Thargomindah (frequently shortened to Thargo) 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

Shire of Bulloo 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 ...

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. The town of Thargomindah is the administrative centre for the

. In the , Thargomindah had a population of 270 people. It was founded on Wongkumara and Kalali territory. On 17 April 2020, 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 reorganise the nine localities in the Shire of Bullo, 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 Norley is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cheshire, England, north of Delamere Forest, near the village of Cuddington, Vale Royal, Cuddington. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 1,169. Its ...

, 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 district and parts of the Channel Coun ...

on the Adventure Way, approximately west of the state capital,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, and west of the town of

Cunnamulla Cunnamulla () is a town and a locality in the Shire of Paroo, Queensland, Australia. It is south of Charleville, and approximately west of the state capital, Brisbane. In the , Cunnamulla had a population of 1,140 people. Geography Cunnamulla ...

. 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 locality in the Shire of Bulloo in South West Queensland, Australia. The town was previously known as Nocundra. Prior to 2020 the locality was previously known as Nockatunga. In the , the locality of Nockatunga (no ...

* the Quilpie Road goes north-east to

Quilpie Quilpie ( ) is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Quilpie, Queensland, Australia. In the , Quilpie had a population of 595 people. The town is the administrative centre of the Quilpie Shire local government area. The town of Toompine ...

* 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 Adventure Way) goes east to Yowah and

Eulo Eulo is an outback town and locality in the Shire of Paroo, Queensland, Australia. In the , Eulo had a population of 95 people. It is known for its opal mining. Geography Eulo is west of Cunnamulla and west of Brisbane. The town is located ...

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, northeast of Salisbury and 60 miles (97 km) west of London. The Kennet and Avon Canal passes through the town alongside the ...

* 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 intertwined rivulets that cross the region, ...

where the rivers are mostly dry riverbeds except for seasonal

flooding A flood is an overflow of water ( 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 an area of study of the discipline hydrolog ...

. The locality contributes to three major

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where 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, t ...

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, Austra ...

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 porti ...

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 Major Mitchell's cockatoo (''Lophochroa leadbeateri''), also known as Leadbeater's cockatoo or the pink cockatoo, is a medium-sized cockatoo that inhabits arid and semi-arid inland areas of Australia, though it is seen regularly in other climat ...

History

Margany (also known as Marganj, Mardigan, Marukanji, Maranganji) is an

Australian Aboriginal language The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

spoken by the Margany people. The Margany language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Quilpie Shire, taking in

, Cheepie and Beechal extending towards

and Thargomindah, as well as the properties of Dynevor Downs and Ardoch. Gunya (Kunya, Kunja, Kurnja) is an

spoken by the Gunya people. The Gunya language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the

Paroo Shire Council The Shire of Paroo is a local government area in South West Queensland, Australia. The administrative centre is the town of Cunnamulla. The Paroo Shire covers an area of . In the , the Shire had a population of 1,679. The region incorporates t ...

, taking in

and extending north towards

Augathella Augathella is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Murweh, Queensland, Australia. Geography Augathella lies on the Matilda Highway, is north of the town of Charleville, west of Roma and west of Brisbane (Queensland's capital). The ...

, east towards Bollon and west towards Thargomindah. Kullilli (Kalali, Garlali, Galali) is an

spoken by the Kullilli people. The Kullilli language region spans

in South West Queensland, encompassing the township of Thargomindah and areas of the Bulloo, Paroo, and

Shires. The town was first settled in the 1860s at a crossing of the Bulloo River. The town takes its name from the parish, which in turn was named after the ''Thargomindah'' pastoral run, which is an Aboriginal word meaning ''

echidna Echidnas (), sometimes known as spiny anteaters, are quill-covered monotremes (egg-laying mammals) belonging to the family Tachyglossidae . The four extant species of echidnas and the platypus are the only living mammals that lay eggs and the ...

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

telegraph line Electrical telegraphs were point-to-point text messaging systems, primarily used from the 1840s until the late 20th century. It was the first electrical telecommunications system and the most widely used of a number of early messaging systems ...

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 A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...

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 generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

from 1898 until 1951. The old bore into the

Great Artesian Basin The Great Artesian Basin (GAB), located in Australia, is the largest and deepest artesian basin in the world, stretching over , with measured water temperatures ranging from . The basin provides the only source of fresh water through much ...

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 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. This pushing force can be trans ...

and purchased by the Bulloo Divisional Board becoming the first municipality owned power plant. 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. At the , Thargomindah had a population of 203. In the , Thargomindah had a population of 270 people. On 17 April 2020 the

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

, creating a locality of .

Heritage listings

Thargomindah has a number of nearby

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

sites, including: * Bulloo River, Bulloo Downs: Dr Ludwig Becker's Grave * Nappa Merrie Station,

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

: Burke and Wills Dig Tree * Wilson Street,

: Noccundra Hotel

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-6) school for boys and girls at Dowling Street (). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 24 students with 3 teachers and 5 non-teaching staff (3 full-time equivalent). The nearest government secondary (8–12) school is Cunnamulla P-12 State School.

Water

Thargomindah has a pressurised

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

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, Australia. Airlines and destinations Services are operated under contract to the Government of Queensland and will be taken over by Regional Express Airlines from 1 January ...

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 Regional Express Pty. Ltd., trading as Rex Airlines (and as Regional Express Airlines on regional routes), is an Australian airline based in Mascot, New South Wales. It operates scheduled regional and domestic services. It is Australia's large ...

. 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 semi-ar ...

(

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

''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
{{Authority control Towns in Queensland South West Queensland Shire of Bulloo Localities in Queensland