Lower Burnett and Kolan Localities

West of Bundaberg, around the lower reaches of the Burnett and Kolan Rivers, there are several localities with intensive horticulture, orcharding and cane-growing. One or two close to Bundaberg have rural/residential acreages. The farms benefit from the Fred Haigh dam, Lake Monduran (1974) on the Kolan River, north-west of Gin Gin. Haigh was Queensland Irrigation Commissioner 1955-74. The localities are described in alphabetical order, and statistical information is in a concluding table.

Avondale, on the Kolan River and the North Coast railway line, is 24 km north-west of Bundaberg. It was probably named after a farm property. Its railway station was known as Kolan until 1931. Avondale primary school (1895) had an enrolment of 40 in 2013.

Bingera, Branyan and Bucca have their own entries.

Gooburrum is immediately north of Bundaberg North. It was also the name of a local government division (1886) and a shire (see separate entry). The origin of the name is unclear, but an Aboriginal expression concerning ibises has been suggested. The clearing of the Gooburrum scrub uncovered fertile land for sugar cane from the 1870s. In 1882 the Fairymead sugar mill opened, a kilometre or two north-east of the Gooburrum village. A primary school opened in 1884. The post office directory recorded over 70 cane farmers at Gooburrum in 1949, along with two local stores. Gooburrum has a housing estate near the Fairymead site, and other families live on acreages. Most employment is now found in Bundaberg. The Gooburrum census area is less than the suburb shown in directories, which crosses the railway line to Meadowvale (see below). According to the directories, Oakwood primary school (1924) is also in Gooburrum.

Kolan South was named after the Colanne pastoral station (1861). It is 20 km south-west of Bundaberg, on the north side of the Burnett River. Its school (1878) dates from the early scrub-clearing days for the sugar industry, and had an enrolment of 147 in 2013. Nearby there is the Mystery Craters reserve. They are sink holes, caused by tunnel erosion.

Maroondan is west of Bucca and extends to Gin Gin. The name is thought to derive from an Aboriginal word describing a goanna. The railway from Bundaberg to Mount Perry opened up the district in 1881, but it is doubtful that there was much settlement until the sugar industry was developed. The former Queensland Premier, Sir Thomas McIlwraith, owned 4000 ha of fertile black soil at Maroondan. Cane was railed direct to crushing mills near Bundaberg. The Maroondan primary school opened in 1909. It was renamed McIlwraith school, after the adjoining railway stopping place (1918). At about that time the post office directory recorded 30 farmers and selectors at Maroondan; by the early postwar years all but four of the 36 farmers were cane growers.

Meadowvale, on the North Coast railway line, is eight km north-west of Bundaberg. The name probably came about with the opening of the railway station. Queensland Archives record a primary school from c1934 to c1947. Oakwood primary school (1924) is in the Meadowvale census area (although directories put it in Gooburrum), and had an enrolment of 86 in 2013.

Moorland, on the North Coast railway line, is 20 km north-west of Bundaberg. A school opened in 1886 and was known as Greenwood and Kolan. A replacement school, named Moorland, operated from 1934 to 1975.

Sharon has its own entry.

South Bingera is between the south side of the Burnett River and the Isis Highway, south of Kolan South. It had a school (1893-1963). The Burnett River has a weir (1933) near South Bingera. It holds back tidal water and impounds fresh water for irrigation. Lake Monduran has added to irrigation reliability in the South Bingera district.

The Bingera sugar mill remains in operation, but Fairymead (north of Bundaberg) ceased in 2005.

*Only the part of Branyan in former Burnett Shire.