Thallon 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

Shire of Balonne The Shire of Balonne is a Local government in Australia, local government area in South West Queensland, Australia, over from the state capital, Brisbane. It covers an area of , and has existed as a local government entity since 1879. It is hea ...

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 , the locality of Thallon had a population of 231 people. There is a second town within the locality,

Nindigully Nindigully is a rural town within the locality of Thallon in the Shire of Balonne, Queensland, Australia. Geography Nindigully is north of the town of Thallon, the main town in the locality. The Moonie River flows south to north passing th ...

Geography

StateLibQld 2 129078 Motor train at Thallon station on its way to Warwick in December 1930

Thallon is in

South West Queensland South West Queensland is a remote region in the Australian state of Queensland which covers . The region lies to the south of Central West Queensland and west of the Darling Downs and includes the Maranoa, Queensland, Maranoa district and parts o ...

, 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 town is situated in roughly towards the east of the locality. The

Moonie River The Moonie River (Mooni River) is a river in Shire of Balonne, Queensland and Walgett Shire, New South Wales, both in Australia. It is a Perennial stream, perennial river of the Barwon River (New South Wales), Barwon catchment within the Murray ...

flows from south to north through the locality and just to the west of the town. The

Carnarvon Highway Carnarvon Highway is a state highway in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia, linking the township of Rolleston in Queensland's Central Highlands Region, via the town of St George, eventually to Moree in northern New South Wales. It is ...

passes from north to south through the locality and through the town (as Hill Street) connecting the town to

St George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the R ...

to the north and

Mungindi Mungindi is a town and locality on the border of New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland, Australia. The town is within Moree Plains Shire in New South Wales. Within Queensland, the locality is split between the Shire of Balonne (the western part) ...

on the border with New South Wales. The South-Western railway line passes through the locality from east to west and the town is served for freight rail by the Thallon railway station. The land use is a mixture of crop growing and

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. It is a major wheat and woolgrowing area.

History

Gamilaraay The Gamilaroi, also known as Gomeroi, Kamilaroi, Kamillaroi and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose lands extend from New South Wales to southern Queensland. They form one of the four largest Indigenous nations in Austr ...

(Gamilaroi, Kamilaroi, Comilroy) is a language from South-West Queensland and North-West New South Wales. The Gamilaraay language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Balonne Shire Council, including the towns of

Dirranbandi Dirranbandi is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Balonne, Queensland, Australia. The locality is on the border of Queensland with New South Wales. In the , the locality of Dirranbandi had a population of 610 people. Geography Dirranb ...

, Thallon, Talwood and Bungunya as well as the border towns of

and Boomi extending to Moree, Tamworth and

Coonabarabran Coonabarabran () is a town in Warrumbungle Shire that sits on the divide between the Central West and North West Slopes regions of New South Wales, Australia. At the 2021 census, the town had a population of 2,387, Material was copied from th ...

in NSW. Explorer Thomas Mitchell was the first European in the Thallon district and his initials can still be found on a bloodwood tree near the

. In 1911, the area was set aside for closer settlement and were

gazette A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

d as a town reserve. The town's name comes from its railway station, which in turn was named on 17 January 1911 by the

Queensland Railways Department Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Queensland Rail is owned by the Queensland Government, and operates both suburban and interurban rail services in South East Queensland, as well as long-distance passenger t ...

after James Forsyth Thallon (1847-1911) who was the Queensland Commissioner for Railways from 1900 to 1911. With the coming of the railway, the town developed and shops and a hotel were established. Thallon State School opened on 24 July 1911. St Joseph's Catholic Church was built in 1916 from timber using a "ready-to-erect" system. It was . It cost £268. It was officially opened by

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

James Duhig Sir James Duhig KCMG (2 September 187110 April 1965) was an Irish-born Australian Roman Catholic religious leader. He was the Archbishop of Brisbane for 48 years from 1917 until his death in 1965. At the time of his death he was the longest- ...

on Sunday 17 September 1916. It was in Garah Street () on a site donated by F. McLoughlin. In 1980, it closed due to termite damage. Myrtlemount Provisional School, Warrie Provisional School and Hollymount Provisional School (all named after local pastoral stations) opened on 29 September 1919 as a group of part-time schools (sharing a teacher between them). All three schools closed in 1922 due to low student numbers.

Demographics

In the , the locality of Thallon and the surrounding area had a population of 382 people. In the , the locality of Thallon had a population of 257 people. In the , the locality of Thallon had a population of 231 people.

Heritage listings

Thallon has the following heritage-listed sites: * Bullamon Homestead, by the Moonie River ()

Education

Thallon State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 15 Henry Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 36 students with 4 teachers (3 full-time equivalent) and 7 non-teaching staff (3 full-time equivalent). In 2022, the school had an enrolment of 18 students. There is no secondary school in Thallon; the nearest is St George State High School in neighbouring

Facilities

Thallon has a post office, hotel, community hall, showground, park and sportsground. Balonne Shire Council operates a library in William Street. ThallonCWARooms

The Thallon-Daymar 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 47 William Street. Daymar is a neighbouring town, east of Thallon.

William the Wombat

In 2015, the town of Thallon decided to build a large statue of a

northern hairy-nosed wombat The northern hairy-nosed wombat (''Lasiorhinus krefftii'') or yaminon is one of three extant species of Australian marsupials known as wombats. It is one of the rarest land mammals in the world and is critically endangered. Its historical range ...

as one of

Australia's Big Things The big things of Australia are large structures, some of which are novelty architecture and some sculptures. In Australia, big things have come to be seen as a uniquely Australian phenomenon, although they emerged at the same time as the so-c ...

to attract tourists and to highlight the critically endangered status of the species which had once inhabited the Thallon area but is now extinct in that area. The statue is and was built by David Joffe at Natureworks in

. It arrived in Thallon in October 2017 and is on display in the park on Pine Street (). There is a small population of the wombats at the Richard Underwood Nature Refuge, located between

and

Surat Surat (Gujarati Language, Gujarati: ) is a city in the western Indian States and territories of India, state of Gujarat. The word Surat directly translates to ''face'' in Urdu, Gujarati language, Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of t ...

, established in 2009.

Gallery

File:AU-Qld-Thallon-town sign north-2021.jpg, Northern entrance to the town (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-Pine Street-2021.jpg, Pine Street (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-state school-2021.jpg, Thallon State School, Henry Street (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-state school oval-2021.jpg, Thallon State School oval, Henry Street (2021). File:ThallonFrancisHotel.JPG, Francis Hotel, Pine Street (2008). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-Anglican church-2021.jpg, Anglican church (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-town water tower-2021.jpg, Town water tower (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-fire station-2021.jpg, Fire station (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-police station-2021.jpg, Police station (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-cemetery-2021.jpg, Town cemetery (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-silo murals-2021.jpg, Painted murals on grain silos (2021). File:Thallon silo art - The Watering Hole, 2021, 03.jpg, Painted murals on grain silos (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-war memorial-2021.jpg, War memorial (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-Moonie River in flood downstream-2021.jpg, Moonie River in flood downstream (2021). File:AU-Qld-Thallon-Noondoo-Thallon Road-2021.jpg, Noondoo-Thallon Road (2021).

References

External links

Town map of Thallon, 1974
{{authority control Towns in Queensland Shire of Balonne Localities in Queensland