Wetheron 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 Wetheron had a population of 40 people.

Geography

The

Mungar Junction to Monto Branch Railway The Mungar Junction to Monto railway line is a railway in Queensland, Australia. Progressively opened in eleven stages between 1889 and 1928 the line branched from the North Coast line at Mungar Junction a short distance west of Maryborou ...

passes through Wetheron. The town was served by the Wetheron railway station () A report by R. W. Winks of the

Department of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

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 ...

, surveying for the proposed Degilbo to

Gayndah Gayndah () is a town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the North Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. It is the administrative centre for the North Burnett Region. In the , the locality of Gayndah had a population of 1,949 p ...

railway line extension, dated 10 November 1897 stated:- "The first really good piece of country of any extent begins some little distance from the coach stage at Wetheron, Two Mile, extending beyond the head station and running thence in a south-westerly direction to Oakey Creek. This belt, which takes in the whole of what was the Byrnestown and part of the Resolute and Bon Accord Groups, about in length, and varying in breadth from 3 to 4 miles, is on the whole good land. It is principally composed of fine, black and chocolate soil ridges, even in contour, and in many places lightly timbered with broad-leafed

ironbark Ironbark is a common name of a number of species in three taxonomic groups within the genus ''Eucalyptus'' that have dark, deeply furrowed bark. Instead of being shed annually as in many of the other species of ''Eucalyptus'', the dead bark accum ...

and a kind of bloodwood. In some parts there is scarcely any timber, from which fact a portion of this zone is known locally as the Wetheron Clear Lands. Want of water is the chief drawback, but from some wells I saw on what was once group property, it would appear that good water can be obtained by comparatively shallow sinking. The average depth of the wells seemed about ."

History

European settlement in the Wetheron area began in 1845, when William Humphreys and Henry Arthur Herbert took up a run of

crown land Crown land, also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. Today, in Commonwealth realm ...

on the south bank 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 ...

. The estimated was about from

and from Maryborough and was known as Wetheron Head Station. This was transferred to William Humphreys solely in 1851, along with the Ginoondam run. Chinese labour was employed at Wetheron during Humphreys tenure. When Humphreys advertised the Wetheron runs for sale in 1857 the head station was described as consisting "of a comfortable

veranda A veranda (also spelled verandah in Australian and New Zealand English) is a roofed, open-air hallway or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front an ...

h house, shingled, and containing 4 rooms and pantry, a kitchen, store, and meat store, overseer's house, shingled; woolshed, fitted with yards, shearer's house, shingled; two labourer's huts; a good two rail horse paddock; small cultivation paddock (3 rail); garden, stockyard, milking yard, pigsties, etc. There are seven out stations, with substantial huts, and yards or

hurdle A hurdle (UK English, limited US English) is a moveable section of light fence. In the United States, terms such as "panel", "pipe panel" or simply "fence section" are used to describe moveable sections of fencing intended for agricultural u ...

s at each of them." The run consisted of Wetheron Head Station, Ginoondam, Wateranga and Gooroolballam stations. The partnership of Hon. Berkeley Basil Moreton and Osmond de Preaux Brock acquired the Station. Berkeley Moreton's brother Seymour Moreton replaced Brock in 1861. The co-operative groups of Bon Accord, Byrnestown and Resolute settled on sites on a Wetheron run resumption in 1894. The Wetheron Run had been reduced to by 1901. In 1905 more parts of Wetheron were being opened up as agricultural farms and unconditional selections, and in 1908 the leasehold expired. In 1905 when the Wetheron Railway Station and the line to Maryborough opened the township consisted of a newly-built hotel, kept by Mr. A. A. Morgan, and a fruit shop and general store. The

Mungar Junction to Monto railway line The Mungar Junction to Monto railway line is a railway in Queensland, Australia. Progressively opened in eleven stages between 1889 and 1928 the line branched from the North Coast railway line, Queensland, North Coast line at Mungar railway ...

opened between Wetheron to Gayndah on 16 December 1907. Wetheron State School opened on 24 January 1916. It closed on 31 December 1963. It was on John Street (). In November 1925, the Anglican Archdiocese of Brisbane provided a loan of £150 to establish a church in Wetheron. Mrs Helen Gray donated a quarter-acre of land and a parish hall was erected by George James Bellert. The hall was officially opened on 5 May 1926. St John's Anglican Church was dedicated on 11 December 1927 by Venerable William Powning Glover, Archdeacon of Toowoomba. It is now closed. Sefton Provisional School opened on 1925 and closed on 1926.

Demographics

In the , the locality of Wetheron had a population of 46 people. In the , the locality of Wetheron had a population of 40 people.

Education

There are no schools in Wetheron. The nearest primary schools are Gayndah State School in neighbouring

to the south-west and Coalstoun Lakes State School in Coalstoun Lakes to the south-east. The nearest secondary school is Burnett State College in Gayndah.

References

External links

* {{authority control Towns in Queensland North Burnett Region Localities in Queensland