Barcaldine, QLD
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Barcaldine stands in Central West Queensland on Lagoon Creek, about 520 kilometres west of Rockhampton, on the lands of the Iningai people. The town grew from a pastoral run named after a Scottish estate in Argyll, and developed quickly once the Central Western railway reached it in 1886. Barcaldine is best known for the Tree of Knowledge, a ghost gum by the old railway station where shearers gathered during the 1891 strike that is widely linked to the founding of the Australian Labor Party; the original tree was poisoned in 2006 and has been replaced by a memorial. The town tells this story at its Australian Workers Heritage Centre, and its plentiful artesian bores earned it the nickname Garden City of the West. Sheep and cattle remain the mainstay.
Around the national middle
Barcaldine is more socio-economically advantaged than about 41% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 972, where about 1000 is the national average).
A socio-economic measure from ABS Census data — not a measure of how good a suburb is to live in or visit. How we calculate this.
Barcaldine at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 1,540
- Median age
- 43
- Median weekly household income
- $1,487
- SEIFA score
- 972
- Coordinates
- -23.5711, 145.3475
Barcaldine demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Barcaldine using the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census; every percentage is a share of a clearly stated Census count, so each one traces back to the source. At a glance, the largest age group is mid-life (45–64) at 27%, 29% of homes are rented, and 6% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 283 | 19% |
| Youth (15–24) | 145 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 342 | 23% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 410 | 27% |
| Seniors (65+) | 335 | 22% |
Share of the 1,515 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 241 | 41% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 126 | 21% |
| Rented | 170 | 29% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 547 | 94% |
| Townhouses & semis | 3 | 1% |
| Flats & apartments | 17 | 3% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 580 occupied private dwellings in Barcaldine.
- Median weekly rent
- $200
- Median monthly mortgage
- $1,213
- Average household size
- 2.2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $2,060
- Median weekly personal income
- $869
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 86 (6%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 38 (3%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 132 (9%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 548 (45%)
- Labour-force participation
- 61.6%
- Unemployment rate
- 1.8%
- Employed full-time
- 500
- Employed part-time
- 210
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021 (General Community Profile, by Suburb and Locality). © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. How we group bands and derive each share is set out on our methodology page.
Common questions about Barcaldine
Where is Barcaldine?
Barcaldine is a suburb of Queensland, Australia.
What is the population of Barcaldine?
At the 2021 Census, Barcaldine had a population of about 1,540.
Is Barcaldine an advantaged area?
Barcaldine has an ABS SEIFA score of 972, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 41 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 41% of Australian suburbs.
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