Coongoola is a rural

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 Paroo The Shire of Paroo is a Local government in Australia, 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 populati ...

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 , Coongoola had a population of 16 people.

Geography

The

Mitchell Highway Mitchell Highway is an outback state highway located in the central and south western regions of Queensland and the northern and central western regions of New South Wales in Australia. The southern part of Mitchell Highway forms part of t ...

enters the locality from the north (

Wyandra Wyandra is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Paroo, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Wyandra had a population of 78 people. Geography The Warrego River flows from north to south through the locality. The Mitchell Highway ...

) and exits to the south (

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 ...

). The

Warrego River The Warrego River is an intermittent river that is part of the Darling catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, which is located in South West Queensland and in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. The Warrego River is the north ...

enters the locality from the north (Wynandra) and exits to the south-west (Cunnamulla). It is an intermittent braided river that contributes to the Murray Darling river system. The land use is

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to free range (roam around) and consume wild vegetations in order to feed conversion ratio, convert the otherwise indigestible (by human diges ...

on native vegetation.

History

The Western railway line opened to Cunnamulla in October 1898. It passed through Coongoola with the locality served by (from north to south): * Mirrabooka railway station () * Offham railway station () * Coongoola railway station () * Kubill railway station () * Nardoo railway station () In September 1922, Coongoola was visited by many scientific teams as well as the public because it was particularly well-located to view the

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 ...

as it had the longest period of totality of the eclipse and, being a quiet place, had nothing to interfere with the viewing. However, its lack of facilities was noted:

"Coongoola itself consists of a very small galvanized-iron railway station, and a small galvanized-iron hotel. Nothing else is in view except the Longlands homestead, over 2 miles back along the rails. Living accommodation of a homely character would be provided by Mrs. Kruck, landlady of the hotel, if reasonable notice is given. There are several bedrooms, and other rooms which can be temporarily converted. Altogether, arrangements can be made for 20 to 30 guests."

A special train service was provided from Charleville to Coongoola for those wishing to view the eclipse. On the day of the eclipse, the weather conditions at Coongoola were ideal for people to view and photograph the eclipse and to record scientific observations. Coongoola Provisional School opened on 22 June 1925. It became Coongoola State School in 1930. It closed on 2 April 1931. The railway line to Cunnamulla ceased operation in 1994.

Demographics

In the , Coongoola had a population of 10 people. In the , Coongoola had a population of 16 people.

Education

There are no schools in Coongoola. The nearest government primary schools are Cunnamulla State School in neighbouring

to south and Wyandra State School in neighbouring

to the north. The nearest government secondary school is Cunnamulla State School (to Year 12). However, some students in Coongoola may be too distant to attend these schools; 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.

References

{{Shire of Paroo Shire of Paroo Localities in Queensland