Kidston, Queensland

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Kidston
Queensland
Kidston is located in Queensland
Kidston
Kidston
Coordinates18°52′25″S 144°10′05″E / 18.8736°S 144.1680°E / -18.8736; 144.1680 (Kidston (town centre))Coordinates: 18°52′25″S 144°10′05″E / 18.8736°S 144.1680°E / -18.8736; 144.1680 (Kidston (town centre))
Established4871
Time zoneAEST (UTC+10:00)
Location
  • 50 km (31 mi) south of Einasleigh
  • 380 km (236 mi) west of Townsville
  • 1,600 km (994 mi) northwest of Brisbane
LGA(s)Shire of Etheridge
State electorate(s)Traeger
Federal division(s)Kennedy

Kidston is a ghost town within the rural locality of Einasleigh, Shire of Etheridge, Queensland, Australia.[1]

What remains of the built structure of the town is heritage-listed as the Kidston State Battery & Township[2]

History[]

Oak's Rush was a gold mining area. A small amount of gold was found there by Charles Mack who then teamed up with Charles Hawkins and together found more substantial quantities of gold in September 1907.[3][4]

It is unclear when the Oaks Rush Post Office opened but in March-April 1908 it was announced it would be renamed Kidston in honour of the Queensland Premier William Kidston. It closed in 1988.[1][5][6][7][3] By December 1907, at least 120 oz of alluvial gold had been obtained through working about four gullies of tributaries of the , and about 120 men on the field. The Einasleigh Copper Mine had halted as the workers had left for the gold field.[8]

Kidston Provisional School opened on 1 January 1909. On 25 September 1911 it became Kidston State School. It closed on 10 February 1954.[9]

Mining ceased in the 1940s. The Kidston Gold Mine resumed as a large open cut mine in the 1980s, and closed in 2001. The tailings heap is now the site of the Kidston Solar Project and the mine and Kidston Dam are being developed for pumped hydro energy storage.[10]

Percyville Provisional School opened in 1914. On 1 April 1915 it became Percyville State School. It closed circa 1915.[9]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Kidston – town (entry 18080)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  2. ^ "Kidston State Battery & Township (entry 600506)". Queensland Heritage Register. Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  3. ^ a b "One of the Discoverers of the Oaks Rush". The Evening Telegraph. 8 (2130). Queensland, Australia. 15 April 1908. p. 2. Retrieved 4 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ Hall, Kenwyn Arthur (8 November 2012). "Oaks camp, Oaks Goldfield, Queensland". James Cook University. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  5. ^ Premier Postal History. "Post Office List". Premier Postal Auctions. Archived from the original on 15 May 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  6. ^ "The Oaks Rush". The Evening Telegraph. 8 (2117). Queensland, Australia. 31 March 1908. p. 5. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ "News in Brief". The Bundaberg Mail And Burnett Advertiser (3472). Queensland, Australia. 4 April 1908. p. 3. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "The Oak Alluvial Rush". Gympie Times And Mary River Mining Gazette. XXIX (5224). Queensland, Australia. 24 December 1907. p. 30. Retrieved 18 April 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ a b Queensland Family History Society (2010), Queensland schools past and present (Version 1.01 ed.), Queensland Family History Society, ISBN 978-1-921171-26-0
  10. ^ Parkinson, Giles (22 September 2016). "A new energy gold mine: storage from solar and pumped hydro". . Retrieved 18 April 2021.

External links[]

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