QLDRail & telegraph
Emerald
The railway, rather than emeralds, created Emerald.
1878Town surveyed · railway extension planned
WHAT STARTED IT
Emerald was surveyed beside the Nogoa River in anticipation of the railway extending west from Rockhampton. The name came from Emerald Downs pastoral station. The town became a freight hub even after the railhead moved on.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Branch lines linked Clermont in 1884 and Springsure in 1887. Irrigation changed local agriculture during the twentieth century, while Bowen Basin coal development brought substantial growth in the 1970s and 1980s.
TURNING POINTS
1878Railway town surveyed.
1884Branch line to Clermont opens.
1953Selma Weir begins an irrigation transformation.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A Central Highlands service centre connected to irrigated farming, the mining hinterland and nearby sapphire country.