Harrisville, Queensland

Harrisville Queensland
File:Dugandan railway line cutting at Harrisville.jpg Former Dugandan railway line, 2009
Harrisville
Coordinates
Population	427 (2011 census)
Postcode(s)	4307
LGA(s)	Scenic Rim Region
State electorate(s)	Lockyer
Federal Division(s)	Wright
Localities around Harrisville: Coleyville Mutdapilly Peak Crossing Warrill View Harrisville Peak Crossing Limestone Ridges Wilsons Plains Milora Wilsons Plains Limestone Ridges

Harrisville is a town in the Scenic Rim Region of Queensland, Australia. At the 2011 Australian Census Harrisville recorded a population of 427. Warrill Creek, a tributary of the Bremer River, passes through the western parts of the town.

History

The town is believed to be named after brothers John Harris (1819–1895) and George Harris (1831–1891) who had a store and cotton ginnery in the area. Cotton was a valuable crop at that time as the American Civil War had created a worldwide shortage.

The area formed part of the old Mount Flinders sheep station established by William Wilson (and his brother Robert) around 1844, soon after the Moreton Bay penal colony closed. Some of the land from this station became available to selectors in December 1860 with provision of the Ipswich Agricultural Reserve. In 1863 Robert Dunn selected a portion from this Reserve, from which the Harris brothers purchased their land in 1870.

Prior to this settlement and others throughout the Moreton region, a survey baseline of 3 miles (4.8 km) in 1839 was marked out on the floodplain, then known as Normanby Plains, which now forms part of Harrisville, together with Wilsons Plains and Radford to the south. It was supervised by the surveyor Robert Dixon as the basis of a trigonometrical survey starting with Flinders Peak to the east and Mount Walker (then Mount Forbes) to the west, which began the accurate interior mapping of Queensland. A monument to this work "In the Steps of Our Forefathers" is situated just west of the Harrisville township on the Warrill View – Peak Crossing Road, along where the baseline passed.

Harrisville Post Office opened on 1 August 1873 (a receiving office had been open from 1871).

Queensland's first branch railway line reached Harrisville in 1882. A private hospital operated from 1911 until 1973.

Heritage listings

Harrisville has the following heritage sites:

• 13 Church Street: Courthouse and Police Lock-up
• 5 Hall Street: School of Arts
• 16 Hall Street: Masonic Hall
• 34 Queen Street: Commercial Hotel
• 35 Queen Street: Former Royal Bank
• 43-47 Queen Street: Memorial Park
• 54-58 Queen Street: Sacred Heart Catholic Church
• 1-5 Wholey Drive: Royal Hotel

Community

The Harrisville Historical Society maintains a museum in Queen Street which includes a rain-gun used during the 1902 drought.

The centenary of Harrisville was celebrated in 1963 with a street parade and centenary ball organised by the Harrisville Centenary Celebrations Committee. In 2013 Harrisville commemorated 150 years with a street procession and unveiling of a plaque by the Governor of Queensland.