The town of Barcaldine (Barky) is located 520 km west of Rockhampton and 108kms east of Longreach, in
central west Queensland on Lagoon Creek, which flows into the Alice River.
Known as the "birthplace" of the Australian labour movement, Barcaldine has a history of rich mineral deposits and wool production.
The Iningai (Yiningayi) Aboriginal People
Norman Tindale, the anthropologist, identified Barcaldine and the surrounding country as the traditional land of the Iningai people. Today, although many Aboriginal people
live in the region, it is believed that no Iningai descendants live there.
A
large area of the Central West from the Dividing Range to the Thompson River, south along the Alice River and north to Muttaburra, was Iningai traditional territory.
Sir Thomas Mitchell crossed Barcaldine in 1846, first documenting the Iningai people. Mitchell came upon a large group of Iningai people on Wild Horse Creek just west of the Alice River, noting that:
"loud shrieks of many women and children, and the angry voices of men, apprised me that we had, at length, overtaken the tribe; and, unfortunately, had come upon them by surprise. “AYA MINYÀ!” was vociferated repeatedly, and was understood to mean, “What do you want!” … I steadily adhered to my new plan of tactics towards the [A]borigines, and took not the slightest notice of them, but steadily rode forward, according to my compass bearing … I had not the slightest desire to let them know us more particularly; and so
travelled on, glad, at length, to hear their 'Aya minyàs' grow fainter, and that we were leaving them behind."
Mussles appeared to be a large part of the Iningai diet as Mitchell noticed the shells "like snow covering the ground".
Describing the area as "almost boundless plains . . . forming the finest region I had seen in Australia". Sir Thomas Mitchell noted that the lean-to roof shelters of the Iningai people were "more substantial construction . . . than usually set up by Aborigines of the south".
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| Temporary shelters were traditionally used by Australian Aboriginal people. These impermanent dwellings were mostly, made of branches and bark. Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939) |
Iningai people had scarred back and shoulders (cicatrisation), a symbol of initiation.
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| Showing three standing Aboriginal men viewed from behind; all show prominent cicatrices (body scars); the man in the centre also wears a waist band and a string necklace. (1916) PD |
Aboriginal people had been isolated for 60,000 years and had no immunity to diseases such as measles, whooping cough, influenza, tuberculosis, and smallpox and were severely impacted with the arrival of Europeans.
The sheep and the cattle of Europeans disrupted game availability, resulting in Aboriginal people spearing the sheep and cattle as substitutes. This led to disputes and violence.
Hunter-gatherer lifestyle also required access to large areas of land on which Aboriginal people were highly mobile, according to seasonal food availability. However, the entire
Australian continent of Hunter gathers' isolation, genetically and culturally, had come to an end in 1788, with British arrival.
Aboriginal people lived in a kin group, with kin ties and marriage alliances creating solidarity but against those perceived as foreigners. Many Aboriginal marriages in Central Queensland were polygamous.
At Marra Wonga near Barcaldine, there is a 160-metre-long rock shelter with over 15,000 petroglyphs, mostly animal tracks, lines, grooves and drilled holes, as well as 111 hand-related and object stencils. There are some human foot petroglyphs on the floor of the shelter, some with six or more toes.
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| Marra Wonga is located on Turraburra (formerly Gracevale) Station, near Barcaldine, QLD |
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| Marra Wonga is located on Turraburra (formerly Gracevale) Station, near Barcaldine, QLD |
1850s
Between 1858 to 1862, three more expeditions passed through or near the Barcaldine area, notedly Augustus Gregory's expedition of 1858.
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| Sir Augustus Charles Gregory (1819-1905), explorer and surveyor-general, Charleville Times (Brisbane, Qld. : 1896 - 1954) |
Queensland separated from New South Wales in 1859, and a great wave of pastoral
settlement occurred across western and northern Queensland in the early 1860s.
1860s
Barcaldine Downs sheep station was established in 1863 by Donald Charles Cameron, who overlanded sheep from the New England district of NSW. His family property in Ayrshire, Scotland, was named Barcaldine. Cameron was a sugar-planter in Berbice, British Guiana (Demerara).
There were heavy losses of sheep from a poison bush named Heartleaf, which is highly poisonous to cattle, sheep, horses and goats.
Aboriginal–settler violence commenced. A number of pastoralists in the Barcaldine
region petitioned the Queensland Government for Native Police protection in 1866, stating that:
"the Native Blacks of the Barcoo, Alice, and Thompson Rivers, have evinced a very troublesome and hostile spirit and committed numerous outrages – not only spearing cattle and robbing outstation huts – but also in several instances killed shepherds and travellers". |
| Native Police, Rockhampton, QLD, 1864. The Aboriginal men within the Native Police were often recruited from areas distant to where they were deployed, as clans further away were considered foreigners |
The cultural clash and misunderstandings between Europeans and Aboriginal people were probably unavoidable, as the world view, beliefs, technology and experiences could not have been more different. Europeans saw no fences, crops, farm animals, or buildings and thought the land was owned by no one.
Clashes occurred with weapons; one group fighting with spears, the other with guns. Aboriginal people were dispossessed of their
traditional lands.
1880s
Barcaldine town lots were sold in 1885 and soon buildings were under construction. Some buildings were transported from Jericho (bank, Masonic hall, Methodist and Catholic churches) and from Pine Hill (railways buildings and a court house).
The town was surveyed and the
railway line from Jericho and Rockhampton came in 1886.
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| Longreach Leader (Qld. : 1923 - 1954) |
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| Longreach Leader (Qld. : 1923 - 1954) |
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| Longreach Leader (Qld. : 1923 - 1954) |
The Central Line reached Barcaldine in 1886 and was extended to Longreach in 1892.
The first Commercial Hotel in Barcaldine was licensed in 1886 by Patrick McBride.
Barcaldine Post Office opened on 13 November 1886.
A progress association
was established in 1887.
The first church in the town was a Methodist church, erected in Ash Street in 1887.
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| Warwick Examiner and Times (Qld. : 1867 - 1919), Saturday 24 December 1887 |
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| Oak Street running parallel to railway lines in Barcaldine, Queensland, ca. 1888. The railway was first and Barcaldine was planned around the railway axis. The view is looking east, with the first station, which had the passenger facilities on the north side and goods shed and sidings on the south (next to Oak St.). Following destruction of much of the station in the fire in 1932, the passenger facilities were rebuilt on the south side with the existing platform, SLQLD |
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| Wool bales at the railway station goods shed along Oak Street, Barcaldine, Queensland, ca. 1888, SLQLD |
Barcaldine became a centre in western Queensland for the
organisation of shearers and rural labourers in the 1880s. In response, the Pastoral Employers' Association formed in Barcaldine in 1889, wanting "freedom of contract".
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| Bank of New South Wales building, Barcaldine, Queensland, 1889, SLQLD |
1890s
By 1891, hundreds of shearers and rural workers camped around Barcaldine waiting for work, threatened collective action if non-union workers were brought in to work. Mass meetings were held under a ghost gum, the Tree of Knowledge, now
commemorated as the birthplace of organised labor, trades union and the Australian Labor party.
An article in the Brisbane Worker stated: "Here squatter and labourer face one another and the government and the judge, and the whole judicial system chum in with the squatter and one sees how hollow the law is" (30 May 1891)
The Light Horse troops were sent to Barcaldine during the 1891 Shearers' Strike.George Arthur French, C.M.G., of Her Majesty's Royal Regiment of Artillery, along with fifteen officers and two hundred and forty-three men,
were sent to quell the strikers.
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Barcaldine Headquarters, sheers camp, QLD, Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954)
 | | Strikers' Library at Barcaldine, QLD, during the 1891 Shearers' Strike. SLQLD |
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| Shearers and unionists preparing for strike demonstration, Barcaldine, QLD, Worker (Brisbane, Qld. : 1890 - 1955) |
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| Military unloading one of the Gatling guns at Barcaldine, QLD, Worker (Brisbane, Qld. : 1890 - 1955) |
Many Aboriginal people camped near Lake Dolly, about 10km east of Barcaldine.
In June 1891 about 70 unionists, at the shearers’ camp near the Alice River, tried to establish a market garden, they cleared land, laid out
a township of slab and bark huts, naming streets Freedom, Union and Nil Desperandum. This Co-operative formed into Barcaldine Farming and Grazing Company in 1907. Read
here |
| Western Champion newspaper office, Barcaldine, QLD, about 1890, State Library of Queensland |
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Group of boys, including Fred Fish, on a goat-drawn cart at Barcaldine, QLD, in the late 1890s.
(QSL) |
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| Portrait of shearers as Unionist Prisoners after the shearers strike in Barcaldine Queensland 1893. SLQLD |
Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 (Qld). See
here
There were many social and medical problems created by some Chinese people selling charcoal opium (dregs from pipe) to Aboriginal people.
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| Western Champion and General Advertiser for the Central-Western Districts (Barcaldine, Qld. : 1892 - 1922), Tuesday 26 January 1897 |
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| Australia Barcaldine, QLD, Salvation Army Band, 1897 |
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| Western Champion and General Advertiser for the Central-Western Districts (Barcaldine, Qld. : 1892 - 1922), Tuesday 8 February 1898 |
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| Post Office, Barcaldine, QLD, Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 - 1929), Saturday 29 April 1899 |
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| MR. O'BRIEN', BOOT MAKER, BARCALDINE, QLD, Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 - 1929), Saturday 29 April 1899 |
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| State School, BARCALDINE, QLD, Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 - 1929), Saturday 29 April 1899 |
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| Mr Miller's shop, BARCALDINE, QLD, Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 - 1929), Saturday 29 April 1899 |
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| Freeman's Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1932), Saturday 7 October 1899 |
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| The Brewery, Barcaldine, QLD, Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 - 1929), Saturday 29 April 1899 |
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| 1. Mr park, bookseller, BARCALDINE, QLD. 2. West End Hotel, BARCALDINE, QLD. Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 - 1929), Saturday 29 April 1899 |
1900s
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| Brass band from Barcaldine, Queensland, ca. 1900, State Library of Queensland |
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| French journalist Henri Gilbert, Barcaldine, April 1900, State Library of Queensland. Henri Gilbert, a young French journalist, set off from France in 1895 hoping to walk across the world for a bet. After crossing Spain, the Middle East and India, Gilbert arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia, and on 13 September 1897 began the walk from Albany to Adelaide. However on the second morning he awoke to find that he had been drugged and all of his possessions stolen. Gilbert made it back to Albany to restart his attempt a month after this first departure. Henri Gilbert visited Barcaldine after departing Blackall. He and his wife stayed at the Exchange Hotel. |
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| Locomotive #170 at Barcaldine - circa 1902. Mr M. Carmody, station master, and staff in front of the train at Barcaldine, QLD. (SLQLD) |
The Comet Lodge of Freemasons masonic temple built 1901.
Archibald Meston was the Southern Protector of Aborigines from 1898 to 1904. He removed a group of thirty-two Aboriginal people from Barcaldine to Durundur in June 1902.
HereCertain of the local Protectors express themselves on this opium traffic as follows:—" There is very little drinking amongst the blacks, but the majority of them are perfect slaves to opium: they never loiter about the hotels except when boys come in with a few shillings from a station. The opium traffic is a curse amongst the natives here, who will resort to all sorts of tactics to obtain it. The Chinese, and, I am of opinion, some unscrupulous whites, are in the habit of supplying it: sometimes in water, sometimes in tea, the latest move being to make a hole in a loaf of bread, filling it up with opium charcoal, and then plug up the hole again. So far as the aboriginals are concerned, the opium traffic is on the increase in these Northern districts: the evil will not be properly controlled so long as the ' permits to sell' are in existence."
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CHIEF PROTECTOR OF ABORIGINALS FOR 1905
Horse drawn wool wagon, Barcaldine, Queensland, ca. 1905, State Library of Queensland
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| Queensland National Bank at Barcaldine, QLD, ca. 1905. SLQLD |
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| Oak Street (looking west) Barcaldine, Qld - circa 1906, Aussie Mobs |
A swimming pool opened in 1907.
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| Arthur Parnell's General Stores, Oak Street, Barcaldine, Qld - 1907, Aussie Mobs |
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| Artesian bore on Mr. Cronin's farm, Balcaldine, QLD, Australia, 1907, Aussie~mobs |
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| Barcaldine Rifle Club, QLD, ca. 1907. Unidentified members of the rifle club. SLQLD |
Two meetings were held in 1896 to establish a Barcaldine Fire Brigade, but were unsuccessful. However, the Barcaldine Fire Brigade was established after the 1909 fire that destroyed 18 buildings in the main street.
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| In 1907, a swimming pool using the artesian water was built by the Barcaldine Shire Council, QLD, Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), Saturday 5 September 1908 |
The Globe Hotel built in 1910.
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| Fretwork decorates the eaves of the front verandah on the home at Yew Street, Barcaldine, QLD, 1910, SLQLD |
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| Shearing at Barcaldine,, QLD in 1910. McLaughlin's Shearing Board, Barcaldine around 1910. Long line-up of shearers shearing the sheep using electric shears (invented in the late 1880s). Watched by many onlookers in the large corrugated iron and timber shearing shed. State Library of Queensland |
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| Show horses and wagon in Barcaldine, QLD, ca. 1910. State Library of Queensland |
A privately funded tramway between Barcaldine and Aramac was to be built in 1909.
After various fires, the fire brigade needed a reliable water source. The steel watertower designed in 1912 by the Government Hydraulic Engineer John Baillie Henderson, was constructed in 1914.
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| Barcaldine School, QLD, -1912, SLQLD |
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| Barcaldine Shire Hall newly built, QLD, 1912, SLQLD |
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| Barcaldine Hospital Staff, 1912, QLD, Longreach Leader (Qld. : 1923 - 1954), Wednesday 13 December 1950 |
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| First motor coach to run in the west, leaving Barcaldine, QLD, for Aramac in 1913 The coach was owned by Mr. C. J. Kingston of Aramac and cost 1000 pounds. SLQLD |
In 1915 the Barcaldine Grammar opened (later, St Peter's Anglican), but closed during the Depression in 1932.
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| Fire engulfs the West End Hotel, Barcaldine, Queensland, 1915, State Library of Queensland |
WWI
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| Leslie Glanville Meacham - Service No 4506 Sergeant. 2nd Machine Gun Battalion. Born Barcaldine, Qld. Son of Rebecca MEACHAM Of Barcaldine, Qld. Occupation prior to enlistment Carpenter Enlisted 06 August 1915. Awarded Military Medal |
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| Louis Gerald Leyland #21142. Service Number: 21142. Rank: Bombardier. Unit: 11th Australian Field Artillery Brigade. Service: Australian Army. Conflict: First World War, 1914-1918. Date of death: 24 April 1918. Place of death: France. Cause of death: Killed in action. Place of association: Barcaldine, Australia. Cemetery or memorial details: Frechencourt Communal Cemetery, Frechencourt, Amiens, Picardie, France |
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| THE BARCALDINE AMATEUR PATRIOTIC CONCERT COMPANY, Which has raised a considerable amount for patriotic purposes. Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), Saturday 15 September 1917 |
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| Dr Eleanor Bourne seated in drivers seat of horse drawn coach, c1915. In 1910-11 she visited Charleville, Cunnamulla, Thargomindah, Augathella, Eulo, Blackall, Longreach and Barcaldine, Queensland State Archives |
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| Meacham & Leyland's Store during the 1917 floods, Barcaldine, QLD, Queensland. Floodwaters engulf the premises of Meacham & Leyland's. A dinghy is being used for transportation. SLQLD |
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| Old railway bridge over Lagoon Creek in Barcaldine, Queensland, ca. 1917. Children wading in the creek next to the railway bridge. PD |
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| Barcaldine's first Rugby League team, QLD, 1919, State Library of Queensland |
1920s
Population of Barcaldine in 1921 was 2023.
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| Post Office in Barcaldine, Qld - 1924, Aussie Mobs |
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| goat cart at Barcaldine filled with week-end groceries, QLD. Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Friday 14 November 1924 |
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| Barcaldine Electric Power House and Water Tank, QLD, Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 - 1929), Saturday 10 May 1924 |
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| Royal Hotel escaped fire, Barcaldine, QLD, Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954), Saturday 9 November 1929 |
Central Queensland was once part of an ancient inland sea, and the remains of megafauna, marine life and dinosaurs can be found today. Pleistocene megafauna deposits have been found adjacent to Pelican Creek. The rapid extinction of Australian megafauna, approximately 46,000
years ago, is a matter of debate between and including climate change, human hunting or habitat modification.
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| Queer Monsters Inhabitants of Queensland Millions of Years Ago There were monster sharks swimming around Barcaldine! The Pleiosaurus dolichodeirus sported in the cretaceous sea in Western Queensland! This monster was about 40 feet long, and resort. bled a giant snake, with a long neck and tail protruding from each end of a turtle's body' Even the turtles were giants in those days in Queensland, and tho snails were almost - as big as turtles. Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Friday 6 June 1924 |
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| The Australian Woman's Mirror. Vol. 1 No. 37 (4 August 1925) |
The radio theatre opened 10 April 1926, with a crowd reported in the newspapers of 850.
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| Decorated car in the New Year Procession, Barcaldine, Queensland, 1926, State Library of Queensland |
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| BARCALDINE RUGBY LEAGUE FOOTBALL TEAM ON TOUR 1927. Back Row: E. Vale. M. Feehely. J. Devery. D. Seaby. 2nd Row: L. Ellem. H. Pee], G. Bunt, D. M'Quaid, R. Rogers. 3rd Row: P. Seaby. N. Mahoney. V. Tannock (v. capt.). E. Frauenfelder (capt.), D. Coleman, W. Moore (manager). Roy Rogers. Front: W M 'Laughlin. Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 - 1929), Thursday 22 September 1927 |
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| Mrs Burke's Theatre, Barcaldine, QLD, 1927 |
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| Land ballot at Barcaldine, QLD, Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 - 1929), Thursday 5 July 1928 |
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| Oak Street, Barcaldine, ca. 1928. Looking towards the Royal Hotel. SLQLD |
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| View from the corner of Beech and Oak Streets, Barcaldine, ca. 1928. SLQLD |
The mid-twenties was the heyday of Barcaldine with a thriving economy and growing population. Then, a prolonged drought impacted wool production and prices fell by 1828.
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| Longreach Leader (Qld. : 1923 - 1954), Friday 3 August 1928 |
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| NEW YEAR'S DAY AT BARCALDINE, QLD, Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 - 1929), Thursday 17 January 1929, |
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BARCALDINE MURDER CHARLIE HONG'S DEATH. Magisterial Inquiry. FURTHER ADJOURNED. Our Barcaldine correspondent writes- j Many years have elapsed since public interest has been stirred to its depths as it has been since the cruel murder of Quon ("Charlie") Hong, an old and inoffensive storekeeper and baker of Oak street, Barcaldine, on the evening of April 19th, Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1878 - 1954), Wednesday 5 June 1929 |
1930s
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| Five old-time carriers, Barcaldine, QLD, The Western Champion (Barcaldine, Qld. 1922 - 1937), Saturday 15 March 1930 |
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| QUEENSLAND BLACK-TRACKERS. Sam Johnstone (on the left), a noted tracker, who, in the bushranging days, was captured by the Kenniffs at Lethbridge Pocket, Carnarvon Range, but made good his escape. He died in Longreach about three years ago. The other is Jacky Jonathan, a Barcaldine native, and a crack tracker of Central Queensland. Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 25 May 1932 |
In 1934, MLA Frank Bulcock persuaded the State Government to establish a date palm plantation on the site of the old Alice River Co-operative Settlement. The palms did well, but were not profitable.
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| Oak Street in Barcaldine, Queensland; what is now the Capricorn Highway (A4) just east of the junction with the A2. Queensland State Archives |
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| Oak Street, Barcaldine, QLD, in 1938, Queensland State Archives, public domain |
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| Beech Street, Barcaldine, QLD, looking from Oak Street, March 1938, Queensland State Archives |
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| Barcaldine Railway Station, QLD, - March 1938, (Qld State Archives) |
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| Longreach Leader (Qld. : 1923 - 1954), Wednesday 6 December 1939 |
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| Mrs B Mahoney's Hotel Shakespeare in Barcaldine, QLD in June 1939 |
1940s and WWII
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| Longreach Leader (Qld. : 1923 - 1954), Saturday 15 August 1942, |
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| Longreach Leader (Qld. : 1923 - 1954), Saturday 21 March 1942 |
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| Longreach Leader (Qld. : 1923 - 1954), Saturday 31 January 1942 |
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| Longreach Leader (Qld. : 1923 - 1954), Wednesday 13 December 1944 |
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| Longreach Leader (Qld. : 1923 - 1954), Wednesday 13 December 1944 |
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| Barcaldine State School, QLD, September 1946, Queensland State Archives |
In 1947 the population of Barcaldine was 1682.
1950s
Marra Wonga, an Aboriginal rock art site near Barcaldine, was known locally as "The Art Gallery" in the 1950s (McCarthy,1960).
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Homestead on Barcaldine Downs, Messrs. Clarl( Gr Tait's stud merino property in the Barcaldine district. Queensland Country Life (Qld. : 1900 - 1954), Thursday 8 June 1950 |
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The new Barcaldine Downs shearing shed. The old shed was destroyed by a hurricane last year. Queensland Country Life (Qld. : 1900 - 1954), Thursday 8 June 1950 |
Western Light soap works fire in 1950.
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| BARCALDINE SHOWS US HOW, one of the fastest, openest and cleanest games seen this season. !. Barcaldine. 2. Mt Isa. 1950 |
Secondary school and a sewerage scheme
infrastructure established in the 1950s. Wool production was boosted by good seasons and high prices.
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| Hotel Shakespeare in Oak Street, Barcaldine, Qld - circa 1950, Aussie Mobs |
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| Oak Street, Barcaldine, Queensland, 1950. Approaching Oak Street with the Union Hotel on the left hand side of the photograph. SLQLD |
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Floodwaters outside the Hotel Shakespeare, Barcaldine, Queensland, 1954. Pedestrians walk in knee-deep floods. SLQLD
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A new hospital built in 1953.
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| Main street - Barcaldine, QLD, 1955, Queensland State Archives, public domain |
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| Barcaldine Hospital, QLD, July 1955, Queensland State Archives |
1960s
A friendly conversation in the dressing room at the Barcaldine showgrounds in 1962 led to Black and White football. The black team players said that Barcaldine would not have won without them. This
conversation led to the Black and White Football games held in Barcaldine, with an All Blacks team playing an All Whites, as a fundraiser for charity.
In 1966 the population of Barcaldine was 1779.
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| Library, Barcaldine, QLD, 1967, Queensland State Archives, Public domain |
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| From 1964 to the 1980s the Barcaldine Community, QLD, looked forward to the "Black v White games". The All Blacks in 1967, DM |
1970s
Beef cattle grazing grew during the 1970s
Tourism became important to the region.
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| Barcaldine, QLD, (1976), Queensland State Archives,
Public domain |
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| Barcaldine, QLD, (1976), Queensland State Archives, Public domain |
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| Barcaldine, QLD, (1976), Queensland State Archives, Public domain |
1990s
Australian Workers Heritage Centre established in 1991.
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| Globe Hotel, Barcaldine, QLD, 1997, Queensland State Archives,
Public domain |
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| The Barcaldine Water Tower, QLD, is located on the corner of Pine and Yew Streets, Barcaldine and was first commissioned in October 1914. QSA Item ID 2108392, taken 1997, Queensland State Archives, public domain |
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| The Tree of Knowledge at Barcaldine, QLD, 1997, Camerong |
2000s
The heritage-listed Tree of Knowledge was poisoned in October 2006.
The population of Barcaldine in 2006 was 1617.
In 2008 Barcaldine Shire was amalgamated with Aramac and Jericho Shires to form Barcaldine Regional Council.
An architect-designed new Tree of Knowledge memorial opened on the original site using the trunk of the original tree. Opened in May 2009. Each May Barcaldine holds the Tree of Knowledge Festival.
2015: A proposal for an 80,000 panel solar farm on 35 hectares on the eastern outskirts of Barcaldine.
In the 2016 census, Barcaldine had a population of 1,422 people.
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| Radio Theatre, Barcaldine, QLD, Queensland State Archives, public domain |
Around Barcaldine
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| The Barcaldine War Memorial Clock, a major regional memorial was unveiled on 21 May 1924, Barcaldine, QLD |
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| The Tree of Knowledge was a heritage-listed tree in Oak Street, Barcaldine, QLD, located in front of the Barcaldine railway station under which the workers of the 1891 Shearer's Strike met. The tree was poisoned and killed in 2006. A new memorial on the site of the remains of the original tree |
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| Barcaldine Radio Theatre, QLD, an Art Nouveau movie theatre, with the original canvas seating and painted screen facade. The first talkies played in the theatre in 1931 |
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| Artesian Hotel, Barcaldine Central Qld. The Artesian Hotel was originally on the site of Emerson’s Hotel. Emerson’s later demolished and a new hotel was built on the site, the Royal Hotel. Now called the Artesian Hotel |
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| A Shakespeare Hotel has existed on Barcaldine's main street since 1886 when a building was moved west from Pine Hill. That building was replaced in 1914 and rebuilt in 1925, Barcaldine, QLD |
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| Main street and pubs in Barcaldine, Queensland |
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| Barcaldine Masonic Temple at 39 Beech Street, Barcaldine, Queensland, was built in 1900 |
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| St Peter's Anglican Church, Barcaldine, QLD, built in 1899 |
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| The Barcaldine Post Office, QLD, was built in 1913 on the site of the first one erected in 1887 |
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| Desert Dreaming Centre in Barcaldine, QLD |
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| Court House, Barcaldine, QLD, was built in 1908 |
Things To Do and Places To Go
Australian Workers Heritage Centre
Desert Dreaming Centre
Barcaldine and District Museum -Corner Beech and Gidyea Streets, Barcaldine, QLD. Tel: 0746511476
Lara Wetlands is a farm stay about a 1/2 hour from Barcaldine. The station has approximately 500 head of cattle but has set up a very popular farm stay surrounding a wet lands area fed from an artesian bore
Lagoon Creek on the outskirts of Barcaldine is a popular walking and birdwatching area.
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