Bedourie, Queensland
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Bedourie is a town and a
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 Diamantina The Shire of Diamantina is a local government area in Central West Queensland, bordering South Australia and the Northern Territory. Its administrative centre is in the town of Bedourie. Like most places in Queensland with the "Diamantina" nam ...
,
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. It is on the border with the Northern Territory. In the , the locality of Bedourie had a population of 150 people.


Geography

Bedourie is located in the
Channel Country The Channel Country is a region of outback Australia mostly in the state of Queensland but also in parts of South Australia, Northern Territory and New South Wales. The name comes from the numerous Braided river, intertwined rivulets that cro ...
of
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 ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, lying on Eyre Creek. It is located 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 ...
, and north of
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 ...
. Bedourie is the administrative centre of the Diamantina Shire, which also comprises the towns of Birdsville and Betoota. When the
Georgina River The Georgina River is the north-westernmost of the three major rivers of the Channel Country in Central West Queensland, that also flows through a portion of the Northern Territory, in central Australia. Part of the Lake Eyre basin, the Georg ...
experiences severe floods the town can be cut off by road for months at a time. Bedourie has the following mountains: * Black Hill () * Mount Cuttiguree () * Mount Prout () * Mount Tarley () * Mount Woneeala () * Pampra Hill () * The Brothers () * The Sisters ()


History

The area around Bedourie is on Karanja land. In 1881, a
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 ...
camp known as the Eyre's Creek barracks was established on the site by Sub-Inspector Robert Barrington Sharpe. Operations were conducted from the barracks until it was decommissioned in 1889. Sharpe shot himself in the head in 1886 and was replaced by Sub-Inspector Robert Kyle Little who shot numerous Indigenous people on at least one punitive expedition. Little later died from heat exhaustion just before the barracks closed. In February 1887, were reserved as the site for a town. The Royal Hotel was constructed and opened in 1886 by Hylock & Co. with a thatched roof (later replaced with
corrugated iron Corrugated galvanised iron (CGI) or steel, colloquially corrugated iron (near universal), wriggly tin (taken from UK military slang), pailing (in Caribbean English), corrugated sheet metal (in North America), zinc (in Cyprus and Nigeria) or ...
) and the locality was renamed Bedourie. Bedourie Post Office opened around July 1903 ( receiving offices known as ''Bidouri'', ''Bedouri'' and ''Bedourie'' had been open since 1887). The Diamantina Shire Council moved its headquarters from
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 ...
to Bedourie in 1953. Bedourie State School opened on 16 May 1960. The current school building opened in 1967. The Bedourie Public Library had a major refurbishment in 2009.


Demographics

In the , the town of Bedourie had a population of 60 people. In the , the locality of Bedourie and the surrounding area had a population of 142 people. In the , the locality of Bedourie had a population of 122 people. In the , the locality of Bedourie had a population of 150 people.


Heritage listings

There are a number of heritage-listed sites in Bedourie, including: * Kidman's Tree of Knowledge at
Glengyle Station Glengyle Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in central west Queensland. Description Glengyle is located north Birdsville and south of Boulia in the Channel Country of Queensland. the property occupied an area ...
() *
Bedourie Pisé House Bedourie Pisé House is a heritage-listed house and archaeological site at 5 Herbert Street, Bedourie, Queensland, Bedourie, Shire of Diamantina, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1897. It is also known as Bedourie Pisé House, Aboriginal ...
, 5 Herbert Street ()


Education

Bedourie State School is a government primary (Early Childhood to Year 6) school for boys and girls at 3 Timor Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 8 students with 2 teachers and 3 non-teaching staff (1 full-time equivalent). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 7 students with 2 teachers and 5 non-teaching staff (2 full-time equivalent). There are no secondary schools in Bedourie or 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 school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...
and boarding school.


Amenities

Bedourie has an aquatic centre, museum, outback golf course, visitor information centre, and a racetrack. The Royal Hotel was built from adobe bricks in the 1880s. The
Diamantina Shire Council The Shire of Diamantina is a local government area in Central West Queensland, bordering South Australia and the Northern Territory. Its administrative centre is in the town of Bedourie. Like most places in Queensland with the "Diamantina" nam ...
operates the Bedourie Library on 13 Herbert Street. The Simpson Desert Roadhouse provides petrol and automotive services, accommodation, general supplies, accommodation, restaurant and bar.


Attractions

The Bedourie Camel Races are held annually in July. The event is coordinated by the Bedourie Golf and Leisure Club and is a major tourist event for the region. As well as camel racing, the event hosts pig races, live music and entertainment and a camp oven cook off.


Total solar eclipses

Bedourie will have the rare experience of being located within the path of totality of two
total solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season i ...
s, only nine years apart. The first will occur on 22 July 2028 and the second on 13 July 2037.


Climate

Bedourie experiences a
hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...
( Köppen: BWh), with very hot summers and very mild winters, albeit with cool nights. Due to its inland location, there is strong seasonal temperature variation, with average maxima vary from in June and July to in January. Average annual rainfall is very low: , occurring within 16.3 rainfall days, primarily in the summer. Precipitation is highly erratic, evidenced by the of rain falling on 6 March 2011. The town is very sunny, averaging 186.4 clear days and only 48.6 cloudy days annually. Extreme temperatures have ranged from on 8 July 2014 to on 24 December 2019.


See also

* Bedourie Airport * Bedourie oven


References


External links

{{authority control Towns in Queensland Shire of Diamantina Localities in Queensland