North Burnett Regional Council, immediately west of Bundaberg Regional Council, was formed in 2008 by the amalgamation of Biggenden, Eidsvold, Gayndah, Monto, Mundubbera and Perry Shires. The Council is headquartered in Gayndah, its largest town. Gayndah is on the Burnett River.

A recipient of many tributaries, the Burnett River rises in the Monto district and flows in a U-shaped course through Mundubbera and Gayndah, emptying into the sea at Bundaberg.

North Burnett Regional Council's eastern boundary is about 60 km from Bundaberg, and it extends westwards about 150 km, nearly to Cracow. Eidsvold, a small town, is about in the middle of the regional council's area, but the population centres are nearer the east in Gayndah and Mundubbera. Monto, in the north, is the second largest town.

The locations of the six former shires were as follows:

PerryNorth-east
BiggendenEast
GayndahSouth-east
MundubberaSouth-west
EidsvoldWest
MontoNorth-west

Their areas, populations and administrative centres were:

ShireArea (sq km)Population
(2006)
Administration Centre
and
Population
(2006)
Perry2359431Mount Perry (169)
Biggenden13161565Biggenden (664)
Gayndah27092788Gayndah (1745)
Mundubbera41932117Mundubbera (1053)
Eidsvold4809859Eidsvold (459)
Monto43222434Monto (1159)
Totals19,70810,194 

The North Burnett Regional Council has an L-shaped railway, running west from Maryborough and then north to Monto. Its dates of construction were Biggenden (1891), Gayndah (1907), Mundubbera (1914) and Monto (1928). Three years later Monto was connected northwards by rail to Gladstone. Earliest of all was a line from Bundaberg to the mining town of Mount Perry (1884-1960).

In all the former shires, agriculture was the leading employment sector. Beef-cattle grazing was the main industry in all the shires, but there was substantial orcharding (fruit and nuts) in Eidsvold, Gayndah and Mundubbera Shires. All were on the Burnett River. Biggenden, closer to the coast, had dairying as well as orcharding. The Cania Gorge water storage (1983) and the Three Moon Creek groundwater system upstream of Monto irrigate cereals and fodder, and provide water for livestock and town supply. The former Perry Shire had employment in mining as well as cattle grazing.

The North Burnett Regional Council census populations have been:

census datepopulation
201110,143

Biggenden, Eidsvold, Gayndah, Monto, Mundubbera and Perry Shire entries

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