The Barkly Highway passes through the north-east corner of the locality entering from Gunpowder and exiting to Camooweal. The Camooweal Urandangi Road enters the locality from Camooweal and exits to the south to Piturie.[3]
There are no schools in Barkly. The nearest primary schools are Camooweal State School in neighbouring Camooweal to the north and Urandangi State School in neighbouring Piturie to the south. However, due to the size of Barkly, attending these schools would only be feasible for children living in the northern and southern parts of Barkly respectively. Most of the Barkly is outside the range of any primary school and distance education or boarding schools would be the only options. The nearest secondary school is Spinifex State College in Mount Isa to the east, but it would be out of range for almost all Barkly families and again distance education or boarding schools would be the only options.[3] Spinifex State College has boarding facilities.[11]