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Windorah
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Windorah is a town and a locality in the Shire of Barcoo, Queensland, Australia. It is one of only three towns in the Shire of Barcoo in Central West Queensland. In the 2021 census, the locality of Windorah had a population of 104 people.
Located 35 kilometres (22 mi) downstream from where the Thomson and Barcoo Rivers join to form the multi-channelled Cooper Creek, the Shire covers an area of 60,901 square kilometres (23,514 sq mi).
A landscape of rocky outcrops, multiple sand hills and black soil flood plains make up most of the area surrounding the town. Water in the town follows the outback cycle of boom and bust. During a wet year Cooper Creek may flood more than a half a dozen times, during the dry it becomes a chain of waterholes. Downstream of the town stretches the Cooper Floodplain below Windorah Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for waterbirds when flooded.
Before the onset of British colonisation, the area around Windorah was inhabited by the Kulumali people, who spoke the Birria (Pirriya) language. The men of this group were circumcised, cut cicatrices on their chest and had one or two of their upper central incisors removed as part of their initiation rites. They also chewed pituri as a stimulant. The population upon first contact with the British was estimated to be under 1,000 people.
The British first entered the region in August 1847 with the arrival of the expedition led by Edmund Kennedy. He encountered hundreds of Kulumali people living in the region and had several tense interactions with them over the ability to pass through their land and have access to their waterholes. Near the present town of Windorah, the situation was further inflamed with the Aboriginal people tampering with the expedition's cache of flour and by Kennedy twice attempting to force a negotiation in which he would take an Aboriginal child. A nulla nulla was thrown, and on two occasions Kennedy's men charged their horses at a group of resident Kulumali, whipping them and firing pistols above their heads to disperse them.
George Fitzwalter established a shop and a hotel in 1878 on a stock route which became the town of Stoney Point. The name was changed to Windorah in 1884. Cobb & Co once ran a stage coach service between Windorah and Adavale. It is stated that the town is named after the local Aboriginal word for "Big Fish", although according to an account of the Durack settlers, the name means high, stony place.
On 5 January 1884, police constable Nathaniel Roberts stationed at Windorah died from thirst while lost in the bush near Connemarra Station.
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Windorah
Download coordinates as:
Windorah is a town and a locality in the Shire of Barcoo, Queensland, Australia. It is one of only three towns in the Shire of Barcoo in Central West Queensland. In the 2021 census, the locality of Windorah had a population of 104 people.
Located 35 kilometres (22 mi) downstream from where the Thomson and Barcoo Rivers join to form the multi-channelled Cooper Creek, the Shire covers an area of 60,901 square kilometres (23,514 sq mi).
A landscape of rocky outcrops, multiple sand hills and black soil flood plains make up most of the area surrounding the town. Water in the town follows the outback cycle of boom and bust. During a wet year Cooper Creek may flood more than a half a dozen times, during the dry it becomes a chain of waterholes. Downstream of the town stretches the Cooper Floodplain below Windorah Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for waterbirds when flooded.
Before the onset of British colonisation, the area around Windorah was inhabited by the Kulumali people, who spoke the Birria (Pirriya) language. The men of this group were circumcised, cut cicatrices on their chest and had one or two of their upper central incisors removed as part of their initiation rites. They also chewed pituri as a stimulant. The population upon first contact with the British was estimated to be under 1,000 people.
The British first entered the region in August 1847 with the arrival of the expedition led by Edmund Kennedy. He encountered hundreds of Kulumali people living in the region and had several tense interactions with them over the ability to pass through their land and have access to their waterholes. Near the present town of Windorah, the situation was further inflamed with the Aboriginal people tampering with the expedition's cache of flour and by Kennedy twice attempting to force a negotiation in which he would take an Aboriginal child. A nulla nulla was thrown, and on two occasions Kennedy's men charged their horses at a group of resident Kulumali, whipping them and firing pistols above their heads to disperse them.
George Fitzwalter established a shop and a hotel in 1878 on a stock route which became the town of Stoney Point. The name was changed to Windorah in 1884. Cobb & Co once ran a stage coach service between Windorah and Adavale. It is stated that the town is named after the local Aboriginal word for "Big Fish", although according to an account of the Durack settlers, the name means high, stony place.
On 5 January 1884, police constable Nathaniel Roberts stationed at Windorah died from thirst while lost in the bush near Connemarra Station.