Villeneuve

History

The town is named after the Villeneuve railway station, which in turn took its name from Frank Villeneuve Nicholson, owner of the property Villeneuve. Villeneuve Provisional School opened on 30 May 1887 with a new building erected in 1888 which it shared with the Anglican Church. In 1902, it was relocated to Westvale and renamed West Vale Provisional School. St Barnabas' Anglican Church was dedicated on Sunday 2 September 1888 by local rector Reverend J.F. Leighton. It occupied shared premises with the provisional school with the school room being the nave of the church with a chancel being added for church services. It closed circa 1961. A second Villeneuve Provisional School was built in 1902, which became Villeneuve State School on 1 January 1900. It closed in 1960. As a result of the creation of the Somerset Dam (completed in 1958), some of Villeneuve is now inundated.

Geography

A section of the northern boundary of Villeneuve follows the D'Aguilar Highway. The eastern and southern boundaries of the locality are the Stanley River and Lake Somerset created by the Somerset Dam impounding the Stanley River. The land use is a mix of rural residential (mostly near the lake) and grazing on native vegetation. * Royston railway station ()

Most-observed species

• Lewin's Honeyeater

  Meliphaga lewinii (Swainson, 1837) · Aves
  1,492
• Torresian Crow

  Corvus orru Bonaparte, 1850 · Aves
  1,440
• Rainbow Lorikeet

  Trichoglossus haematodus (Linnaeus, 1771) · Aves
  1,163
• Eastern Whipbird

  Psophodes olivaceus (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  1,119
• Laughing Kookaburra

  Dacelo novaeguineae (Hermann, 1783) · Aves
  1,098
• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  1,094
• Pied Currawong

  Strepera graculina (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  1,025
• Eastern Yellow Robin

  Eopsaltria australis (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  1,018

Most recent

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