Cunnamulla
Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Australian English Template:Infobox Australian place
Cunnamulla (Template:IPAc-en)<ref>Macquarie Dictionary, Fourth Edition (2005). Melbourne, The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd. Template:ISBN</ref> is a town and a locality in the Shire of Paroo, Queensland, Australia.<ref name=qpnt>Template:Cite QPN</ref><ref name=qpnl>Template:Cite QPN</ref> It is Template:Convert south of Charleville, and approximately Template:Convert west of the state capital, Brisbane. In the 2021 census, the locality of Cunnamulla had a population of 1,233.<ref name=Census2021/>
GeographyEdit
Cunnamulla lies on the Warrego River in South West Queensland within the Murray–Darling drainage basin. It flows from the north (Coongoola) through the town, which is in the centre of the locality, and exits to the south (Tuen).<ref name="globe">Template:Queensland Globe</ref>
The Mitchell Highway passes through the locality from north (Coongoola) to south (Tuen), while the Balonne Highway enters the location from the east (Linden). The two highways intersect in the town, which is located in the centre of the locality. The Bulloo Developmental Road starts in Cunnamulla and exits the locality to the west (Eulo).<ref name="globe" />
Cunnamulla is the administrative centre for the Paroo Shire, which also includes the townships of Wyandra, Yowah and Eulo, and covers an area of Template:Convert.
Major industries of the area are cattle, sheep and goat farming, along with tourism and opal mining.
HistoryEdit
Gunya (also known as Kunya, Kunja, Kurnja) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Gunya people. The Gunya language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Paroo Shire Council, taking in Cunnamulla and extending north towards Augathella, east towards Bollon and west towards Thargomindah.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The original Indigenous inhabitants of the area were the Kunja. The first European explorer to arrive was Edmund Kennedy, whose expedition passed through the region in 1847.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Kennedy's group noted fields of native grasses that appeared to be being cultivated like a wheat crop, but they only had limited interaction with the people who resided there.<ref name="beale">Template:Cite book</ref>
Pastoralists arrived to take land from 1861 when squatter Alexander Keith Collins led an exploratory group through the region that had several skirmishes with the local Aboriginal people.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Collins was later investigated for kidnapping two Aboriginal boys.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By 1863, all of the land along the southern Warrego River had been acquired by pastoralists.<ref name="qtihga" />
The town name of Cunnamulla is derived from the Cunnamullah cattle station established by Samuel Smith in 1863,<ref name="qtihga">Template:Cite news</ref> which in turn is the Aboriginal name of a deep waterhole in the Warrego River.<ref name="qpnt"/>
A settlement arose here because there was a reliable waterhole where two major stock routes intersected.<ref name="herqldout">Template:Cite book</ref> The town itself came into being in the late 19th century as a coach stop for Cobb and Co coaches.<ref name="smh">Template:Cite news</ref> A town survey was conducted in 1868, the same year a courthouse was built.<ref name="herqldout" /> Cunnamulla Post Office opened on 1 March 1868.<ref name="Post Office">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Cunnamulla Provisional School opened on 9 July 1877, becoming Cunnamulla State School in 1885.<ref name=":0">Template:Citation</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
From 1885 when the railway was constructed to Bourke in New South Wales, farmers at Cunnamulla and other parts of south-western Queensland began to send their wool to markets via Bourke rather than to Charleville, then the terminus of the Western railway line in Queensland, as the New South Wales government offered more competitive rail freight rates than the Queensland Government. Queensland Railway Commissioner James Thallon responded by negotiating with the Carrier's Union which carried goods to the Charleville railhead to make the cost of transporting the goods via Charleville more attractive. However, strikes by the carriers in support of the 1891 Australian shearers' strike meant that goods continued to be travel via New South Wales, further encouraged by new lower freight rates in New South Wales announced in June 1893. The Queensland Government responded the following month by introducing the Railway Border Tax Act which taxed wool and sheepskins crossing the border into New South Wales to make it too expensive to freight the wool via New South Wales.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, this could only be a temporary measure as the anticipated Federation of Australia would likely include free trade between the states of Australia removing the ability to tax goods at the border crossing. Therefore, on 3 December 1895, the Queensland Parliament approved the construction of the Template:Convert extension of the Western railway line from Charleville to Cunnamulla.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":1" />
During the construction of the railway line, there was a dispute over the location of the railway station at Cunnamulla. The original proposal was for the station to be to the north of the town to be above the flood level rather than within the town centre as was usual practice. However, the railway chief engineer Henry Charles Stanley visited Cunnamulla and decided it would be better to place the station in the centre of the town as it would be more convenient and better positioned for crossing the Warrego River when the railway line was further extended. However, the disadvantage of the town centre site was that it would encroach on the town's cricket ground. The townsfolk were divided on the issue and many sent petitions to the government to demand one location or the other.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Queensland Parliament eventually decided to proceed with the original location north of the town.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":1" /> The railway line to Cunnamulla was opened on 10 October 1898.<ref name=":1">Template:Citation</ref> However, the hotel on the corner of John and Louise Streets in the centre of the town had already been named the Railway Hotel in anticipation of a town-centre station and retained that name until the 1970s, when it was renamed Trappers Inn.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Sacred Heart Catholic Church was opened officially opened on 23 May 1894 by Thomas Byrnes and dedicated by Father Corrigon, the parish priest. The building was Template:Convert and capable of seating about 250 people with 30 people in the organ loft. It was Template:Convert high, the tallest building in Cunnamulla. It was made from locally-grown cypress with finer-quality Warwick pine used for the floor and ceiling. It was the first church in Cunnamulla.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The 1894 church building was demolished in 1971 to be replaced by the current church building which opened in 1972.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The foundation stone for an Anglican church was laid in January 1896 by Christopher Francis, the police magistrate.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The church was opened on Saturday 20 June 1896 by Bishop Jack Stretch. The bishop was injured on his way to Cunnamulla, as he shot at a turkey from his carriage, frightening the horses, resulting in a crash with a tree stump, but was still able to perform the ceremony.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The Bush Brotherhood of St Paul has provided pastoral care to Cunnamulla since 1905.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The Sacred Heart Primary School was opened in 1915 by the Sisters of Mercy.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1970, Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Anne toured Australia including Queensland. The Queensland tour began on Sunday 12 April when the royal yacht HMY Britannia entered Moreton Bay at Caloundra, sailing into Newstead Wharf. Princess Anne accepted an invitation to spend three days on a working sheep station in south-west Queensland. She flew to Cunnamulla on 14 April, travelling Template:Convert by road to ‘Talbarea Station’ unaccompanied. Princess Anne arrived in Cunnamulla in a government jet a little ahead of schedule. She travelled around the district in a maroon Rolls-Royce which was unloaded from the back of a Royal Australian Air Force transport aircraft. Princess Anne was given a demonstration of sheep shearing and wool classing on the working property and was accompanied on a horse ride during her stay.<ref>Template:SLQ-CC-BY</ref>
In 1999, the Queensland Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy and Development reported that Cunnamulla's indigenous community suffered from a high level of domestic violence stemming from an over reliance by the police and the courts on punishment and detention to deal with Indigenous offenders.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} p47</ref>
The Cunnamulla library underwent a major refurbishment in 2013.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
FloodingEdit
The town has experienced major flooding in 1990, 1997, 2010 and 2012. The 1990 flood set a record for the Warrego River at Template:Convert.<ref name="lhc">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2008, the Australian Defence Force was deployed to assist in flood preparations.<ref name="fdmc">Template:Cite news</ref> An Template:Convert high levee protects the town.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
DemographicsEdit
In the Template:CensusAU, the locality of Cunnamulla had a population of 1,140. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 37.2% of the population. 88.7% of people were born in Australia and 91.5% of people spoke only English at home. The most common responses for religion were Catholic (34.5%), Anglican (27.8%), and No Religion (16.4%).<ref name="Census2016">Template:Census 2016 AUS</ref>
In the Template:CensusAU, the locality of Cunnamulla had a population of 1,233. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 44.4% of the population. 88.6% of people were born in Australia and 91.9% of people spoke only English at home. The most common responses for religion were No Religion (33.4%), Catholic (29.2%), and Anglican (18.8%).<ref name="Census2021">Template:Census 2021 AUS</ref>
Heritage listingsEdit
Cunnamulla has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
- Former Invincible Theatre, Jane Street<ref name=":3" />
- Cunnamulla War Memorial Fountain, John Street<ref>Template:Cite QHR</ref>
- Paroo Shire Honour Board, Civic Centre, Louise Street<ref>Template:Cite QHR</ref>
- The Robbers Tree, Stockyard Street<ref>Template:Cite QHR</ref>
- Cunnamulla Post Office, Stockyard Street<ref name=":3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
EducationEdit
Cunnamulla P–12 State School is a government primary and secondary (Early Childhood to Year 12) school for boys and girls at 17 Francis Street (Template:Coord).<ref name="SchoolList2018">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 98 students with 17 teachers (16 full-time equivalent) and 20 non-teaching staff (14 full-time equivalent).<ref name="ACARA2017">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Sacred Heart Primary School is a Catholic primary (Preparatory to Year 6) school for boys and girls at 46 John Street (Template:Coord).<ref name="SchoolList2018" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 84 students with 8 teachers (7 full-time equivalent) and 5 non-teaching staff (4 full-time equivalent).<ref name="ACARA2017" />
FacilitiesEdit
Cunnamulla has a magistrates court, a primary health care facility and a fire station.<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
AmenitiesEdit
The Paroo Shire Council operates a public library in Cunnamulla at 16 John Street.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
St Albans Anglican Church is at 23 Emma Street.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Cunnamulla has a public swimming pool, showground, and racecourse.<ref name=":2" />
Cunnamulla had a rugby league team called the Cunnamulla Rams. In 2022, they merged with Charleville Comets to form the Western Ringers, who play in the Roma District Rugby League.
AttractionsEdit
There are two museums and a tourist information centre. The town has two caravan parks, one at the Warrego Riverside and the other within the town boundaries.
Cultural referencesEdit
The climax of the 1888 novel Robbery Under Arms by Rolf Boldrewood takes place around the town of Cunnamulla and at a fictional location north of the town called Murrynebone Creek.
Cunnamulla was the subject of a 2000 documentary film of the same name by Dennis O'Rourke, in which he followed several members of the community as they went about their daily lives. The film earned $132,485 at the Australian box office.<ref>"Australian Films at the Australian Box Office", Film Victoria Template:Webarchive accessed 12 November 2012</ref>
Cunnamulla is the main setting for Henry Lawson's short story "The Hypnotised Township" from his anthology The Rising of the Court, and Other Sketches in Prose and Verse. The song "Cunnamulla Fella", written by Stan Coster and sung by Slim Dusty, is commemorated by a statue in the town centre that was unveiled in 2005, when the eponymous Cunnamulla Fella Festival was established.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
ClimateEdit
Cunnamulla experiences a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSh), with very hot summers and mild winters with occasional frost. Average maxima range from Template:Convert in January to Template:Convert in July. Annual precipitation is rather low, averaging Template:Convert, with a summer maximum. The town is expectedly sunny, with 184.8 clear days and only 67.6 cloudy days annually. Extreme temperatures have ranged from Template:Convert on 3 January 2014 to Template:Convert on 26 June 1971 and 26 July 1968.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
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