Sharon

Sharon is a rural/residential locality just north of the Burnett River, eight km west of Bundaberg. It was named after the Biblical Plain of Sharon, a fertile place between Jaffa and the south-west Carmel Range (Samarian hills). Rendered swampy in the middle ages, its reclamation by Jewish settlers began in the late nineteenth century.

Sugar planting in the Sharon district began in the early 1870s, and in 1876 an experienced producer, Henry Palmer, opened a crushing mill. The name had probably not yet been adopted, but when the railway line from Bundaberg opened in 1881 the local station was named Sharon. A primary school opened in 1883.

The post office directory (1924) recorded 27 farmers and selectors at Sharon, probably nearly all canegrowers with a few dairy farmers. There was also the one-teacher school and a postmistress who also supervised the railway station.

Sharon's proximity to Bundaberg has encouraged rural/residential acreages. In 2013, the primary school had 130 enrolments. There is a local social club, a service station on the Gin Gin Road and the Sharon Gorge nature park on the Burnett River, four km past the service station. Sharon's census populations have been: