Clermont

Clermont is a town and a locality in the Isaac Region, Queensland, Australia.

Clermont is a town and a locality in the Isaac Region, Queensland, Australia. Clermont is a major hub for the large coal mines in the region as well as serving agricultural holdings. In the 2016 census, Clermont had a population of 3,031 people, but its boundaries have subsequently changed.

Gangalu (Gangulu, Kangulu, Kanolu, Kaangooloo, Khangulu) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken on Gangula country. The Gangula language region includes the towns of Clermont and Springsure extending south towards the Dawson River.Ludwig Leichhardt was the first European to pass through the Clermont area in 1845, but it was the discovery of gold in 1861 that was responsible for the establishment of the town, close to what was Babbinburra clan land. The town reserve was proclaimed on 25 March 1864, although a gold field was declared in the area in 1862. Clermont is named after Clermont-Ferrand in France; Clermont-Ferrand was the ancestral home of Oscar de Satge, one of the first European graziers who owned the Wolfang Downs pastoral run.Theresa Creek Post Office opened by 1863, was replaced by Coppermines Post Office at the end of 1863 and Clermont Post Office in 1864.The first church in Clermont was a Catholic church opened on Sunday 4 November 1866 and dedicated to St Mary, Blessed Virgin of Sorrows.Clermont State School opened on 27 August 1867.A Congregational church opened in North Copperfield in November 1868.Copper was discovered soon after. In the 1880s up to 4000 Chinese people were resident in Clermont, mining for gold and copper. This led to racial riots and the Chinese were removed from the region in 1888. The decorated soldier Billy Sing was born in Clermont in 1886 of a Chinese father and English mother.

The Presbyterian Church in Clermont was formally re-openedon Sunday 10 June 1883.The railway was extended north from Emerald to Clermont in February 1884. However, no passenger trains are available to or from Clermont.

A Wesleyan Methodist Church opened in Clermont on the corner of Box Street and Capella Street on Sunday 19 September 1886. This is the site of the current Clermont Uniting Church, but the current church building wasbuilt circa 1970.The town was originally established on low-lying ground next to a lagoon or billabong, but flooding was always a problem, with four substantial floods occurring between 1864 and 1896.

St Joseph's School (opened on January 1900.The greatest flood, in 1916, killed 65 people out of a town population of 1,500 and remains one of Australia's worst natural disasters in terms of life lost. Following the 1916 flood, many of the wooden buildings of the town were moved using steam traction engines to a new townsite on higher ground. A local amateur photographer, Gordon Pullar took numerous photographs of the moving buildings, published in the 1980s as "A Shifting Town".In the mid-1920s, The Capricornian newspaper refers to a Mr P. Matones (Matonez) as being one of the first owners of the Paris café in Clermont. John (Jack) and Marouli (Monty) Faros took over the Café in the 1930s. It operated until 1992.The Clermont public library was opened in 1962.On 27 January 1959 a secondary department was added, Clermont State School providing secondary education (8-12). That arrangement ceased with the opening of Clermont State High School on 29 January 1990.Mistake Creek State School opened in the former locality of Mistake Creek in 24 January 1983.At the 2011 census, Clermont had a population of 2,177.On 17 May 2019, it was decided to discontinue the locality of Mistake Creek and absorb its land into the neighbouring localities of Clermont, Laglan, Frankfield and Peak Vale.