Dalbeg is a rural town and

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

Shire of Burdekin The Shire of Burdekin is a local government area located in North Queensland, Australia in the Dry Tropics region. The district is located between Townsville and Bowen in the delta of the Burdekin River. It covers an area of , and has exist ...

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 , establishe ...

, Australia. In the , Dalbeg had a population of 76 people.

Geography

Dalbeg farming community located inland from the townships of

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire Subdivisions of Scotland, council area and the historic Shires of Scotlan ...

and

Home Hill Home Hill is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Burdekin, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Home Hill had a population of 2,954 people. At the delta of the Burdekin River, it is a sugarcane growing area with underground wa ...

. Situated on the banks of the

Burdekin River The Burdekin River is a river located in North and Far North Queensland, Australia. The river rises on the northern slopes of Boulder Mountain at Valley of Lagoons, part of the western slope of the Seaview Range, and flows into the Coral Sea a ...

, it is a fertile area famous for growing

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalk ...

and

vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, ...

s. On many maps there appears to be a road crossing the

at Dalbeg. In fact this was once a fording point. The earliest explorers coming from the Gulf region ( The Plains of Promise) used Expedition Pass through the mountains to arrive at the banks of the Burdekin River at this fording point where they then crossed into Strathalbyn Station. The river can no longer be forded at this point.

History

The area was originally known as ''Akala'' until the

Queensland Surveyor General Surveyor General of Queensland is a position originally created for the colony of Queensland, now a state of Australia. The position was the most senior surveyor within the Queensland Public Service. List of Surveyors General of Queensland ...

changed the name to ''Dalbeg'', the name of a pastoral run taken up by pastoralist James Hall Scott on 28 May 1863. In the early 1950s, an irrigation scheme was established in Dalbeg, Millaroo and Clare to provide irrigated blocks for soldier settlers. Although the original intention was that the crops would be tobacco and rice, the settlers preferred to grow other crops, such as sugarcane, which are more water-intensive. Dalbeg Post Office opened on 1 December 1956 and closed in 1971. Dalbeg State School opened on 4 July 1955; it closed on 1999. It was at 45-63 Delpratt Street (). Dalbeg was once home to the North Queensland Soaring Centre (then the Burdekin Soaring Club). In the , the locality of Dalbeg had a population of 76 people.

Education

There are no schools in Dalbeg. The nearest government primary school is Millaroo State School in neighbouring Millaroo to the north. There are no government secondary schools nearby; the options are

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

or boarding school.

References

External links

Burdekin OnLine Web Site
{{authority control Towns in Queensland Shire of Burdekin Localities in Queensland