EMERALD

Central Highlands Region

Emerald takes its name from the pastoral run Emerald Downs, a name chosen circa 1860 by pastoralist Peter Fitzallan Macdonald

• The town was established in 1879 as a base for the Central line railway from Rockhampton.
• Rapid grownth in the 1980s and 1990s was due to major new coal mines in the Bowen Basin.