page_title: Rockhampton
section_title: 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: Rockhampton / History / 20th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Quay Street, Rockhampton in 1912, taken from the Riverbank. The old Fitzroy River Bridge can be seen in the background.
context_page_description: Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2018 was 78,592, making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the cities of South East Queensland, and the 22nd-largest city in Australia.
  Rockhampton is one of the oldest cities in Queensland and in Northern Australia. In 1853, Charles and William Archer came across what is now also known as the Fitzroy River, which they named in honour of Sir Charles FitzRoy. The Archer brothers took up a run near Gracemere in 1855, and more settlers arrived soon after, enticed by the fertile valleys. The town of Rockhampton was proclaimed in 1858, and surveyed by Arthur F Wood and Francis Clarke, the chosen street design closely resembled the Hoddle Grid in Melbourne and consisted of a grid of wide boulevards and laneways, which was uncommon in Queensland.
  Within the year, gold was found at Canoona, and led to the first North Australian gold rush.
context_section_description: The City of Rockhampton was proclaimed in 1902. The rail connection south to Brisbane was completed in 1903, but it was not until 1921 that the northern connection to Mackay was finally completed. A railway west from Rockhampton was started in 1867 and by 1892 had reached the terminus at Longreach, 700 kilometres (430 mi) away. This further strengthened Rockhampton's role as the port for the whole of Central Queensland.
  A passenger tramway began operating on 16 June 1909, making Rockhampton the only provincial city in Queensland to have a street tramway. Purrey steam trams ran on a number of routes throughout South Rockhampton, totalling 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) of track. The discomfort of passengers riding in steam trams in a tropical climate in part led to their demise in 1939, replaced by a bus network run by the City Council.
  Strong shaking was felt in Rockhampton when the "Great Queensland Earthquake of 1918" occurred on 7 June 1918. The earthquake was felt from Mackay in the north, to Grafton in New South Wales, and west to Charleville. Estimated to have reached a 6.0 magnitude, the earthquake caused some damage to buildings including chimney stacks crumbling, plaster being dislodged from walls and ceilings, water tanks bursting and trees being uprooted.  Houses and buildings experienced considerable swaying with crockery smashing on the floor and pictures falling off walls. The 1918 earthquake remains as the largest to have ever hit Queensland since European settlement.
  Restaurant proprietors, Emanuel, William and Nicholas Economos, trading as the Economos Bros., ran their business in East Street, Rockhampton. East Street was a bustling metropolis when the brothers opened their traditional Greek café in the 1920s. Previously known as the Australian Café, the brothers renamed it the Busy Bee Café.
  During the Second World War, a US army base was established outside the city; it hosted up to 70,000 servicemen en route to action in the Pacific and New Guinea.
  On 2 March 1949, Rockhampton was severely damaged by a cyclone.
  The Fitzroy River Barrage was commissioned in 1971. The barrage has a capacity of 81,300 megalitres and holds back a lake 60 kilometres (37 mi) long. The barrage was funded by the Rockhampton City Council to provide a reliable source of water to the city, and to effectively drought proof Rockhampton. In 2002, a study showed that salinity was increasing in the Fitzroy Basin and, while only small areas of land were severely affected by salinity, urged that steps be taken to manage salinity by good irrigation practices and better management of tree clearing.
  In 1989, two bombs exploded inside the Shark Nightclub, causing injuries and extensive damage to the building. The following year, the Factory Nightclub was also damaged by a bomb. It is not known who planted the bombs.
caption: Quay Street, Rockhampton in 1912, taken from the Riverbank. The old Fitzroy River Bridge can be seen in the background.
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