page_title: Gladstone, Queensland
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Gladstone, Queensland / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Ships moored at the docks at Gladstone, ca. 1868.
context_page_description: Gladstone is a city in the Gladstone Region, Queensland, Australia. It is approximately 550 km by road north-west of the state capital, Brisbane, and 100 km south-east of Rockhampton. Situated between the Calliope and Boyne Rivers, Gladstone is home to Queensland's largest multi-commodity shipping port.
  Gladstone, together with Boyne Island and Tannum Sands, had an estimated urban population of 45,130 at June 2018. This urban area covers 246.1 km².
  Gladstone is the largest town within the Gladstone Region and the headquarters of Gladstone Regional Council is located in Gladstone. The Gladstone Region was formed in 2008 through the amalgamation of three former local government areas.
context_section_description: Before European settlement, the Gladstone region was home of the Gooreng Gooreng, Toolooa (or Tulua), Meerooni and Baiali (or Byellee) Aboriginal tribes.
  In May 1770, HMS Endeavour, under the command of James Cook, sailed by the entrance to Gladstone Harbour under the cover of darkness. Matthew Flinders, during his 1801–1803 circumnavigation of Australia, became the first recorded European to sight the harbour in August 1802. He named the harbour Port Curtis, after Admiral Roger Curtis, a man who was of assistance to Flinders a year earlier at the Cape of Good Hope. John Oxley conducted further exploration of the harbour and surrounding countryside in November 1823. Oxley was dismissive of the region, noting the harbour was difficult to enter, the countryside was too dry, and the timber useless for construction purposes.
  Nevertheless, in 1847 the British attempted to establish the new colony of North Australia at Port Curtis. Colonel George Barney was chosen to lead this experiment in colonisation and his expedition was eventful. On 25 January 1847, the Lord Auckland, carrying 87 soldiers and convicts, arrived off the southern entrance of Port Curtis and promptly ran aground on shoals off the southern tip of Facing Island. The settlers spent seven weeks on the island before being rescued by the supply ship Thomas Lowry and delivered the intended site of settlement, the region now known as Barney Point. On 30 January at a proclamation ceremony, Barney was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor of the colony of North Australia. The convict settlement lasted barely two months and cost the Imperial government £15,000. A change of government in Britain ordered the withdrawal of Barney and the settlers. However, interest in the region remained.
  By 1853, Francis MacCabe was surveying the site of a new town on the shores of Port Curtis under the protection of several detachments of Native Police. Maurice O'Connell was appointed government resident the following year, resulting in an influx of free settlers as land became available throughout the region.
  Gladstone State School opened on 1 April 1861 and is one of the oldest state primary schools in Queensland. On 14 November 1968 its name was changed to be Gladstone Central State School.
  In 1863, the town became a Municipality with Richard Hetherington elected Gladstone's first mayor. The fledgling town was named after the British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone and has a 19th-century marble statue on display in its town museum.
  Development of Gladstone was slow until 1893 when a meatworks was established at Parsons Point.
  Parson's Point Provisional School opened on 1 August 1898, becoming Parson's Point State School on 1 February 1913. The school was relocated and renamed Gladstone South State School in 1945.
  On 2 March 1949, a major cyclone hit Gladstone, resulting in extensive damage to the town.
  Gladstone State High School opened on 2 February 1953.
  In 1963, Queensland Alumina Limited established its alumina refinery on the site of the old meatworks. Gladstone's port facilities were expanded and the city launched into an era of industrial development and economic prosperity.
  Gladstone West State School opened on 24 January 1966.
  Rosella Park State School was opened on 17 May 1971.
  Clinton State School opened on 29 January 1974.
  Toolooa State High School opened on 27 January 1981.
  Kin Kora State School opened on 9 October 1981.
  In 1985 the Gladstone Christian Community School opened as a primary school operated by the Gladstone Baptist Church. In 1998, it changed its name to Trinity College. From 2013 it offered classes from Prep to Year 12.
  St Stephens Lutheran College opened in 1998, but closed at the end of 2016. The school had lost 20% of its enrolment due to families moving away to find work, leaving only 216 students in classes ranging from Prep to Year 12 making it no longer viable to operate the school.
  The Gladstone Library building opened in 2003.
caption: Ships moored at the docks at Gladstone, c.  1868
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