Mount Cuthbert, Queensland

Mount Cuthbert
Queensland
Mount Cuthbert
Coordinates 19°59′22″S 139°55′7″E / 19.98944°S 139.91861°E / -19.98944; 139.91861Coordinates: 19°59′22″S 139°55′7″E / 19.98944°S 139.91861°E / -19.98944; 139.91861
Established 1917
Postcode(s) 4824
LGA(s) Cloncurry Shire Council
State electorate(s) Mount Isa
Federal Division(s) Kennedy

Mount Cuthbert is a former copper mining town in the locality of Three Rivers, Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia.[1] It is now a ghost town.[2]

History

Mount Cuthbert was one of a string of mining towns created in north-west Queensland (other examples being Duchess and Selwyn) by Melbourne investors eager to profit from high copper prices in the early 20th century. A railway had been opened to the town and copper smelters were operating by 1917, and by 1918 the population was recorded as 750 people. Some of the workers in Mount Cuthbert at the time were Russian and affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World.[3][4]

A fall in the world price of copper in 1920 badly affected the local economy, and by 1921 only 267 people remained. By 1927 the settlement was a ghost town,[5] and the railway line was closed in 1949.[4]

Mount Cuthbert Post Office opened by June 1910 (a receiving office had been open from 1908) and closed in 1927.[6]

Heritage listings

The township of Mount Cuthbert and its smelter is listed on the Queensland Heritage Register.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Mount Cuthbert (town) (entry 23008)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  2. ↑ Fynes-Clinton, P. N. (1966). "Ghost towns of Queensland Part I : The Cloncurry Copperfield" (PDF). Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland. 8 (1): 144–154.
  3. ↑ Windle, Kevin. "Murder at Mount Cuthbert: A Russian Revolutionary describes Queensland life in 1915-1919". Journal of the Australasian Universities Modern Language Association (110): 53–71.
  4. 1 2 "Queensland Places: Mount Cuthbert". University of Queensland. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
  5. ↑ "North Queensland's Mining Heritage Trails" (PDF). Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, Queensland Government. p. 21. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
  6. ↑ Premier Postal History. "Post Office List". Premier Postal Auctions. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  7. ↑ "Mount Cuthbert Township and Smelter (entry 601629)". Queensland Heritage Register. Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
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