Thargomindah (frequently shortened to Thargo) 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 Bulloo The Shire of Bulloo ( ) is a Local government in Australia, local government area in South West Queensland, Australia. On 17 April 2020 the Queensland Government reorganised the nine localities in the Shire, resulting in six localities by makin ...

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. The town of Thargomindah is the administrative centre for the

. In the , the locality of Thargomindah had a population of 243 people. On 17 April 2020, the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the state government of Queensland, Australia, a Parliament, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, ...

decided to reorganise the nine localities in the Shire of Bulloo, resulting in six localities. Thargomindah, previously being of the area immediately surrounding the town of Thargomindah, was enlarged through the incorporation of all of Bullawarra (except for a small portion in the south of Bullawarra which was absorbed into Bulloo Downs), all of Dynevor and all of Norley, creating a locality of .

Geography

Thargominah is located 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 ...

on the

Adventure Way The Adventure Way is an Australian outback route between Brisbane, Queensland and Innamincka, South Australia (and, in some publications, extending through to Adelaide via the Strzelecki Track). Using the Adventure Way, it is from Brisbane to I ...

, approximately 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 ...

, and west of the town of

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 town of Thargomindah is the administrative centre for the

. It lies on the

Bulloo River The Bulloo River is an isolated drainage system in western Queensland, central Australia. Its floodplain, which extends into northern New South Wales, is an important area for waterbirds when inundated. It comprises most of the Bulloo-Banc ...

in the centre of the locality. Five main roads radiate from the town: * the Bundeena Road goes west to

Noccundra Noccundra is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Shire of Bulloo in South West Queensland, South West Queensland, Australia. The town was previously known as Nocundra. Prior to 2020 the locality was previously kno ...

* the Quilpie Road goes north-east to

Quilpie Quilpie ( ) is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Shire of Quilpie, Shire of Quilpie, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Quilpie had a population of 530 people. The town is the administrative cent ...

* the Cunnamulla Road (also known as the

Bulloo Developmental Road The Bulloo Developmental Road is an outback road in Queensland, Australia. It is part of the Adventure Way, a route from Brisbane to Adelaide via the Australian outback. It commences at Cunnamulla and travels approximately west for until it m ...

and the

) goes east to

Yowah Yowah is an outback town and locality in the Shire of Paroo, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Yowah had a population of 126 people. The town is known for its opal mining and numerous opal fields that lie around the town as well ...

and

Eulo Eulo ( ) is an outback town and locality in the Shire of Paroo, Queensland, Australia. It is known for its opal mining. In the , the locality of Eulo had a population of 94 people. Geography Eulo is west of Cunnamulla and west of Brisban ...

and beyond to

* the Hungerford Road goes south to

Hungerford Hungerford is a historic market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, west of Newbury, east of Marlborough, and 60 miles (97 km) west of London. The population of the parish at the 2021 census was 5,869. The Kennet and Avon Can ...

* the Bulloo Downs Road goes south-west to Bulloo Downs Thargomindah is part of the

Channel Country The Channel Country is a region of outback Australia mostly in the state of Queensland but also in parts of South Australia, Northern Territory and New South Wales. The name comes from the numerous Braided river, intertwined rivulets that cro ...

where the rivers are mostly dry riverbeds except for seasonal

flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

ing. The locality contributes to three major

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

s: * in the south-east, creeks flow into the

Paroo River The Paroo River, a series of waterholes, connected in wet weather as a running stream of the Darling catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the South West region of Queensland and Far West region of New South Wales, Aust ...

system in the Murray-Darling basin * in the centre, creeks flow into the

system in the

Bulloo-Bancannia drainage basin The Bulloo-Bancannia drainage basin or Cooper Creek–Bulloo River Basin is a Level 2 drainage basin that covers part of western Queensland and New South Wales. It was recognised by the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO as a subdivision of the Lake ...

* in the north-west, creeks flow into Wilson River system in the

Lake Eyre 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

flows through the locality from the north-east (

) through the town and exits the locality to the south-west (Bulloo Downs). The land is principally used for low density cattle grazing. The Dynevor Downs homestead is located on the Cunnamulla Road (). Lake Bindegolly National Park is located in the east of the locality (). A portion of the

Currawinya National Park Currawinya is a national park near Hungerford in South West Queensland, Australia, 828 km west of Brisbane. Part of the mulga lands bioregion this is an area of dry sandy plain with small trees and shrubs. The Paroo River passes through the ...

is on the south-eastern boundary of the locality (), although the bulk of that national park was in adjacent

. Lake Bullawarra is in the northwest of the locality () approximately NW of the town and is a nationally important wetland. It is a habitat for a

vulnerable species A vulnerable species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened species, threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatened species, ...

, the

Major Mitchell's cockatoo The pink cockatoo (''Cacatua leadbeateri''), also known as Major Mitchell's cockatoo or Leadbeater's cockatoo, is a medium-sized cockatoo that inhabits arid and semi-arid inland areas across Australia, with the exception of the north east. Ta ...

History

Thargomindah lies on the traditional lands of the

Kalali people The Galali or Kalali were an indigenous Australian people of the state of Queensland. Language Garlali is now extinct, but some outlines of the language were written out by Nils Holmer, Maryalyce McDonald and Stephen Wurm. The Garlali spoke two ...

who seemed to have had a close association with the

Wongkumara The Wanggumara, also spelt Wangkumara, Wongkumara, Wangkumarra, and other variants, are an Aboriginal people of the state of Queensland, Australia. Language Old Wankumara, spoken along the Bulloo River with the Kalali people, was a " Karna– ...

, Margany and

Badjiri The Badjiri people, also written Budjari or Badyidi, are an Australian Aboriginal people of just north of the Paroo River, close to the southern border of Queensland. They are not to be confused with the Pitjara/Bidjara people of the Warrego ...

peoples from neighbouring regions along the Bulloo and Wilson Rivers. The Margany language (also known as Maranganji), the

Badjiri language Badjiri is an extinct Aboriginal Australian language once spoken by the Badjiri people of southern Queensland. References *Dixon, R. M. W. 2002. ''Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development.'' Cambridge University Press * Externa ...

and the

Kalali language Kalali, also written Kullili, Galali, Garlali, Kullilla and other variants, is a poorly attested Australian Aboriginal language, of Queensland, Australia. It is one of several geographically transitional "Karna– Mari fringe" languages that h ...

(Galali) are now mostly extinct, although some revitalisation projects have been commenced. The Thargomindah area was first explored by the British in the early 1860s by colonist

Vincent James Dowling Vincent James Dowling (11 January 1835 – 5 November 1903) was an Australian explorer and pastoralist. Early life Dowling was born in Sydney in 1835 to the solicitor Willoughby James Dowling and his wife Lilias Dickson. His grand uncle was Si ...

, who established the Thargomindah pastoral property in 1865 with his brother John Dowling. Violence with the Aboriginal people soon ensued and John Dowling was killed. In retribution, Vincent Dowling and a

Native Police Australian native police were specialised mounted military units consisting of detachments of Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal troopers under the command of European officers appointed by British colonial governments. The units existed in va ...

detachment under Sub-Inspector James Gilmour from the

barracks pursued the Kalali. These forces massacred a large number of Kalali people near the Thuringowa waterhole. A recent publication disputes these accounts of the massacre. After the massacre, a new Native Police barracks called the Bulloo Barracks was established on Dowling's property at a crossing of the Bulloo River. From the 1870s, the town of Thargomindah developed around these barracks. Thargomindah is an Aboriginal word meaning ''

echidna Echidnas (), sometimes known as spiny anteaters, are quill-covered monotremes (egg-laying mammals) belonging to the Family (biology), family Tachyglossidae , living in Australia and New Guinea. The four Extant taxon, extant species of echidnas ...

''. A post office was established in 1870 and a

telegraph line Electrical telegraphy is point-to-point distance communicating via sending electric signals over wire, a system primarily used from the 1840s until the late 20th century. It was the first electrical telecommunications system and the most wide ...

connected the town to

in 1881. Thargomindah Provisional School opened on 1 April 1884. In 1892 it became Thargomindah State School. The 1890s saw the town prosper as the service and administrative centre of a

pastoral The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target au ...

district. An extension of the Western railway line to the town was planned for many years; however it never eventuated. The railway did reach Cunnamulla in 1898 and

in 1917. Thargomindah was one of the first towns in Australia to produce

hydroelectric power Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

from 1898 until 1951. The old bore into the

Great Artesian Basin The Great Artesian Basin (GAB) of Australia is the largest and deepest artesian basin in the world, extending over . Measured water temperatures range from . The basin provides the only source of fresh water through much of inland Australia. ...

was a source of energy when electric street lights were lit and coupled to a turbine driven by the bore's natural water pressure. The generator was taken from a unit powered by a

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

and purchased by the Bulloo Divisional Board becoming the first municipality owned power plant in Queensland. After that power was supplied by diesel generators until 1988, when the town was connected to the state power grid via Cunnamulla. The power station is still operating with a daily opening to the public. St Edmund's Anglican Church at 60 Dowling Street () was dedicated on 22 October 1960 by Archbishop

Reginald Halse Sir Reginald Charles Halse KBE CMG (16 June 1881 – 9 August 1962) was the Bishop of Riverina from 1925 to 1943 and then Archbishop of Brisbane until his death in 1962. Halse was educated at St Paul's School, London and Brasenose College, O ...

. Its closure on 28 May 2003 was approved by Venerable Gary Frederick Harch, Archdeacon of the West. It is now used as a private home. On 17 April 2020 the

Demographics

In the , the town of Thargomindah had a population of 203 people. In the , the locality of Thargomindah had a population of 270 people. In the , the locality of Thargomindah had a population of 243 people.

Heritage listings

Thargomindah has a number of nearby

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: * Dr Ludwig Becker's Grave, Bulloo River, Bulloo Downs * Burke and Wills Dig Tree at

Nappa Merrie Station Nappa Merrie Station, most commonly known as Nappa Merrie, is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in central west Queensland, Australia. Description The property is located north east of Innamincka, South Australia, Innamincka ...

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

* Noccundra Hotel, Wilson Street,

Facilities

An information centre is located at 37 Dowling Street, Thargomindah. The building is a renovation of a children's hostel which was built in early 1960, it then became a block of flats and ended up being an empty run-down building until converted to a very modern facility containing the Visitor Information Centre, Library and Coffee Shop. The hostel was used for children who lived in remote properties where they would board at the hostel during the week, returning home on the weekends to their families. The Information Centre contains brochures, pamphlets and maps on the South West Queensland corner and surrounding areas. It is the first place where people stop when they visit Thargomindah to get the latest road conditions, directions, places to stay, things to see and do and the latest information on events. Bulloo Shire Council operates Thargomindah Library at Shire Office, Dowling Street, Thargomindah. Thargomindah has two fuel stations; Thargo Motors which is open Mon to Fri and Sat mornings and Thargo Roadhouse which has 24 hour fuel using an EFTPOS facility. Accommodation consists of the Oasis Motel, Bulloo River Hotel Motel, Explorers Caravan Park and Napunyah Caravan Park. Dining out options are the Oasis Motel, Bulloo River Hotel Motel, Coffee on Dowling and Thargo Roadhouse.

Education

Thargomindah State School is a government primary (Early Childhood to Year 6) school for boys and girls at 1 Dowling Street (). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 24 students with 3 teachers and 5 non-teaching staff (3 full-time equivalent). There are no nearby secondary schools. The 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.

Water

Thargomindah has a pressurised

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...

from a bore into the

and has produced hydroelectric power from the basin in the past. After 2 years of drilling, a good supply of water was found in 1893. The temperature was . In 1924, it was recorded that the bore had a daily output of and today of at . There is a plentiful water supply for the population and the arid area available for irrigation in front and backyards and public warm showers are provided.

Transport

Thargomindah Airport Thargomindah Airport is an airport near Thargomindah, Queensland, Thargomindah, Queensland, Australia. Airlines and destinations Services are operated by Regional Express Airlines under contract to the Government of Queensland, Government ...

is located to the north of the town on Kerr Street (). It is operated by the

Bulloo Shire Council The Shire of Bulloo ( ) is a local government area in South West Queensland, Australia. On 17 April 2020 the Queensland Government reorganised the nine localities in the Shire, resulting in six localities by making the following changes: *Thar ...

and there are 2 scheduled flights from

each week on

Regional Express Airlines Rex Airlines Pty Ltd is an Australian regional airline based in Mascot, New South Wales. It operates scheduled regional services using turboprop aircraft. Between 2021 and 2024, Rex also operated jet services between selected major Australian ...

. There is a sealed runway long and an unsealed runway long. It was completely rebuilt in 2018. The Dynevor Downs Airport is located immediately to the east of the Dynevor Downs Homestead () with three unsealed runways (north–south, east–west, and NE–SW), the longest being , the others being about .

Climate

Thargomindah has a

hot semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of sem ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''BSh''), very closely bordering on a

hot arid climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(''BWh''), which is found in the western part of the shire. Summers are sweltering and generally dry except when monsoonal incursions into the continent bring heavy rain, whilst winters are warm and dry with cool to cold mornings.

References

External links

*
Bulloo Shire

Thargomindah on WalkAbout

Hydro Power Plant

Brisbane Electricity Supply Company and City Electric Light Company correspondence

State Library of Queensland State Library of Queensland (State Library) is the state public reference and research library of Queensland, Australia, operated by the Government of Queensland, state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, whi ...

. Includes telegrams regarding the installation and maintenance of electricity in Thargomindah {{Authority control Towns in Queensland South West Queensland Shire of Bulloo Localities in Queensland