Betoota is a ghost town within the

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 ...

of Birdsville, 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 ...

, 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 ...

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 ...

. Betoota is situated on a

gibber plain A desert pavement, also called reg (in western Sahara), serir (in eastern Sahara), gibber (in Australia), or saï (in central Asia) is a desert surface covered with closely packed, interlocking angular or rounded Rock (geology), rock fragments ...

(a stony desert plain) east of Birdsville and west of

Windorah Windorah is a town and a locality in the Shire of Barcoo, Queensland, Australia. It is one of only three towns in the Shire of Barcoo in Central West Queensland. In the , the locality of Windorah had a population of 104 people. Geography Loca ...

. The town has been designated as Australia's smallest. The only facilities in Betoota are a

racetrack A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also us ...

, a dry weather

airstrip An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes in ...

, a cricket field, and the Betoota Hotel. Visitors are drawn to the town during the annual Simpson Desert Carnival which is held in September.

History

Karuwali (also known as Garuwali, Dieri) is a language of far western Queensland. The Karuwali language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Diamantina Shire Council, including the localities of Betoota and

Haddon Corner Haddon Corner is a heritage-listed location (geography), site in Tanbar, Queensland, Tanbar, Shire of Barcoo, Queensland, Australia. It is in outback Channel Country at South-West Queensland, on the border corner with South Australia. It was a ...

. The town was surveyed in 1887, but only three streets were ever named. The Betoota Hotel was constructed in the late 1880s and is the last remaining building in town outside the race track. The building is constructed of

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

and has timber floors. In 1885, the Queensland Government opened a customs post to collect a toll for stock travelling the stock route. Betoota was once a

Cobb & Co Cobb & Co was the name used by several independent Australian coach businesses. The first company to use 'Cobb & Co' was established in 1853 by American Freeman Cobb and his partners. The name grew to great prominence in the late 19th century, ...

change station. In 1895, a police presence was established in the town as construction of a rabbit-proof fence in the region was attracting many "undesirable characters" to the town. A police station with a court was built in 1915 but was closed in 1930 because an inspection in 1928 found no-one had been taken into custody or placed before the court in more than five years. The hotel operated until 1997, when its owner, Sigmund (Simon) Remienko, retired at 82 years of age. Originally from Poland, Remienko worked as a grader driver until he bought the Betoota Hotel in 1957. He owned it for 47 years, and was Betoota's sole resident until ill-health forced him to move. The hotel closed in October 1997. Remienko died in 2004. In 2017, Robert Haken, a smash repairer from Logan, bought the long-defunct hotel from the couple Remienko had left it to. It was being restored, with the aim of reopening in time for the Betoota Races in August 2018. However, that goal was not achieved, "due to paperwork". The Betoota Hotel re-opened on 20 July 2020.

Heritage listings

Betoota 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 a protected area known as Burke and Wills "Plant Camp".

Popular culture

The town's name has been used by the Australian satirical news website and digital media company The Betoota Advocate, although the company is actually based in Sydney. It purports to be "Australia's oldest newspaper".

References

{{Authority control Towns in Queensland Ghost towns in Queensland Populated places established in 1887 1887 establishments in Australia Shire of Diamantina Birdsville, Queensland

History

Heritage listings

Popular culture

See also

References