EMERALD

town, central Queensland, Australia, on the Nogoa River, at the junction of the Capricorn and Gregory highways, 172 miles (276 km) west of Rockhampton. P.F. MacDonald, an early settler, established Emerald Downs station (ranch) in the 1860s. In the 1880s the region's economy depended largely on gemstones, which still are exploited commercially and attract amateur gem collectors. Cattle and sheep raising, together with the cultivation of numerous crops (including cotton) irrigated with water from the Fairbairn Dam, are now the basis of the town's prosperity. Brisbane lies about 570 miles (917 km) to the southeast. Pop. (1991) 6,557.