Barakula is a rural

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

in the

Western Downs Region Western Downs Region is a local government area in Queensland, Australia. The Western Downs Regional Council manages an area of , which is slightly smaller than Switzerland, although with a population of 34,467 in June 2018, it is over 228 ti ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. In the Barakula had a population of 13 people. Barakula's postcode is 4413.

History

In 1911 the

Queensland Railway Department Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Owned by the Queensland Government, it operates local and long-distance passenger services, as well as owning and maintaining approximately 6,600 kilometres of track and relate ...

built a tramway from

Chinchilla Chinchillas are either of two species (''Chinchilla chinchilla'' and ''Chinchilla lanigera'') of crepuscular rodents of the parvorder Caviomorpha. They are slightly larger and more robust than ground squirrels, and are native to the Andes mount ...

to Wongongera (now Barakula) to transport railway sleepers made from logs taken from the state forest at Barakula and milled at the Barakula sawmill (approx ). The route of the Barakula tramway was based on an earlier plan to construct a railway line from Chinchilla to

Taroom Taroom is a town in the Shire of Banana and locality split between the Shire of Banana and the Western Downs Region in Queensland, Australia. At the , Taroom had a population of 869 people. Geography The town is located on the Dawson River ...

that was subsequently abandoned in favour of a railway line from

Miles The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...

to Taroom. Originally established to supply sleepers for the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

, the sawmill and the tramway operated intermittently depending on demand. The sawmill was mothballed in August 1928 but a caretaker, F. Brooks, was retained. The line reopened in 1942. The tramway operated until 1970. It was a gauge tramway. Wongongera Sawmill Provisional School opened on 25 July 1912. In 1914 it was renamed Barakula Provisional School. It closed and re-opened a number of times due to low student numbers. In 1927 it became Barakula State School. It closed on 31 December 1982. It was located within Barakula State Forest (approximately ). In the Barakula had a population of 13 people.

Heritage listings

Barakula has the following heritage-listed sites: * Barakula State Forest:

Waaje Fire Tower No.4 Waaje Fire Tower No.4 is a heritage-listed fire lookout tower at Barakula State Forest, Barakula, Western Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1964 by Arthur Leis. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 25 January ...

History

Heritage listings

References

Further reading