Woolgar, Queensland
Woolgar is a rural locality in the Shire of Richmond, Queensland, Australia. In the, Woolgar had a population of 17 people.
Geography
The Woolgar River rises in the north-east and flows through to the south-west, exiting to Burleigh. Stawell River enters the locality from the east and exits to the west, where it becomes a tributary of the Woolgar River. The Dutton River enters the locality from the east and forms part of the south-eastern boundary of the locality before exiting to the south where it becomes a tributary of the Flinders River.Mount Norman is the north-west of the locality, rising to above sea level.
The Richmond–Croydon Road crosses the north-western corner of the locality, entering from the west and exiting to the north-west.
The Rungulla Resources Reserve is in the north of the locality. Apart from this protected area, the land use is grazing on native vegetation.
History
In 1880, gold was found in Woolgar, initiating a gold rush. The gold rush followed the common pattern of individual miners initially engaging in panning for gold, followed by digging to find shallow reefs, and then companies raising capital for the equipment to search for deep reefs.On 14 September 1881, Sub-inspector Henry Pollock Kaye of the Native Mounted Police, was responding to complaints from at the Woolgar gold fields townspeople of the First Nations persons stealing and other offences. Together with other police and a native trooper, he mustered the indigenous persons to remove them from the area. It was indicated there may have been up to 800 indigenous persons in the area, although only some thirty to forty were to be removed. Within fifteen minutes of Sub-inspector Nichols leaving to get other officers, Kaye was fatally speared by the persons. A retaliatory massacre is believed to have occurred against the indigenous persons.
Woolgar Upper Provisional School opened on 19 June 1901 and Woolgar Lower Provisional School opened on 24 June 1901, to work together as part-time schools. They closed in October 1903 but reopened in April 1904. Woolgar Lower Provisional School closed on 11 October 1906 while Woolgar Upper Provisional School continued as a full-time school and closed circa 1912.
In 2000, the Woolgar Valley Aboriginal Corporation became the lessee of the Middle Park pastoral station, '"to provide opportunities for the traditional owners of that area, the Woolgar people, who mostly live in Yarrabah, Hopevale and Townsville".
Demographics
In the, Woolgar had a population of 8 people.In the, Woolgar had a population of 17 people.