Pentland
Located on Gudjal country between Hughenden and Charters Towers on the Flinders Highway and the Great Northern railway line, the locality of Pentland encompasses the former Cape River goldfield, identified by Queensland government geologist Richard Daintree in 1867.
Although the Cape River field attracted many diggers at its short-lived peak, more lucrative discoveries at Ravenswood, Charters Towers, and the Palmer River proved more attractive. By 1873, twenty thousand diggers had become thirty.
The goldfield's centre was Capeville, ten kilometres northwest of modern-day Pentland, which developed as a telegraph office (1880 to 1884) that became Bett's Creek Post Office (October 1884) when the Great Northern Railway reached the settlement. It was renamed Pentland in 1885.
Pentland's Meatworks (a.k.a. Cape River Meatworks) opened in 1943 to meet the needs of Australian and American forces passing through North Queensland during World War II. After several postwar changes of ownership, the meatworks eventually closed in September 1989.
Changes to administrative arrangements saw the locality of Pentland expanded to include the former localities of The Cape, Buchanan and Torrens Creek in 2009.
Links to add:
Buchanan
Cape River goldfield
Cape River Meatworks
Capeville
Charters Towers
Flinders Highway
Great Northern Railway
Gudjal
Hughenden
Palmer River
Ravenswood
The Cape
Torrens Creek
