This name was given to the town by the Railway Department when Moongunya consisted of bag humpies, bark huts, corrugated-iron shacks and canvas tents.

[1] By building a model township it was the Government's intention to eliminate the huts, tents, humpies and shacks from the townscape.

[1] By 1922 almost 100 lots had been sold and Collinsville comprised 20 miners' houses, a store, police station, butcher shop and a school.

By 1925 the town boasted a population of approximately 800 and had a licensed hotel, picture show, dance hall, bowling-green, a number of shops and a hospital under construction.

[1] A cemetery was established to the north of Collinsville but being situated on very hard ground explosives had to be used to excavate each of the gravesites.

Trustees appointed included Messrs. D. Malcolm, G. Ogg and C. Hearn, all of Collinsville, and Messrs J. Nolan, J. Duncan and R. Natrass, who would represent Scottville.

Seven men died in the Number One Tunnel of the Collinsville State Coal Mine at 5.50pm on Wednesday 13 October 1954.

Mining personnel and the local Collinsville District Hospital Superintendent, Dr M.J. McEniery rallied together to rescue those still alive and to recover the bodies of those killed in the disaster.

The funeral service was held in ANZAC Hall and was conducted by Mr E. Finch, a local storekeeper who read the sermon every Sunday at the church.

The Waterside Workers' Federation national industrial officer Norm Docker attended as did numerous representatives of other unions.

However, in the month before the disaster Lightfoot, who had planned and implemented the mechanisation, resigned from his position as general manager of State Coal Mines and Coke Works.

[1] Initially, following the disaster, the Gair Government agreed to hold a Mining Warden's Inquiry in which miners would be able to give evidence.

But the Gair Government then scrapped the inquiry after hastily putting through parliament a Bill which prevented any further proceedings.

This turnaround caused the unions to suspect the government had an ulterior motive and a 24-hour stoppage was held at Collinsville and 30 other mines.

[1] The Collinsville State Mine continued to operate until May 1961 at which time the Nicklin Country Liberal Party Government closed it.

These required Mine Deputies to undertake statutory examinations and to carry flame safety lamps and gas detectors during inspections.

[1] To commemorate the lives lost in the 1954 disaster the Collinsville and Scottville communities hold a memorial service each year on 13 October.

[1] The victims of the Collinsville tragedy continue to be remembered by the state's coal miners together with those of the Mount Mulligan disaster, the Box Flat explosion (1972) and the three major accidents at Moura (1975, 1986 and 1994).

[1] The shelter shed is located immediately opposite the front gate in the headstone section of the cemetery.

The headstones are made of materials including marble, granite, concrete and terrazzo, and vary from simple rounded or pointed tablets to elaborate memorials ornamented with angels, bibles, and crosses.

From left to right, the graves are of Alexander Parkinson, Peter S Miller, James Reid Logan, Herbert Bernard Ruff and Arthur Henry Shrubsole.

[1] Parkinson's grave plot is covered with a low concrete plinth topped with pale blue ceramic tiles.

[1] Miller's grave plot is covered with a low, stepped concrete plinth with a patterned top.

A dark coloured terrazzo tablet fixed to the front bears the inscription in white lettering.

The headstone is light coloured terrazzo with the inscription in black lettering on a square inset section.

The headstone is concrete with a tablet shaped like an open book; the inscription is in black lettering on the left page.

[1] Three pencil pines (Cupressus sempervirens) flank a short track that leads from the front gate to the shelter shed.