Bollon 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 Balonne The Shire of Balonne is a Local government in Australia, local government area in South West Queensland, Australia, over from the state capital, Brisbane. It covers an area of , and has existed as a local government entity since 1879. It is hea ...

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. In the , the locality of Bollon had a population of 174 people.

Geography

Bollon is in

South West Queensland South West Queensland is a remote region in the Australian state of Queensland which covers . The region lies to the south of Central West Queensland and west of the Darling Downs and includes the Maranoa, Queensland, Maranoa district and parts o ...

, 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 ...

. Bollon is situated on the

Balonne Highway The Balonne Highway, a state highway of Queensland, is the continuation westward of State Route 49 (Moonie Highway) from the town of St George to its termination at Cunnamulla. There are no large settlements between St George and Cunnamulla. U ...

, between

St George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the R ...

and

Cunnamulla Cunnamulla () is a town and a Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Shire of Paroo, Queensland, Australia. It is south of Charleville, Queensland, Charleville, and approximately west of the state capital, Brisbane. In the 2021 Au ...

on the banks of Wallam Creek. A stand of

River red gum ''Eucalyptus camaldulensis'', commonly known as river red gum, is a flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae, and is endemic to Australia. It is a tree with smooth white or cream-coloured bark, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, flower buds in ...

s along the creek is home to a large colony of

koala The koala (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), sometimes inaccurately called the koala bear, is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only Extant taxon, extant representative of the Family (biology), family ''Phascolar ...

Climate

History

Gunya (Kunya, Kunja, Kurnja) is an

Australian Aboriginal language The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

spoken by the Gunya people. The Gunya language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the

Paroo Shire Council The Shire of Paroo is a local government area in South West Queensland, Australia. The administrative centre is the town of Cunnamulla. The Paroo Shire covers an area of . In the , the Shire of Paroo had a population of 1,679 people. Geography ...

, taking in

and extending north towards

Augathella Augathella is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Murweh, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Augathella had a population of 328 people. Geography Augathella lies on the Matilda Highway, is north of the town of Charlevil ...

, east towards Bollon and west towards

Thargomindah Thargomindah (frequently shortened to Thargo) is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Bulloo, Queensland, Australia. The town of Thargomindah is the administrative centre for the Shire of Bulloo. In the , the locality of Thargomindah h ...

. The town is thought to be named after the

Mandandanji language Bidjara, also spelt Bidyara or Pitjara, is an Australian Aboriginal language. In 1980, it was spoken by 20 elders in Queensland between the towns of Tambo and Augathella, or the Warrego and Langlo Rivers. There are many dialects of the la ...

word ''balun'' or ''balonn'' meaning ''water'' or a ''running stream''. On 26 June 1879 the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the state government of Queensland, Australia, a Parliament, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, ...

auctioned 40 town lots and 12 suburban lots in Bollon. By June 1880, the town had a hotel (the Great Western), a store and a postal receiving office. Bollon Provisional School opened on 27 July 1885. On 1 January 1902 it became Bollon State School. On Sunday 16 February 1936, St Mary's Anglican Church was officially opened and dedicated by

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Horace Dixon. In 2010, Narkoola National Park was established in the west of the town's boundaries to preserve plant communities of the

Mulga Lands The Mulga Lands are an interim Australian bioregion of eastern Australia consisting of dry sandy plains with low mulga woodlands and shrublands that are dominated by ''Acacia aneura'' (mulga). The Eastern Australia mulga shrublands ecoregio ...

bioregion. On Saturday 22 February 2025, the Bollon Hotel was burned down. It was the only hotel in Bollon.

Demographics

In the , the locality of Bollon had a population of 334 people. In the , the locality of Bollon had a population of 221 people. In the , the locality of Bollon had a population of 174 people.

Education

Bollon State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 60-74 Main Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 23 students with 5 teachers (3 full-time equivalent) and 5 non-teaching staff (2 full-time equivalent). There are no secondary schools nearby Bollon. The alternatives 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

Bollon has the Bollon Civic Centre, showground and a park. Balonne Shire Council operates a library in Main Street, next to the Civic Centre. The Bollon branch of the

Queensland Country Women's Association The Queensland Country Women's Association (QCWA) is the Queensland chapter of the Country Women's Association in Australia. The association seeks to serve the interests of women and children in rural areas in Australia through a network of loca ...

has its rooms at 17 Main Street. St Mary The Virgin Anglican Church is at 25-27 Belmore Street (corner of George Street, ).

Attractions

Bollon Heritage Centre is a local history museum at 23 Main Street ().

References

External links

* {{authority control Towns in Queensland Shire of Balonne 1879 establishments in Australia Populated places established in 1879 Localities in Queensland