Cinnabar, near Kilkivan, was an important locality in the mining era in the late 1870’s. Mercury was mined at Cinnabar. When the railway was extended to the South Burnett in 1899, a siding was established in the vicinity. The sale of land from Kilkivan Pastoral Run resulted in an increase of the rural population. The area around Cinnabar Siding was surveyed into town blocks in 1909. The siding was used by dairy farmers, who railed cream to factories and during the First World War a cheese factory was opened close to the railway station.

 

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