An inland rural centre which services a rich agricultural and coal mining district.
Location: 594 km north of Brisbane; 127 km from Gladstone; 173 metres above sea-level.
Points of interest: Agricultural Research Station; Callide Dam; Callide Power Station; Callide Coal Mines; Australia's Primary Industries Exhibition; Greycliffe Station homestead (1870s); 'Kilburnie' homestead (22 km south-east, c.1890)
Biloela's biggest attraction is The SILO. More than 28 metres high, it is filled, not with grain, but with an array of displays about primary industry. The SILO situated in Exhibition Street gives an insight into cotton production, stud and dairy cattle, redclaw and ostrich farming, grain production and landcare.
Kroombit Tops National Park
Standing above surrounding farmlands the sandstone escarpments, gorges, creeks and waterfalls of Kroombit Tops provide a cool retreat. Explore intriguing natural and cultural wonders hidden among a mosaic of woodlands, rainforests and scrublands. Its sandstone escarpment has spectacular views, subtropical rainforest and palm-fringed waterfalls.Most access routes require a four-wheel-drive vehicle. Your type of vehicle and the weather affects which access route you choose to Kroombit Tops. Conventional vehicle accessis in dry conditions only, is possible from Gladstone and Ubobo. Within the park conventional vehicles can only access Griffith Creek camping area, the Lookout and associated walking tracks. Access route: Near the Biloela Information Centre turn off the Dawson Highway onto Callide Street which becomes Valentine Plains Road. Follow this road for approximately 37kms to the national park boundary and continue through the park for 27km on the Razorback Track.
Musical Mountain
Rising 150m above the cultivated plains 12 km south of the central Queensland town of Biloela, Mount Scoria is a striking local landmark protected in Mount Scoria Conservation Park. Formed by volcanic activity 20 26 million years ago, this volcanic plug features many-sided basalt columns. The mountain's nickname - Musical Mountain - is derived from the long six-sided basalt columns on the mountain that project outwards like fingers. They sound musical notes when struck by another rock.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.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.
