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The Progress of Kingaroy
Here is the story, in brief, of the rapid rise of one of Queensland's soundest and most progres
sive towns — Kingaroy, the principal centre of the rich South Burnett district.
At the dawn of 1900 Kingaroy
comprised a solitary house, the
home of Mr. and Mrs. Dan Car-<*>
roll. The main traffic route from
Nanango to Home Creek veered
across Mt. Jones and Boole, ignoring
Xlngaroy. In every direction stretched
dense belts of pine trees. A lew
selectors were probing the wealth of
the Coolabunia Scrub and Stuart River
flats, and three miles away a town
ship had sprung up—Taabinga vill
age. What is now the district was
then the greater part of Taabinga
Station, founded about 1860 by the
Haly wethers, and purchased in 1887
by the present owner, Mr. Arthur
Youngman.
The demand which existed through
.cue the State for good building tim
-f?r brought about a realisation of Kin
-garoy's timber wealth. But hauling
• logs by bul'ock teams to Kilkivan, the
railhead, 55 mites away, was costly
and laborious, and prompted a suc
cessful agitation for an extension of the
n*m&. On De —N>r 19, 1904. the
.promt Lord Mayor of Brisbane (Alder*
man A. J. Jones), then MX.A. for
the district, officially opened the line,
which stopped at Kingaroy.
The Carrollee Hotel and Mt. P. O.
Peterson's corner store were then the
only business premises, but the tim
ber boom which immediately followed
the advent of the railway resulted in
rapid expansion. At the peak of the
timber trade nearly 100 teams were
hauling pine from Kingaroy, Mount
Wooroolin, Coolabunia. Malar, and
Kunioon, and a notable feature was
f. the four Lynch sisters, who cut and
.hauled timber with the best of the
linen.
LAND SETTLEMENT
Meanwhile a steady stream of land
seekers kept passing through, and as
quickly as the timtor was cleared the
land was taken up and put under
the plough.
The first resumptions of Taabinga
Station threw Wooroolin, Memerambi,
and Boonenne open to selectors. Dairy
ing developed so rapidly that in
1907 the first butter factory was
opened. That year also marked the
resumption and subdivision of the
now famous Mannuem Scrub and Kum
bia lands, comprising 47,000 acres ot
rich red volcanic scrub, and light
an^Ajaok forest country. A few yeaw
laVrthis area was notable for dairy
tag .and maize production. The final
vvsumptlon of 711 square miles, em
bracing the parish of Haly, threw
open further rich agricultural blocks,
for which there was instant demand.
By Itl2 most of the timber had
been cut out, but by this time agricul
ture *nd dairying had *~-*'orys& suffi
ciently to provide a solid basis for the
town's progress. On January 12,
1912, Kingaroy was proclaimed a sepa
rate shire from Nanango, with an aiea
of 412 square miles, and a population
of 4682.1 Mr. f. O'Neill -as the first
chairman elected. Councillor J. A
Carroll is the present chairman. To
day the shire covers an area of 893
square miles with a population of
PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS
At the end of 1914 the district hos
pital was opened, and residents are
proud that to-day it is one of. the few
remaining voluntarily controlled hospi
tals in Queensland. The ambulance
centre was established a few yean
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later, and now possesses three cars,
the annual averages being 1200 cases
attended and 16,000 miles traveled
The school of arts was erected on a
site donated by Mr. A. Youngman;
the library has 3000 volumes, and read
ing and billiard rooms. A tower with
an electric clock was erected in 1918
to commemorate the public services
of Mr. Archibald Blue.
The first provisional school in Kin
garoy was established at Mount Jones
in 1908, with 20 scholars. As Kinga
roy grew a more central position be
came necessary, and a new building
was erected on the present site. Mr.
J. Mahoney, a Queensland Rhodes
scholar, received his primary educa
tion at the Kingaroy school during
the headmastership of his father, Mr.
J. R. D. Mahoney. To-day there are
182 boys and 176 girls enrolled; Mr. J.
C. Egan, 8.A., is head teacher, and
has 10 assistants. In February, 1929,
the Sisters of Charity founded St.
Mary's Convent School; this order was
succeeded by the Sisters of the Good
Samaritan in 1934. The Btate High
School block was addsd in 1918, and
serves the whole of the Sou -h Burnett,
PRIMARY INDUSTRIES
Dairying is the most important in
dustry in the district. In 1903. Mr.
F. C. Petersen sent the first lot of
cream (81 gallons) to Maryborough.
Within two years of the opening of
the railway the output of cream had
increased to 10 tons per week. The
production of the Klngaroy factory at
the end of its first year's operations
was 85 tons. In 1928 it was necessary
to rebuild ana modernise the factory
at a cost of £47,000. The production
for the >oar ended June 80, 1D34, waa
1992 tons, and the total amount paid
to suppliers to that date waa
£8,379,997/5/. Klngaroy "AAAA" has
won major Empire. Commonwealth,
and State awards, largely due to the
conscientious efforts of dairymen to
improve their herds. Approximately
80 per cent of the butter goes* over
seas, and local and North Quesns
land sales absorb the remainder. Pig
raising is carried on as an adjunct
to dairying, and on an average 1500
to 1600 pigs are trucked from Kinga
roy monthly. Stud-breeding also is
engaged in extensively.
Grazing is carried on throughout
the shire, but principally in No. S
division, where the climatic conditions
and succulent natural grasses are ideal
for breeding and fattening. Here
fords are most popular, and graziers
are concentrating on catering for the
chilled beef trade.
Maize growing was the first agri
cultural pursuit carried on in the
Kingaroy district, an area being planted
at Coolabunia about 1900. Impetus
was given this industry by the open-
Ing of the Mannuem Scrub and Kum
bia lands, and to-day the Kingaroy
district is one of the foremost maize
growing centres in Australia. In 1910
the yield was 503,707 bustle's from
14,652 acres. The peak year was 1924,
when 843,148 bushels were harvested
from 23,720 acres. Prospects at the be
ginning of 1935 indicated another heavy
yield, but the dry conditions which
have since prevailed will cause tha
late crops planted hi November and
December to be very poor. The
earlier and middle plantings, how
ever, are expected to come up to
expectations.
PEANUT GROWING
The peanut industry is the most
recent of the district's agricultural
pursuits. In 1924 the Queensland Pea
nut Pool was constituted, but the ds
clsion of the High Court in 1933, de
claring the now famous Section 92 ot
the Federal Constitution ultra vires
deprived the board of its powers and
nearly resulted in chaos. Fortu
nately, the growers united vpluntarily
and at the beginning of this year
signed contracts disposing of their
1935 crops to the board for marketing,
which h^s had, the effect of again
placing the industry on a sound basis.
The huge silos were erected during the
1928-29 season, and have a total stor
age capacity of 4000 tons. The total
cost was £55.000. including machinery
repayable by 3d per lb. levy on ail
nuts consigned to th 3 pool. The
existing debt is £17,000. The first crop
handled by the board was 231 tons
from 100 growers off 691 acres, and
was valued at £10.658. This season
(1934-35) 512 growers have plan ed
9500 acres, and the anticipated crop is
3500 tons, which is expected to realise
£123,000. The wages bill of the board
and farmers amounts to £48,000 an
nually.
KINGAROY TO-DAT
Tlxe development of the district has
been mirrored in the progress of the
town, the most obvious signs of pro*
Kress being the erection of new business
premises and an extension of the resi
dential areas. By 1914 five banking
institutions had established branches
in Kingaroy. which speaks volumes for
th> district's soundness and stability.
About 1925 the District Lands Office,
CPJB. Office, and courthouse were
removed to Kingaroy, thus prac
tically establishing it as the principal
town of the South Burnett. In Feb
ruary of the same year the electric
li^ht was switched on. Since then
concrete channelling and footDaths,
bitumen main streets, the erection of
more than 200 houses and business
premises, together with the imooslng
peanut silos and the establishment
by the- principal oil companies of
depots for the South Burnett, are evi
dence of solid progress. Recently a
poll on the question of establishing ft
town water schema to cost £50.000 ww .
carried, and preliminary investiga
tions by the Irrigation Department art
proceeding.
FUTURE PROSPECTS
Only a small percentage of the agri
cultural areas is being worlcsd to tht
fullest capacity, and consequently
production has by no m?ans reached
its peak. Thus the immediate problem
facing Kingaroy is that of over-pro
duction in good seasons, will the possi
bi'ity of low production in dry seasons.
The solution is not restricted planting-*
the 1929-30 peanut crop exploded thli
fallacy—but in regu'ated marketing, tht
essentials associated with the succ3M
c: which are conservation of fodder
and home storage. The former it
particularly apolicable to the dairying
industry and the latter to mates.
Blr. Den Carroll, Klngaroy's first settler, and his son, cr. j. A. Carroll, chairman of the Klngaroy Shir* Council. Help
Blr. Den Carroll, Klngaroy's first settler,
and his son, cr. j. A. Carroll, chairman
of the Klngaroy Shir* Council.
Trophies won by the Kingaroy Butter Factory since 1928. The manager (Mr. H. W. Cheers) is standing alongside them. Help
Trophies won by the Kingaroy Butter Factory since 1928. The manager (Mr.
H. W. Cheers) is standing alongside them.
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