47-642: Download coordinates as: Birdsville is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Diamantina , Queensland , Australia. The locality is on the Queensland border with both the Northern Territory and South Australia . The town is situated 10 kilometres (6 mi) north of the South Australian border. In the 2021 census , the locality of Birdsville had a population of 110 people. It
94-444: A cordial manufacturer, bootmaker, saddler, auctioneer & commission agent, and a number of residences. The population peaked in 1895 at 220. Birdsville State School opened on 14 August 1899. The school closed in 1948 and has subsequently reopened. 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,
141-548: A police station and a large collection of commercial buildings. Diamantina Shire was established in 1883, and its headquarters were at Birdsville until moved to Bedourie in 1953. Birdsville Post Office opened on 1 January 1883. Birdsville, over 1,500 kilometres (930 mi) west of Brisbane and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of the Queensland- South Australian border, developed as an administrative centre for police and border customs. Birdsville
188-650: A process to formally define their boundaries and to gazette them, which is almost complete. In March 2006, only South Australia and the Northern Territory had not completed this process. The CGNA's Gazetteer of Australia recognises two types of locality: bounded and unbounded. Bounded localities include towns, villages, populated places, local government towns and unpopulated town sites, while unbounded localities include place names, road corners and bends, corners, meteorological stations, ocean place names and surfing spots. Sometimes, both localities and suburbs are referred to collectively as "address localities". In
235-411: A series of wide and relatively shallow channels. The major feature of the river's sluggish course is Diamantina National Park about halfway between Winton and Birdsville. Apart from the national park, almost all land in the basin is used for grazing cattle and sheep , though numbers fluctuate greatly and considerable skill is required on the part of graziers. The variable drought and flood cycles of
282-564: Is a government primary (Early Childhood-6) school for boys and girls at Adelaide Street ( 25°53′54″S 139°21′10″E / 25.8984°S 139.3527°E / -25.8984; 139.3527 ( Birdsville State School ) ). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 7 students with 2 teachers and 1 non-teaching staff. There is no secondary school in Birdsville or nearby. Distance education and boarding school are options. Birdsville has an 80 kW geothermal power station,
329-465: Is a popular tourist destination with many people using it as a starting point across the Simpson Desert . Betoota is a ghost town to the east of the town of Birdsville within the bounds of the locality.( 25°41′40″S 140°44′39″E / 25.6944°S 140.7441°E / -25.6944; 140.7441 ( Betoota ) ). Birdsville is 1,590 kilometres (990 mi) west of
376-616: Is abundant the grasses within the basin are extremely nutritious, especially in the lower reaches of the river around Birdsville, which is a primary region for cattle fattening in years when rainfall further north is adequate to flood the region. The 3,400-square-kilometre (1,300 sq mi) floodplain of the lower reaches of the Diamantina has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because it has been estimated to support at least 450,000 waterbirds when in flood, as well as globally significant numbers of
423-496: Is at 29 Burt Street and is operated by the Diamantina Shire Council . The town is situated near a billabong . A pontoon was built at Burt Street on the north bank of the billabong ( 25°54′10″S 139°21′12″E / 25.9029°S 139.3532°E / -25.9029; 139.3532 ( Birdsville, Birdsville Billabong pontoon ) ) to facilitate swimming and non-powered boating activities. It
470-433: Is currently lacking as to the cause, but it is believed likely that the anomaly was caused by an asteroid strike that happened about 300 million years ago. The climate of the basin is hot and arid . In January, temperatures throughout the basin average around 37 °C (99 °F) during the day and decline only to about 24 °C (75 °F) at night. In winter, they typically range from 25 °C (77 °F) during
517-516: Is held at Birdsville during the winter tourist season. It was last held in 2018. 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 133 mm (5.2 in) The actual amount of rain which falls is highly variable, for example, in 1914 just 14 mm (0.55 in)
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#1732779548138564-495: 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,
611-624: Is managed by the Diamantina Shire Council. In 2012, the billabong became home to a stray freshwater crocodile , which was subsequently removed and relocated by park ranger Don Rowlands. 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
658-583: Is on the river in the east of the locality ( 25°39′00″S 140°14′00″E / 25.65°S 140.2333°E / -25.65; 140.2333 ( Thundahpurty Waterhole ) ). The Birdsville Track extends 514 kilometres (319 mi) from Marree in South Australia before ending at Birdsville; the road continues north as the Eyre Developmental Road to Bedourie. The Birdsville Developmental Road travels east from
705-528: Is operated by the Diamantina Shire Council . 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. Birdsville has the following mountains: Birdsville is located on land in the Channel Country of Central West Queensland , Australia. Before Birdsville
752-530: Is split between the City of Newcastle and City of Lake Macquarie LGAs; and Woodville , which is split between the City of Maitland and Port Stephens Council LGAs. In unincorporated areas , localities are declared by the relevant state authority. Diamantina River The Diamantina River is a major river in Central West Queensland and the far north of South Australia . The river
799-400: Is used in rural areas, while the term suburb is used in urban areas. Australian postcodes closely align with the boundaries of localities and suburbs. This Australian usage of the term "suburb" differs from common American and British usage, where it typically means a smaller, frequently separate residential community outside, but close to, a larger city. The Australian usage is closer to
846-576: The Caulfield Cup . 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, on the stock route from Boulia south to Adelaide . By mid-1885, when
893-574: 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 . The Bluff property was also known as Salmonville. Nearby pastoral stations of Annandale , Pandie Pandie , Glengyle and Roseberth were taken up in 1876; and Carcoory in 1877. Conflict in
940-481: The Royal Flying Doctor Service . It also provides ambulance services. Birdsville has the following emergency services: Birdsville Cemetery is on Cemetery Road west of the town ( 25°53′48″S 139°20′27″E / 25.8967°S 139.3408°E / -25.8967; 139.3408 ( Birdsville Cemetery ) ). It is operated by the Diamantina Shire Council. Birdsville Library
987-660: The Warburton River at its confluence with the Georgina River . In extremely wet years, the Warburton River flows as far as Lake Eyre . The length of the Diamantina River is approximately 900 km (560 mi), and the basin is approximately 157,000 square kilometres (61,000 sq mi), of which 140,000 square kilometres (54,000 sq mi) are used for agriculture. Most of
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#17327795481381034-519: The nankeen night-heron , royal spoonbill , little curlew , Australian bustard , grey grasswren , inland dotterel , cinnamon quail-thrush and pied honeyeater . The river is ephemeral but floods periodically following heavy rainfall events in the catchment. During the floods of 1940 the mailman, Harry Ding, completed his round using a motorboat and Cooper Creek was measured at around 43 kilometres (27 mi) wide. In 1950 flooding covered some 7,770 square kilometres (3,000 sq mi), with
1081-480: The neurotoxin 3 nitropropionic acid (3-NPA). The affected horses exhibit weakness and lack of coordination; it can be fatal. It does not appear to affect cattle. Although it is not unique to Birdsville, the condition was first observed in the Birdsville district in May 1886. While there were many theories about the cause of the disease including plants, worms and sunstroke, it was not until 1950 that researchers identified
1128-469: The 80 kW power plant to completely meet Birdsville's electricity requirements was shelved, in favour of increasing the use of solar power and battery storage. Birdsville Primary Health Care Centre is at 31 Adelaide Street ( 25°53′52″S 139°21′19″E / 25.8977°S 139.3554°E / -25.8977; 139.3554 ( health centre ) ). It provides emergency and primary care by nursing staff with doctors' appointments provided by
1175-840: The American or British use of "district" or "neighbourhood", and can be used to refer to any portion of a city. Unlike the use in British or American English, this term can include inner-city, outer-metropolitan and industrial areas. Localities existed in the past as informal units, but in 1996 the Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping and the Committee for Geographical Names in Australasia (CGNA) decided to name and establish official boundaries for all localities and suburbs. There has subsequently been
1222-452: The annual averages and variability at Winton and Kynuna are almost alike, the actual totals at the two stations can differ by as much as 200 mm (7.9 in) in some years due to isolated very heavy rainfalls. The soils in the region are mainly grey and brown vertisols , with some fluvents in the drier areas. Although they do not have high phosphate contents, they have adequate levels of most other nutrients: consequently when rainfall
1269-417: The area make the river ephemeral with many semi-permanent waterholes. The highest recorded flow rate of the river was at Birdsville in 1974 with 4,700 cubic metres per second (170,000 cu ft/s) was measured. The Diamantina runs along the northern and eastern rim of a roughly circular zone measuring some 130 km across that has been identified by Geoscience Australia as a crustal anomaly . Proof
1316-400: The basin of the Diamantina is very flat—even the highest points in the northeast do not reach 500 m (1,600 ft) above sea level and Lake Eyre itself is 16 m (52 ft) below sea level. Apart from a few streams near Winton (the largest town in the basin) almost all rivers in the basin flow southwestwards towards Birdsville . The Diamantina River has no main channel, rather it is
1363-404: The day to 11 °C (52 °F) at night. On occasions, however, frost has been reported in all areas of the basin: Winton has recorded minima as low as −1.8 °C (28.8 °F). Rainfall is heavily concentrated between December and March: averages for these four months range from 310 mm (12 in) at Winton and Kynuna to around 90 mm (3.5 in) at Birdsville. In the rest of
1410-438: The first instance, decisions about the names and boundaries of suburbs and localities are made by the local council in which they are located based on criteria such as community recognition. Local council decisions are, however, subject to approval by the state's geographical names board. The boundaries of some suburbs and localities overlap two or more local government areas (LGAs). Examples of this are Adamstown Heights , which
1457-594: The name Birdsville was in common use. The name was adopted in the 1885 survey and was formalised at the proclamation of town in 1887. In 1881, Hector and Norman Wilson, sold The Bluff (Salmonville) property for £19,000. 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
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1504-554: 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. 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
1551-520: The northern part of the basin, annual rainfalls as high as 1,100 mm (43 in) were reported in 1894, 1950, 1974 and 2000, whilst even in Birdsville annual totals as high as 550 mm (22 in) have been reported. During floods the river can be as wide as 30 km (19 mi) across. In dry years such as 1902, 1905, 1928, 1961, 1965 and 2002, almost the whole basin reported totals 100 mm (3.9 in). There can also be significant variation from station to station over small areas: although
1598-548: The only one of its type in Australia. 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. A plan by Ergon Energy to expand
1645-510: The precise cause. 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. Suburbs and localities (Australia) Suburbs and localities are the names of geographic subdivisions in Australia , used mainly for address purposes. The term locality
1692-417: The prolific bird life in the district. 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. Another is that a man named Burt established a store and called it Burtsville which corrupted to Birdsville . Whatever its origin, by 1882,
1739-499: The region during this time included several large massacres of the resident Aboriginal people being perpetrated. 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. A pastoralist on
1786-564: The state capital, Brisbane , 836 kilometres (519 mi) from Charleville and 720 kilometres (450 mi) south of the city of Mount Isa . Birdsville is on the edge of the Simpson Desert , approximately 174 kilometres (108 mi) east of Poeppel Corner . Birdsville is located about 1.5 kilometres (0.9 mi) north-east of the Diamantina River in the Channel Country in the Lake Eyre drainage basin . Thundahpurty Waterhole
1833-741: 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. Tom Kruse operated the Birdsville Track mail run from 1936 to 1957, driving his Leyland Badger truck. 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. Each trip would take two weeks and Kruse regularly had to manage break-downs, flooding creeks and rivers, and getting bogged in desert dunes. In 2007, there
1880-568: The town towards Windorah . A popular route across the Simpson Desert goes from Birdsville to Mt Dare via the French Line. The Line is an unsealed track built in the early 1960s by French Petroleum for oil exploration purposes. Birdsville Airport is immediately north-west of the town ( 25°53′35″S 139°20′42″E / 25.8931°S 139.3451°E / -25.8931; 139.3451 ( Birdsville Airport ) ). It
1927-533: The town's 1,700-metre (1,859 yd) airstrip. 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 (22 mi) west of the town of Birdsville. Attendees camp at the site. The Simpson Desert Bike Challenge also traditionally finishes in Birdsville in October every year. The Big Red Run
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1974-422: 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. When it was proclaimed, the town had three hotels, two stores, a customs house for interstate trade,
2021-477: The year rainfall is very scanty and only on the rarest occasions are significant falls reported: throughout most of the basin the average rainfall between May and September totals around 40 mm (1.6 in). However, the rainfall of the basin, as with all of the Lake Eyre Basin , is exceedingly erratic and catastrophic droughts and floods tend to be the normal state of affairs throughout this region. In
2068-637: Was established by British settlers, the whole region was inhabited by indigenous Australians, speakers of the Wangkangurru language (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 . Although British explorers had passed through
2115-461: Was just one hotel serving canned or bottled beer, a library, a visitor information centre, a museum and a hospital. In the 2016 census , the locality of Birdsville had a population of 140 people. 86.1% of people were born in Australia and 94.2% of people only spoke English at home. In the 2021 census , the locality of Birdsville had a population of 110 people. Birdsville has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: Birdsville State School
2162-592: Was named by William Landsborough in 1866 for Lady Diamantina Bowen (née Roma), wife of Sir George Bowen , the first Governor of Queensland. It has three major tributaries the Western River , Mayne River and Farrars Creek. Rising north-west of Longreach in the Swords Range in Queensland, the river flows in a south-westerly direction through central Queensland and the Channel Country to form
2209-486: Was recorded while 659 mm (25.9 in) fell in 1917. Dust storms are most likely during periods of strong wind which typically occur in spring. 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. Birdsville disease is an illness observed in horses, caused by eating the native plant Birdsville indigo ( Indigofera linnaei ) which contains natural toxins including
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