Porcupine is an

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

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 Flinders,

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 , Porcupine had a population of 39 people.

Geography

The

drainage divide A drainage divide, water divide, ridgeline, watershed, water parting or height of land is elevated terrain that separates neighboring drainage basins. On rugged land, the divide lies along topographical ridges, and may be in the form of a single ...

created by the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills. It runs roughl ...

runs from north to south near the eastern boundary of the locality. As a consequence, the terrain in the locality is mountainous with the following named peaks (from north to south): * Bombarri Hill () above sea level * Castle Hill () * Mount King () * Mount Mistake () * Mount Dick () * Mount Cracknell () * Mount Bradshaw () * Mount James () * Mount Emu () * Mount Pleasant () * Mount Oxley () * Mount Sturgeon () * Bald Hill () * Mount Pleasant (second mountain of that name, ) * Mount Wongalee () * Mount Canterbury () Numerous creeks rise in this area flowing into valleys west towards inland Queensland where they eventually become tributaries of the

Flinders River The Flinders River is the longest river in Queensland, Australia, at approximately . It was named in honour of the explorer Matthew Flinders. The catchment is sparsely populated and mostly undeveloped. The Flinders rises on the western slopes o ...

which flows through the

Gulf Country The Gulf Country or North West Queensland is the region of woodland and savanna grassland surrounding the Gulf of Carpentaria in north western Queensland and eastern Northern Territory on the north coast of Australia. The region is also ca ...

to the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria is a sea off the northern coast of Australia. It is enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea, which separates Australia and New Guinea. The northern boundary ...

. In contrast, the South Gregory River rises to the east of the divide and flows eventually into the

Burdekin River The Burdekin River is a river in North and Far North Queensland, Australia. The river rises on the northern slopes of Boulder Mountain at Valley of Lagoons, part of the western slope of the Seaview Range, and flows into the Coral Sea at Upsta ...

which enters the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down t ...

Upstart Bay Upstart Bay is a bay in the Burdekin Shire, Queensland, Australia. It is part of the Coral Sea and is the mouth of the Burdekin River. History Yuru language, Yuru (also known as ''Juru, Euronbba, Juru, Mal Mal, Malmal'') is an Australian Abor ...

, east of

Ayr Ayr ( ; ; , meaning "confluence of the River Àir"), is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. A former royal burgh, today it is the administrative centre of South Ayrshire Council, and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With ...

. The

Kennedy Developmental Road The Kennedy Highway is a highway in northern Queensland, Australia. It runs as National Route 1 for approximately 243 km from Smithfield, Queensland, Smithfield, on the northern outskirts of Cairns, to the Gulf Developmental Road in the vic ...

enters the locality from north ( Lyndhurst) and exits to south (

Hughenden Hughenden may refer to: *Hughenden, Queensland, a town in Australia * Hughenden, Alberta, a village in central Alberta, Canada *Hughenden Valley, a village in Buckinghamshire, England *Hughenden Manor, a mansion in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, Eng ...

Prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

). Some small areas of the locality are part of a number of national parks including Porcupine Gorge National Park (which protects the

Porcupine Gorge Porcupine Gorge is a gorge on Galah Creek in Porcupine, Shire of Flinders in North West Queensland, Australia. It is a protected area within the Porcupine Gorge National Park. Access to the gorge and national park is via the Kennedy Developm ...

created by Porcupine Creek, entirely within the southern part of the locality),

White Mountains National Park White Mountains is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 1156 km northwest of Brisbane, and 140 km south-west of Charters Towers and 80 km north-east of Hughenden. On National Parks Day 2010 (Sunday, 28 March 2010), the Que ...

(extending south-east into

Torrens Creek Torrens Creek is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Flinders, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Torrens Creek had a population of 46 people. Geography The town is on the Flinders Highway, north-west of the state capita ...

) and Blackbraes National Park (extending north into Lyndhurst). Apart from the protected areas, 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 locality was named and bounded on 23 February 2001. The name is believed to derive from the appearance of the spiky leaves of the spinifex bushes in the area. In particular the '' Triodia scariosa'' is commonly known in Australia as "porcupine grass".

Demographics

In the , Porcupine had a population of 49 people. In the , Porcupine had a population of 39 people.

Education

There are no schools in Porcupine. The nearest government primary and secondary schools are Hughenden State School and Hughenden State High School, both in neighbouring Hughenden to the south-west. However, these schools would only be within range of a daily commute for the southern part of Porcupine. Options for students living further north in Porcupine would be

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.

Attractions

Within the Porcupine Gorge National Park, there are two lookouts: * Pyramid Rock Lookout () which is accessed via a walk * Porcupine Gorge Lookout () which is accessed via a walk which is wheelchair-accessible with assistance.

References

External links

{{Shire of Flinders (Queensland) Shire of Flinders (Queensland) Localities in Queensland