Timeline – North-west Queensland

1901-1950 | 1951-2000

1901 Australia becomes a nation and Qld, previously a colony, is now a state.

W.E. Cameron discovers fossil bones at Riversleigh, 250km north-west of Mount Isa. The fossil deposits are among the richest and most extensive in the world.

1902 Great drought ends after seven years.

1903 First section of the Hughenden-Richmond railway opens.

1905 Abnormally high world consumption of copper. State Government decides to extend the Townsville-Richmond railway to Julia Creek, and then to Cloncurry, to support the copper industry.

1908 The town of Julia Creek is formed after the railway arrives.

First train arrives in Cloncurry.

1913 Bitter industrial dispute severely interrupts production on the Cloncurry copper fields.

1916 Cloncurry mining fields are the biggest source of copper in the Commonwealth.

1917 Massive flood hits the Hughenden district.

1919 Influenza epidemic kills hundreds.

1920 Shipping disputes delay supplies of fuel, machinery parts and explosives to the Cloncurry copper fields and prevent access to markets. This eventually ends the Cloncurry copper industry.

1922 Qantas' first paying passenger, 87-year-old Alexander Kennedy, touches down to a big reception in Cloncurry after a 5 1/2-hour journey from Longreach.

1923 John Campbell Miles discovers silver-lead carbonate ore in a low range and names his prospecting leases Mount Isa.

1924 William Corbould goes to Sydney to raise capital for floating a Mount Isa company. In early January, Mount Isa Mines Limited is launched with $100,000 in cash.

1925 The Government passes a Railway Bill to extend the line from Duchess to Mount Isa.

Gold production ends in Croydon.

1927 John Flynn and George Simpson survey the outback by car, arriving at Cloncurry in late July. In October, Flynn announces that the Australian Inland Mission will establish a one-year experimental aerial medical service with Cloncurry as its base.

Corbould convinces Leslie John Urquhart, an international mining financier, to back Mount Isa, giving the mine the capital to survive.

1928 The Flying Doctor Service starts its first run in May when Arthur Affleck flies 'Victory', with Dr Welch aboard, from Cloncurry to Julia Creek to perform two operations at the local nursing home.

1929 Alfred Traeger, right, who has been perfecting his pedal radio, goes to Cloncurry to establish a mother station and six transmitters on outlying homesteads.

First train pulls into Mount Isa.

1930 Even though more capital is raised by Mount Elliott mines in 1929 to reopen the Cloncurry mines, the field is abandoned.

1931 Production starts at Mount Isa, with the plant producing 3350 tonnes of crude lead each month.

The complete skeleton of a 100 million-year-old prehistoric marine reptile, Kronosaurus Queenslandicus, is discovered on Army Downs, near Richmond.

1932 14,000 pounds stolen from two banks in Cloncurry.

1935 Aborigines from Turn Off Lagoon Police District are sent to Mornington Island Presbyterian Mission for their "betterment".

1937 Voice messages, instead of Morse code, introduced throughout the Flying Doctor radio network.

Mount Isa Mines Ltd generates its first profit.

1941 Cloncurry constructs an air-raid shelter in Scarr St behind the shire hall after Japan enters World War II.

Mount Isa plans to switch production from lead to copper

1943 Mount Isa becomes an important base in the supply of military stores to the Northern Territory.

1947 Mount Isa Mines Limited pays its first dividend – 20c per $2 share.

1949 A tornado causes 30,000 pounds damage in Hughenden.

1901-1950 | 1951-2000

Timeline compiled by Helen Sartori; additional information from the Queensland Newspapers library