is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Gureng Gureng people. The Gooreng Gooreng language region includes the towns of Bundaberg, Gin Gin and Miriam Vale extending south towards Childers, inland to Monto and Mt Perry. The town takes its name from its railway station, which in turn is an Aboriginal word meaning ridgy plain. Europeans settled in the area in the late 1840s, maintaining large pastoral holdings at the northern end of the Burnett Valley. Gold unearthed along Three Moon Creek — a tributary of the Burnett River — in the 1870s attracted further settlers. The original site of the diggings, north of present-day Monto, has since been flooded by construction of Cania Dam. The township of Monto was not formally established until 1924 in which year the post office opened. Norton Diggings Provisional School opened circa 1881 and is believed to have been repositioned circa 1892 and renamed Norton Goldfield Provisional School. It closed circa 1903 but reopened in 1904 as Norton Provisional School, but then closed in 1907. Monto State School opened on 25 January 1926. St Therese's Catholic Primary School was opened on 5 February 1940 by the Presentation Sisters. With dwindling gold reserves, Monto turned its economy towards farming and logging, two of the region's major industries today. Deposits of thermal coal and limestone have been discovered in the shire. Monto State High School opened on 28 January 1964. At the 2006 census, Monto had a population of 1,159. The town was the administrative centre of Monto Shire until its amalgamation in 2008 into the new North Burnett Region local government area.
Monto State School is a government primary school for boys and girls at 3 Leichhardt Street. In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 110 students with 9 teachers and 11 non-teaching staff. Monto State High School is a government secondary school for boys and girls at Mouatt Street. In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 159 students with 23 teachers and 19 non-teaching staff. Monto Cluster Special Education Program is a primary and secondary special education program at Monto State High School at Mouatt Street. St Therese's Catholic Primary School is a Catholic primary school for boys and girls at Rayleigh Street. In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 88 students with 9 teachers and 3 non-teaching staff.
Tourism is also a major industry in the region. Besides being a major highway town, the chief local attractions are Cania Gorge National Park and Cania Dam, north of town. Monto has also added to its attractions as being the most northerly silo art installation in Australia. Its "Three Moons" silos depict several stories of the past, including the era of gold mining, cattle mustering and The Dreamtime. It also has a mural on an old water tower.
Dairy farming
Monto was once the centre of a thriving dairy industry, with more than 400 dairy farms in the area, but deregulation in the 1990s changed that. The number of dairy farms dropped to three.
