Birdsville, Queensland

Birdsville
State :  Australia State : Queensland Founded : 1887
Coordinates : 25 ° 54 ′  S , 139 ° 21 ′  E Coordinates: 25 ° 54 ′  S , 139 ° 21 ′  E Height : 46  m Area : 32,959.5  km²
Residents : 140 (2016) Population density : 0.004 inhabitants per km²
Time zone : AEST (UTC + 10) Postal code : 4482 LGA : Diamantina Shire Council
Birdsville

The Birdsville Hotel , located directly at the airport

Birdsville is a small town of 140 people in Queensland , Australia . It lies on the border with South Australia on the eastern edge of the Simpson Desert on the often dried-out Diamantina River .

Birdsville is part of the approximately 95,000 km² Diamantina Shire Council , which is about the same size as Bavaria and Hesse combined, but has a total of only 291 inhabitants. English is spoken in the village, mostly with an Australian touch . However, six of the residents prefer to speak Afrikaans in private .

Birdsville is a classic outback town . The nearest major town is 670 km away, for its mining known Mount Isa , which has around 18,000 inhabitants. The distance to the state capital Brisbane is almost 1,600 km. Birdsville represents the northern end point of the Birdsville Track , a dirt road, at the other end of which the South Australian town of Marree is around 500 km away . From there to Adelaide it's another 700 km. Unpaved trunk roads also lead to the north and east coast.

climate

The average maximum temperature of the location 47 meters above sea level is 30.5 ° C, the minimum temperature 15.8 ° C. The average rainfall per year is 167.2 mm.

Historical

Birdsville reached its peak in the second half of the 19th century. The town, which was elevated to the status of a city in 1887, was due to its proximity to the South Australian border as a customs collection point for trade and traffic between the states, which mainly consisted of cattle drives. At that time, Birdsville had three hotels in addition to the customs house and a police station.

With the abolition of customs duties after the unification of the Australian colonies to form the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901, a certain economic decline went hand in hand.

In 1973 a memorial was erected in the place for Edmund Colson , who in 1936 was the first white man to cross the Simpson Desert .

economy

Birdsville on a map of Queensland

Despite the small number of inhabitants, Birdsville is the most important place within a few hundred kilometers and thus has the function of a regional supply center for the extensive cattle-raising agriculture there. For example, after the hotel, which also owned the gas pump, was closed in 1997, the closest petrol station outside of Birdsville is in Betoota , 200 km to the north, in Bedourie , where the administration of the Diamantina Shires is also based. Around 300 km south there is another gas station in the Mungeranie on the Birdsville Track in the Strzelecki Desert . Birdsville also has an airfield, a hospital and several shops and also the only hotel far and wide that only offers beer in cans and bottles.

The water supply of the place and also of agriculture in the region is ensured by the largest underground water reservoir on earth, the Great Artesian Basin . A geothermal power plant with an output of 80 kW is operated with the 98 ° C warm water in the basin .

Birdsville Races

The Birdsville Races , which take place every year in the first week of September, are of great social importance for the region , a horse race that also attracts numerous tourists. The population of the place swells to several thousand in these two days and the 1700 meter long runway of the airport is then overcrowded with hundreds of aircraft. The proceeds from this event will benefit the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia .

Web links

Commons : Birdsville, Queensland  - Collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

• Birdsville Track - Info and Route (German)
• Tourist information (English)
• Location of the place
• Oliver Herbrich Filmarchiv: Dead Heart (film about the 100th anniversary of the Birdsville Races)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Australian Bureau of Statistics : Birdsville ( English ) In: 2016 Census QuickStats . June 27, 2017. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
2. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics : Diamantina (S) ( English ) In: 2016 Census QuickStats . June 27, 2017. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
3. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics : Mount Isa ( English ) In: 2016 Census QuickStats . June 27, 2017. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
4. ^ Bureau of Meteorology (Birdsville). Retrieved May 28, 2009 . 
5. ↑ adb.anu.edu.au : Colson Edmund Albert, 1881–1973 , in English, accessed April 2, 2013
6. ↑ ABC: "Birdsville population swells ahead of races"