But when Queensland
was officially separated from New South Wales in December 1859, with Brisbane in its
south-east corner as capital, the pattern was set for unsuccessful attempts by Rockhampton
and Townsville to achieve autonomy for their rich mineral and pastoral regions.
On a positive note, however, independence has benefited the city. Queensland had a much higher degree of devolution at the time than
, with three administrative divisions already established. As far as Sydney, the government sent
,
temporary hospitals, customs and courts for the demolished buildings,
,
officials to manage them, and surveyors to lay out and name the streets. Wiseman, who graduated from Oxford
, proposed the first part as a rock pub symbol at the top of the
Navigator, and "Hampton" as a traditional English name for a town near water.
his independence as a civic leader transformed Rockhampton from a "dusty cow town" into the beautiful
supply town, the beautiful
theatre, named after someone else, Pilbeam, and a gallery of art with one of the finest collections of Australian art anywhere. . regional gallery,
He also finished closing the road to the summit of Mount Archer, which, like most of his accomplishments, was built at no additional cost to the taxpayer. The Federal referendum was used as “a red herring” to confuse the voters of
Central and North Queensland. This began with the Separation Movement in the nineteenth century
and has been raised from time to time during the twentieth century by the New States
Movement.
