Selwyn, Queensland

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Selwyn
Queensland
Australia Queensland location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Selwyn
Coordinates 21°31′32″S140°30′07″E / 21.5255°S 140.5019°E / -21.5255; 140.5019 (Selwyn (town centre))
Population25 (2021 census) [1]
 • Density0.00238/km2 (0.00616/sq mi)
Postcode(s) 4823
Area10,504.7 km2 (4,055.9 sq mi)
Time zone AEST (UTC+10:00)
Location
LGA(s) Shire of Cloncurry
State electorate(s) Traeger
Federal division(s) Kennedy
Localities around Selwyn:
Duchess Kuridala McKinlay
Dajarra Selwyn Middleton
Buckingham Warenda Warburton

Selwyn is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. [2] [3] Selwyn is now an abandoned mining town. In the 2021 census, the locality of Selwyn had a population of 25 people. [1]

Contents

History

Mount Elliott Mine, 1909 StateLibQld 2 81795 Mt Elliott Mine in 1909.jpg
Mount Elliott Mine, 1909

Selwyn takes its name from the Selwyn Range, which was named in turn after Alfred Richard Cecil Selwyn, a geologist who was Director of the Geological Survey of Victoria from 1852 to 1869. It was formerly known as Mount Elliott after the prospector James Elliott who discovered copper and gold in the area in 1889. [2] [3]

Mount Elliott Provisional School opened on 1908. On 1 January 1909, it became Mount Elliott State School. In 1910, the school had 70 students and one teacher and an extra teacher was wanted. [4] In early May 1911, there was still only one teacher with 100 students in a building described as "not large enough for half the number" with the suggestion that typhoid outbreaks might be caused by the school's overcrowding. [5] In late May 1911, the Queensland Government announced that an assistant teacher was expected to arrive soon and that plans were being drawn up for a larger school building. [6] A call for tenders to construct the new school building was advertised in March 1912, [7] with a contract for £1,135 awarded in June 1912. [8] In 1912, it was renamed Selwyn State School. In November 1915, the Selwyn Hotel burned down, killing the school's headteacher who was boarding in the hotel. [9] The school closed circa 1936. [10] In December 1937, the school building was relocated to be used as a school building in Boulia. [11]

On 15 December 1910 ,the Selwyn railway line opened to service the Hampden and Mount Elliott mines. It was a branch of the Great Northern Railway and ran south from Cloncurry to Selwyn. [12]

Selwyn's population peaked in 1918 with an estimated population of 1500 people with a hospital and four hotels. However, in 1920, copper prices collapsed and, by 1921, only 191 people were still living in Selwyn. [12]

Mount Cobalt Provisional School opened on 1924 and closed on 1926. [10]

The railway line to Selwyn was closed in 1961. [12]

Demographics

In the 2016 census, the locality of Selwyn had a population of 50 people. [13]

In the 2021 census, the locality of Selwyn had a population of 25 people. [1]

Heritage listings

Selwyn has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

Present day

Although the town of Selwyn is now abandoned, the mining and processing of phosphate occurs in the south-west of the locality at Phosphate Hill ( 21°52′43″S139°58′44″E / 21.8787°S 139.979°E / -21.8787; 139.979 (Phosphate Hill) ). The facility employs about 250 people with annual capacity of 975,000 tonnes. [15] [16] The mine is serviced by the on-site Phosphate Hill Power Station. [17] The mine is serviced by the Phosphate Hill railway station at the terminus of the Phosphate Hill railway line which branches from the Great Northern Line at the Flynn railway station. [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Selwyn (SAL)". 2021 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 28 February 2023. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  2. 1 2 "Selwyn – town in Shire of Cloncurry (entry 30388)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government . Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Selwyn – locality in Shire of Cloncurry (entry 42494)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government . Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  4. ↑ "PURELY PERSONAL". Truth . No. 559. Queensland, Australia. 30 October 1910. p. 4. Retrieved 4 December 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  5. ↑ "THE CRITIC". Truth . No. 586. Queensland, Australia. 7 May 1911. p. 1. Retrieved 4 December 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  6. ↑ "MT. ELLIOTT NOTES". The Northern Miner . Queensland, Australia. 29 May 1911. p. 2. Retrieved 4 December 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ "Advertising". The Evening Telegraph . No. 3337. Queensland, Australia. 12 March 1912. p. 2. Retrieved 4 December 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  8. ↑ "Public Works". Queensland Times . Vol. LIII, no. 8481. Queensland, Australia. 21 June 1912. p. 2 (DAILY). Retrieved 4 December 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  9. ↑ "(By Telegraph.)". Townsville Daily Bulletin . Vol. XXXII, no. 10, 301. Queensland, Australia. 17 November 1915. p. 5. Retrieved 4 December 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  10. 1 2 Queensland Family History Society (2010), Queensland schools past and present (Version 1.01 ed.), Queensland Family History Society, ISBN   978-1-921171-26-0
  11. ↑ "BOULIA NOTES". Townsville Daily Bulletin . Vol. LIX, no. 309. Queensland, Australia. 27 December 1937. p. 4. Retrieved 4 December 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  12. 1 2 3 "Selwyn". Queensland Places. Centre for the Government of Queensland, University of Queensland. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  13. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Selwyn (SSC)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 20 October 2018. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  14. ↑ "Mount Elliott Mining Complex (entry 645612)". Queensland Heritage Register . Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  15. ↑ "Phosphate Hill" (PDF). Incitec Pivot . Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  16. ↑ "Phosphate Hill". miningoilgas. 2013. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  17. ↑ "Phosphate Hill - Chemicals Technology". www.chemicals-technology.com. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  18. ↑ "Mt Isa System" (PDF). Queensland Rail. May 2007. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
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