Blackall Woolscour

## Overview The Blackall Woolscour is a historic site located in the outback town of Blackall, Queensland, Australia (GPS: -24.3955, 145.4885). While listed here as a spring location, Blackall is best known for the Blackall Woolscour — the last remaining steam-driven woolscour in Australia, which operated from 1908 to 1978. The facility relied on a reliable local water source to wash (scour) raw wool before baling and export, and the water supply that fed the woolscour has long been a point of interest in this arid region of central-western Queensland. Blackall sits along the Barcoo River in the heart of Queensland's sheep country, and the town has historically depended on artesian and sub-artesian water sources drawn from the Great Artesian Basin — one of the largest underground freshwater reserves in the world. The Great Artesian Basin underlies much of inland Australia and has provided naturally pressurised water to communities, pastoral stations, and industrial operations across the region for well over a century. Water from the basin is typically warm and mineral-rich, having been heated as it travels through deep sandstone aquifers. The Blackall area was originally the land of the Iningai people, who had deep knowledge of the region's water sources long before European settlement. The town was established in the 1860s during the expansion of the pastoral frontier, and access to reliable water was central to its survival and growth in this semi-arid landscape. ## Directions 1. Blackall is located approximately 1,000 km northwest of Brisbane, in central-western Queensland. 2. From Longreach, head south on the Landsborough Highway (A2) for approximately 107 km to reach Blackall. 3. From Tambo, travel north along the Landsborough Highway for about 100 km. 4. The Blackall Woolscour site is located on the outskirts of town — follow signage along Evora Road (off the main highway) to the heritage precinct. 5. The site is well signposted from the centre of Blackall. ## What to Expect Visitors to the Blackall area will find a quintessential outback Queensland town with wide streets, historic buildings, and a strong pastoral heritage. The Woolscour heritage site itself is a popular tourist attraction, offering guided tours that explain the wool-scouring process and the critical role water played in the operation. The surrounding landscape is flat, dry, and sparsely vegetated — typical of the Channel Country and Mitchell grass downs. Summers are extremely hot (often exceeding 40°C), so visiting during the cooler months from April to September is recommended. The Barcoo River, which runs through town, can range from a chain of waterholes in dry periods to a flowing river after rain events. If you're interested in the area's water sources, the nearby Blackall Aquatic Centre uses bore water from the Great Artesian Basin, and the town's water supply has historically been drawn from artesian bores. Water from these sources has been reported to be warm and mineral-laden, characteristic of Great Artesian Basin water, though visitors should not assume any untreated water source is safe for drinking without local guidance. Blackall is also famous for the "Black Stump" — a petrified tree stump that once served as a surveying reference point — and the statue of Jackie Howe, the legendary shearer who set a blade-shearing record in 1892 that stood for over 50 years.