Profile of Banana Shire

Location:
The Banana Shire is a rich farming, grazing and mining region situated in Central Queensland. It is bounded by the Regional Council of Emerald, Rockhampton Regional, Gladstone Regional, North Burnett Roma Regional and Dalby Regional Councils and is only 120km's west of the growing industrial city and Port of Gladstone and an easy drive to the city of Rockhampton. It has rail and road links to both these cities, and is serviced by the Leichhardt, Dawson and Burnett Highways.

As well, Qantas Link Airlines provide daily air services from Brisbane to Thangool Aerodrome and return, and public road transport is also provided 3 times a week from Brisbane via Toowoomba to Biloela, Banana, Moura, Theodore and Taroom and return services between Rockhampton and Biloela, Banana, Moura, Theodore and Taroom by Kynock Coaches, there is also a twice weekly return service for Biloela to Maryborough by Callide Coaches.

Population:
It is sparsely populated, with its population of 15,626 people spread over 28,577 square kilometres. The Shire is an appealing mix of larger service centres, rural villages and farms with the main population centre being the town of Biloela, with Moura and Taroom being two other significant urban centres in the Shire. Other smaller population centres are Banana, Baralaba, Dululu, Goovigen, Jambin, Thangool, Theodore, Wowan and Cracow. Of the 28,577 square kilometres, only 27 square kilometres is urbanised.

The town of Biloela with a population of 5752 is the main population and administration centre in the Shire. It is the dormitory town for the Callide "A", "B" & "C" Power Stations, Callide and Boundary Hill Coal Mines and Teys Bros Meatworks, and is the main service centre for the Callide Valley.

Moura has a population of approximately 2022 and serves the mining and rural industries of the area. It is the home of the Moura Coal Mine and also has the second largest Grain Depot in Queensland. Also located in Moura are the Queensland Cotton Gin, Queensland Nitrates Ammonium Nitrate Plant, and Origin Energy. The Queensland Nitrates Ammonium Nitrate Plant uses coal bed methane from the Moura area, as well as gas from the State Gas Pipeline to produce ammonium nitrate for use in mines (mainly in Central Queensland).

Taroom has a population of approximately 628 is richly endowed with natural attractions, thriving rural sector and a wide range of quality community and business facilities.

Further detailed population for the 2006 statistics are available here Banana Shire - Comparative Profile

Banana Shire has obtained a 2006 census analysis from the Department of Local Government and Planning. Due recognition and license is given to the Australian Bureau of Statistics for use of census data. The information contained in these profile documents has been prepared in good faith, but is printed on the basis that Banana Shire shall not be responsible for any errors therein, or any acts of omission that may occur due to its use.

Services
The Shire supports numerous industries, facilities, eleven public primary schools, three private primary schools, two high schools, 3 prep to year 10 schools, one TAFE, most churches and their associated groups, four public hospitals, and most business and popular sports. Biloela has a high standard PCYC complex Banana Shire provides a variety of recreation, employment, education and lifestyle options. Sport and recreation play a major role in the lifestyle of Banana Shire residents with over 470 community and sporting groups to choose from. For more information see the Banana Shire Communiy Directory

Tourism
Numerous natural and man-made attractions, together with the Shire's location close to the Great Barrier Reef, makes the Shire an ideal tourist destination.

The Banana Shire has many natural attractions, including gorges, rivers and National Parks e.g. Glebe Weir, Kroombit Tops, Isla Gorge and Exhibition National Parks, Mt Scoria Conservation Park; together with man made attractions such as the Queensland Heritage Park, Kroombit Tourist Park, Myella Farmstay, mines, power stations and other industrial development.

Many towns in the Shire have a rich history, which has been well documented photographically and otherwise in historical villages and museums.

The Dawson River and Callide Dam provide opportunities for fishing and recreation. The Shire can also provide many adventures for the 4WD enthusiast and, there are enormous opportunities for indigenous based tourism packages.

Resources
Coal mining, beef production, power generation, dryland cropping and irrigation cropping (mainly cotton and lucerne) are the Shire's major industries.

A variety of soil types suitable for the production of a wide range of crops, together with land suitable for beef cattle breeding and fattening, give the Shire enormous agricultural potential, with further potential for processing and value-adding.

Nearly 80 percent of the Shires cotton crop is grown in the Dawson Valley area. There are abundant supplies of coal bed methane, which could be utilised for power production and other industrial uses.

Dawson Mine produces and exports coal through the Port of Gladstone, and Callide Coalfields provide fuel for the Callide 'A', 'B' and 'C' Power Stations.

Dawson Mine and Anglocoal extract coal bed methane from the coal seams in the Moura/Theodore area.

The area is rich in natural resources, with extensive newly developed coal mines in the Theodore and Baralaba areas.

Industry
In recent years, the following industries have been established and expanded:-

• Native Flowers and Foliage - export value is currently over $30 million state wide, with a 55% growth rate per annum.
• Aquaculture (Redclaw production).
• Herb and Spices
• Squab (meat pigeon) Processing
• Energy Park Industrial Area is being developed adjacent to the Callide C Power Station.
• Expansion of meat related industries.
• New TAFE Centre in Biloela

Agricultural Production Most Recent Annual Statisitics

• No. of Meat Cattle produced for slaughter - 769,223
• No. of Dairy Cattle - 880
• No. of Livestock Pigs - 20,729
• No. of Livestock Sheep & Lambs - 1,795
• No. of Laying Chickens - 98
• No. of Poultry - 11,644
• No. of Stud Horses - 700
• No. of Stock Horses - 5,087
• No. of Goats (not including feral) - 1,850
• No. of Beekeeping hives - 31
• Cotton production - 41,820,312 Kilograms.
• Sorghum is valued at approximately $6 million.
• Cereals grains - 68,980 Tonnes.
• Canola - 58 Tonnes
• Safflower - 45 Tonnes
• Sunflower - 151 Tonnes
• Legumes for Grain - 2,623 Tonnes
• Hay Production - 42,400 Tonnes
• Lucerne production is worth approximately $5.2 million.

Other Production (per annum)

• Building Approvals $9 million
• Retail Trade turnover $60.8 million
• Local Government Total Expenditure $34.8 million

Power Generation

• Callide Power Station produces about 1720 Mega watts of electricity, enough to power about 2 million homes and burns approximately 6 million tonnes of coal per year.
• The station uses about 24,000 megalitres of water each year, most of which is pumped from the Awoonga Dam near Gladstone.
• The chimney constructed at Callide 'B' is 210m high (nearly the length of two football fields). The chimney for the new Callide 'C' Power Station is 20m higher.
• Callide 'A' Power Station is the worlds largest remote controlled, coalfired powerstation. It was commissioned in 1965, closed in 1988, and was later refurbished in 1998. Currently once unit is being used for CS Energy's Oxygen clean coal project.
• Two large generator units (Callide 'C') have been built adjacent to Callide 'B' which add an additional 900MW of supply to the Queensland state grid. It is the first "super critical boiler" power station to be built in Australia.

Coal Production

• First discovered in the Banana Shire in the 1890s, but was not mined until 1945 in the Callide area and 1950 in the Dawson Valley.
• Callide Coalfields has one of the world's largest walking draglines at 128 metres. Combined coal production of the Callide and Dawson Valleys is approximately 17.4 million tonnes per annum
• Moura was the first export coal mine in Queensland to export coal to Japan.
• New Coal Mining in the Baralaba areas
• The Queensland Ammonium Nitrate Plant at Moura commenced production in January 2000, and produces 180,000 tonnes a year of ammonium nitrate to be used in explosives in the mining industry.
• Anglo Coal has acquired the Moura gas project. During this time, they have improved contractor efficiency and utilised more "fit for purpose" drilling rings, which has halved total well capital costs.
• The Dawson Valley Project coal seam gas production has stabilised at 3.5 Petajoules (Pj) per annum. During the past twelve months, gas supply commenced to the Queensland Cotton Gin at Moura, whilst further development work was undertaken with the Joint Venture partners in the Northern section of the petroleum lease abutting the Dawson Highway with pleasing results.

Cracow Gold:

• Cracow Gold: Newcrest Mining Ltd and Sedimentary Holdings Ltd forming the Cracow Mining Joint Venture (CMJV) approved the $90M capital development of the Cracow Gold Mine in September 2003.
• Commissioning of the project took place during the final quarter of 2004 and by late 2005 will be ramped up to full production of 300,000 tonnes of ore per annum mined and treated producing some 100,000 ounces of gold per annum.
• In addition to the gold mine project development, the CMJV continues to spend some $5 million per year on further exploration in the district with the expectation that significant additional resources will be discovered

Future Development The Nathan Dam Project:
The Queensland Government is currently completing the Environmental Impact Study for the construction of the Nathan Dam on the Dawson River to commence in 2012. This project will see the Dawson Valley and the Banana Shire become the next major development area in Queensland. When constructed, the dam would provide water to irrigate approximately 25,000 hectares of land, and for industrial use. This development would result in over 1,000 permanent jobs and an additional $40 million worth of agricultural production annually.