page_title: Richmond, Queensland
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Richmond, Queensland / History
caption_attribution_description: English: St John the Baptist Anglican Church Complex (2014)
context_page_description: Richmond is a town and locality in the Shire of Richmond in western Queensland, Australia. It is the administrative centre of the Richmond Shire.
context_section_description: Jirandali (also known as Yirandali, Warungu, and Yirandhali) is an Australian Aboriginal language of North-West Queensland, particularly the Hughenden area. The language region includes the local government area of the Shire of Flinders, including Dutton River, Flinders River, Mount Sturgeon, Caledonia, Richmond, Corfield, Winton, Torrens, Tower Hill, Landsborough Creek, Lammermoor Station, Hughenden, and Tangorin.
  Wanamarra (also known as Maykulan and Wunumura is an Australian Aboriginal language in North West Queensland. The language region includes areas within the Shire of McKinlay, Shire of Cloncurry and Shire of Richmond, including the Flinders River area, and the towns of Kynuna and Richmond.
  The explorer William Landsborough camped at the site that would become the town of Richmond on 13 March 1862. Explorer and former Commandant of the Native Police, Frederick Walker, had previously passed through the area in October 1861, naming and camping on the Dutton River. Both the Landsborough and Walker parties were attempting to locate the Burke and Wills expedition.
  The town was originally known as Richmond Downs after the nearby pastoral run called Richmond Downs, which in turn was named in 1864 because two of the leaseholders Walter Hays and Arthur Bundock came from the Richmond River in New South Wales.
  In 1880, gold was found at Woolgar to the north and Richmond became an important stagecoach stop en route to Woolgar.
  The town was surveyed on 9 December 1882 by surveyor Joseph Hargreaves with town lots sold from April 1883. In May 1899, the name was changed from Richmond Downs to Richmond.
  Richmond Provisional School opened on 22 May 1889 with 23 pupils, becoming Richmond State School on 27 February 1902 when it had 113 pupils.
  The Great Northern railway reached the town in June 1904. At the official celebration on 2 June 1904, it was explained that the line was the first to be built by cheaper methods by replacing the track ballast with packed earth, but the cost saving was at the expense of train speed, which was expected to be 15 miles per hour. It was hoped that cheaper methods would allow more pastoral areas to be serviced by rail with an immediate desire to connect through to Cloncurry.
  The Richmond Public Library was opened in 1996.
  At the 2006 census, Richmond had a population of 554.
  
  In the 2011 census, Richmond had a population of 522 people.
caption: St John the Baptist Anglican Church, Richmond, 2014
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