Windorah is a town and a

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 Barcoo The Shire of Barcoo is a Local government in Australia, local government area in Central West Queensland, Australia. It covers an area of , and has existed as a local government entity since 1887. It is named for the Barcoo River which reaches ...

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. It is one of only three towns in the Shire of Barcoo in

Central West Queensland Central West Queensland (abbreviated CWQ) is a remote region in the Australian state of Queensland which covers 396,650.2 km2. The region lies to the north of South West Queensland and south of the Gulf Country. It has a population of appr ...

. In the , the locality of Windorah had a population of 104 people.

Geography

Located downstream from where the

Thomson Thomson may refer to: Names * Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin * Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson Businesses and organizations * SGS-Thomson M ...

and

Barcoo River The Barcoo River in western Queensland, Australia rises on the northern slopes of the Warrego Range, flows in a south-westerly direction and unites with the Thomson River to form Cooper Creek. The first European to see the river was Thomas ...

s join to form the multi-channelled

Cooper Creek The Cooper Creek (formerly Cooper's Creek) is a river in the Australian states of Queensland and South Australia. It was the site of the death of the explorers Burke and Wills in 1861. It is sometimes known as the Barcoo River from one of its ...

, the Shire covers an area of . The town has a population of 60 people, with a further 40 living at surrounding stations. A landscape of rocky outcrops, multiple sand hills and black soil flood plains make up most of the area surrounding the town. Water in the town follows the outback cycle of boom and bust. During a wet year Cooper Creek may flood more than a half a dozen times, during the dry it becomes a chain of waterholes. Downstream of the town stretches the

Cooper Floodplain below Windorah The Cooper Floodplain below Windorah comprises a 1741 km2 tract of floodplain of the Cooper Creek river system, below the town of Windorah, in the Channel Country of western Queensland, Australia. When inundated it is an important breeding ...

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

, identified as such by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

because of its importance for

waterbird A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...

s when flooded.

History

Before the onset of British colonisation, the area around Windorah was inhabited by the

Kulumali The Kulumali were an indigenous Australian people of the state of Queensland. Country Norman Tindale estimated that Kulumali territory occupied some centering on the area around Windorah and Kyabra Creek. People Very little is known of the Kulu ...

people, who spoke the Birria (Pirriya) language. The men of this group were circumcised, cut cicatrices on their chest and had one or two of their upper central

incisor Incisors (from Latin ''incidere'', "to cut") are the front teeth present in most mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and on the mandible below. Humans have a total of eight (two on each side, top and bottom). Opossums have 18, wher ...

s removed as part of their

initiation Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformatio ...

rites. They also chewed

pituri Pituri, also known as mingkulpa, is a mixture of leaves and wood ash traditionally chewed as a stimulant (or, after extended use, a depressant) by Australian Aboriginal, Aboriginal Australians widely across the continent. Leaves are gathered fro ...

as a stimulant. The population upon first contact with the British was estimated to be under 1,000 people. The British first entered the region in August 1847 with the arrival of the expedition led by

Edmund Kennedy Edmund Besley Court Kennedy J. P. (5 September 1818 – December 1848) was an explorer in Australia in the mid-19th century. He was the Assistant-Surveyor of New South Wales, working with Thomas Mitchell (explorer), Sir Thomas Mitchell. Kenned ...

. He encountered hundreds of Kulumali people living in the region and had several tense interactions with them over the ability to pass through their land and have access to their waterholes. Near the present town of Windorah, the situation was further inflamed with the Aboriginal people tampering with the expedition's cache of flour and by Kennedy twice attempting to force a negotiation in which he would take an Aboriginal child. A nulla nulla was thrown, and on two occasions Kennedy's men charged their horses at a group of resident Kulumali, whipping them and firing pistols above their heads to disperse them. George Fitzwalter established a shop and a hotel in 1878 on a

stock route A stock route, also known as travelling stock route (TSR), is an authorised thoroughfare for the walking of domestic livestock such as sheep or cattle from one location to another in Australia. The stock routes across the country are colloquial ...

which became the town of Stoney Point. The name was changed to Windorah in 1884.

Cobb & Co Cobb & Co was the name used by several independent Australian coach businesses. The first company to use 'Cobb & Co' was established in 1853 by American Freeman Cobb and his partners. The name grew to great prominence in the late 19th century, ...

once ran a stage coach service between Windorah and

Adavale Adavale is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Shire of Quilpie, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Adavale had a population of 72 people. Geography Adavale is in South West Queensland, west of t ...

. It is stated that the town is named after the local Aboriginal word for "Big Fish", although according to an account of the Durack settlers, the name means ''high, stony place.'' On 5 January 1884, police constable Nathaniel Roberts stationed at Windorah died from thirst while lost in the bush near Connemarra Station. Windorah Provisional School opened on 30 July 1888. In 1897 it became a half-time school, sharing a teacher with Cooper's Creek Provisional School, but reverted to a full-time school in 1903. In 1907, it became a half-time school with Cooper's Creek school again, and then closed in 1915. However, it reopened in 1916, only to close again in 1918. In 1926, it reopened and remains operating as Windorah State School. It celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2013. On 30 November 1888, police constable Thomas Joseph Callaghan died while on patrol near Whitula pastoral station when he became lost in the bush without water and died of thirst. The temperature at the time was up to in the shade. He was buried in an unmarked grave west of the town of Windorah. The town was completely isolated by floodwater in 1949 after surrounding areas were inundated by heavy rainfall. Low cloud and more rain prevented relief food supplies from being delivered by air from a

RAAF The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the governor-general of Aus ...

Dakota Dakota may refer to: * Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux ** Dakota language, their language Dakota may also refer to: Places United States * Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Dakota, Illinois, a town * Dakota, Minnesota ...

. In 2009,

Ergon Energy Ergon Energy Network is a subsidiary of Energy Queensland Limited, which is itself a Queensland Government-owned company. Ergon distributes electricity to approximately 763,000 customers across the Australian state of Queensland (excluding South ...

established its first

solar farm A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building ...

in Windorah. The Windorah Solar Farm provides electricity to the town of Windorah and surrounding rural areas.

Demographics

In the , the locality of Windorah had a population of 158 people. In the , the locality of Windorah had a population of 115 people, with 20.5% of the population identifying as

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

. In the , the locality of Windorah had a population of 104 people.

Climate

Windorah is diverse in many aspects. The temperature may range from maximums in summer that approach to minimums in winter that are below . The annual rainfall has recorded falls between a low of and a high of . Other

weather extremes Extreme weather includes unexpected, unusual, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. Extreme events are based on a location's recorded weather history. Th ...

include 25 morning frosts in 1977, 10 dust storms in 1987 and four hailstorms in 1985.

Economy

Sheep and cattle grazing are the mainstay of the district; however, recently oil and gas industries have developed in the area. Many locals also work on the Shire Council and the Dingo Barrier Fence.

Education

Windorah State School is a government primary (Early Childhood–6) school for boys and girls at 8 Victoria Street (). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 7 students with 3 teachers (2 full-time equivalent) and 3 non-teaching staff (1 full-time equivalent). In 2022, the school had 10 students.

Attractions

Windorah has been described as "The Heart 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 ...

". Every year since 1998 Windorah hosts the Windorah International Yabby Races on the street outside the hotel. In each race, up to 10 yabbies are placed in the centre of a ring; the winner is the first yabby to reach the perimeter of the ring, a distance of . It is held on the Wednesday before the Birdsville Races (first weekend in September) to take advantage of the many people travelling through Windorah to Birdsville. The event raises money for the

Royal Flying Doctor Service The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an aeromedical retrieval service in Australia and the largest of its kind in the world. It is a non-profit organisation that provides urgent and emergency medica ...

, community facilities and other charities.

Amenities

The Windorah Library is operated by the

Barcoo Shire Council The Shire of Barcoo is a local government area in Central West Queensland, Australia. It covers an area of , and has existed as a local government entity since 1887. It is named for the Barcoo River which reaches a confluence with the Thomson ...

and located in Maryborough Street. Windorah also has a racecourse, shire hall, information centre and museum.

Facilities

Windorah Primary Health Care Centre has nurses who help manage chronic conditions and provide emergency care. It is at 25 Cecil Street (). It coordinates

air ambulance Air medical services are the use of aircraft, including both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to provide various kinds of urgent medical care, especially prehospital, emergency and critical care to patients during aeromedical evacuation an ...

transport with the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Windorah Cemetery is managed by the

. It is on Cecil Street to the north of the town (). Windorah has the following emergency services: * Windorah Police Station on the eastern corner of Maryborough Street and Victoria Street () * Windorah Ambulance Station at the health care centre () * Windorah SES Facility ()