Cooladdi is a rural town and

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

in the

Shire of Murweh The Shire of Murweh is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Maranoa, Queensland, Maranoa district, which is part of South West Queensland, Australia. The administrative centre and largest town in the shire is Charleville ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. The town is south-west of Charleville. Claims have been made that Cooladdi is Australia's smallest town by population. In 2015, the population was 3 (down from 4 in 2013), all of whom lived at the general store. In the , the locality of Cooladdi had a population of 7 people.

Geography

The town is in the centre of the locality. The Western railway line passes from east to west through the town and locality. The locality was served by a number of railway stations (from east to west): * Nimaru railway station (now abandoned) () * Coothalla railway station () * Loddon railway station (now abandoned) () *Cooladdi railway station serving the town () *Yalamurra railway station (now abandoned) () The Diamantina Developmental Road (which forms part of the 1578 kilometre (980 mi) Warrego Way State Strategic Touring Route between

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

and

Birdsville Birdsville is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Diamantina, Queensland, Australia. The locality is on the Queensland border with both the Northern Territory and South Australia. The town is situated north of the South Australian bord ...

) also passes from east to west through the town and locality.

History

The railway station was originally called ''Yarronvale'' after a local pastoral station with the town taking its name from the railway station. However, it was renamed in 1913 to ''Cooladdi'', an Aboriginal word meaning ''black duck'', to avoid confusion with the pastoral station, which was 15 miles away. Cooladdi was a railhead for the local pastoral community. At one time, Cooladdi had a school, post office, and police station with a population of about 270 people. As the railway line extended further west, Cooladdi's role and population declined. The Cooladdi State School originally opened on 19 March 1926 as a Provisional School with 9 students under teacher A.W. Marsh. In 1933, a new school building was constructed and the school redesignated as a State School. The school closed on 3 May 1974. It was located opposite the railway station on Cooladdi Access Road ().

Demographics

In 2015, the population was 3 (down from 4 in 2013), all of whom resided at the general store. In the , the locality of Cooladdi had a population of 16 people. In the , the locality of Cooladdi had a population of 7 people.

Education

There are no schools in Cooladdi. The nearest government primary and secondary schools Charleville State School and Charleville State High School respectively both in Charleville to the north-east. However, only those living in the east of the locality would be within daily commuting range. Other options are

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...

and boarding schools.

Economy

There are a number of homesteads in the locality: * Allambie () * Auburn Vale () * Auburn Vale () * Bodouna () * Boin () * Coolabah () * Coolabah () * Cooladdi Park () * Cungella () * Glenallen () * Inkerman () * Loddon () * Merigol () * Monamby () * Mount Pleasant () * Nimboy () * Weaner Creek () * Wooyenong () * Yarronvale ()

References

External links

* {{Shire of Murweh Towns in Queensland Shire of Murweh Localities in Queensland