Blackall
Postcode: 4472
Blackall is a small town and Local Government Area located in Western Queensland, Australia, approximately 1100 kilometres by road from the state capital, Brisbane. The town lies on the Barcoo River and has a population of 1833. It is the service centre for the Blackall Shire, which covers an area of almost 16,400 square kilometres. The dominant industry in the area is grazing.
In Australian folklore, the best known citizen of the town was the legendary shearer, Jack Howe. In 1892, he sheared a total of 321 sheep in 7 hours and 40 minutes, a record for hand shears that still stands.
This Barcoo River town might have been named in honour of Queensland’s second Governor, Samuel Blackall, but another slice of Australiana is infinitely more important to the locals.
Blackall also boasts the only woolscour in Australia where hot, artesian bore water was converted to steam to drive the factory’s engines and wool dryers.
Australia’s original black stump – a petrified tree stump in the grounds of the local school was the centre point round which the town was built in the 1880s.