Biloela, Queensland

A rural centre which services a rich agricultural (livestock slaughtering, cotton, dairying, wheat, sorghum, Lucerne and other grains and cereals) and coal mining district.
Location: 594 km north of Brisbane; 127 km from Gladstone; 173 metres above sea-level.
Origin of name: The Gangulu tribe, who inhabited the region prior to European settlement, named the area Biloela after their totem or emblem: the white cockatoo.
Brief history: The first European to explore the area (in 1844), Ludwig Leichhardt, gave glowing reports of the area, which resulted in an influx of pastoralists. Coal was discovered in the area in the 1890s but it was not developed until 1942 when an open-cut mine was established on the site of the old Callide station. The town was not created until 1924, and only then in anticipation of the arrival of the railway in the following year. In 1994, a routine burn-off at Kroombit Tops uncovered a B-24 Liberator Bomber, lost in 1944.
Natural features: Kroombit Tops National Park; Mount Scoria (12 km south).
Built features: Agricultural Research Station; Callide Dam; Callide Power Station; Callide Coal Mines; Australia's Primary Industries Exhibition.
Heritage features: Greycliffe Station homestead (1870s); 'Kilburnie' homestead (22 km south-east, c.1890)