new crops such as sunflower and sorghum. The Capella Hotel, on the corner of Peak Downs and Crinum Streets, was built in 1955. This was the site of the former Commercial Hotel, built in 1929, which was destroyed by fire in February 1943. The destruction of the Commercial left the town with only one other hotel and the Peak Downs Shire Council, realising the need to provide additional accommodation for visitors to the town, undertook to build the hotel as a function of local government. Several local authorities in Queensland built and ran their own licensed premises in the 1950s, including Rockhampton, Townsville and Winton. The new Capella Hotel was designed by Mr E.A. Hegvold and built by J.J. Booker and Sons at a cost of £33,000. The hotel was officially opened on 7 May 1955. The Peak Downs district was part of the Brigalow Development Scheme in the 1960s with large-scale clearing of the brigalow scrub by mechanical means. The large new farming blocks opened up by the clearing of the Brigalow lent itself to the broadland growing of grain and cereal crops, particularly sunflower and sorghum. Bulk storage facilities for these new crops was built in 1964 and the population of the district increased with new farming families. Capella saw the opening of a range of new activities and facilities, including a district agricultural show (1961), Girl Guides (1966), and a swimming pool (1969). Coal was discovered at Tieri, about 36 kilometres east of Capella, in 1982 and a large open-cut mine was developed. The mine boosted the economy of the area and the 1980s saw a number of new developments and buildings in Capella, including the Capella Cultural Centre and a pioneer village. Capella State High School opened on 23 January 1989, replacing the secondary department at Capella State School. In 2003 the security of Capella's water supply was assured by a pipeline to Tieri. At the 2006 census, the town had a population of 796. In 2008 the Shire of Peak Downs was amalgamated into the Central Highlands Regional Shire, with its seat in Emerald. At the , Capella had a population of 926 people. At the , the locality of Capella had a population of 1,010 people. Heritage listings Capella has a number of nearby heritage-listed sites, including: Lilyvale Road, Crinum: Lilyvale Stand Monument Economy Capella is a service town catering to the large coal-mining