Barkly is an

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

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

City of Mount Isa The City of Mount Isa is a local government area in north west Queensland. The City covers the urban locality of Mount Isa, the administrative centre, and surrounding area, sharing a boundary with the Northern Territory to the west. Mount Isa ...

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 , established_ ...

, Australia. The locality is on the Queensland border with

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

. In the Barkly had a population of 28 people.

Geography

Barkly is a vast area of . This enables it to have a variety of terrains. The

Barkly Tableland The Barkly Tableland is a rolling plain of grassland in Australia. It runs from the eastern part of the Northern Territory into western Queensland. It is one of the five regions in the Northern Territory and covers , 21% of the Northern Terr ...

is a plain in the north of the locality () at an elevation of around above sea level. Barkly has the following mountain ranges in the north-east of the locality: * Ogilvie Range () * Pilpah Range () * Saint Smith Range () with Mount Michael () in the west near the Northern Territory border. The locality is within the

Lake Eyre drainage basin The Lake Eyre basin ( ) is a drainage basin that covers just under one-sixth of all Australia. It is the largest endorheic basin in Australia and amongst the largest in the world, covering about , including much of inland Queensland, large port ...

. The land use is

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other ...

on native vegetation. The

Barkly Highway The Barkly Highway is a national highway of both Queensland and the Northern Territory in Australia. It is the only sealed road between Queensland and the Northern Territory. Description The highway runs between Cloncurry and the junction wit ...

passes through the north-east corner of the locality entering from

Gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...

and exiting to

Camooweal Camooweal is an outback town and locality in the City of Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia. The locality is on the Queensland border with the Northern Territory. In the , the locality of Camooweal had a population of 208 people. Geography The l ...

. The Camooweal Urandangi Road enters the locality from Camooweal and exits to the south to Piturie.

History

The Barkly Tableland was named by explorer

William Landsborough William Landsborough (21 February 1825 – 16 March 1886) was an explorer of Australia and notably he was the first explorer to complete a North-to-South crossing of Australia. He was a member of the Queensland Legislative Council. Early ...

on 6 December 1861 during his search for

Burke and Wills The Burke and Wills expedition was organised by the Royal Society of Victoria in Australia in 1860–61. It consisted of 19 men led by Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills, with the objective of crossing Australia from Melbourne in the s ...

. It was named after the

Governor of Victoria The governor of Victoria is the representative of the monarch, King Charles III, in the Australian state of Victoria. The governor is one of seven viceregal representatives in the country, analogous to the governors of the other states, and the ...

Sir

Henry Barkly Sir Henry Barkly (24 February 1815 – 20 October 1898) was a British politician, colonial governor and patron of the sciences. Early life and education Born on 24 February 1815 at Highbury, Middlesex (now London), he was the eldest son of ...

. The locality was officially and bounded on 23 February 2001. In the Barkly had a population of 28 people.

Economy

There are a number of homesteads in the locality, including: * Arcadia () * Barkly Downs () * Bullecourt () * Wooroona ()

Transport

There are a number of airstrips in the locality, including: * Barkly Downs airstrip () * Bullecourt airstrip () * Wooroona/Buckley airstrip ()

Education

There are no schools in Barkly. The nearest primary schools are Camooweal State School in neighbouring

to the north and Urandangi State School in neighbouring Piturie to the south. However, due to the size of Barkly, attending these schools would only be feasible for children living in the northern and southern parts of Barkly respectively. Most of the Barkly is outside the range of any primary school and

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 schools would be the only options. The nearest secondary school is

Spinifex State College Spinifex State College is a public, co-educational, day and boarding school located in Mount Isa, Queensland. It first opened in 2003. History Prior to 2003 Mount Isa was serviced by two state secondary schools. Mount Isa State High School a ...

Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive single mines in world history, bas ...

to the east, but it would be out of range for almost all Barkly families and again distance education or boarding schools would be the only options. Spinifex State College has boarding facilities.

References

{{City of Mount Isa City of Mount Isa Localities in Queensland