The Isis Highway passes through the locality from north-east to south, also passing through the town (where it is called Main Street). The Coalstoun Lakes National Park is in the north-east of the locality.
History
The lakes (from which the district takes its name) were named by local pioneer, Nugent Wade Brown, in 1894. There are various theories as to the origin of the name.
One is that Coalstoun is the corruption of an Aboriginal word Goanalganai.
Another theory is that the name 'Coalstoun' is a corruption of the word 'Colstoun'. Nugent Wade Brown's father, John Brown (1787–1860), emigrated to the Colony of New South Wales and established a property named Colstoun near what is now Gresford in the Hunter Valley in 1838.
Colstoun was the ancestral home of the Brown family in Scotland. Colstoun is located south of Edinburgh and remains in the Brown family. According to Queensland Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing "The lakes were named after Coalstoun in Scotland by Wade Brun, manager of nearby Ban Ban Station." There is no doubt that Nugent Wade Brown and Wade Brun were the same person. His wife, Margaret Campbell-Antill, was an aunt of Major-General John Macquarie AntillCBCMG.
Coalstoun Lakes Cemetery is believed to be older than the town itself, as its earliest surviving inscription on a grave is dated 1899.
Coalstoun Lakes State School opened on 25 July 1910.
Brigalow Creek State School opened on 3 December 1913 and closed on 1924.
Coalstoun Lakes Community Hall was originally built in 1916. After World War I, it was extended and renamed the Coalstoun Lakes Memorial Hall to commemorate those who served and died in the war.
Mount Harvey State School opened on 24 January 1921 and closed on 31 October 1948.
Coalstoun Lakes Post Office opened on 1 July 1927 (a receiving office had been open from 1910) and closed in 1976.
On 31 July 1932 ArchbishopJames Duhig opened the Catholic church in Coalstoun Lakes.
St Thomas' Anglican Church was dedicated on 30 December 1934 by Bishop Horace Henry Dixon.
Demographics
In the 2011 census, the locality of Coalstoun Lakes had a population of 423 people.
In the 2016 census, the locality of Coalstoun Lakes had a population of 114 people.
In the 2021 census, the locality of Coalstoun Lakes had a population of 99 people.
Heritage listings
Coalstoun Lakes has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
corner of Glenview Street and Cemetery Road: Coalstoun Lakes Cemetery
corner of Isis Highway and Glenview Street: Coalstoun Lakes Memorial Hall
There is no secondary school in Coalstoun Lakes. The nearest secondary schools are Biggenden State School (to Year 10) in neighbouring Biggenden to the north-east and Burnett State College (to Year 12) in Gayndah to the west.
^"Colstoun". Colstoun House, Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland. 2018. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 6 December 2019. Colstoun is also the Ancestral Home of the Broun Family.
^Premier Postal History. "Post Office List". Premier Postal Auctions. Archived from the original on 15 May 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
^"Around Australia". The Southern Cross. Vol. XLIV, no. 2213. South Australia. 26 August 1932. p. 2. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2021 – via National Library of Australia.