Valkyrie is a rural

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

Isaac Region The Isaac Region is a local government area located in Central Queensland, Queensland, Australia created in March 2008 as a result of the report of the Local Government Reform Commission released in July 2007. In the , the Isaac Region had a po ...

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 , Valkyrie had a population of 71 people.

Geography

The

Isaac River The Isaac River is a river and anabranch in Central Queensland, Australia. Course The headwaters of the river rise south east of Glenden, Queensland and flow in a generally southern direction, crossing the Peak Downs Highway near Moranbah. I ...

passes through the locality forming part of the locality's south-western boundary. The

Fitzroy Developmental Road The Fitzroy Developmental Road is a designated road in the Central Highlands Region of Queensland consisting of three separate sections. The general direction is from south to north. It is nicknamed the Beef Road. Route description Southern sec ...

passes through the locality from north to south. The Duania open-cut coal mine is in the western part of the locality and is serviced by the

Goonyella railway line The Goonyella railway system is located in Central Queensland, Australia. It services the coal mining area of the Bowen Basin, carrying coal to the Hay Point and Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminals 20 km southeast of Mackay, as well as product ...

. However, the land use of Valkyrie is predominantly cattle grazing.

History

Valkyrie State School opened on 9 January 1974. In 2011, there was a proposal to develop the Codrilla coal mine on a site approximately 800 metres from the school. The proposal included the relocation of the school and its teacher's residence to a new location to avoid any environmental impacts from the mine. As of 2017, the mine proposal and school relocation have not yet occurred.

Demographics

In the , Valkyrie had a population of 122 people. In the , Valkyrie had a population of 71 people.

Education

Valkyrie State School is a government primary (Early Childhood-6) school for boys and girls at 43092 Fitzroy Developmental Road (). In 2016, the school had an enrolment of 19 students with 2 teachers and 6 non-teaching staff (2 full-time equivalent). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 22 students with 3 teachers (2 full-time equivalent) and 5 non-teaching staff (2 full-time equivalent). There are no secondary schools in Valkyrie. The nearest government secondary schools are

Dysart State High School Dysart State High School is a co-educational public high school in Dysart, Central Queensland, Australia, serving grades 7 through 12. Opened in 1982, it was developed from a Secondary Department attached to Dysart State School in 1978. Faci ...

in neighbouring Dysart to the south-west and Moranbah State High School in

Moranbah Moranbah is a coal mining town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Isaac Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Moranbah had a population of 9,425. In addition to the permanent population, Moranbah also has ...

to the west. However, most of Valkyrie would be too distant from these schools for a daily commute; the alternatives 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.

School water supply issue

Valkyrie State School has become known for its ongoing struggle in attempting to obtain a permanent

water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Th ...

since opening in 1974. In 2015, a student suffered a broken arm after falling on the dry surface of the school's unwatered oval. Students were subsequently banned from playing on the oval to prevent similar incidents from occurring. Since June 2020, the school has been relying on a mining company

Peabody Energy Peabody Energy is a coal mining company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Its primary business consists of the mining, sale, and distribution of coal, which is purchased for use in electricity generation and steelmaking. Peabody also marke ...

to transport

potable water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

to supplement the school's

rainwater tank A rainwater tank (sometimes called a rain barrel in North America in reference to smaller tanks, or a water butt in the UK) is a water tank used to collect and store rain water runoff, typically from rooftops via pipes. Rainwater tanks are de ...

s free of charge. The school's rainwater tanks ran out of water in May 2021. In 2021, the school was banned by the state government from accepting donated water from any company apart from its own commercial business unit QBuild. The Parents & Citizens' Association, the Isolated Children's Parent's Association and local MP

Dale Last Dale Raymond Last (born 25 February 1964) is an Australian politician. He has been the Liberal National member for Burdekin in the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 2015. He has been the Queensland Minister for Natural Resources and Mines, ...

have all criticised the

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

's handling of the issue. The government was also criticised by the P&C for not allocating any money in the 2021

state budget A government budget is a projection of the government's revenues and expenditure for a particular period, often referred to as a financial or fiscal year, which may or may not correspond with the calendar year. Government revenues mostly include ...

to address the lack of water supply at Valkyrie State School, despite funding ten new schools in

South East Queensland South East Queensland (SEQ) is a Bioregion, bio-geographical, Megalopolis, metropolitan and Statistics, statistical Regions of Queensland, region of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of ...

, and allocating money for new infrastructure at Parkhurst State School. According to the

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

, an additional three new water tanks with ultraviolet filtration would be installed at the school in 2021. However, the P&C said they would prefer a permanent water source and proposed that the school either be connected to the nearest pipeline or have a nearby dam rehabilitated so water could be pumped to the school from there.

References

{{Isaac Region Isaac Region Localities in Queensland