Wondai is located to the south of the Bunya Highway, 241 kilometres (150 mi) north west of the state capital, Brisbane.
History
The name Wondai is believed to be an aboriginal word from the Wakawaka language derived from either watya meaning dingo (a native dog) or wandar meaning nape of the neck.
Wondai was first settled in the 1850s and closer settlement took place in the early 1900s.
Wondai Provisional School opened on 2 May 1905. On 1 January 1909, it became Wondai State School. A secondary department was added in 1964.
Wondai Methodist Church opened on Sunday 4 October 1908, being replaced by the current church building on 9 August 1914. When the Methodist Church amalgamated into the Uniting Church in Australia in 1977, it became Wondai Uniting Church.
In December 1912, a Baptist church opened in Wondai.
St Mary's Anglican Church was dedicated on Thursday 21 September 1939 by ArchbishopWilliam Wand. It replaced an earlier church.
Wondai Presbyterian Church opened in 1941.
St John-Trinity Lutheran Church was built from timber in 1950. In 1964, St John's Lutheran Church in Mondure was relocated to Wondai to become the church hall for St John-Triniity Lutheran church.
On Sunday 31 January 1954, ArchbishopJames Duhig opened the St John the Baptist Primary Catholic School in Wondai. It was operated the Presentation Sisters who already operated a convent school in Murgon. The school was always small with only two or three teachers serving there. In January 1968 it was decided that the two teachers should travel by car from the Murgon convent each day rather than operate a separate convent in Wondai. With student numbers falling below 30 and the Murgon Catholic School being only 9 miles (14 km) away, the St John's school closed at the end of 1969.
Demographics
In the 2006 census, the town of Wondai had a population of 1,402 people.
In the 2011 census, the locality of Wondai had a population of 2,127 people.
In the 2016 census, the locality of Wondai had a population of 1,973 people.
In the 2021 census, the locality of Wondai had a population of 1,975 people.
Important industries include beef, dairy, grains and duboisia, used in the production of the antispasmodic drug butylscopolamine. Growing in importance is the wine industry.
For secondary education to Year 12, the nearest schools are Murgon State High School in Murgon to the north-west or Kingaroy State High School in Kingaroy to the south.
Amenities
The South Burnett Regional Council operates a library in Wondai. The Wondai library building opened in 1962 and is located at 78 Mackenzie Street.
^"1912 Wondai". Baptist Church Archives Queensland. Archived from the original on 26 November 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
^"THOUGH THE EAST.—IV". The Brisbane Courier. No. 17, 143. Queensland, Australia. 21 December 1912. p. 12. Archived from the original on 20 May 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Drift To Cities Condemned". Morning Bulletin. No. 29, 476. Queensland, Australia. 25 January 1954. p. 4. Archived from the original on 20 May 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Wondai Library". Public Libraries Connect. State Library of Queensland. 15 August 2017. Archived from the original on 25 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.