Imbil

History

The town takes its name from the Imbil pastoral run which was named 1857 by the pastoralists Clement Francis Lawless and Paul Lawless. Imbil is a Kabi word referring to the bamboo vine, and is also used to refer to a lagoon below the Imbil station house. The town was established in 1868 at the start of the gold rush in the area. In 1887, of land were resumed from the Imbil pastoral run. The land was offered for selection for the establishment of small farms on 17 April 1887. The first Imbil post office opened on 9 July 1870 and closed in 1872. The second office opened in 1877 and closed in 1907. The third office opened by 1919. Imbil Provisional School opened on 19 July 1897. Due to fluctuating student numbers, it closed and reopened a number of times before closing in 1911. In 1915 it reopened as Imbil State School. On 30 January 1962 a secondary school section was added. On 30 November 2002 it was renamed Mary Valley State College. The opening of the Mary Valley branch railway line (now the Mary Valley Rattler) in 1914 brought a second surge of development to the town. Imbil United Protestant Church was built at 3 Elizabeth Street () by the Congregational Church with an official opening on Thursday 15 May 1919 by Reverend Stanley Morrison, the President of the Congregational Union. In 1940 it was sold to the Methodist Church for £125, becoming Imbil Methodist Church. Christ Church Anglican was dedicated on Wednesday 28 May 1924 by Archbishop Gerald Sharp. Its closure circa 2018 was approved by Bishop Jeremy Greaves. It is located at 88 Yabba Road (). On Saturday 13 November 1926 William Lennon, the Queensland Lieutenant-Governor, officially opened the Imbil Memorial School of Arts, which was built by the Imbil sub-branch of the R.S.S.I.L.A. to commemorate…

Geography

Imbil is in the Wide Bay–Burnett district in the Mary River valley, north of the state capital, Brisbane.

Most-observed species

• Lewin's Honeyeater

  Meliphaga lewinii (Swainson, 1837) · Aves
  2,096
• Torresian Crow

  Corvus orru Bonaparte, 1850 · Aves
  1,662
• Eastern Whipbird

  Psophodes olivaceus (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  1,634
• Bar-shouldered Dove

  Geopelia humeralis (Temminck, 1821) · Aves
  1,520
• Laughing Kookaburra

  Dacelo novaeguineae (Hermann, 1783) · Aves
  1,447
• Rainbow Lorikeet

  Trichoglossus haematodus (Linnaeus, 1771) · Aves
  1,429
• Australasian Figbird

  Sphecotheres vieilloti Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 · Aves
  1,424
• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  1,326

Most recent

• M 4.9 — 2025-08-15
  12 km ESE of Cherbourg, Australia