Mining Trail Part 2

Moranbah

The next day we headed for Moranbah. This town is located in the northern part of the Isaac Regional Shire, Moranbah is approximately 132 km northeast of Clermont. We dropped by the town to refill the gas bottle and visit a laundromat. Moranbah is a modern town which services the surrounding coal mining industry and associated support industries. Although Moranbah is modern in most aspects, it also has the charm and warmth of a rural community. The Gregory Highway passes through Moranbah on its way to Charters Towers and onto Townsville. Moranbah and Clermont have airstrips utilised by private and charter aircraft. Our true destination was Coppabella so we did not stay long in Moranbah and continued driving. Near our destination an exciting thing happened - we had a flat tyre!!! Well here's a first time for everything (after almost 2 weeks on the road).

a busy mine on the background

Coppabella

this tribute to the mining industry welcomes you to this small but busy town

The town of Coppabella is a small community which lies approximately 159 kilometres south-west of Mackay. Recognised for its large mining monument at the entrance of the town, Coppabella was designed to service the junction of two railway lines, one from Goonyella Mine and the other from Saraji Mine. The railway line would then continue on to the sea at Hay Point, Sarina. The Goonyella to Hay Point line was opened on the 5 November 1971 and the Coppabella Railway Station was opened on the same day.

The town is wholly owned and operated by Queensland Rail and contains: stations, residences, single person quarters, work depots, hotel, shop, swimming pool, basketball court, tennis court, football oval, caravan park, school, ambulance, fire brigade and water supply! Interestingly, the name Coppabella was given by Queensland Railways at the suggestion of the General Manager, Central Division. It is said to be an Aboriginal word meaning “crossing place”.

We stayed here for 6 days while the Editor had to complete 23 site measures and drawings for work in both Coppabella and Moranbah, during this time I was able to post 2 blogs and get caught up on the laundry. In true country hospitality we were invited to a birthday party at the local watering hole at which I met a couple of filipinos and they were very nice. We were told that the Coppabella population of about 600 includes about 15 filipinos.