Travel to Barcaldine in Australia Barcaldine, Qld, 4725, Australia Location: 23*33’E, 145*17’S Elevation: 92 metres

Barcaldine is a small town of 1,340 people in Central Western Queensland, Australia. It is approximately 1,075 km north-west of Brisbane along the Warigo and Landsbrough Highways (A2) and 520 km west of Rockhampton, along the Capricorn Highway (A4). The Landsbrough Highway (A2), from the south, meets up with the Capricorn Highway at Barcaldine. Barcaldine is home to a Main Roads district office. There is also a railway station opposite the Capricorn Highway, which doubles as the main street.

A 1.7 km airstrip (01/09) is adjacent to the town. This is wide open, sparsely inhabited country. Barcaldine is situated on about the divide between the red soil country to the east and the black soil country to the west. For those who love the wide-open spaces, the trip through Barcaldine would be a wonderful experience – for others it would be boring. Barcaldine was the focal point of the 1891 shearesrs strike.

The origins of the Australian Labor Party can also be traced back to Barcaldine and the shearers strike of 1891. When traveling in this part of the country, make sure you have a good spare tyre, a spare fan-belt, extra engine oil and extra water, suitable for drinking if necessary. Check your fuel gauge before leaving town, as service (gas) stations can be a hundred kilometres apart.

Caution: If ever you are off the beaten track and you have a breakdown and have no phone communication, the best advice is to stay with the vehicle. If however you decide to leave the vehicle, make sure you leave a written note saying where you are going and put a time and date on the note, and of course carry water. From Barcaldine, one can head west 108 km to Longreach, south 107 km to Blackall, east about 90 km to the even smaller township of Jericho, or north about 60 km to Aramac.

Airport: BCI Barcaldine Airport Cities in Australia

Country: Australia