Eulo Queensland | |||||||||||||||
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![]() Entry to Eulo, 2006 | |||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 28°09′34″S145°02′51″E / 28.1594°S 145.0475°E | ||||||||||||||
Population | 94 (2021 census) [1] | ||||||||||||||
• Density | 0.01547/km2 (0.04006/sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
Postcode(s) | 4491 | ||||||||||||||
Elevation | 137 m (449 ft) [2] | ||||||||||||||
Area | 6,078.0 km2 (2,346.7 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
Time zone | AEST (UTC+10:00) | ||||||||||||||
Location |
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LGA(s) | Shire of Paroo | ||||||||||||||
State electorate(s) | Warrego | ||||||||||||||
Federal division(s) | Maranoa | ||||||||||||||
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Eulo ( /juːloʊ/ YOU-low) is an outback town and locality in the Shire of Paroo, Queensland, Australia. [3] [4] It is known for its opal mining. In the 2021 census, the locality of Eulo had a population of 94 people. [1]
Eulo is 64 kilometres (40 mi) west of Cunnamulla and 887 kilometres (551 mi) west of Brisbane.
The town is located beside and to the east of the Paroo River which flows in a roughly north–south direction. This results in flooding events that affects people, livestock, and wildlife. With Cyclone Audrey in mid-January 1964, the town experienced 11 inches (280 mm) of rain in one twenty-four hour period, which was double the previous record of 1887. [5] Former-Cyclone Dianne saw flood waters came south from Longreach, resulting in the Paroo breaching the town's levee on Saturday, 29 March 2025. [6] Occupants of only three houses were impacted, and sixty persons in the town otherwise unaffected.
The Bulloo Developmental Road (part of the Adventure Way) connects Eulo to Cunnamulla to the east and Thargomindah to the west.
Preferring barren, dry, rocky sites in only a few selected locations in Australia, the flowering Prostanthera megacalyx shrub can be found in the Eulo area. [7]
Prior to European settlement, Eulo was in the area of the Kalali people. Margany (also known as Marganj, Mardigan, Marukanji, Maranganji) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Margany people. The Margany language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Quilpie Shire, taking in Quilpie, Cheepie and Beechal extending towards Eulo and Thargomindah, as well as the properties of Dynevor Downs and Ardoch. [8]
Vincent Dowling (1835–1903) began exploring in south west Queensland, tracing the Paroo and the Bulloo Rivers to their sources, and in 1861, established Caiwarroo and Eulo stations, and later a pastoral lease of Thargomindah. [9] The town takes its name from a settlement on the Paroo River first appearing on an 1872 map of Queensland map. [3]
The post office opened on 6 September 1872; the first postmaster was the publican William Shearer. [3] [10]
A town reserve was proclaimed in 1874 described as "near the Eulo waterhole". [3]
A police station was established about 1 January 1880. [11]
A Court of Petty Sessions was established on 18 August 1880 and operated until 31 December 1964. [12]
A telegraph office opened in 1881. [3]
By 1883, the Cobb and Co. mail and stage coach would leave Thargomindah on a Wednesday at 1:00 pm to arrive in Hungerford by 6:00 pm Friday; and from there leaving Sunday at 6:00 am, arriving in Eulo at 1:00 pm Monday, and back at Thargomindah by 1:00 pm Tuesday. [13] Stage coach driver Billy Chute (William Tuite) later went on to run the Gladstone Hotel with his wife Margaret. [14] The last Cobb and Co. coach ran in Australia in 1920.
The Eulo Provisional School opened on 7 May 1888. On 1 January 1909 it became the Eulo State School. [15] [16]
Over time, there were a number of public hotels: [17]
There was some unfriendly rivalry between the hotels, when in early 1890, Isabel Gray had her substantial liquor holdings (£350; as of 2020, in excess of A$55,000) and furniture seized, upon information supplied by Hickling (formerly of the Gladstone and the Royal Mail), Kearney (of the Gladstone), and one other. [39] She had just purchased the Royal Mail Hotel from merchant R. Burke on 1 September 1889, where the furniture of former licensee Mr Julius was held by a bill-of-sale. Kearney was appointed as a trustee for the possible insolvency of Julius; but had a conflict of interest as a rival to Gray. The matter went before the court, where the confiscation order was annulled. [40]
Circa 1900, Thomas James Cooney (1873–1953) opened a small butchering business in Eulo, having worked the area as a blade shearer involved in the 1894 shearers strike, was an opal gouger, and undertook fence post cutting and kangaroo shooting to make a living. [41] The business and his family expanded, before going onto acquire several large sheep and cattle properties including Goonamurra, and Turn Turn (SW of Eulo). [42]
The telephone exchange opened in 1923. [43]
Saint Francis' Anglican Church was dedicated by Archbishop Reginald Halse on 15 September 1957. Its closure on 12 June 2010 was approved by Archbishop Phillip Aspinall. [44] A former Catholic church of Saint Joseph is beside Saint Francis. The first wedding celebrated at the church was that of the eldest son of butcher-cum-grazier Tom Cooney on 17 March 1929, [45] although that was subject to a decree nisi in October 1937. [46]
The town hosts an old World War II air raid shelter on Leo Street, [47] the town then being a communications link, and on the flight path from Darwin to Melbourne. [24]
The eastern entrance to the town has a statue of a diprotodon. [24]
In the 2006 census, the locality of Eulo had a population of 108 people. [48]
In the 2016 census, the locality of Eulo had a population of 95 people. [49]
In the 2021 census, the locality of Eulo had a population of 94 people. [1]
Eulo has one public hotel and a small general store as well as fuel service station. The general store and fuel bowsers were destroyed by fire on 25 July 2011, [51] but since rebuilt. [52]
Immediately south of the town is the 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) earthen runway airport (ICAO code YEUO). In 2023, the airstrip became the first Queensland town to test runway emergency lanterns that could be used by the Royal Flying Doctor Service for night-time call-outs. [53]
Eulo State School is a government primary (Early childhood to Year 6) school for boys and girls on the southern corner of Leo Street and Emu Street ( 28°09′27″S145°03′01″E / 28.1575°S 145.0504°E ). [54] [55] The enrolments between 2010 and 2012 have ranged from 11 to 16 students. In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 14 students with two teachers and four non-teaching staff (two full-time equivalent). [56] Some students travel up to 130 kilometres (81 mi) each day to attend school, while other students live in the Eulo and District Hostel during the week in order to attend. After completing primary school in Eulo, there are no nearby secondary schools, so most students attend a secondary boarding school in Brisbane or Toowoomba. [57]
Eulo hosts an annual lizard racing championships on their Paroo Track every August/September, [58] which commenced in 1968, held in conjunction with the Cunnamulla and Eulo Opal Festival. [24]
The Eulo Polocrosse Club has an annual July event, and a motorbike gymkhana and enduro is conducted each Easter. [24]
The town was one of the stops in the March 2023 Shitbox Rally motoring event rally.
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