Raglan, Queensland

Raglan is located on Raglan Creek, part of the Casuarina Creek drainage system that empties into Keppel Bay.

The locality contains the following mountains:

• King Solomon Spur (23.8515°S 150.6162°E / -23.8515; 150.6162 (King Solomon Spur)) 230 metres (750 ft)[4]
• Marble Mountain (23.9004°S 150.6556°E / -23.9004; 150.6556 (Marble Mountain)) 330 metres (1,080 ft)[4][5]
• Mount Alma (23.9594°S 150.8047°E / -23.9594; 150.8047 (Mount Alma)) 748 metres (2,454 ft)[4][6]
• Mount Bennett (23.8927°S 150.7686°E / -23.8927; 150.7686 (Mount Bennett)) 409 metres (1,342 ft)[4][7]
• Mount Bomboolba (23.7801°S 150.6980°E / -23.7801; 150.6980 (Mount Bomboolba)) 412 metres (1,352 ft)[4][8]
• Mount Despair (23.7931°S 150.8105°E / -23.7931; 150.8105 (Mount Despair)) 290 metres (950 ft)[4][9]
• Mount Erebus (23.7809°S 150.7911°E / -23.7809; 150.7911 (Mount Erebus)) 350 metres (1,150 ft)[4][10]
• Mount Holly (23.7714°S 150.8283°E / -23.7714; 150.8283 (Mount Holly)) 256 metres (840 ft)[4][11]
• Mount Wendy (23.9348°S 150.6667°E / -23.9348; 150.6667 (Mount Wendy)) 657 metres (2,156 ft)[4][12]

These ranges are a significant source of marble and calcite, and the South Ulam mine is located there.[13]

The Bruce Highway enters the locality from the east (Ambrose), passes through the town along Raglan Street, and exits to the north-west (Marmor).[14]

The North Coast railway line runs roughly parallel and north of the highway, passes through the locality with the following stations (from east to west):[14][15]

• Epala railway station (23.7600°S 150.8797°E / -23.7600; 150.8797 (Epala railway station))
• Amos railway station (23.7423°S 150.8406°E / -23.7423; 150.8406 (Amos railway station (former))), now abandoned
• Raglan railway station (23.7181°S 150.8197°E / -23.7181; 150.8197 (Raglan railway station)) serving the town

Amos is a neighbourhood in the locality (23.7333°S 150.85°E / -23.7333; 150.85 (Amos (neighbourhood))) in the vicinity of the Amos railway station.[16]

There are two airstrips in the locality:

• Mt Bennett station airstrip (23.9070°S 150.7625°E / -23.9070; 150.7625 (Mt Bennett station airstrip))[17][14]
• The Old Station airstrip (23.8220°S 150.8238°E / -23.8220; 150.8238 (The Old Station airstrip))[17]

Milking the cow at Ambrose's farm, Raglan, 1912

The region was first declared as the County of Raglan and opened for British pastoral squatting in January 1854.[18] The name Raglan was in honour of Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, First Baron Raglan (1788-1855), first Commander in Chief British Army in Crimea.[2][3]

British occupation began in early January 1856 during a punitive expedition led by Lieutenant John Murray of the Native Police. Murray was tracking down local Aboriginal tribes suspected of involvement in the killing of five people at nearby Mount Larcombe sheep station. With a posse comitatus of around twenty armed and mounted men, including troopers, constables and colonists, Murray surrounded a "large mob" of about a hundred Aboriginal people camped on a creek near to where the township of Raglan now stands. At the break of dawn, Murray's group attacked the camp and "bullets from a score or more carbines wrought death," with the those being shot at running "from side to side in their frantic efforts to escape." Only a few escaped and these "were pursued and either shot or driven into the waters of [Keppel] Bay."[19] A participant later wrote that the ammunition they used during the attack had become exhausted and that they had to use their rifles as clubs. Many of the Aboriginal people were killed or terribly wounded but no casualties were recorded amongst Murray's group.[20]

The creek where this occurred was named Hourigan's Creek after the man who fired the first shot of the massacre. This shot was at "a huge savage who [was] seen to get up and stretch himself," the rest of the Aboriginal camp still being asleep.[19] The creek is still called Hourigan's Creek and is still used for shooting with the Raglan Target Sports Association complex being located on its banks.[21] An early resident of Raglan recorded that when he first came to the area he noticed that "the skulls of black warriors...had been made into an ornamental border for a large flower bed in the garden" of the homestead of Raglan Station.[22]

Raglan was established as a pastoral sheep station in 1857 by William Landsborough who held it for several years before selling it on.[22] The allotments for the township of Raglan were first surveyed in 1865.[23]

Gold was found in Raglan in 1867.[24][25] In August 1867 a nugget of gold was found. Described as "a monster", it was 16 inches (41 cm) long and 4 inches (10 cm) wide, weighing 30 pounds (14 kg) and worth £1,400. There were around 300 gold diggers active at the Raglan goldfield at that time.[26][27][28]

Raglan Creek Provisional School opened on 4 August 1879,[29] but closed on 31 October 1879. It reopened on 5 March 1883, and was became Raglan Creek State School on 1 January 1909. In 1911 it was renamed Raglan State School. The school closed on 13 December 1996.[30][31][32][33] The school was at 18 Langmorn Street (23.7196°S 150.8237°E / -23.7196; 150.8237 (Raglan State School (former))).[34][14]

Langmorn Creek Crossing Provisional School opened on 20 October 1915 but closed circa 31 January 1916. It reopened as Langmorn Provisional School circa January 1926. On 1 January 1931 it became Langmorn State School. It closed on 26 October 1941, but reopened on 26 October 1944. It closed finally on 11 May 1962.[32] It was at 187 Langmore School Road, now in Ambrose (23.8185°S 150.8823°E / -23.8185; 150.8823 (Langmore State School (former))).[35][36][14]

Hourigan Creek State School opened in 1916 and closed circa 1932.[32][37][38][39][40] It was located on or near Hourigan Creek Road (approx 23.7378°S 150.7829°E / -23.7378; 150.7829 (Hourigan Creek State School (former))).[41][14]

The Raglan Memorial Hall was built in about 1932 and was used for dances until 1990, after which it stood idle. It was relocated to the Calliope River Historical Village in March 2002 and officially re-opened by George Creed, the mayor of Calliope Shire.[42][43]

In the 2011 census, Raglan was included with neighbouring Ambrose and together had a population of 545.[44]

In the 2016 census, the locality of Raglan had a population of 146 people.[1]

Raglan has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• Langmorn Road (23.8352°S 150.7544°E / -23.8352; 150.7544 (Langmorn Homestead)): Langmorn Homestead[45]
• Raglan Station Road (23.7407°S 150.8448°E / -23.7407; 150.8448 (Parson's Inn)): Parson's Inn[46]
• Raglan Station Road (23.7328°S 150.8828°E / -23.7328; 150.8828 (Raglan Homestead)): Raglan Homestead[47]

There are no schools in Raglan. The nearest government primary schools are Marmor State School in neighbouring Marmor to the north-west, Ambrose State School in neighbouring Ambrose to the east, and Bajool State School in neighbouring Bajool to the west. The nearest government secondary schools is Mount Larcom State School (to Year 10) in Mount Larcom to the south-east. For secondary education to Year 12, the nearest government secondary schools are Gladstone State High School in West Gladstone, Gladstone, to the south-east and Rockhampton State High School in Wandal, Rockhampton, to the north-east.[14]

Raglan Cemetery is at 75 Hourigan Creek Road (23.7159°S 150.8082°E / -23.7159; 150.8082 (Raglan Cemetery)).[48]

The Old Station is a flying club at 123 Langmorn Road (23.8222°S 150.8125°E / -23.8222; 150.8125 (The Old Station Flying Club)) near The Old Station airstrip.[49][50]

• List of schools in Central Queensland

• Ambrose State School Centenary Committee (2014), Ambrose State School : celebrating 100 years 1914-2014, The Centenary Committee — also includes closed schools: Bracewell State School, Raglan State School, Cedar Vale State School, East End State School, Hourigan Creek School, Hut Creek School, Langmorn School, Langmorn Creek Crossing School, Machine Creek State School

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Raglan, Queensland.

• "Town map of Raglan". Queensland Government. 1984.