Millaroo
Located around fifty-five kilometres south-southwest of Ayr and one hundred and two kilometres south-southeast of Townsville on Bindal country in the Burdekin Shire, the sugarcane growing locality of Millaroo takes its name from Millaroo Creek, recorded by surveyor Robert Abbott in 1895, though its origins are uncertain.
When a post-World War II soldier settlement scheme to grow tobacco blocks needed an administrative hub, Millaroo was envisaged as a planned town with appropriate facilities for a population of six thousand reserves, parks, and industrial zones suitable for a population of 6,000 (roughly equivalent to the population of Ayr).
While the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Stock's Millaroo Research Station, which commenced operations in 1952 and the Burdekin Gorge Weir, completed in November 1953 to provide water for irrigation, gave an initial impetus to the area, the reality failed to match over-optimistic expectations.
Links to add:
Millaroo Creek
Robert Abbott
Queensland Department of Agriculture and Stock
Millaroo Research Station
Burdekin Gorge Weir
