Proston
Postcode: 4613
Proston is a small town in Wondai Shire, Queensland, Australia. The town is located 280 kilometres north west of the state capital, Brisbane. The town was founded in 1910 with a land ballot that attracted a group of settlers from England. According to the 2001 Australian census, Proston had a population of 286.
With little access to water, early settlers struggled to maintain a living from the land. The coming of the railway in 1923 eased some of the early hardships. The creation of the nearby Lake Boondooma by damming the Boyne River to provide a source of water for Tarong Power Station solved Proston’s water problems. This also led to the development of a small tourist industry involving activities such as boating, and fishing by the lake.
The main agricultural activities in the Proston area are dairying, beef cattle and duboisia, used in the production of the drug butylscopolamine.
An unusual attraction in Proston is Sidcup Castle. The “castle” comprises seventeen rooms, five of which are hexagonal. The entire structure was built from second hand materials by Harold Douglas and designed as an exact replica of his childhood home in Sidcup, Kent.
About 150km west of Gympie, the small farmland town of Proston is the major portal to Boondooma Lake which was formed in 1980 when a dam was built across the headwaters of the Boyne River to provide irrigation and water for the Tarong power station south of Kingaroy.