Blackall is a rural town and locality in the Blackall-Tambo Region, Queensland, Australia.[3][4] The town is the service centre for the Blackall-Tambo Region. The dominant industry in the area is grazing with over 70 homesteads in the locality (as at 2020).[5][6] In the 2021 census, the locality of Blackall had a population of 1,365 people.[1]
The region was explored in 1846 by explorer Sir Thomas Mitchell and his party.[35] In 1856, Augustus Gregory passed through the area noting that the landscape was a vast plain lacking vegetation, in contrast to Mitchell's description of good country.[36] Blackall was named by Surveyor Abraham H. May after Sir Samuel Blackall, the second Governor of Queensland.[3][4] During the 1860s the town developed as a service centre for the surrounding pastoral properties. A survey of town allotments was conducted in 1868.[36]
Barcoo Post Office opened on 1 April 1864. It was renamed Blackall in 1868.[37]
Blackall State School opened on 10 September 1877.[38] On 5 October 1964, the school was destroyed by fire, but was subsequently rebuilt.[39]
On Tuesday 29 March 1881, following seven inches of rain, the river burst through the town embankment, completely washing away the stonework of the dam.[40] On Wednesday 30 March, the still-rising river flooded the town's main street and many people in the town's lower-lying areas were forced to evacuate as their homes became fully submerged.[41][42]
Blackall was one of the first Queensland towns to sink an artesian bore in 1885. It supplies the town with water from the Great Artesian Basin. The water temperature is 58 degrees Celsius. There is an artesian spa bath at the aquatic centre and locally produced soft drinks are made from the artesian water.[43]
The first Methodist church in Blackall opened on Easter Sunday 13 April 1884.[44][45] On Thursday 23 January 1913 a new Methodist church opened.[46] The present church building (now the Blackall Uniting Church) was established c. 1956–1958.[47][48]
Blackall claims to be the home of the original Black Stump, which marks the original Astro Station established in 1887. Places west of this point are said to be 'beyond the black stump'. The Black Stump was moved from its original location to make it more accessible to tourists, and can now be found on the boundary of the Blackall State School grounds, Thistle Street, Blackall. Blackall has many attractions for public use and entertainment, including the Blackall showground, the local pool and the historic Blackall Woolscour.
In December 1890 the Australian Labour Federation's executive met in Blackall to draw up plans for a proper organisational structure for the Labour Party. Four years earlier, in December 1886, the first meeting of the first shearers' union, which later became the Australian Labor Party, took place in Blackall. This is commemorated by the Australian Labor Federation Memorial in Short Street.[49]
In Australian folklore, the best known citizen of the town was the sheep shearerJack Howe. In 1892, he shore a total of 321 sheep at Alice Downs station in 7 hours and 40 minutes, a record for hand shearing that still stands, and was only broken by a shearer using a machine driven handpiece in 1950.[43]
The Blackall and Yaraka railway line branched off from the Central Western railway at Jericho. The line opened to Blackall in 1908 and ran all the way to Yaraka. the Jericho – Yaraka branch line closed on 14 October 2005 and has since been dismantled. Former stations on the line (now all abandoned) within the locality were (from Jericho heading south):
The Blackall War Memorial commemorates those soldiers who died in World War I. The memorial was dedicated on 25 April (Anzac Day) 1927 by James Charles Minnis (former mayor of Blackall and a former soldier). The honour roll of those who died in World War II was added later.[53]
A thriving Greek cafe in the 1930s in Blackall, QueenslandInterior view of the Logos Brother's Central Cafe at Blackall, Queensland
According to information published by the Blackall Shire Council, the Cominos opened a café in the 1920s in Shamrock Street, Blackall which they called the Central. A few years later it was taken over by the Logos Brothers who installed a newsagency at one side.[54] The Queensland Country Women's Association met at the cafe to farewell their secretary Mrs R.A.G. Malcolm in September 1929.[55]
Blackall Methodist Church – This stone was set by – Mr F J Green – To the memory of the – Pioneers of the District – and dedicated to the – Glory of God – by the Rev S J R Murr L Th – on 8 February 1958 – The Rev J L Savage, Minister.
A plaque records: (This has discrepancies with the original foundation stone) Blackall Methodist Church – This stone was set by – Mr F J Green – To the memory of the – Pioneers of the District – and dedicated to the – Glory of God – by the Rev S J Murr Lth – on 8 February 1956 – The Rev J L Savage, Minister.
Blackall's population was more than 3,000 in 1965. A declining population has coincided with the decline in the wool industry in the district.[36]
The new Blackall Hospital opened on 25 November 2020.[57] It cost $20.11 million.[58]
Demographics
In the 2011 census, the locality of Blackall had a population of 1,588 people.[59]
In the 2016 census, the locality of Blackall had a population of 1,416 people.[60]
In the 2021 census, the locality of Blackall had a population of 1,365 people.[1]
Blackall State School is a government primary and secondary (Prep–12) school for boys and girls at the corner of Hawthorne Street and Shamrock Street (24°25′32″S145°28′11″E / 24.4256°S 145.4696°E / -24.4256; 145.4696 (Blackall State School)).[63][64] In 2012, there were 152 students enrolled with 14.5 teachers.[65] In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 111 students with 13 teachers (11 full-time equivalent) and 17 non-teaching staff (10 full-time equivalent).[66]
Blackall experiences a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSh), with a highly erratic wet season from December and March and a lengthy dry season from April and November, with cooler nights. Average maxima vary from 22.3 °C (72.1 °F) in July to 36.0 °C (96.8 °F) in December and January. Average annual rainfall is low: 526.7 mm (20.74 in), occurring within 40.2 rainfall days and is concentrated in the summer. The town is very sunny, averaging 192.5 clear days and only 64.5 cloudy days annually. Extreme temperatures have ranged from −2.0 °C (28.4 °F) on 27 July 1966 to 44.6 °C (112.3 °F) on 28 January 1990 and 13 December 1979.[93]
Climate data for Blackall (24º25'12"S, 145º28'12"E, 284 m AMSL) (1957-2001 normals and extremes, rainfall 1880-2024)
^"BLACKALL". The Brisbane Courier. Vol. XXXV, no. 7, 243. Queensland, Australia. 30 March 1881. p. 2. Retrieved 27 August 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^"BLACKALL". The Week. Vol. XI, no. 275. Brisbane. 2 April 1881. p. 11. Retrieved 27 August 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^"BLACKALL". The Brisbane Courier. Vol. XXXV, no. 7, 244. Queensland, Australia. 31 March 1881. p. 2. Retrieved 27 August 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^ abReader's Digest Guide to Australian Places, Reader's Digest (Australia) Pty. Limited, Surry Hills N.S.W., 1993, ISBN0-86438-399-1
^"BLACKALL". Morning Bulletin. Vol. XXXII, no. 4987. Queensland, Australia. 9 April 1884. p. 3. Retrieved 22 May 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
^"BLACKALL". Morning Bulletin. Vol. XXXII, no. 5002. Queensland, Australia. 29 April 1884. p. 3. Retrieved 22 May 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
^"THE CHURCHES". Morning Bulletin. No. 15065. Queensland, Australia. 25 January 1913. p. 5. Retrieved 22 May 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
^ ab"Find a Church". Uniting Church in Australia, Queensland Synod. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
