Bluedog Photography: November 2011

Sunday, 6 November 2011

Fast Facts about Charleville

Today we leave Charleville and head home. We’ve had an awesome few days here so we thought we’d share a few fast facts about this generous outback town.

Fast Facts about Charleville

The wide streets of Charleville allowed for a full turning circle of a bullock team. Imagine 12 bullocks and one long dray doing a ‘uey’.

There were between 500 and 600 bullock teams registered with the Charleville Carrying Association in 1903.

From Dalby to Charleville, goods went by bullock wagon, taking six months if the roads were dry or twelve if wet. Sometimes graziers were shearing again before their previous wool clip had reached the market.

The first school in Charleville was a private school and the pupils were charged one shilling a week, a lot of money in the 1800’s. The school closed when the state school opened in 1884. The School of the Air commenced in Charleville in 1966.

Charleville water comes from the Great Artesian Basin. Five bores pump more than three mega litres per day. The first bore was completed in 1890. This bore was drilled to a depth of 1,371 feet, with a flow of three million gallons a day at a temperature of 106 degrees Fahrenheit at the bore head.

Charleville was named in 1868 by surveyor W.A. Tully after his hometown in Ireland.

Charleville is 298m above sea level and the Murweh Shire covers 43,905 square kilometres.

Charleville once had 10 hotels. Many were grand timber structures and sadly many burnt down due to the drying out of the timber on the hot dry climate. Many publicans in the early days were women.

The Corones Hotel

In 1896 Garry Owen was prosecuted for selling ice-creams on Sunday!

Warrego is an Aboriginal word for ‘River of Sand’. The Warrego River runs for 900km from its source in the Carnarvon Range and is the most northerly point of the Murray-Darling Basin. The catchment covers a total area of some 78,400 square kilometres of which 84% lies in Queensland.

Native yabbies are known as ‘blue claw’ and introduced yabbies as ‘red claw’....both are delicious.

Did you know there are 88 official constellations in the sky?

Rain comes across the Mulga.

Snippets from the local newspapers over the years:

1874: BABY BOOM – Nearly every married woman, including Mrs. Parry Okeden was expecting a baby.

1870: A maid in a railway pub was given a room without a bedroom door.

A wife sale at Adavale was alleged.

A squatter dismissed a parlour maid who wanted to practice the piano.

Around the camp fire at Evening Star

Country hospitality overflows in Charleville. We have been fed the best homemade goodies, taking home a beanie for our fire burning activities and made some wonderful new friends. Thank you Charleville!