Peak Downs is a geographic area, and formerly a station, in the vicinity of Clermont,

Central Queensland Central Queensland is an imprecisely-defined geographical division of Queensland ( a state in Australia) that centres on the eastern coast, around the Tropic of Capricorn. Its major regional centre is Rockhampton. The region extends from the Cap ...

. In the 1860s and 1870s the area was known as "the Peak Downs". The morphology of this region consisted of numerous distinct peaks of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

-capped

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

erupting from a plane, and the area has been worked for copper and

gold extraction Gold extraction is the extraction of gold from dilute ores using a combination of chemical processes. Gold mining produces about 3600 tons annually, and another 300 tons is produced from recycling. Since the 20th century, gold has been principal ...

since as far back as the 1870s, when it was the primary source for material exported via nearby St. Lawrence, and perhaps earlier. At least one such peak remains, Wolfgang Peak, part of the Peak Range between

Moranbah Moranbah is a coal mining town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Isaac Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Moranbah had a population of 9,425. In addition to the permanent population, Moranbah also has ...

, Clermont, and Dysart, first surveyed on 18 January 1845, by Leichhardt's expedition. Many of the peaks so mapped were named for members or supporters of this expedition. Much of that geography has been removed by open-cut mining, including that at the large Peak Downs Mine. The Shire of Peak Downs, was formerly defined in this area, but has since been amalgamated with neighbouring shires to form the

Central Highlands Region Central Highlands Region is a local government area in Queensland, Australia. In the , the Central Highlands Region had a population of 27,836 people. History '' Wadja'' (also known as ''Wadjigu'', ''Wadya'', ''Wadjainngo'', ''Mandalgu'', a ...

shire.

References

{{coord, 22, 19, 30, S, 148, 0, 0, E, display=title Clermont, Queensland