In 1854 Charles Marshall named his private property Moura here, after the Portuguese city of Moura where he had served in the British Army. Edward Homer then built a farm on this piece of land in 1880, called Moura Homestead . Later in 1936 the city was finally founded near this farm.
In addition to cattle breeding, cotton and grain cultivation, the city now lives mainly from the nearby coal mine. The name of the mine changes with each new owner, currently (as of 2011) the mine is called Dawson Mine and is operated by Anglo Coal .
In the course of time, three mine accidents occurred underground:
The first was the Kiange mining disaster. On September 20, 1975, an explosion struck the tunnels at Kianga number 1 and 13 miners were killed.
The second, on July 16, 1986, also an explosion, occurred in Moura number 4 and claimed 12 lives.
In the third accident, Moura mine number 2 exploded on August 7, 1994 . All rescue attempts were stopped after a second, even more violent explosion occurred 18 hours later. Eleven employees lost their lives. The mine was sealed on the surface after the incident.
