Murgon
Postcode: 4605
Murgon is a town in Queensland, Australia. It is situated on the Bunya Highway 270 kilometres north-west of the state capital, Brisbane.
Murgon is in the region of Queensland known as the South Burnett, the southern part of the Burnett River catchment. Attractions of Murgon include wine-making, fishing on the nearby Bjelke-Petersen Dam and gem-fossicking.
Murgon is also close to a famous fossil site. The Murgon Fossil Site is the only fossil site with a diverse vertebrate fauna dating from 55 million years ago to ten million years ago.
Industries include peanuts, dairy farming, beef and cattle production and wine.
The Indigenous Australian settlement of Cherbourg is just south of Murgon.
In 1969 the former Logan Road (Brisbane) tramway electrical substation, was dismantled and rebuilt in Murgon. This unusual link to Brisbane’s tram system is located at the southern end of the town’s railway station.
The naming of the town was a typical exercise in guesswork. Murgon probably means either ‘spring’, ‘lily-covered pond’ or a specific variety of lily in the language of one of the local Aboriginal groups. Mistakes rather than guesses are the problem in Cherbourg’s case. Intended as ‘Chirbury’ it was, through a series of errors, changed firstly to ‘Cherberg’ and later to ‘Cherbourg’.
We share borders with the Shires of Kilkivan, Wondai, Gayndah and the Aboriginal community of Cherbourg and cover an area of 665 sq. km
At 30 June 2005 Murgon Shire’s estimated population was 3,753 and by 2026 this is forecast to expand to 4,757 – a 26% increase.