Moranbah is a coal mining town and locality in the Isaac Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Moranbah had a population of 8,735 people. In addition to the permanent population, Moranbah also has a large fly-in fly-out population working in Moranbah's mines: in excess of 1,500. Geography The Peak Downs Highway between Mackay and Clermont passes through the south of the locality; the town is north of the highway via the Moranbah Access Road. Moranbah Airport is also on the Moranbah Access Road, by road of the town (). Climate Moranbah experiences a subtropical semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSh, Trewartha: BSal/BShl) with hot summers with moderate precipitation and mild, dry winters. History The first European to explore the region was Ludwig Leichhardt in January 1845, and the area was first settled by pastoralists in the 1850s. Moranbah was established in 1969. The town was rapidly expanded in the late 1970s by the Utah Development Company to house mine workers. It has been featured twice (once in 1977 and again in 2012) on Four Corners, an investigative news program, exploring the effects of Australia's various mining booms on local rural communities. Moranbah State School opened on 1 January 1971 with a secondary department, which became Moranbah State High School on 25 January 1976. Moranbah East State School opened on 27 January 1981. Moranbah Post Office opened on 1 March 1971. In the , the locality of Moranbah had a population of 8,965 people. In 2011, the Queensland Government's Office of Economic and Statistical Research reported Moranbah as the most expensive place to live in the state of Queensland. The study compared the cost of goods and services such as rent, electricity and household fuels in regional areas, to those in Brisbane and found Moranbah in first place with a housing index at 65 per cent higher than that of Brisbane. Since then, housing prices and accommodation rentals have returned to much more affordable levels. In the , the locality of Moranbah had a population of 8,735 people. In 2021, the town celebrated its 50th anniversary with four days of jubilee celebrations, held across the Labour Day long weekend from 30 April 2021 to 3 May 2021. The event had been earlier postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Economy Moranbah services the Peak Downs Mine, Goonyella Riverside Mine, Broadmeadow Mine, Moranbah North coal mine, North Goonyella coal mine and several