Central West (includes Gladstone and Rockhampton)

In this section:

• Overview
• Accommodation
• Health
• Education
• Transport
• Cultural facilities
• Related links

Overview

Population	Over 200,000 people
Area	Over 460,000 square kilometres
Sub-regions	Rockhampton and the Capricorn Coast Gladstone Central Highlands Central West
Key infrastructure	3 base-load power stations—around half of Queensland’s electricity generation capacity Transport infrastructure—road, rail and seaport access, and several regional airports Extensive water infrastructure World-class industrial research facilities
Main industry	Manufacturing Engineering Industrial services

Accommodation

• Rockhampton
• modern-style houses and apartments
• traditional wooden ’Queenslander‘ houses
• Gladstone
• 4-bedroom brick-and-tile houses (new estates)
• older, elevated Queenslanders with wide verandas
• weatherboard high-set homes
• smaller number of units/apartments
• Central West
• weatherboard and fibre-cement houses
• Queenslanders

Health

• Major public hospital and 2 private hospitals—Rockhampton
• 10 smaller hospitals—Baralaba, Biloela, Moura, Theodore, Blackwater, Emerald, Springsure, Mount Morgan, Woorabinda and Yeppoon

Education

Small schools are common in the region. The School of the Air offers custom education for children unable to reach a mainstream school.

Post-secondary study

• Central Queensland University— Rockhampton, Gladstone, Emerald
• Central Queensland Institute of TAFE—Longreach, Barcaldine, Gladstone, Rockhampton, Emerald, Blackwater, Yeppoon
• Australian Agricultural College
• Open Learning Institute—Longreach

Transport

• Air
  • Rockhampton—major airport with 12 flights a day to Brisbane and 4 flights a week to Sydney
  • Airports at Gladstone, Longreach, Barcaldine, Blackall, Barcaldine, Bedourie
• Rail
  • Rockhampton to Brisbane (6–7 hours)—daily Tilt Train service
  • Gladstone to Brisbane (less than 6 hours)—Tilt Train service
  • Longreach to Brisbane stopping at Jericho, Barcaldine and Ilfracombe (Queensland Rail)—twice-weekly passenger service
  • The 'Spirit of the Outback' passenger service terminates at Longreach with a bus service to Winton.
• Road
  • National and state highways run through the region.
  • Greyhound Australia (coach) services all towns on the Warrego and Landsborough Highways between Brisbane, Charleville, Longreach and Mount Isa, Rockhampton (daily departures).
  • Aramac and Muttaburra have no regular public transport. Barcaldine is the nearest town for public transport.

Cultural facilities

• Urban, coastal and rural lifestyle and recreation
• History and heritage tourism—Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre
• Natural attractions—Lark Quarry (historic fossil site), Carnarvon Gorge, the Gem Fields, the Capricorn Caves, and Curtis and Capricorn coasts
• Heron and Lady Musgrave islands, beaches and national parks

Related links

• Rockhampton Regional Council
• Gladstone Regional Council
• Longreach Regional Council (includes Ilfracombe and Isisford)
• Economic Development in Regional Queensland