Arrilalah
Ghost town of western Queensland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arrilalah is a ghost town in the locality of Longreach in the Longreach Region of western Queensland, Australia,[1] beside the Thompson River floodplain. Originally on the main stock route south, the loss of a proposed railway line in 1892 in favour of the newer town of Longreach saw the decline of the town by the 1930s.[2]
Arrilalah | |
|---|---|
Chemist building in Arrilalah, 1884 | |
  Arrilalah | |
| Coordinates: 23.6806°S 143.8828°E | |
| Country | Australia |
| State | Queensland |
| City | Longreach |
| LGA | |
| Location |
|
| Government | |
| • State electorate | |
| • Federal division | |
| Postcode | 4730 |
History
The site was originally settled in the 1860s with the name "Forest Grove" (and possibly "Hopkins' Camp" before that),[3] but the name was changed to Arrilalah,[4] a word with an uncertain origin, in 1885. One source suggests a First Nations word meaning for good feeding ground for galahs and cockatoos.[5] Near to former Forest Grove was also a sheep property, Bandon Grove.[6]
- Growth
The Commercial Hotel was built in 1884; the nearest telegraph station and court house were at Isisford, 75 miles (121 km) away.[7]
The November 1885 sale of government lands for the township occurred,[8] enhanced with a proposed Central Railway line coming to the town "crawling out West very vigorously" from Barcaldine.[9] This resulted in the change in ownership of the Forest Grove Hotel, being renamed as the Club Hotel (constructed of pise, later replaced by wood and iron),[7] and more shops planned.[10]
Land prices increased and buildings increased with the Royal Hotel and billiard room, two bakers, two saddlers, two butchers, two blacksmiths, and bootmakers.[7] In its heyday, Arrilalah was given to have four or five hotels, two stores, a chemist's shop, police station, school, and blacksmith's shop.[5] It was reported a footrace was used to determine who would keep a blacksmith's store, between later-politician John Payne (1860–1928) and his partner – Payne won.[3]
District properties included Bimbah, Bimerah, Evesham, Maneroo, Oorona, Silaoe, Strath Darr, Tocal, Vergemont, and Westland.[11] Eight miles from the town, the 92 by 48 feet (28 m × 15 m) Rosabel station woolshed burned down in February 1927,[12] and the station homestead itself in November 1933.[13]
At one time competing, both Arrilalah and Stonehenge to the south stated they had "the prettiest racecourse on the river".[14] The Arrilalah Race Club was operating to 1929, before restarting in 1936.[15][16]
Petitions were submitted by 1887 championing for an overland telegraph line.[11]
January 1887 saw the local police constable F. Moran get lost travelling from Arrilalah to Isisford on transfer.[17] He was located fourteen days later, emaciated, naked and bleeding; the officer later claiming his packhorse took off, and later, intense rains and flooding. (It is unknown if this was a case of potentially being "murdered by the government", where immigrants from England were sent out as new police officers into the foreign west of the State unprepared.[18] Moran later returned to police the town in February 1889.[19]) A police station and court house were constructed by December 1889 with a sergeant in charge.[20] At one point there were three officers stationed in the town.[21] The police station closed in 1926.[7][22] The police buildings became part of a government sale in April 1938.[23]
Arrilalah Provisional School opened c. 1889 and closed in 1906 due to low attendances.[24]
The town also had involvement in the 1891 Australian shearers' strike.[7]
- Decline
The town began a long decline when the railway bypassed it,[2] instead connecting to the nearby and younger town of Longreach to the north in 1892.[7][25] By 1928, the area surrounding the town was resumed by the grazing homesteads.[7] Without being a rail terminus, and the transport evolution from horses to motor vehicle, buildings in Arrilalah were removed, with just one public hotel remaining by the 1930s.[15] Two surveys for railway extensions to Jundah did not eventuate.[7]
After past requests,[26][27] by 1936 the town became the main link in the Longreach–Windorah telephone line.[5][28]
By March 1950, during a widespread district flooding event, Arrilalah was referred to as "a one-house town 32 miles south of Longreach".[29][30]
Today
By the 1980s, there were no permanent inhabitants remaining.
The local cemetery, formerly in Aramac Shire,[31] was rededicated in 2010, and was the site of approximately forty burials.[25] One internment, and restored grave, is that of 29-year-old Senior Constable William Considine who died from an unfortunate incident at some cattleyards on 18 February 1887.[32][33] Considine was one of the members to locate the lost Constable Moran the month prior.
