Kingaroy - Places to See

Kingaroy Information Art & Heritage Precinct
The ideal starting point for any visit to Kingaroy is the Kingaroy Information Art & Heritage Precinct which is located in Haly Street. Apart from the inevitable information about peanuts, videos about the peanut industry are shown in the Visitor Information Centre complex and in the adjoining Kingaroy Heritage Museum. The Centre can provide you with details of how to get out to the Bjelke-Petersen home.

Kingaroy Heritage Museum
A part of the Precinct is the town's Bicentennial Heritage Museum which is open from 9.00am - 4.30 pm and weekends and public holidays 10.00am - 4.pm. There is a good folk museum display which chronicles the agricultural and pastoral history of the area. Contact (07) 4162 6272

Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen's property
No visit to the town would be complete without a visit to Sir Joh and Lady Flo's property 'Bethany' (go south past the airport, and on the left is a sign to 'Bethany'). The Australian Flag regularly flies above the house.

Bunya Mountains National Park
One of the true natural highlights of the area is the Bunya Mountains National Park which is about 50 km from Kingaroy.

This pleasant and isolated area of the Great Dividing Range has bushwalks, camping facilities and excellent picnic sites. With an average elevation of 975 m and a diversity of flora including rainforests, woodlands and grasslands it is an area rich in history and typical of the development of much of the region.

The Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service, who administer the area, record the park's interesting history in numerous brochures and leaflets.

'Every three years in February and March, the bunya pine produces a heavy crop of cones. Aboriginal tribes came from as far as the Maranoa, the Clarence and Maryborough area for six weeks of tribal ceremonies, hunting, feasting, mock fighting and corroborees. Most evidence of this important gathering of tribes is gone.

'European settlers moved into the region in the early 1840s; however, the Bunya Mountains were not opened for selection until 1878. In the late 1860s, sawmillers arrived to log red cedar; initially, the bunya pine was not cut because of its significance to Aboriginals. The last great bunya feast took place in 1875 and remnants of the tribes continued to assemble until 1883 when the Great Bunya Sawmill opened and commenced cutting bunya pine. The last sawmill on the mountain closed in 1945.

'In 1908, 9303 hectares were gazetted as the Bunya Mountains National Park - the second national park in Queensland. The park now covers 11 700 hectares.' For further information ring (07) 4668 3127 or check out: http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/parks/bunya-mountains/index.html