Monday 10 March 2014

Images of Rockhampton Region

Rockhampton Regional Council was formed in 2008 by the amalgamation of smaller municipalities. 

Discoveries in the 1860s of several minerals in the area led to settlement in the Fitzroy River where Rockhampton was founded.
Rockhampton sits on the Fitzroy River. It has a land of area of 18,360 sq km of mostly pastoral lands.

40 years before the North Coast line, Rockhampton had its own railway. It had lines built inland as far west as Blackwater, and to the far south through Mount Morgan to Theodore.
There were also lines to the beaches in Emu Park and Yeppoon. A short line connected the North Coast railway to Port Alma. This substantial railway network and locomotive workshops made Rockhampton an important employment centre.








A short distance to the south-west of Rockhampton, Gracemere is an agricultural and saleyard centre. Its population was boosted in the 1980s with the Stanwell power station.

Mount Morgan is a town that flourished from mining rather than the traditional cattle industry.
 With a median age of 44 years, it has the oldest demographic in the region.

Just a few months back I walked miles for a camel... well I went to see a camel.
Now I was made welcome to Marlborough country.
Back in the day... Oh well, the times they are a-changing. 


The times have changed indeed.
Once upon a time you'd load your old house on a truck.
These days you put your old truck on your house.







Brolgas are common in the north and northeast of Australia. These red-headed Australian cranes visit rural farmyards in search of food.






Feral deer on the edge of bushland.




Rockhampton takes its name from a 'rocky' ford in the river, appended with 'hampton' (Saxon for farm by the bend of a river).


There are some minor mountain ranges around Rocky.

 Some rivers.
 There's also a few creeks.

And a hill or two.



Sunrise from atop Mt Archer paints the sky red.