CLERMONTHistory of

Did You Know...

CopperfieldCopper was first discovered at Copperfield

in 1861, by Jack Mollard. It was reported

that the first find was almost pure copper

and the first development of the copper

mine was in 1863. A total of 17,000 tons of

refined copper was sold over 15 years.

Copperfield's popula!on was 1,480 in

1874, including 370 dwellings and 6 hotels

among other things. But with the declining

fortunes of the mine its popula! on

declined with it.

1942 saw the closure of Copperfield School

and the only remnants of the town's

existance today are the Copperfield

Chimney, the old Copperfield Store and the

Cemetery.

1916 FloodDespite warnings from the local aboriginal

people, Clermont was built on flat, flood-

prone land.

Tragedy hit the town in December, 1916

when a cyclone crossed the coast between

Bowen and Mackay. Li% le warning could be

given to Clermont residents when a sixteen

foot wall of water swept over the town

during the early hours of December 28,

1916. Some were lucky to be able to grab

hold of buildings and pull themselves onto

verandahs. Several people owed their lives

to local saddler Rose Harris and her father,

who !ed horse bridles and ropes together

and threw them out to people being swept

past.

Flood waters subsided and Clermont lay in

ruins, with 65 people drowned. A mass

grave of the 1916 flood vic!ms is marked

prominently at the Clermont Cemetery.

Later, many more bodies of flood vic!ms

were recovered but were buried where

they were found.

A replica piano rests in the fork of the tree

(to the right of this sign), this was one of

three piano’s found res!ng in trees, 32 foot

high along the banks of Sandy Creek.

Rebuilding Clermont post -

1916 Flood

By late January 1917, Clermont had begun

the recovery process a&er the 1916 flood. A

mee!ng of the Ci!zens Commi% ee was

held on 22 January, 1917 to consider

recommenda!ons regarding a proposal to

relocate Clermont to a safer site. Six

resolu!ons were submi% ed and passed at

the mee!ng.

Two trac!on engines, one owned by Derret

brothers and the other by Mr W H McKean,

were used to relocate buildings to the new

township site.

Each building was raised on jacks and a 100-

metre track of !mber rails was laid

underneath it. The !mber rails were

constantly collected and relaid for the

buildings to be winched to their new sites.

The French Connec#onClermont is named a&er Clermont-Ferrand,

a city in the Avergne region of France.

Clermont-Ferrand was the ancestral home

of Oscar de Satge, one of the first European

men to take up grazing and own Wolfang

Downs. He became a member of the

Legisla!ve Assembly of the Queensland

Parliament, represen!ng the Clermont

district and later, the Warwick district.

Clermont and Clermont-Ferrand are both

situated inland, a good distance from the

coast, they both experience cold winters

and hot summers.

Birth of ClermontClermont was born a&er the discovery of

gold in 1861, not far from where the

township stands today. Sweeney, a

shepherd and sta!on hands, MacDonald

and Nelson struck gold in a gully running

into Sandy Creek, now known as Nelson's

Gully.

The trio travelled to Rockhampton to buy

equipment and provisions, hopeful of

making their fortunes in gold. Word had

spread of the discovery and by the end of

1862 there were more than 1000 miners

working these goldfields. This followed a

gold rush in 1863 with the discovery of

more goldfields in the area.

Founda#on of ClermontThe discovery of gold brought people and

development to the Clermont area. A town

evolved on the lagoon, which became

known as the Diggings Lagoon and later as

Hoods Lagoon, and the town was gaze% ed

in 1863. One hundred acres of town lots

w e r e s o l d b y p u b l i c a u c ! o n i n

Rockhampton on April 25, 1864. The sale

raised three thousand pounds for the

government.

The Clermont Municipal Council was

incorporated January 1867 and John

Winter was Clermont's first Mayor. In 1930,

the Clermont Town Council amalgamated

with the Belyando Shire Council. Clermont

and Moranbah districts amalgamated with

Broadsound and Nebo Shires in 2008 to

form the Isaac Regional Council.

Blair Athol Coal

Shearer's Strike

Saw Mills

Saw MillsA government sawmill was first established

in 1908, between Clermont and Blair Athol.

There were two spheres of the milling

opera!on; one cu' ng sleepers and the

other cu' ng bridge !mber.

The mill was shi&ed once to the sight of

Birimgan and by 1918, approximately 280

men were working on the site. The mill was

shi&ed again in 1944 to Clermont where it

con!nued opera!on un!l 1970, due to the

lack of millable !mber. It was one of the

largest suppliers of railway sleepers in

Queensland at the !me.

Walter Spring owned and operated Spring's

Sawmill at Bathampton, it was eventually

sold to Ernie Spring in the 1930's. The mill

was relocated to Carneys Creek in 1936

before it was then again relocated in 1946

to Lime Street, opposite the Clermont

Bowls Club.

The mill was driven by a steam trac!on

engine, which was sold and replaced with

electric motors that were connected to the

saws. In the late 1970's, the mill was sold to

Mr Fane% ovich and the land was sold to

Blair Athol Coal.

The Commercial, Grand and Leo Hotels

were relocated. The original Leo Hotel s!ll

stands today, on the corner of Douglass and

Capella Streets.

Ca$ le IndustryThe first se% lement of Pioneer Sta!on

brought ca% le to Clermont in 1850 by the

Rolfe family. The first breed of ca% le were

short horns and Herefords un!l the early

1950's when Brahman ca% le were

introduced.

In 2012 up to 90,000 head of ca% le were

p ro cessed at C lermo nt sa leyard s .

Furthermore there are a significant number

of ca% le that are sold to various other

meatworks throughout Queensland.

Clermont is one of the largest major loading

centres s!ll opera!ng a ca% le rail link, with

approximately 900 head loaded twice a

week to Dinmore, Brisbane.

There are in excess of 500,000 head of

ca% le in the Clermont region, producing

some of the finest quality breeds. This is

represented at the Clermont Fat Ca% le

Show every year and it is known to have the

highest top quality exhibits in Queensland.

Grain IndustryGrain didn't start on a large scale un!l a&er

the Second World War, when a scheme

called Food For Britain was introduced

around 1949.

The scheme was not very successful, but a

large number of individual farmers took up

blocks that were allo% ed for farming in the

Kilcummin , Diamond Downs and Wolfang

areas, with many acres now farmed

successfully.

It has been recorded over the years that

grain produc!on totalled between 150,000

to 250,000 tonnes per year.

Some of the largest proper!es in the area

farm in excess of 20,000 acres but the

average area farmed is between 2,000 to

10,000 acres.

Horse IndustryHorses have been a large part of the history

of the Clermont district, par!cularly the

dra& horse which was used for general

haulage.

Stock horses were used for mustering and

droving, and they are s!ll used extensively

today; however, due to pulled scrub and

cleared land, these work prac!ses have

changed. Now, some proper! es are

favouring methods of motorbike and

helicopter mustering for its efficiency.

For many years blood stallions were mainly

used and a percentage of Arab blood lines

were used. Quarter horses were introduced

in the 1960's. They were imported from

America and were crossed very successfully

with the Australian stock horse.

1980s Boom

Panning for Gold

Early view of Clermont 1870Tom Davison’s Wool Rig

Drummond St, 1877

Blair Athol Coal Mine - Stacker Reclaimer

Copperfield General Store

A load of #mber, Spring’s Sawmill

King George V, 1910 - This horse was bred at Grosvenor Downs that

later became the township of Moranbah. This horse had been taken

home by the Royal Prince from India where he toured in 1905-06.

Theresa Creek Dam

Sorghum crop, Wolfang Peak in background

Reloca#ng Leo Hotel, Clermont 1917

Flood damaged houses, Clermont 1916

Coal was first discovered in 1864 at Blair

Athol Sta!on on Robert McMasters grazing

property when a seam of coal was

penetrated while sinking a well for water.

The first coal extracted was used to fire the

furness at Copperfield. Peak Downs Coal

and Copper mining had taken up the lease

in 1879 and export began out of Clermont

by rail in 1890. The coal was transported

Sheep were first introduced to Banchory

Sta!on in 1860 by John Muirhead.

By 5 January 1891, the Shearer's strike had

its early beginnings on Logan Downs,

64kms NE of Clermont. The sta!on was

then owned by George Fairbairn, there was

long standing industrial tension between

graziers and shearers. Shearers became

more 'poli!cally organised', securing higher

wages, be% er condi!ons and demanding

one pound per hundred sheep shorn.

Graziers insisted on the right to employ non

-union shearers resul!ng in the strike that

crippled the sheep and wool industries of

Central Queensland and eastern colonies.

More than 8000 shearers withheld their

labour in protest. The bi% er dispute was

evident with two a% empts made to derail

the train link into Clermont, but to no

success.

The ac!ons of the strikers, bought to life the

Blair Athol Coal and Timber took possession

over most of the smaller mines in 1909 and

became a large opera!on. In 1936 open cut

mining was first introduced, but it wasn't

un!l Rio Tinto acquired Blair Athol that

development progressed to one of the

largest steaming mines in the world.

Blair Athol Coal ceased opera!on in 2012

a&er deposits were exhausted, some

250,000,000 tons of coal were extracted in

the life of the mine.

from Blair Athol to the rail line by horse or

bullock drawn wagons un!l the branch line

from Clermont to Bla i r Athol was

completed in 1909.

Australian Labour Party. Strikers moved to

the Barcaldine district, where the strike

ended in June 1891.

Seven shearers from Clermont district went

to tr ia l on charges of r io! ng and

in!mida!on. Only two were found not

guilty, the other five received sentences

ranging from two to three years jail.

It was reported that Logan Downs had a

flock of 71,000 in 1927; however, sheep

numbers began to decline rapidly in the

1950's mainly because of spear grass and

dingo's. Today there are virtually no sheep

le& in the Clermont district.

In 1982, an agreement between Belyando

Shire Council and Blair Athol Coal Pty would

see $7.89 million go towards improving

facili!es in Clermont.

An Olympic size swimming pool was

installed as part of this agreement, along

with the construc!on of a new water

supply, and thus Theresa Creek Dam was

built in 1983. It is not only Clermont's main

water supply but is highly popular to

recrea!onal users for skiing , water sports

and fishing.

T h e b o o m re s u l te d i n C l e r m o nt ' s

popula!on swelling to about 3,500 people.

A new residen!al subdivision was built on

the south-west outskirts of Clermont to

accommodate the miners and their

families.

There was great exc itement when

commercial TV was introduced in late 1983.

*Images sourced from Na!onal Library of Australia, A History of Clermont And District,

Dan O’Donnell and by GUIC Group.