Jundah 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 Barcoo The Shire of Barcoo is a Local government in Australia, local government area in Central West Queensland, Australia. It covers an area of , and has existed as a local government entity since 1887. It is named for the Barcoo River which reaches ...

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. Jundah is the administrative centre of the Barcoo Shire local government area. In the , the locality of Jundah had a population of 131 people.

Geography

The town is located on the Thomson River in

Central West Queensland Central West Queensland (abbreviated CWQ) is a remote region in the Australian state of Queensland which covers 396,650.2 km2. The region lies to the north of South West Queensland and south of the Gulf Country. It has a population of appr ...

, west of the state capital,

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 ...

History

Kuungkari (also known as Kungkari and Koonkerri) is a language of Western Queensland. The Kuungkari language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of

Longreach Shire Council The Shire of Longreach was a local government area located in central western Queensland, centred on the town of Longreach, from which the shire was administered. It covered an area of , and existed as a local government entity from 1900 until 2 ...

and Blackall-Tambo Shire Council. The

outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than Australian bush, the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastli ...

town was established in 1883 and given a name meaning "woman" in a local Aboriginal language. Jundah was first settled by pastoralists

Patrick Durack Patrick Durack (March 1834 – 20 January 1898) was a pastoral pioneer in Western Australia. His family were struggling tenant farmers from Magherareagh near Scarriff in County Clare, Ireland, who moved from Ireland to New South Wales in 1853. ...

(on

Thylungra Thylungra Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a sheep station in Queensland. Description The property is situated approximately northwest of Quilpie, Queensland, Quilpie and southeast of Windorah, Queensland, Windorah. Neighbouring ...

) and his brother-in-law John Costello (on Kyabra). In 1873, Jundah was acquired by grazier William Pitt Tozer, who built a homestead on the land. From 1875 to 1880 the Jundah homestead was utilised by the paramilitary

Native Police Australian native police were specialised mounted military units consisting of detachments of Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal troopers under the command of European officers appointed by British colonial governments. The units existed in va ...

as their main barracks on the lower Thomson River. Jundah Post Office opened on 26 June 1877 (a

receiving office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

named Jundah Police Barracks had been open from 1876). Jundah State School opened on 30 April 1900 with about 50 students. At that time, the town had a population of about 300 people. Jundah was home to an

opal Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silicon dioxide, silica (SiO2·''n''H2O); its water content may range from 3% to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6% and 10%. Due to the amorphous (chemical) physical structure, it is classified as a ...

mining industry for around twenty years in the early twentieth century before the industry closed down due to water shortages. The Jundah Library opened in 2005.

Demographics

In the , the locality of Jundah and surrounds had a population of 350 people. In the , the locality of Jundah had a population of 106 people. In the , the locality of Jundah had a population of 131 people.

Heritage listings

Jundah has a number of

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and human-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In ma ...

sites, including: *

Welford Homestead Welford Homestead is a heritage-listed homestead in the Welford National Park, Jundah, Shire of Barcoo, Queensland, Australia. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 August 1992. History The Walton pastoral run was taken up b ...

Economy

Today, the town now supports the surrounding sheep and cattle industry.

Facilities

As well as the Barcoo Shire administration centre, other facilities in the town include a police station, general store, post office agency and a tourist information centre. The

Barcoo Shire Council The Shire of Barcoo is a local government area in Central West Queensland, Australia. It covers an area of , and has existed as a local government entity since 1887. It is named for the Barcoo River which reaches a confluence with the Thomson ...

operate Jundah Library at 11 Dickson Street.

Education

Jundah State School is a government primary (Early Childhood to Year 6) school for boys and girls at 11 Garrick Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 6 students with 2 teachers and 5 non-teaching staff (2 full-time equivalent). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 13 students with 2 teachers and 6 non-teaching staff (2 full-time equivalent). There are no secondary schools in Jundah or nearby. The options would be boarding schools or

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 ...

Attractions

The Barcoo Shire Museum is on the corner of Miles and Macrossan Streets (). The museum is in the former administration centre of the

, relocated to its present location. Roughly to the south east of the town is

Welford National Park Welford is a national park in Central West Queensland, Australia, 991 km west of Brisbane. It is located 30km to the South-east of Jundah, Queensland, Jundah. The park was established in 1994 to protect the biodiversity of the mulga lands, M ...

Events

Each year the town celebrates German-Australian culture by holding "the world's most remote

Oktoberfest Oktoberfest (; ) is the world's largest , featuring a beer festival and a travelling carnival, and is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, from mid- or late-September to the first Sunday in October. The annual event attracts more than seven milli ...

References

External links

* {{authority control Towns in Queensland Populated places established in 1883 1883 establishments in Australia Shire of Barcoo Localities in Queensland