Towns in Australia

Exploring Australia, town by town

Harrisville QLD

Harrisville

Postcode: 4307

A small town with a population of about 500, Harrisville lies just a few kilometres off the highway linking Boonah and Ipswich in south-east Queensland.

The town takes its name from a pioneer farmer and life is not much different today to when the first settlers began tilling the land in the late 1800s.

The locals are still planting and harvesting crops such as potatoes, raising a few head of cattle, and milking dairy herds.

The big change, of course, has come with sealed and multi-laned roads which have made it so much easier to travel to Ipswich and Brisbane and south-west to the towns of the scenic rim, such as Boonah and Warwick and the rainforest parks of the border ranges.

Along with so many Queensland towns, Harrisville has boasted a Royal Hotel since the early days of settlement. The first Royal burnt down in 1920 when the existing hotel was built. The ‘new’ Royal’s veranda looks directly along the Harrisville main street and is a popular watering hole and meeting place for the locals.