Tambo 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

Blackall-Tambo Region The Blackall-Tambo Region is a Local government in Australia, local government area in Central West Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, it was preceded by two previous local government areas dating from the 1870s. For the financial year ...

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. Cattle and tourism are the major industries of the town. A number of heritage buildings survive from the earliest days of settlement. In the , the population of the locality was 318 people, while the population of the town was 283 people.

Geography

Tambo is in

Central West Queensland Central West Queensland (abbreviated CWQ) 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 appr ...

, Australia, on the banks of the

Barcoo River The Barcoo River in western Queensland, Australia rises on the northern slopes of the Warrego Range, flows in a south-westerly direction and unites with the Thomson River to form Cooper Creek. The first European to see the river was Thomas ...

. Tambo is southeast of the town of

Blackall Blackall is a rural town and locality in the Blackall-Tambo Region, Queensland, Australia. The town is the service centre for the Blackall-Tambo Region. The dominant industry in the area is grazing with over 70 homesteads in the locality (as ...

via the

Landsborough Highway Landsborough Highway is a highway in western Queensland, Australia, running in the northwest–southeast direction from Morven to Cloncurry. The Landsborough Highway runs through vast tracts of land that was once occupied by William Landsboro ...

, north of

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 ...

, north of Charleville, north west of

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...

and approximately north 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 ...

. The

runs through the town and sits near the

Grey Range The Grey Range is a low-lying range of hills located in the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales. The range extends from the west of Blackall of Central West Queensland in the north to Tibooburra in the far west of New South Wales ...

– part of the "Roof of Queensland" section of 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 ...

. The

—part of the National Highway network linking

and Darwin—passes through Tambo. Tambo is also connected to

Springsure Springsure is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Central Highlands Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Springsure had a population of 950 people. Geography Springsure is situated by road ...

and

Alpha Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ) 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'' , whose name comes from the West Semitic word for ' ...

by the Dawson Developmental Road and the Alpha Tambo Road.

History

The area on which the town of Tambo now sits was home of many different Aboriginal groups including the Wadjaling, Wadjalad, Wadjabangai, and Pitjara. The first European exploration of the district was by Sir Thomas Mitchell, popularly known as "Major Mitchell", in 1846. For approximately the next 15 years the area was unused until selectors began taking land in 1861. The town of Carrangarra was founded in 1863, making it the oldest town in western Queensland. Like much of the west, sheep became the mainstay of the economy. The settlement was renamed Tambo in 1868. The name ''Tambo'' comes from an

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

word, meaning ''hidden place'', or "resting place, fish, shady waters, hidden waters, a secluded spot, hidden place and native yam." A branch of the

Queensland National Bank The Queensland National Bank is a former bank in Queensland, Australia. History In 1872, the bank was established in Brisbane. In December 1914, the bank had its head office in Brisbane with branches throughout Queensland at Allora, Queensland, ...

was first established in 1875. Tambo State School opened on 28 February 1876. A Bush Mission church was built from timber in 1877 for Reverend Peter Campbell, an itinerant preacher. It was designed by JW Wilson. It was built from timber. It has been demolished. St Mary's Catholic Church was a Roman Catholic church at 14 Star Street (). It was built in 1886. On 10 January 1955, it was demolished in a storm. On 18 December 1955, a new church, Our Lady of Victories War Memorical Catholic Church, was blessed and officially opened 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 ...

Tynan Tynan ()PlaceNamesNI - Tynan
is a village, townland (of 375 acres) an ...

on the same site as the earlier church. It was designed by

Frank Cullen Frank Cullen (2 February 1909 – 2 November 1991) was an Australian architect, who designed over 200 churches, schools, monasteries, convents and other church related buildings in Queensland and Northern New South Wales, Australia. Early life ...

and built from timber. The Courthouse was built in 1888. Tambo Presbyterian Church was opened on Sunday 24 June 1888 by Reverend J. Mably. It was built from timber and cost £750. It has been demolished. Tambo was the location of

Qantas Qantas ( ), formally Qantas Airways Limited, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Australia and List of largest airlines in Oceania, Oceania. A foundi ...

' first fatal accident. An Airco DH.9 crashed on 24 March 1927 with the loss of three lives after the plane stalled while landing. St Michael's and All Angels Anglican Church was officially opened by

Halford on Sunday 29 September 1912. It was a timber church in Edward Street. It was totally destroyed in a cyclone on Sunday 9 January 1938. Anglican services were held in the Council Chambers. In 1947, the land in Edward Street was sold to the Queensland Country Women's Association for a student hostel and land was purchased in Arthur Street for a new church. After overcoming many difficulties, a replacement church was finally opened in October 1952 by

James Housden. A hall was built at the rear of the church in 1964. Until 2008, Tambo was the administrative centre of the Shire of Tambo. In 2008, as part of the Queensland Government's amalgamation of local government areas, the Shire of Tambo and the neighbouring Shire of Blackall were both abolished and Tambo is now a part of the

. Tambo was cut off for eight days during the

2010-2011 Queensland floods 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, Numeral (linguistics), numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest Positive number, positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in o ...

Demographics

Heritage listings

Tambo has a number of

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and human-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In ma ...

sites, including: * Former Tambo Post Office, Arthur Street () * Former Tambo Court House, 9 Arthur Street ()

Economy

The chief industries of the town and district are

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 ...

properties for sheep and cattle. There was a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

(operated by N.K Collins who operated a sawmill in

) which closed in 2011. The sawmill reopened March 2018.

Education

Tambo State School is a government primary and secondary (Early Childhood to Year 10) school for boys and girls at 20 Mitchell Street (). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 79 students with 11 teachers and 11 non-teaching staff (7 full-time equivalent). There are no secondary schools providing schooling to Year 12 within Tambo or nearby areas; options 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

The heritage-listed former Courthouse in Arthur Street contains the Tambo Visitor Information Centre and the Tambo Library. The Tambo 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 ...

meets at the Royal Carrangarra Hotel in Arthur Street. Our Lady of Victories War Memorial Catholic Church is at 14 Star Street (). St Michael and All Angels Anglican Church is in Arthur Street ().

Attractions

Tambo is also famous for its Tambo Teddy Workshop, set up by three local women in 1992 to help promote the wool industry after years of drought had caused wool prices to fall. In 2018, one of these teddies was given to

Prince Harry Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal family. As the younger son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales, he is fifth in the line of succession to ...

and his wife Meghan (the Duke and Duchess of Sussex) when they visited Australia. There have been numerous commercials advertising the teddies. In 2018 Ben's Chicken Racing started in the town at The Royal Carrangarra Hotel, racing chickens and entertaining people nightly from April - October, and has brought thousands to the town. The "Tambo Heritage Trail" includes 17 buildings within the town's precinct of historical importance. They include:Tambo's Historical Walk brochure * Post and Telegraph office building * Reg Barry's Memorial * Survey Marker * Old Tambo Post Office (1876) * Courthouse (1888) * Tambo Shire Hall * Masonic Lodge * Old Powerhouse * Tambo State School * Windmill at Tambo Mill Motel * Primary Health Care * The Club Hotel * General Store * Royal Carrangarra Hotel * Tambo Teddies Workshop * Queensland National Bank

Climate

Temperatures in Tambo range from 35 °C in summer to 21 °C in winter. Minimum temperatures in winter often drop below

freezing Freezing is a phase transition in which a liquid turns into a solid when its temperature is lowered below its freezing point. For most substances, the melting and freezing points are the same temperature; however, certain substances possess dif ...

. The average annual rainfall is 531.1 mm (20.93 in), the majority of which falls between December and March.

Gallery

File:StateLibQld 1 159146 Educational Academy at Tambo, 1905.jpg, Tambo Educational Academy. 1905 File:StateLibQld 1 108104 Volk's Club Hotel at Tambo, 1912.jpg, Volk's Club Hotel, circa 1912 File:The Club Hotel.JPG, The Club Hotel, 2012 File:Tambo Public Library.JPG, Tambo Public Library, previously Tambo Courthouse. Built in 1888 File:Post Office, Tambo.JPG, Tambo Post Office, built 1904 File:Tambo Post and Telegraph Office.JPG, Tambo Post and Telegraph Office. Built 1876 File:Tambo Electric Telegraph Office.JPG, Tambo Electronic Telegraph Office. Built 1885 File:Reg Barry's Memorial.JPG, Reg Barry's Memorial File:Tambo Survey Marker.JPG, Tambo Survey Marker File:Tambo Shire Hall building.JPG, Tambo Shire Hall File:Windmill at Tabmo Mill.JPG, Tambo Windmill File:Royal Carrangarra Hotel.JPG, Royal Carrangarra Hotel File:Tambo Teddy's Workshop.JPG, Tambo Teddies Workshop Tambo Teddy Crossing Sign.JPG, Teddy Crossing Tambo

References

Bibliography

External links

University of Queensland: Queensland Places: Tambo

Town map of Tambo, 1876

Tambo Public Library
{{authority control Towns in Queensland Populated places established in 1863 1863 establishments in Australia Blackall-Tambo Region Localities in Queensland