Guide to Barcaldine Queensland Australia

Barcaldine is a town of about 1,400 people at the junction of the Capricorn and Landsborough highways, 107 kilometres east of Longreach. Locals call it Barcy. It was the first town in Australia to tap the Great Artesian Basin for its water supply, which gave it gardens and the nickname the Garden City of the West, and it was the centre of the shearers’ strike of 1891, from which the Australian Labor Party grew.

Known For

• The Tree of Knowledge memorial
• The Australian Workers Heritage Centre
• Five old pubs in one main street

Things To Do in Barcaldine

Tree of Knowledge

Striking shearers met under a ghost gum outside the railway station in 1891. The tree was poisoned in 2006 and died. Its preserved trunk now stands inside a striking memorial, a great cube of hanging timbers that is lit at night and chimes in the wind. It is on the main street and free to visit at any hour.

Australian Workers Heritage Centre

Set in gardens around a bore-fed billabong, the centre tells the stories of working people, from shearers and railway workers to teachers, nurses and police, in more than a dozen relocated buildings. A tree grown from a cutting of the Tree of Knowledge stands in the grounds. Allow two hours.

Heritage and museums

Oak Street’s line of old hotels faces the railway. The Barcaldine Historical Museum and the restored Radio Picture Theatre, which still screens films, are worth a look, and the Masonic lodge has an unusual painted facade.

Lloyd Jones Weir

A weir on the Alice River, 15 kilometres south-west, is a popular free camping, fishing and birdwatching spot.

Where To Stay

Barcaldine has several motels, pub rooms and caravan parks, some of which put on billy tea and damper for guests in winter.

Eat & Drink

The pubs serve counter meals, and there are bakeries and cafes in Oak Street.

History

This is the country of the Iningai people. The town was founded in 1886 as the railway pushed west and named after a sheep station. In 1891 more than a thousand striking shearers camped here; the strike was broken by soldiers and its leaders were jailed, and the defeat persuaded unionists to seek change through parliament.

Getting to Barcaldine

Barcaldine is on the Capricorn Highway, 300 kilometres west of Emerald, and on the Landsborough Highway north of Blackall. The Spirit of the Outback train stops here twice a week. A sealed road runs north to Aramac.