Raglan

History

The region was first declared as the County of Raglan and opened for British pastoral squatting in January 1854. The name Raglan was in honour of Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, First Baron Raglan (1788-1855), first Commander in Chief British Army in Crimea. A participant later wrote that the ammunition they used during the attack had become exhausted and that they had to use their rifles as clubs. Many of the Aboriginal people were killed or terribly wounded but no casualties were recorded amongst Murray's group. The creek where this occurred was named Hourigan's Creek after the man who fired the first shot of the massacre. This shot was at "a huge savage who [was] seen to get up and stretch himself," the rest of the Aboriginal camp still being asleep. An early resident of Raglan recorded that when he first came to the area he noticed that "the skulls of black warriors...had been made into an ornamental border for a large flower bed in the garden" of the homestead of Raglan Station. Raglan was established as a pastoral sheep station in 1857 by William Landsborough who held it for several years before selling it on. Gold was found in Raglan in 1867. In August 1867 a nugget of gold was found. Described as "a monster", it was long and wide, weighing and worth £1,400. There were around 300 gold diggers active at the Raglan goldfield at that time. Raglan Creek Provisional School opened on 4 August 1879, but closed on 31 October 1879. It reopened on 5 March 1883, and became Raglan Creek State School on 1 January 1909. In 1911 it was renamed Raglan State School. The school closed on 13 December 1996. The school was at 18 Langmorn Street (). It was located on or near Hourigan Creek Road (approx ).

Geography

The town of Raglan is located in the north of the locality. It is on Raglan Creek, which flows into Keppel Bay. The locality contains the following mountains: * King Solomon Spur () * Marble Mountain () * Mount Alma () * Mount Bennett () * Mount Bomboolba () * Mount Despair () * Mount Erebus () * Mount Holly () * Mount Wendy () These ranges are a significant source of marble and calcite, and the South Ulam mine is located there. The Bruce Highway enters the locality from the east (Ambrose), passes through the town along Raglan Street, and exits to the north-west (Marmor). The North Coast railway line runs roughly parallel and north of the highway and passes through the locality with the following stations (from east to west): * Epala railway station () *Amos railway station (), now abandoned *Raglan railway station () serving the town Amos is a neighbourhood in the locality () in the vicinity of the Amos railway station. There are two airstrips in the locality: * Mt Bennett station airstrip ()

Most-observed species

• Torresian Crow

  Corvus orru Bonaparte, 1850 · Aves
  432
• Willie-wagtail

  Rhipidura leucophrys (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  420
• Red-backed Fairywren

  Malurus melanocephalus (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  404
• Australian Pipit

  Anthus australis Vieillot, 1818 · Aves
  350
• Golden-headed Cisticola

  Cisticola exilis (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827) · Aves
  331
• Pacific Black Duck

  Anas superciliosa J.F.Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  295
• Whistling Kite

  Haliastur sphenurus (Vieillot, 1818) · Aves
  286
• Masked Lapwing

  Vanellus miles (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  268