The northern half of the locality of Westwood is in Rockhampton region while the southern part is in the Shire of Banana.[5]
Westwood is 50 kilometres (31 mi) southwest of the city of Rockhampton. The town of Westwood consists of a handful of houses, a hotel, and a police station.
The town is in the south-east of the locality with two other neighbourhoods in the north-east of locality
Huxham (23°36′00″S 150°10′00″E / 23.6°S 150.1666°E / -23.6; 150.1666 (Huxham (neighbourhood))). It takes its name from the Huxham railway station, which in turn was named on 21 August 1919 by the Queensland Railways Department after John Saunders Huxham, the Home Secretary of Queensland.[6]
Spring Creek (23°35′00″S 150°10′00″E / 23.5833°S 150.1666°E / -23.5833; 150.1666 (Spring Creek (neighbourhood)))[7]
The predominant land use is grazing on native vegetation.[5]
History
Old Westwood railway stationWestwood School, claimed to be the oldest schoolhouse in Central Queensland, 1930Front and rear views of the new state sanitorium at Westwood, June 1919
On 29 September 1867, the first stage of the Great Northern Railway (now known as the Central Western Line) reached the area from Rockhampton, and Westwood became the railhead.[9] The first load of wool was railed from the town on 23 August.
Westwood State School opened on 26 August 1872.[10][11]
A Protestant church opened in Westwood on Thursday 2 October 1873.[12]
The town was meant to be the railhead for only a short time. However, bureaucracy and financial difficulties for the state meant that the next section of the line did not commence construction until 1873. The significance of Westwood declined when the railhead moved further west.
On Saturday 6 September 1919, John Huxham, the Queensland Home Secretary opened the Westwood Sanatorium,[13][14] a 64-bed sanitorium was opened in Westwood to treat miner's phthisis,[15] a lung disease suffered by miners from working in dusty conditions. Later, it treated patients with tuberculous. In 1953, a ¾ mile bitumen road was built from the Huxham railway siding (just to the north of Westwood) to the sanitorium and named Haigh Drive in memory of Leonard Garfield Haigh, the former chairman of the Rockhampton Hospitals Board from 2 June 1933 to 16 February 1953. Commencing with a tiled-roof waiting shed at the siding with a plaque commemorating Haigh, the drive to the sanitorium was flanked with Peltophorum trees and was officially opened by James Larcombe (MLA for Rockhampton) in the presence of Haigh's widow on Sunday 1 November 1953.[16][17] More effective medical treatments for tuberculous resulted in the closure of the sanitorium in 1959, but the building continued to be used as a nursing home until the 1980s. The sanitorium buildings were then relocated or demolished; one is in use as a private home in Emerald.[18]
In 1996, Westwood held its first Anzac Day ceremony at its new memorial which was dedicated the same day.[19] The event, organised by the Westwood Progress Association, was attended by approximately 80 people including official guests Fitzroy Shire mayor Mary Seierup, state MP Jim Pearce and federal MP Paul Marek.[20] Fitzroy Shire councillor Vince Reynolds was the master of ceremonies while Uniting Church pastor Dorothy Demack served as the worship leader.[20]
Westwood was in the Shire of Fitzroy until local government amalgamations in 2008 resulted in it being in the Rockhampton Region.[21]
Demographics
In the 2006 census, the locality of Westwood and the surrounding area had a population of 253 people.[22]
In the 2011 census, the locality of Westwood had a population of 240 people.[23]
In the 2016 census, the locality of Westwood had a population of 174 people.[24]
In the 2021 census, the locality of Westwood had a population of 199 people.[1]
Westwood State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 108 Herbert Street (23°37′02″S 150°09′16″E / 23.6173°S 150.1545°E / -23.6173; 150.1545 (Westwood State School)).[26][27] In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 13 students with 2 teachers (1 full-time equivalent) and 4 non-teaching staff (2 full-time equivalent).[28] In 2022, the school had 20 students.[29]
^"Huxham – locality unbounded in Rockhampton Regional (entry 16551)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
^"Spring Creek – locality unbounded in Rockhampton Regional (entry 39319)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
^"Westwood celebrates its place in Queensland's 150 year history". statements.qld.gov.au. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
^"THE DOCK WAREHOUSES". Rockhampton Bulletin. Vol. XIII, no. 1859. Queensland, Australia. 2 October 1873. p. 2. Retrieved 4 December 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
^"WESTWOOD SANATORIUM". The Capricornian. Vol. 44, no. 36. Queensland, Australia. 6 September 1919. p. 31. Retrieved 13 November 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Westwood Sanatorium on its opening day 1919". Australian Country Hospital Heritage Association. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
^"Westwood Sanatorium". The Telegraph. No. 14, 597. Queensland, Australia. 8 September 1919. p. 7 (SECOND EDITION). Retrieved 13 November 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Westwood Sanatorium on opening day 1919". www.achha.org.au. Archived from the original on 29 February 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
^"Westwood War Memorial". Monument Australia. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
^ a bSalecich, Judith (22 April 2017). "Remembering Westwood's first Anzac Day ceremony (1996)". Love in a little black diary. Archived from the original on 13 June 2021. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
^"Fitzroy Shire". Queensland Places. University of Queensland. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
^Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "Westwood (Fitzroy Shire) (State Suburb)". 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 25 July 2009.