THE EASTERN HIGHLANDS are important mainly because of the mineral wealth which they contain. There is a certain amount of agriculture in the south, especially on the western slope, where within recent years the Darling Downs have become noted both for arable and pastoral farming. Wheat and other cereals are grown, and large numbers of sheep are grazed. Elsewhere in the Eastern Highlands, the conditions of climate and soil are more favourable to cattle than to sheep.
The mineral output includes gold, copper, coal, and tin. Metals occur chiefly in the older rocks, and the most important gold-mining district in Queensland at the present time is in the Archaean region in the north-east of the state. Its centre is Charters Towers, situated about eighty miles from Townsville, with which it is con nected by rail. Mount Morgan, twenty-six miles south-west of Rockhampton, and Gympie, about sixty miles from Maryborough, occupy the second and third places respectively, and the three fields taken together account for over 80 per cent. of the gold output
of Queensland. Copper is produced at Mount Morgan, which is becoming more noted for that mineral than for gold, and at Chillagoe, between the Tate and Walsh rivers. Tin is obtained in the latter district, and at Herberton in the north.
Large deposits of coal are known to exist in various localities, but, as they are generally at some distance from the coast, and do not have the facilities for export possessed by the fields of New South Wales, their development is comparatively slow. The chief mines worked at present are those round Ipswich, which is twenty three miles south-west of Brisbane, and has the advantage of being connected with the coast by the river Bremer. The coal is largely used for railways, shipping, and manufacturing industry in the coast towns.