Kenilworth

History

Dalla (also known as Dalambara and Dallambara) is a language of the Upper Brisbane River catchment, notably the Conondale Range. Dalla is part of the Duungidjawu language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Somerset Region and Moreton Bay Region, particularly the towns of Caboolture, Kilcoy, Woodford and Moore. The Mary River was known to the Aboriginals as the Numabulla and the name for the Kenilworth area being Hinka Booma. In 1842, Andrew Petrie named the river as the Wide Bay River. In 1847, that Governor Fitzroy renamed the river after his wife Mary. Richard Joseph Smith tendered to set up the first cattle run on the east bank of the Mary River in 1850. At the time Mrs Smith was reading Sir Walter Scott's novel Kenilworth and she decided to name the property after the novel. In October 1921, the Kenilworth Estate of was auctioned having been subdivided into town lots, dairy blocks and grazing blocks. Up to £30 was paid for a town lot while the dairy blocks fetched up to £18 per acre and grazing blocks up to £7 per acre, realising a total of £46,000 from the sale overall. Other settlers arrived in 1891 originally intending to grow small crops. There was a ready market at the goldfields in Gympie but after the floods of 1893, 1895 and 1898 had wiped out their crops, most ventured into dairying and pig breeding. In 1901, the Kenilworth Farmers' Association was formed and, in 1907, they built the Kenilworth Farmers Assembly Hall. This later housed a library and hosted dances. In 1905, the Association was responsible for establishing a co-operative butter factory which opened in Caboolture in 1907. Kenilworth Post Office opened by 1926 (a receiving office had been open from 1896). The first store was opened in Kenilworth…

Geography

Kenilworth is in the heart of the Mary Valley area of the Sunshine Coast. It is a rural area, about from the coast, with dairy farming as the major industry. The western part of the locality is within the Conondale National Park while the northern part of the locality is within Imbil State Forest. In the south-west is the Walli State Forest. Maleny–Kenilworth Road enters from the south-west, and Obi Obi Road enters from the south-east.

Most recent

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