Mount Isa, Queensland Totally Explained

Everything about Mount Isa Queensland totally explained

Mount Isa is a city in North-West Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because the area holds vast mineral deposits. Mount Isa Mines is one of the most productive single mine in world history – based on combined production of lead, silver, copper and zinc. MIM is one of the largest producers of zinc, lead and silver and holds one of the world's largest underground mines.
With a population climbing towards 24,000 in the city and 35,500 in the district, Mount Isa is the administrative, commercial and industrial centre for the state's vast north-western region. Although situated in an arid area, the artificial Lake Moondarra 19km north of the city provides both drinking water and an area for watersports, birdwatching and recreation. Locals often refer to Mount Isa as 'The Isa'.

History

The city came into existence soon after 1923 when John Campbell Miles discovered a rich seam of silver-lead, the western edge of the Cloncurry field. Named after the Mount Ida goldfields in Western Australia, mining operations began there a year later. In 1964, the town made national headlines after the events leading to the infamous 1964 Mount Isa strike. Mount Isa was proclaimed a city in 1968 when the population has reached 18,000. The city and surrounds grew in front and around the mine to the point that by 1972, 34,000 people resided in the town. The population dropped steadily for the next three decades until a mining boom occurred.

Local Governance

The Mount Isa City Council administers an area of 42 904 km², and the town of Camooweal, located 188 km to the west, is in fact a 'suburb' of the city. Mount Isa once laid claim to being the largest city in the world by area, with a listing in the Guinness Book of World Records, even though the city of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Western Australia and the direct-controlled municipality of Chongqing in China are considerably larger.

Local Industry

Mount Isa's industry is largely dependent on mining. Xstrata Plc operates the Mount Isa Mines lease adjacent to the town, which comprises the "Enterprise" underground copper mine, X41 underground copper mine, "Black Star Open Cut" silver-lead zinc mine, and metallurgical processing facilities. Silver-lead-zinc ore is also mined 20 km to the north at Hilton from the "George Fisher" underground mine, and the adjoining "Handlebar Hill" open cut, which is trucked back to Mount Isa for processing.
Mount Isa is in the top two of largest copper mining and smelting operations in the country. Copper and lead are smelted on site, with anodes and zinc concentrate being transported 900 km to the city and port of Townsville on the east coast. The lead ingots are transported to a refinery in Britain where the silver is extracted. The mine is the most significant landmark in the area, with the stack from the lead smelter (built 1978), standing 270 m tall, visible from all parts of the city and up to 40 km out.

Culture

The local theatre group, the Mount Isa Theatrical Society, often holds plays and musicals. Also the Mount Isa Friends of the Theatre holds a musical every two years. Mount Isa also has a string orchestra and a concert band.
   Cricket, rugby, league and tennis are the most common sports but BMX, shooting, dancing and ten-pin bowling are also present.
   Mount Isa also has a cinema complex, situated in the CBD, that contains three air-conditioned cinemas, a skate park/aquatic centre and a multi-purpose sporting complex for basketball and other indoor sports. Mount Isa's events complex, Buchanan Park, opened in May 2007, can hold up to 6000 people and is used for special events such as concerts and expos. It is also the new home for the city's annual show and rodeo The city is known for its annual rodeo and Mardi Gras street parade every August. There is also an annual Multicultural Festival in early September.
   In August 2007, Mount Isa made an appearance on Andrew Denton's Enough Rope television show, as an 'on the road' special.

Famous People from Mount Isa

William Barton, Didgeridoo player
Simon Black, Australian rules footballer
Gerard Denton, cricketer
Simmone Jade Mackinnon, actress
Deborah Mailman, actress
Pat Mackie, union leader (1964/5 dispute)
Gene Miles, rugby league player
Greg Norman, golfer
Scott Prince, rugby league player
Pat Rafter, tennis player
Carl Webb, rugby league player
John White, squash player
William Sweetenham, Olympic Swimming Coach. Formerly Australia, Hong Kong and now UK.
Douglas Rees Laing, International agricultural scientist
Richard De Chazal, international fashion designer and photographer

Demographics

Mount Isa City (including Camooweal) has a estimated population of about 23,900 housed in approximately 8,968 dwellings. The population of the surrounding districts, which includes Cloncurry, Julia Creek and the Gulf is approximately 34,675.

Media

Radio

4LM 666 (commercial)

Hot FM 102.5 (commercial)

MOB FM 100.9 (commercial)

ABC North-West Queensland 106.5FM

Triple J Australia

Radio Rhema

Television

Southern Cross Seven

Imparja

SBS

ABC

Austar

Newspapers

The North West Star

- printed daily Mon-Fri

The Courier Mail

- Mon-Sat

Sunday Mail - Sun

Suburbs

Mount Isa City has fifteen residential suburbs and four industrial-bushland suburbs. The Leichhardt River divides the city into areas known as "mineside" and "townside". Xstrata, the power station and the Airport are on the mineside whilst the majority of the city, including the CBDand Base Hospital are on the townside. In recent years, with the mining boom and demand for accommodation and land causing a population increase, the city has began to spread out, with new suburbs in the south-east and north of the city in the pipeline. It is hoped these expansions will cater for a 40,000 plus population in the next ten-twenty years.

Happy Valley (mineside)

Mica Creek (mineside) - includes Mica Creek Powerhouse

Healy (townside)

Healy Heights (townside) - residential suburb currently under construction

Townview (townside)

Parkside (mineside) - Mount Isa's first and largest suburb.

Mornington (townside)

The Gap (townside)

Mount Isa City (townside) - includes main shopping centres and eateries

Mount Isa East (townside) - has own post office and shopping centres

Miles End (mineside)

Menzies (townside) - includes Buchanan Park events complex.

Pioneer (townside) - includes TAFE campus and ten-pin bowling complex

Leichhardt (mineside)

Soldiers Hill (mineside) - all streets and parks named after war locations and soldiers

Sunset (townside)

Winston (townside)

Ryan (townside) - mostly industrial, includes army and State Emergency Service barracks

Kalkadoon (mineside) - includes airport and Kalkadoon Park

Lanskey (townside)

Spreadborough (townside) - drag racing track, speedway. Mostly bushland and light industry.

Breakaway Creek(townside) - east of the main city, first when you drive in.

Transport

Mount Isa city and surrounds are serviced by a taxi service. Also, a taxi service known as "Isa-Curry" express transports passengers to and from the neighbouring centre of Cloncurry to Mt Isa and back again, usually for shopping and medical requirements. Additionally, many of the city's clubs have courtesy buses to and from their establishments that run seven days a week and into the early hours of the morning. Greyhound Australia has a depot in Mt Isa, with coach services to and from Townsville, Brisbane and Tennant Creek.
The city is served by QR passenger train The Inlander, which travels overnight to Townsville twice a week in each direction. The train offers twinette, roomette, triple bunk and coach accommodations, and has a club car for movies and food. Mount Isa Airport has regular daily services to Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns, with other services to many remote Outback communities in western Queensland. The primary carriers which service Mt Isa are Qantas, and Macair Airlines

Education

Mount Isa has eight public primary schools and three private primary schools:

Happy Valley State School

Healy State School

Townview State School

Barkly Highway State School

Central State School

Sunset State School

Mount Isa School of Distance Education

Mount Isa Special School

St Kieren's (private)

St Josephs (private)

Mount Isa Christian College

(private) And three high schools:

Good Shepherd Catholic College (private)

Mount Isa School of Distance Education

(to grade ten)

Spinifex State College (three campuses) The residential campus of Spinifex College is unique in the fact that it's the only State-run boarding-type school in Queensland. Mount Isa is also home to School of the Air, a unique way of schooling isolated students in this vast section of the country. The city also holds the main campus of the Mount Isa Institute of TAFE offering courses in a multiple range of fields, including mining, agriculture and trades. In addition, James Cook University has a presence, with the Mount Isa Centre for Rural and Remote Health in the Base Hospital complex.

Climate

Climate Table>

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Mean daily maximum temperature (°C)	36.4	35.3	34.3	31.8	27.8	24.9	24.7	27.2	31.1	34.6	36.4	37.1	31.8
Mean daily minimum temperature (°C)	23.8	23.5	21.8		13.9	10.1	8.6	10.3	14.3	18.5	21.4	23.0	17.3
Mean total rainfall (mm)	110.6	99.4	65.6	16.5	13.1	3.8	6.4	4.1	6.9	20.5	34.2	70.7	454.3
Mean number of rain days	7.8	7.3	4.2	1.5	1.2	0.5	0.6	0.6	0.8	2.5	3.9	5.7	36.6
Source: Bureau of Meteorology

Further Information

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