Duaringa
Tiny service centre and ideal access point to the Blackdown Tableland National Park.
Located 751 km north-west of Brisbane and 110 km west of Rockhampton, Duaringa is a tiny settlement of less than 500 people which came into existence as a base camp for railway workers.

The first European to pass through the area was Ludwig Leichhardt who explored well to the west of the present townsite. He observed the large coal deposits near Blackwater which are now such a vital part of the shire's wealth.

After Leichhardt came the Archer brothers, Charles and William, searching for good grazing lands for their cattle. They moved through the area and it wasn't until 1875, with the building of the railway west from Rockhampton, that a camp was briefly established on the site of the present town. The railway arrived in 1876 and was extended to Blackwater by 1876.

Duaringa survived because the settlement of the area was sufficiently dense to sustain a small township. It is now the headquarters of the shire which is rather ironic given that Blackwater, the booming coalmine town, is about 16 times larger.

No one knows how Duaringa came to be named. Some suggest that it may be the Aboriginal word for 'oak', others contend that it means the 'meeting place of the swampy oaks', and still others suggest that it means 'to turn oneself around'. The Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies says simply (and it is hard to imagine that this isn't a very common reply to queries about place names): 'The possibilities would seem to be: that Duaringa could well be a local word or name which did not find its way into any written record of the language; or it could be a now unrecognisable corruption of a local or other word or name; or it could be an import, from another part of Australia, or from somewhere else altogether.'

Things to see:  

Blackdown Tableland
The central attraction in the Duaringa area (apart from the pub, which has some sections dating back to the 1880s) is the Blackdown Tableland to the south-west of the hamlet of Dingo. The 23 000-hectare Blackdown Tableland National Park is characterised by waterfalls, dramatic cliffs, excellent bushwalks and Aboriginal rock art near the upper end of the Mimosa Creek. The Park has six major walks (all detailed in the Duaringa Shire Tourist Guide) including the Mimosa Creek Culture Circuit which passes the Aboriginal stencil art, the Rainbow Falls Walk, the Stony Creek Gorge Walk and the tracks around the Horseshoe Lookout.

	Tourist Information
	Duaringa Shire Council Office William St Duaringa QLD 4702 Telephone: (07) 4935 7101
	Motels
	Duaringa Motel Capricorn Hwy Duaringa QLD 4702 Telephone: (07) 4935 7104
	Hotels
	Duaringa Hotel Edward St Duaringa QLD 4702 Telephone: (07) 4935 7202
	Caravan Parks
	Duaringa Caravan Park Capricorn Hwy Duaringa QLD 4702 Telephone: (07) 4935 7104