Dysart

Dysart, a rural town, is 240 km north-west of Rockhampton. It is a dormitory town for Saraji and Norwich Park (closed 2012) open cut coal mines and was named after the local Dysart parish and a pre-existing pastoral property. The name is of Scottish origin.

Beginning with the Saraji coal deposits in the late 1960s, the Utah conglomerate began construction of Dysart, 25 km south of the mine, in 1973. The school opened at the beginning of that year with 27 students and had 150 by the end of the year. The town's design is based on street circuits, with the Garden Plaza shopping centre in the middle. The hotel-motel, civic centre, and community centre adjoin the shops, and the town is administered by the shire.

The median personal income in Dysart was the highest in Queensland in the early 2000s, a compensation for working in a remote mining centre in long shifts. Many residents escape to coastal holiday houses.

Later improvements to the town included a swimming pool, a golf course, a bowling club, a hospital, a local newspaper, a branch shire office, a library, a community learning centre and a high school (1982). A reserve and several ovals are on the edge of the town. A new health centre was approved in 2014.

Water quality was a constant issue for the town. In 2013 the town was forced to rely on bottled water and supplies from other towns after a purifying agent clogged the treatment plant.

Dysart's census populations have been: