Blackall, QLD

By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan · Updated 31 May 2026

Blackall is a wool town in central western Queensland, set on the Barcoo River about 960 kilometres north-west of Brisbane. It lies in country associated with the Bidjara, Kuungkari and Gungabula language groups. The town was named after Sir Samuel Blackall, the second governor of Queensland, and grew from the 1860s as a service centre for the surrounding sheep stations. Blackall is famous as the home of the original Black Stump, a surveyor's mark that gave rise to the saying beyond the black stump, and of the gun shearer Jackie Howe, who in 1892 shore 321 sheep by hand in under eight hours. Visitors still soak in the town's hot artesian baths and tour the restored Blackall Woolscour.

22/100

Suburb Score

Less advantaged than the national average

Blackall is more socio-economically advantaged than about 22% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 932, 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.

Blackall at a glance

Population (2021): 1,365
Median age: 49
Median weekly household income: $1,143
SEIFA score: 932
Coordinates: -24.6579, 145.3070

Blackall demographics (2021 Census)

The figures below profile Blackall 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 28%, 27% of homes are rented, and 6% of residents were born overseas.

Age profile

Age group	People	Share
Children (0–14)	207	15%
Youth (15–24)	118	9%
Young adults (25–44)	274	20%
Mid-life (45–64)	376	28%
Seniors (65+)	385	28%

Share of the 1,360 people counted by age.

Housing and households

Tenure	Dwellings	Share
Owned outright	245	44%
Owned with a mortgage	118	21%
Rented	150	27%

Dwelling type	Dwellings	Share
Houses	536	97%
Townhouses & semis	0	0%
Flats & apartments	3	1%

Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 550 occupied private dwellings in Blackall.

Median weekly rent: $157
Median monthly mortgage: $867
Average household size: 2.2 people
Median weekly family income: $1,566
Median weekly personal income: $686

Community and culture

Born overseas: 70 (6%)
Speaks a language other than English at home: 27 (2%)
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander: 69 (5%)

Work and education

Completed Year 12: 396 (35%)
Labour-force participation: 56.8%
Unemployment rate: 2.3%
Employed full-time: 419
Employed part-time: 184

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 Blackall

Where is Blackall?

Blackall is a suburb of Queensland, Australia.

What is the population of Blackall?

At the 2021 Census, Blackall had a population of about 1,365.

Is Blackall an advantaged area?

Blackall has an ABS SEIFA score of 932, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 22 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 22% of Australian suburbs.