Birdsville is 1,590 kilometres (990mi) west of the state capital, Brisbane, 836 kilometres (519mi) from Charleville and 720 kilometres (450mi) south of the city of Mount Isa. Birdsville is on the edge of the Simpson Desert, approximately 174 kilometres (108mi) east of Poeppel Corner.
Almost all the buildings in the town are of local sandstone, there being no local timber available. Distance and the lack of good access roads or a railway create prohibitively high transportation costs, so imported building materials are kept to a minimum.[10]
Birdsville is located on land in the Channel Country of Central West Queensland, Australia. Before Birdsville was established by British settlers, the whole region was inhabited by indigenous Australians, speakers of the Wangkangurrulanguage (also known as Arabana/Wangkangurru, Wangganguru, Wanggangurru or Wongkangurru), whose home range stretched from Birdsville south towards Innamincka and Lake Eyre, including the modern local government areas of the Shire of Diamantina as well as the Outback Communities Authority of South Australia.[22]
Although British explorers had passed through the Diamantina district in the 1840s and early 1860s, pastoralists did not occupy this semi-arid region until the mid-1870s. Brothers Hector and Norman Wilson formed "The Bluff" property around the present site of Birdsville in 1875 as an outpost of their massive Coongy station across the border in South Australia.[23][24] The Bluff property was also known as Salmonville.[25] Nearby pastoral stations of Annandale, Pandie Pandie, Glengyle and Roseberth were taken up in 1876; and Carcoory in 1877.[10]
Conflict in the region during this time included several large massacres of the resident Aboriginal people being perpetrated.[26] For instance in 1879, Sub-Inspectors Henry Kaye and Henry Gough of the Native Police, together with troopers and stockmen from The Bluff and other properties, conducted a sweeping patrol for the perpetrators of the murder of a stockman. They came across two camps of Aboriginal people and dispersed them.[27] A pastoralist on the nearby Warburton Creek reported to the Police Commissioner in Adelaide that 67 people were killed in these raids and that survivors from the violence had fled to his property.[28]
There are a number of different theories as to the origin of the name Birdsville. One is that the name was suggested by Robert Frew, owner of Pandie Pandie Station, who also had a store and shop at the Diamantina Crossing, in reference to the prolific bird life in the district.[2] The other is that a store was established by Percy Bird and George Field and they called it Birdfield. However, in 1882, G. and R. Wills, of Adelaide, misaddressed a consignment of goods as going to Birdsville and that name stuck.[29] Another is that a man named Burt established a store and called it Burtsville which corrupted to Birdsville.[30] Whatever its origin, by 1882, the name Birdsville was in common use.[31] The name was adopted in the 1885 survey and was formalised at the proclamation of town in 1887.[10]
In 1881, Hector and Norman Wilson, sold The Bluff (Salmonville) property for £19,000.[32][33] Outside of their pastoral business, the brothers resided in Melbourne where they were the driving force behind the establishment of the Melbourne Racing Club, the Coongy Cup and the Caulfield Cup.[34][35]
In the early 1880s the towns of Birdsville and Bedourie were established to service the newly taken up pastoral holdings of the Diamantina. Reputedly, a merchant named Matthew Flynn, who carried stores for the stations, built a rough depot in the late 1870s at the site of the present town of Birdsville, then known as the Diamantina Crossing,[36] on the stock route from Boulia south to Adelaide. By mid-1885, when the township of Birdsville was officially surveyed, a number of buildings had been erected at the Diamantina Crossing, including a police lock-up (1883), Groth's Royal Hotel (c.1883), William Blair's Birdsville Hotel (c.1883), Curtain's Tattersalls Hotel, and at least 3 stores and 1 shop.[citation needed]
When it was proclaimed, the town had three hotels, two stores, a customs house for interstate trade, a police station and a large collection of commercial buildings.[37]
Diamantina Shire was established in 1883, and its headquarters were at Birdsville until moved to Bedourie in 1953.[10] Birdsville Post Office opened on 1 January 1883.[38]
Birdsville, over 1,500 kilometres (930mi) west of Brisbane and 10 kilometres (6.2mi) north of the Queensland-South Australian border, developed as an administrative centre for police and border customs. Birdsville is located at the border of South Australia and Queensland to collect tolls from the droves of cattle being moved interstate. Nearly all the trade of the town was with Adelaide, and it became an important marshalling point for cattle being driven south to markets in South Australia. By 1889 the population of Birdsville was 110, and the town had 2 general stores, 3 hotels, a police station, school, 2 blacksmith shops, 2 bakers, a cordial manufacturer, bootmaker, saddler, auctioneer & commission agent, and a number of residences. The population peaked in 1895 at 220.[10]
Birdsville State School opened on 14 August 1899. The school closed in 1948 and has subsequently reopened.[39]
Circa 1900, Birdsville had a population of over 300. It had three hotels, a cordial factory, blacksmith store, market gardens, police and customs facilities but after Federation in 1901, the tolls were abolished and the town fell into decline to about 50 people throughout the 1950s. Livestock trade kept the region alive and since then tourism has joined cattle as the major industry in the area.[40]
Tom Kruse operated the Birdsville Track mail run from 1936 to 1957, driving his Leyland Badger truck.[41] He delivered mail and other supplies including general stores, fuel and medicine to remote stations from Marree in north-west South Australia to Birdsville, some 325 miles (523 kilometres) away.[42] Each trip would take two weeks and Kruse regularly had to manage break-downs, flooding creeks and rivers, and getting bogged in desert dunes.[42]
In 2007, there was just one hotel serving canned or bottled beer, a library, a visitor information centre, a museum and a hospital.[37]
Demographics
In the 2016 census, the locality of Birdsville had a population of 140 people.[43] 86.1% of people were born in Australia and 94.2% of people only spoke English at home.[43]
In the 2021 census, the locality of Birdsville had a population of 110 people.[1]
Heritage listings
Birdsville has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
There is no secondary school in Birdsville or nearby. Distance education and boarding school are options.[4]
Facilities
Birdsville has an 80kW geothermal power station, the only one of its type in Australia.[53] Water is extracted from bore drilled in 1961 on the Great Artesian Basin at 97 to 99°C (207 to 210°F) and is used to heat the operating fluid isopentane in a Rankine Cycle engine. The geothermal plant produces around one third of the town's electricity. The water (once cooled) is also the source of the town's drinking water.[54][55] A plan by Ergon Energy to expand the 80kW power plant to completely meet Birdsville's electricity requirements was shelved, in favour of increasing the use of solar power and battery storage.[56]
The annual Birdsville Races are held in September in aid of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. The town's tiny population is augmented by between 7000 and 9000 people for the two-day event, and hundreds of aircraft fill the town's 1,700-metre (1,859yd) airstrip.[67] In 2010, the races were cancelled for the first time in the event's history due to rain.
The Big Red Bash is an annual three-day music festival held in July at a site 35 kilometres (22mi) west of the town of Birdsville. Attendees camp at the site.[68]
The Big Red Run is held at Birdsville during the winter tourist season. It was last held in 2018.[70]
Climate
Birdsville has a hot desert climate (BWh in the Köppen climate classification) with an average of only 22 days of rain a year. Summers are extremely hot and dry, with winters being mild to warm. The median annual rainfall at Birdsville is 133mm (5.2in)[71] The actual amount of rain which falls is highly variable, for example, in 1914 just 14mm (0.55in) was recorded while 659mm (25.9in) fell in 1917. Dust storms are most likely during periods of strong wind which typically occur in spring.[71] Birdsville has recorded the highest confirmed temperature in the state of Queensland, with 49.5°C (121.1°F) having been recorded on 24 December 1972.[72]
Climate data for Birdsville Police Station (extremes include Birdsville Airport data)
Birdsville disease is an illness observed in horses, caused by eating the native plant Birdsville indigo (Indigofera linnaei) which contains natural toxins including the neurotoxin3 nitropropionic acid (3-NPA). The affected horses exhibit weakness and lack of coordination; it can be fatal. It does not appear to affect cattle.[76] Although it is not unique to Birdsville, the condition was first observed in the Birdsville district in May 1886.[77] While there were many theories about the cause of the disease including plants, worms and sunstroke, it was not until 1950 that researchers identified the precise cause.[78] Mildly affected horses can recover with a regimen of drenching with gelatine and feeding a diet high in arginine but euthanasia is recommended for severely affected horses. As there is no cure, preventing horses from grazing on indigo is recommended.[76]
In popular culture
Elizabeth Haran's 2004 novel Stars in the Southern Sky is set in the town (though it is renamed to Kangaroo Crossing).
The 2014 British comedy film The Inbetweeners 2 had scenes set in the town.
The 1983 novel The Film-Makers by Kenneth and Kerry Cook is partially set in Birdsville.
The Birdsville Track is an outback road in Australia. The 517-kilometre (321 mi) track runs between Birdsville in south-western Queensland and Marree, a small town in the north-eastern part of South Australia. It traverses three deserts along the route, the Strzelecki Desert, Sturt Stony Desert and Tirari Desert.
Bedourie is a town and a locality in the Shire of Diamantina, Queensland, Australia. It is on the border with the Northern Territory. In the 2021 census, the locality of Bedourie had a population of 150 people.
The Diamantina River is a major river in Central West Queensland and the far north of South Australia.
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, which cover 150,000 km². The Channel Country is over the Cooper and Eromanga geological basins and the Lake Eyre Basin drainage basin. Further to the east is the less arid Maranoa district.
Normanton is an outback town and coastal locality in the Shire of Carpentaria, Queensland, Australia. At the 2021 census, the locality of Normanton had a population of 1,391 people, and the town of Normanton had a population of 1,326 people.
Dajarra is a rural town and a locality in the Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, the locality of Dajarra had a population of 186 people.
Betoota is a ghost town within the locality of Birdsville, in the Shire of Diamantina, in the Channel Country of Central West Queensland, Australia. Betoota is situated on a gibber plain 170 kilometres (110 mi) east of Birdsville and 227 kilometres (141 mi) west of Windorah.
Innamincka, formerly Hopetoun, is a township and locality in north-east South Australia. By air it is 820 kilometres north-east of the state capital, Adelaide, and 365 kilometres north-east of the closest town, Lyndhurst. It is 66 kilometres north-east of the Moomba Gas Refinery. The town lies within the Innamincka Regional Reserve and is surrounded by the Strzelecki Desert to the south and the Sturt Stony Desert to the north. It is linked by road to Lyndhurst via the Strzelecki Track, to the Birdsville Developmental Road via Cordillo Downs Road and Arrabury Road, and the Walkers Crossing Track to the Birdsville Track. The Walkers Crossing Track is closed in summer and only traversable in dry weather. The township is situated along the Cooper Creek, a part of the Lake Eyre basin.
Burketown is an isolated outback town and coastal locality in the Shire of Burke, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, the locality of Burketown had a population of 204 people.
The Shire of Diamantina is a local government area in Central West Queensland, bordering South Australia and the Northern Territory. Its administrative centre is in the town of Bedourie.
Birdsville Airport is an airport serving Birdsville, Queensland, Australia. During the Birdsville Races weekend each September, as many as 200 light aircraft visit the airport, with aviators permitted to camp under the wings of their planes. The Channel Mail Run, the world's longest mail run operates between Port Augusta, South Australia and Birdsville, stopping in the town to collect mail for the remote Queensland cattle stations of Glengyle and Durrie.
Irvinebank is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, the locality of Irvinebank had a population of 113 people.
Pandie Pandie Station, most commonly known as Pandie Pandie, also often spelled as Pandi Pandi or Pandy Pandy, is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in north east South Australia. It lies on the eastern edge of Karanguru territory.
Durrie Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in Queensland, Australia.
Clifton Hills Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the far north of South Australia.
Australian Inland Mission Hospital is a heritage-listed former hospital at Adelaide Street, Birdsville, Shire of Diamantina, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1952 to 1953 by Ben Hargreaves. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 17 July 2008.
Royal Hotel is a heritage-listed former hotel, former hospital and now ruin at Adelaide Street, Birdsville, Shire of Diamantina, Queensland, Australia. It was built c. 1883. It was later known as Australian Inland Mission Hospital, AIM Hostel, and Birdsville Nursing Home. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
Birdsville Hotel is a heritage-listed hotel at Burt Street, Birdsville, Shire of Diamantina, Queensland, Australia. It was built c. 1884. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
Birdsville Courthouse is a heritage-listed courthouse at Adelaide Street, Birdsville, Shire of Diamantina, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by the Queensland Department of Works and built from 1888 to 1890 by J Wookey and Henry Walton. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
Bedourie Pisé House is a heritage-listed house and archaeological site at 5 Herbert Street, Bedourie, Shire of Diamantina, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1897. It is also known as Bedourie Pisé House and Aboriginal Tracker's Hut and Bedourie Mud Hut. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 31 May 2019.
↑ "Out West in 80". The Register. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 15 November 1926. p.7. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
↑ "Items of news". Hamilton Spectator. No.3294. Victoria, Australia. 29 November 1881. p.2. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2020– via National Library of Australia.
↑ "Cemeteries". Diamantina Shire Council. Archived from the original on 25 October 2022. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
↑ "Birdsville Library". Public Libraries Connect. State Library of Queensland. Archived from the original on 22 April 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
↑ Chrissy Arthur & Julia Harris (20 February 2012). "A pontoon for Birdsville's billabong". ABC Western Queensland. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 19 November 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
↑ "Big Red Run". Run Calendar Australia. Archived from the original on 28 October 2022. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
1 2 Hesse, Paul B. (2010). "The Australian desert dunefields: formation and evolution in an old, flat, dry continent". In Bishop, P.; Pillans, B. (eds.). Australian Landscapes. London: Geological Society. p.145.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
