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!
Miss Anita checks out the wide roads. What is that in her hands?
More:
The Bilby fund
Cosmos Centre
We stay at either:
Evening Star Tourist Park
Evening Star Tourist Park
Mulga Country Motor Inn
Tel: 07 4654 3255
1 comment:
Charleville has several tourist attractions, including a museum of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, a historical museum, wildlife sanctuary (including a bilby reserve), and the Cosmos Centre. It was also enshrined in music by Slim Dusty in his country music song "Charleville.
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