Widgeegoara 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

Shire of Paroo The Shire of Paroo is a Local government in Australia, 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 of Paroo had a populati ...

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 , Widgeegoara had a population of 19 people.

Geography

Noorama Creek and Widgeegoara Creek flow through the locality from the north-west (

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 ...

) to the south ( Noorama). These creeks are

distributaries A distributary, or a distributary channel is a stream channel that branches off and flows a main stream channel. It is the opposite of a ''tributary'', a stream that flows another stream or river. Distributaries are a result of river bifurca ...

of the

Warrego River The Warrego River is an intermittent river that is part of the Darling catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, which is located in South West Queensland and in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. The Warrego River is the north ...

. The predominant land use is grazing of cattle and sheep.

History

The locality's name come from the parish and creek of the same name, which in turn was the name of a pastoral run used since 1867. It is believed to be an Aboriginal word combination meaning ''turn around quickly''. In 1878, the Widgeegoara Station was described when offered for sale as:

''The well-known Widgeegoara Station, in the Warrego district, situate about 180 miles from Bourke, and containing about 180 square miles of magnificent sheep country, consisting of open plains, heavily grassed with blue, barley, and other grasses and herbage, and saltbush in abundance, and is of the most fattening description.'' ''The run is abundantly watered, having fifteen miles frontage to the Widgeegoara Creek, with two large dams, and has also two tanks, one of 12,000 yards, with ten miles of drains leading into it, and one of 800 yards, and two fresh-water wells, one of which has been in constant use for five years, and gives a good supply.'' ''The tanks and dams are all full at present.'' ''The improvements also comprise home paddock, stock and sheep yards, a good dwelling-house, with kitchen, store, outhouses, and stable.'' ''The run will be sold without stock.'' ''The wethers from this station have averaged 621b. in the Sydney market.''

In October 1884, Messrs Bignell of Widgeegoara Station successfully constructed a bore that obtained sub-artesian water, the first in Queensland. Widgeegoara Provisional School opened circa 1898. From May 1903 it was a half-time school operated in conjunction with Abbadoah Provisional School (presumably at Abbadoah Station at ) with a single teacher serving at the two schools, but that arrangement was reversed in June 1903 with the teacher returning to Widgeegoara Provisional School on a full-time basis. However, due to low student numbers, the school was closed in either late 1903 or early 1904.

Demographics

In the , Widgeegoara had a population of 34 people. In the , Widgeegoara had a population of 19 people.

Education

There are no schools in Widgeegoara. The nearest government primary and secondary school is Cunnamulla State School in neighbouring Cunnamulla to the west. However, due to the size of Widgeegoara, a daily commute to Cunnamulla would only be viable students living in the west of the locality. For students in other parts of the locality, 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.

References

{{Shire of Paroo Shire of Paroo Localities in Queensland