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Surat 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
Maranoa Region Maranoa Region is a Local government in Australia, local government area in South West Queensland, Australia. The town of Roma, Queensland, Roma is the administrative headquarters of the region. In the , the Maranoa Region had a population of 1 ...
,
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 Surat had a population of 402 people.


Geography

The town of Surat is on the Balonne River, approximately south of
Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...
on the
Carnarvon Highway Carnarvon Highway is a state highway in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia, linking the township of Rolleston in Queensland's Central Highlands Region, via the town of St George, eventually to Moree in northern New South Wales. It is ...
in
South West Queensland South West Queensland is a remote region in the Australian state of Queensland which covers . The region lies to the south of Central West Queensland and west of the Darling Downs and includes the Maranoa, Queensland, Maranoa district and parts o ...
. It is 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 ...
. There are
oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...
fields further south.


History


Mandandanji

Mandandanji The Mandandanyi are an Aboriginal Australian people of Queensland. Country The Mandandanji occupied of tribal territory, which took in the Maranoa and Balonne rivers north of St. George. Their western extension reached as far Bollon and Wall ...
(also known as Mandandanyi, Mandandanjdji, Kogai) 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 Mandandanji people. The Mandandanji language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the
Maranoa Regional Council Maranoa Region is a local government area in South West Queensland, Australia. The town of Roma is the administrative headquarters of the region. In the , the Maranoa Region had a population of 12,825 people. History The Gunggari language r ...
, particularly
Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...
, Yuleba and Surat, then east towards
Chinchilla Chinchilla refers to either of two species ('' Chinchilla chinchilla'' and '' Chinchilla lanigera'') of crepuscular rodents of the parvorder Caviomorpha, and are native to the Andes mountains in South America. They live in colonies called "her ...
and south-west towards Mitchell and
St George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the R ...
.


British colonisation

The first documented British exploration of the area was the expedition led by New South Wales Surveyor-General Sir Thomas Mitchell in 1846. Pastoralist squatters soon followed in 1848 with Joseph Fleming establishing the Talavera station and Thomas Simpson Hall forming the Surat, Colgoon, Weribone and Yamboucal stations along the upper Balonne River. Hall and Fleming faced considerable resistance from the local Mandandanji to their occupation of the land, and had to maintain a force of twelve armed men against the "native blacks". Fleming, who was the brother of
John Henry Fleming John Henry Fleming (27 March 1816 – 20 August 1894) was an Australian-born squatter and stockman, who is best known as being the ringleader of the 1838 Myall Creek massacre which resulted in the murder of at least twenty-eight unarmed mem ...
, the main instigator of the
Myall Creek massacre The Myall Creek massacre was the killing of at least 28 unarmed Aboriginal people in the Colony of New South Wales by eight colonists on 10 June 1838 at the Myall Creek in the north of the colony. Seven perpetrators were convicted of murder ...
, named his property Talavera (a famous battle of the
Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...
) due to his battles with the Aborigines there. It is unknown why Hall called one of his properties Surat but it was possibly named after the city of
Surat Surat (Gujarati Language, Gujarati: ) is a city in the western Indian States and territories of India, state of Gujarat. The word Surat directly translates to ''face'' in Urdu, Gujarati language, Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of t ...
in
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. The local Commissioner of Crown Lands, John Henry Durbin, established a hut at Yamboucal in 1849 and within a month, he was under siege from the Mandandanji. Some reports indicate that to break the siege, Durbin and his troopers shot a large number of Aborigines. Roderick Mitchell, the son of Sir Thomas Mitchell, took over as Commissioner of Crown Lands and in 1850 moved the residence around two kilometres upstream from Durbin's hut. The new settlement was called Surat. The Mandandanji again resisted, killing Mitchell's bullocks and preventing his men from building the huts. Mitchell dispersed the local Aborigines in a show of force, allowing the first of Surat's houses to be built. In 1851, government surveyor Robert Cooper Bagot mapped the township of Surat. Due to patrols of the
Native Police Australian native police were specialised mounted military units consisting of detachments of Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal troopers under the command of European officers appointed by British colonial governments. The units existed in va ...
, local Aboriginal resistance had ceased by 1852. Thomas Davis, the father of
Steele Rudd Steele Rudd was the pen name of Arthur Hoey Davis (14 November 1868 – 11 October 1935) an Australian author, best known for his short story collection ''On Our Selection''. In 2009, as part of the Q150 celebrations, Rudd was named one of the ...
the writer, lived in Surat in the early 1850s and recalled the fearful and unjustified slaughter of Aboriginal people resulting from these patrols, even though he actively participated in some of them. One of the last mass-killings in the vicinity occurred a kilometre downstream from Surat in May 1852, where a massacre of peaceful Aboriginal workers on Hall's Yamboucal station was perpetrated by Native Police troopers led by local colonists. Surat as a town was slow to develop, still only having three buildings by the early 1860s. The 1870s saw some civic infrastructure evolve. Surat State School opened on 23 July 1874. All Saints Anglican Church was built from timber by contractor Mr Williams and opened on Sunday 23 February 1879. It was replaced in 1938 by another timber church, St John the Divine Anglican Church, which was opened by
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 ...
William Wand John William Charles Wand, (25 January 1885 – 16 August 1977) was an English Anglican bishop. He was the Archbishop of Brisbane in Australia before returning to England to become the Bishop of Bath and Wells and, later, Bishop of London. ...
on Sunday 24 April 1938. St John's was designed by architect
Lange Powell Lange Leopold Powell (1886–1938) was a noted architect who designed many important buildings in Brisbane and the state of Queensland. He started practice in 1909; his major works included St Martin's War Memorial Hospital (opened 1922) and th ...
. It was closed in 2019. Both Anglican churches were at 27 Cordelia Street (). St Peter and St Paul's Catholic Church was built from timber in 1884. It was in Robert Street. In 1956, it was replaced by the new Church of the Immaculate Conception in Ivan Street. In 1965, it was replaced by a new brick church also called the Church of the Immaculate Conception, designed by Ian Ferrier. In June 1925, a 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 ...
was established in Surat. St Stephen's Presbyterian Church was built from timber by Mr R.T. Garvie. It was opened on Wednesday 31 October 1934. It was at 33 William Street (). It has closed and is now used as Surat's
Men's Shed Men's sheds or community sheds are non-profit local organisations that provide a space for craftwork and social interaction. The movement originated in Australia around the 1980s as a way to improve the health and wellbeing of older men. Howev ...
. The Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses opened about 1985.


Demographics

In the , the town of Surat had a population of 426 people. In the , the locality of Surat had a population of 407 people. In the , the locality of Surat had a population of 402 people.


Heritage listings

Surat 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: * Astor Theatre, 77 Burrowes Street * Warroo Shire Hall, corner Cordelia & William Streets


Education

Surat State School is a government primary and secondary (Prep-10) school for boys and girls at 55 Robert Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 87 students with 14 teachers (12 full-time equivalent) and 10 non-teaching staff (8 full-time equivalent). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 97 students with 13 teachers (12 full-time equivalent) and 11 non-teaching staff (8 full-time equivalent). There are no secondary schooling to Year 12 in Surat nor nearby. 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 ...
or boarding school.


Amenities

Maranoa Regional Council Maranoa Region is a local government area in South West Queensland, Australia. The town of Roma is the administrative headquarters of the region. In the , the Maranoa Region had a population of 12,825 people. History The Gunggari language r ...
operates a public library at 62 Burrowes Street, within the Cobb & Co. Changing Station complex. The public library opened in 1997 and has publicly accessible Wi-Fi. The complex also has 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, freshwater aquarium, social history museum, theatre and shire hall and the Balonne gallery. The Roman Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception is aat 99 Ivan Street ().


Media

Along with a number of other regional Australian newspapers owned by
NewsCorp The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Formerly inc ...
, the '' Surat Basin News'' newspaper ceased publication in June 2020.


Attractions

Surat's war memorial is sited on the banks of the Maranoa River, immediately alongside the town's water scheme which was dedicated to the local citizens who lost their lives in military service during the Second World War.


References


External links

* * {{Authority control Towns in Queensland Maranoa Region Populated places established in 1849 1849 establishments in Australia Localities in Queensland