Mount Mulligan, Queensland facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Mount MulliganQueensland |
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Chimney at Mount Mulligan (June 2006)
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 Mount Mulligan
Location in Queensland
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| Population | 0 (2021 census) | ||||||||||||||
| • Density | 0/km2 (0/sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
| Established | 1910 | ||||||||||||||
| Postcode(s) | 4871 | ||||||||||||||
| Area | 1,516.0 km2 (585.3 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
| Time zone | AEST (UTC+10:00) | ||||||||||||||
| Location | |||||||||||||||
| LGA(s) | Tablelands Region | ||||||||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Cook | ||||||||||||||
| Federal Division(s) | Leichhardt | ||||||||||||||
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Mount Mulligan used to be a busy mining town in Queensland, Australia. Today, it is a quiet rural area with very few people living there. It is known as the site of Queensland's worst mining disaster.
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What Mount Mulligan Looks Like Now
Even though it's still on maps, Mount Mulligan is mostly a ghost town. You can find a cemetery there and one chimney stack. There's also one house where people live. You can see the old remains of the mining areas and where the power used to be made.
Nearby towns include Julatten, Dimbulah, Mount Carbine, and Mount Molloy.
A Look Back at Mount Mulligan's History
The big mountain range nearby is called Ngarrabullgan by the local Djungan people. They lived on the mountain for about 40,000 years. However, they stopped camping there around 600 years ago.
The mountain was named Mount Mulligan after a gold prospector named James Venture Mulligan. His friends named it after him in 1874. Later, the town that grew near the mountain also took the name Mount Mulligan.
Mining in Mount Mulligan
The town's main job was mining coal. Miners dug into the side of a huge cliff. This cliff is part of a large rock formation that stands about 400 meters above the town.
Coal mining started in 1910. But on September 19, 1921, a terrible explosion happened underground. This disaster killed 75 miners, which was every miner in the town. It was a very sad day for Mount Mulligan.
The mine closed after the disaster. But it reopened in 1923 and kept producing coal. Mining stopped for good in 1957. This was because a new way to make electricity, called a hydro-electric scheme, meant coal was no longer needed.
Communication and Transport
Mount Mulligan had a Post Office that opened in 1914. It closed in 1959. There was also a special Post Office on the railway from 1916 to 1920.
A railway line connected Mount Mulligan to Dimbulah. It opened in 1915 and helped transport coal and people. The railway officially closed in 1958.
Learning in Mount Mulligan
There are no schools in Mount Mulligan today. The closest primary and secondary school is Dimbulah State School. However, it's quite far from many parts of Mount Mulligan. For older students, there isn't a nearby high school for all grades. Students might need to learn through distance education or go to a boarding school.
