CALLIDE VALLEY

valley in eastern Queensland, Australia, a southeast-northwest corridor extending for 70 miles (110 km) west of the Calliope Range. Its principal settlement is Biloela. Cotton, grains, and dairy pastures are irrigated from subartesian sources and dams on the seasonal Callide Creek. The economic importance of the valley lies in its substantial deposits (discovered in 1890) of bituminous coal. Opencut mining, centred on the towns of Callide and Biloela, began in 1948; the coal supplies a local electric power station and is also shipped to the port city of Gladstone.