Traveston is a rural locality on the North Coast railway, midway between Gympie and Pomona. It was probably named after Traverston pastoral run (1857).
Much of Traveston is low-lying country, but productive for dairy herds. Above the flat country there were good forest timbers. Most early occupations at Traveston were dairy-farm selectors and teamsters.
A primary school was opened in 1869 and two years later Traveston's first notable building was erected. The Gympie mines explosives magazine was considered to be too close to the town, and it was transferred to the Traveston rail siding. Gympie's gold discoverer, James Nash, saw out some of his last years as caretaker of the magazine. After World War I the magazine was modified to become the Traveston memorial hall.
There is no recorded mishap from the explosives, but on 9 June 1923, Queensland's second worst railway disaster happened when a train plunged off a trestle bridge near Traveston, killing ten people and injuring 48 others. The station platform remains at Traveston, with an almost original passenger shelter deserving of care and attention.
Traveston's school closed in 1967, as did another to the south-west at Coles Creek (1891-1961). Directly west, about eight km from Traveston, there is Traveston Crossing on the Mary River. It is also low-lying, and was the site of a proposed dam for urban water supplies. The project was stopped on environmental grounds in November 2009.
Traveston's census populations have been:
Census Date | Population |
---|---|
1911 | 136 |
1933 | 227 |
1961 | 114 |
2006 | 735 |
2011 | 470 |