of present-day Monto, has since been flooded by construction of Cania Dam. Norton Diggings Provisional School opened circa 1881 and is believed to have been repositioned circa 1892 and renamed Norton Goldfield Provisional School. It closed circa 1903 but reopened in 1904 as Norton Provisional School, but then closed in 1907. The township of Monto was not formally established until 1924 in which year the post office opened. Lobbying for a school comenced in 1924. Monto State School opened on 25 January 1926. On Wednesday 17 April 1929,

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

James Duhig Sir James Duhig KCMG (2 September 187110 April 1965) was an Irish-born Australian Roman Catholic religious leader. He was the Archbishop of Brisbane for 48 years from 1917 until his death in 1965. At the time of his death he was the longest- ...

dedicated the Catholic Church of the Little Flower in Monto. Unusually the church had been built on leasehold land as freehold was unavailable. It was at 29 Rutherford Street (). It now serves as the church hall for St Theresa's Catholic Church (built circa 1990). Monto Baptist Church opened on 23 April 1930. It was at 24 Kelvin Street (). It closed in 1997 and passed into private ownership. St Therese's Catholic Primary School was opened on 5 February 1940 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 ...

. With dwindling gold reserves, Monto turned its economy towards farming and logging, two of the region's major industries today. Deposits of thermal coal and limestone have been discovered in the shire. Monto State High School opened on 28 January 1964. The town was the administrative centre of Monto Shire until its amalgamation in 2008 into the new North Burnett Region local government area. Selene Public Hall was on Selene Hall Road in

Selene In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Selene (; , meaning "Moon")''A Greek–English Lexicon's.v. σελήνη is the goddess and personification of the Moon. Also known as Mene (), she is traditionally the daughter ...

. Having been unused for about ten years, it was relocated in February 2017 to the Monto Historical Centre at 20 Flinders Street, Monto (), for use as an archive for the photographs of the Monto Historical Society.

Demographics

In the , the town of Monto had a population of 1,159 people. In the , the locality of Monto had a population of 1,189 people. In the , the locality of Monto had a population of 1,156 people.

Amenities

Monto has a cultural and historical complex with a museum reserve, sporting facilities, swimming pool and golf club. Monto Hospital is a 14-bed hospital operated by

Queensland Health Queensland Health is the public health system in Queensland, Australia, comprising sixteen statutory Hospital and Health Services (HHS), the Department of Health and Queensland Ambulance Service. Each HHS provides health services to its local ...

at 35 Flinders Street (). It has a 24-hour emergency service. The North Burnett Regional Council operates a public library in Monto at 50 Newton Street. The Monto-Bancroft 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 9 Rutherford Street. St Theresa's Catholic Church is on the north-west corner of Rutherford Street and Maxwell Street ().

Education

Monto State School is a government primary (Prep–6) school for boys and girls at 3 Leichhardt Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 110 students with 9 teachers (7 full-time equivalent) and 11 non-teaching staff (5 full-time equivalent). St Therese's Catholic Primary School is a Catholic primary (Prep–6) school for boys and girls at 2-10 Rayleigh Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 88 students with 9 teachers (8 full-time equivalent) and 3 non-teaching staff (2 full-time equivalent). Monto State High School is a government secondary (7–12) school for boys and girls at Mouatt Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 159 students with 23 teachers (20 full-time equivalent) and 19 non-teaching staff (11 full-time equivalent). Monto Cluster Special Education Program is a primary and secondary (Prep–12)

special education Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual di ...

program at Monto State High School.

Heritage listings

Monto 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: * Monto Cemetery No 1 and No 2, Gladstone-Monto Road * Monto Watertower and Rotary Park, corner of Huxley, Bell & Edison Streets * Monto Town Design (also known as Monto Government Administration Precinct), Lister, Kelvin, Lyell & Faraday Streets * Hotel Albert, Newton Street * Monto Shire Hall, Newton Street * former Monto Court House, 53 Newton Street * former Monto Council Office and Chambers (also known as Sunshine House), Rutherford Street * Monto Post Office, corner Rutherford and Newton Streets * Ventnor State School, Yarrol Road,

Ventnor Ventnor () is a seaside resort town and civil parishes in England, civil parish established in the Victorian era on the southeast coast of the Isle of Wight, England, from Newport, Isle of Wight, Newport. It is situated south of St Boniface D ...

Tourism

Tourism is also a major industry in the region. Besides being a major highway town, the chief local attractions are

Cania Gorge National Park Cania Gorge is a national park in the North Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia, in the locality of Cania. Geography The park is 373 km northwest of Brisbane. The nearest town is Monto. Three Moon Creek is the name of the waterway t ...

and Cania Dam, north of town. Monto has also added to its attractions as being () the most northerly

silo art A silo () is a structure for storing bulk materials. Silos are commonly used for bulk storage of grain, coal, cement, carbon black, woodchips, food products and sawdust. Three types of silos are in widespread use today: tower silos, bunker s ...

installation in Australia. Its "Three Moons" silos depict several stories of the past, including the era of

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from Alluvium, alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to mor ...

, cattle mustering and

The Dreaming The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal mythology. It was originally used by Francis Gillen, quickly adopted by hi ...

. It also has a mural on an old

water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...

Dairy farming

Monto was once the centre of a thriving

dairy industry A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...

, with more than 400 dairy farms in the area, but

deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...

in the 1990s changed that. The number of

dairy farm Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for the long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for the eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a h ...

s dropped to three.

Mining

In 2006, Monto Minerals floated on the

Alternative Investment Market AIM (formerly the Alternative Investment Market) is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange that was launched on 19 June 1995 as a replacement to the previous Unlisted Securities Market, Unlisted Securities Market (USM) that had been in opera ...

in London, raising approximately A$41 million before expenses. In 2007 it announced plans to begin commercial production of

feldspar Feldspar ( ; sometimes spelled felspar) is a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagiocl ...

ilmenite Ilmenite is a titanium-iron oxide mineral with the idealized formula . It is a weakly magnetic black or steel-gray solid. Ilmenite is the most important ore of titanium and the main source of titanium dioxide, which is used in paints, printi ...

apatite Apatite is a group of phosphate minerals, usually hydroxyapatite, fluorapatite and chlorapatite, with high concentrations of Hydroxide, OH−, Fluoride, F− and Chloride, Cl− ion, respectively, in the crystal. The formula of the admixture of ...

and

titanomagnetite Titanomagnetite is a mineral containing oxides of titanium and iron, with the formula Fe2+(Fe3+,Ti)2O4. It is also known as titaniferous magnetite, mogensenite, Ti-magnetite, or titanian magnetite. It is part of the spinel group of minerals. The Cu ...

from its site at the Goondicum crater, just outside the eastern border of Monto Shire. It was reported in September 2008 that Monto Minerals had placed itself in voluntary administration. The mine was then operated by Belridge Enterprises from September 2012 to June 2013, and Melior Resources from April to July 2015 when production was halted due to low market prices. After resuming operations the mine was again closed when Melior Resources appointed a voluntary administrator in September 2019.

Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

mining company

Macarthur Coal Macarthur Coal was a mining company based in Queensland, Australia, which was incorporated in October 1995. The company was founded by Ken Talbot, who was a former chief executive officer. It specialised in the production of metallurgical coa ...

also owns large amounts of land in the Mulgildie area.

Facilities

Despite the name, Monto Aerodrome is at 375 Airport Road in neighbouring Three Moon to the south (). It has a bitumen-sealed runway. It is operated by the North Burnett Regional Council.

Climate

Notable people from Monto

* Jock R. Anderson *

Gordon Bennett (artist) Gordon Bennett (9 October 1955 – 3 June 2014) was an Birri Gubba and Darumbal artist of Aboriginal and Anglo-Celtic descent. Born in Monto, Queensland, Bennett was a significant figure in contemporary Indigenous Australian art. Early life Bo ...

Michael Caton Michael Caton (born 21 July 1943) is an Australian actor, comedian and television host, best known for playing Uncle Harry in the Australian television series '' The Sullivans'', Darryl Kerrigan in 1997's low-budget hit film '' The Castle'', an ...

* Prof.

Megan Davis Megan Jane Davis (born October 1975) is a Scientia Professor, international human rights lawyer and constitutional law expert. She is currently the Harvard University Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser Chair in Australia Studies and Visiting Pro ...

was born here in 1975.Five questions to Megan Davis: on Aboriginal self-determination
, 16 May 2014, The Guardian, Retrieved 12 August 2016 * Gil Jamieson *

Mal Meninga Malcolm Norman Meninga (; born 8 July 1960) is an Australian professional rugby league coach and a former professional rugby league footballer. Meninga is widely regarded as one of the finest players in the game's history. He enjoyed a long ca ...

* Owen Pattie *

Jeff Seeney Jeffrey William Seeney (born 2 February 1957) is a former Australian politician and the former Deputy Premier, Minister for State Development and Minister for Infrastructure and Planning of Queensland. He was a member of the Legislative Assembl ...

* Mark Steketee *

Daphne Seeney Daphne Seeney (2 February 1933 – 18 September 2020), married name Daphne Fancutt, was an Australian professional tennis player whose career spanned the 1950s. Seeney was a doubles finalist in the 1956 Wimbledon Championships with partner ...

References

External links

*
Town map of Monto, 1981Monto Shire Council
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20061114221832/http://monto.au.com/ Monto Online {{authority control

Monto Monto was the nickname for the one-time red light district in the northeast of Dublin, Ireland. The Monto was roughly the area bounded by Talbot Street, Amiens Street, Gardiner Street and Seán McDermott Street (formerly Gloucester Street) in ...

Populated places established in 1924 North Burnett Region 1924 establishments in Australia Localities in Queensland