Jericho is a rural town and

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

Barcaldine Region The Barcaldine Region is a local government area in Central West Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, it was preceded by three previous local government areas which had existed for over a century. It has an estimated operating budget of ...

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. At the , Jericho had a population of 229 people.

Geography

Jericho is in

Central West Queensland Central West Queensland 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 approximately 12,387 peo ...

. The town is centrally located in the south of its locality. The

Capricorn Highway The Capricorn Highway is located in Central Queensland, Australia, and links the city of Rockhampton with western Queensland. The highway is long, and joins the Landsborough Highway at Barcaldine. Formerly National Route 66, Queensland began ...

traverses the locality from west (

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976, then in nationwide syndication from 1978 as ''Garfield'', it chronicles the life of the title character Garfield the cat, his human ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

) to east ( Hobartville/Mexico), passing through the town on Darwin Street. The Blackall Jericho Road commences at the town and exits the locality via the south (Mexico). The Central Western railway passes through the town and locality, immediately to the south of the highway to the west of the town and immediately to the north of the highway to the east of the town. The town is served by the Jericho railway station on Darwin Street (). Lagoon Creek rises north of the town and exits the locality to the north-east (Garfield). Jordan Creek enters the locality from the south (Mexico), passes to the immediate east of the town and splits into two branches north of the town, both of which exit the locality to the north (Garfield). All of these watercourses became tributaries to the Alice River in Garfield and contribute to 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 principal land use outside of the town 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.

History

The first exploration by Europeans was by Major Thomas Mitchell who passed through the area in 1846. By the 1850s settlers had moved in. The Jordan Creek/River (as it is variously known) was named after Harry Jordan, an early settler in the area. The town and locality name are derived from the railway station. That was named Jericho in 1885 by railway surveyor and engineer Willoughby Hannam in a reference to the Biblical town of

Jericho Jericho ( ; ar, أريحا ; he, יְרִיחוֹ ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. It is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho Gove ...

being to the west of

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...

, because it was the first station to the west of Jordan Creek. The Central Western railway was opened to Jericho on 8 June 1885. Jericho Post Office opened on 2 July 1885; a

receiving office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

had been open from 1884. Jericho State School opened on 20 February 1888. Jericho Methodist Church opened in October 1930. It became the Jericho Uniting Church following the merger of many Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches into the

Uniting Church in Australia The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) was founded on 22 June 1977, when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost all the churches of the Congregational Uni ...

in 1977, but closed subsequently and is now in private ownership. It was at 15 Davy Street (). In December 2010, half of the town's houses were inundated by floods. At the , Jericho and the surrounding region had a population of 369. On 22 November 2019 the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended fr ...

decided to amalgamate the localities in the Barcaldine Region, resulting in five expanded localities based on the larger towns:

Alpha Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἄλφα, ''álpha'', or ell, άλφα, álfa) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter aleph , whic ...

, Aramac, Barcaldine, Jericho and

Muttaburra Muttaburra is an outback town and locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia. Muttaburra was the discovery site of the ''Muttaburrasaurus'', one of Australia's most famous dinosaurs. Geography Muttaburra is in the central west ...

. Jericho was expanded to incorporate Dunrobin (all except the south-west corner),

(all except the western corner),

Grant Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom * Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama * Grant, Inyo County, ...

(eastern corner), Hobartville (south-western part),

, and Narbethong (north-east corner).

Facilities

Jericho has a drive in theatre, park, swimming pool, town hall and showground. Barcaldine Regional Council operates a library at 6 Darwin Street inside the Tourist Information Centre. The Jericho 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 7 Faraday Street.

Education

Jericho State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at Pasteur Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 9 students with 1 teacher and 4 non-teaching staff (2 full-time equivalent).

Tourist attractions

The Crystal Trumpeters monument and the statue of

Joshua Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...

made of

barbed wire A close-up view of a barbed wire Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. Its primary use is t ...

are both located within Jericho.

References

External links

Town map of Jericho, 1981

{{authority control Towns in Queensland Barcaldine Region Localities in Queensland