The town is situated in roughly towards the east of the locality. The Moonie River flows from south to north through the locality and just to the west of the town. The Carnarvon Highway passes from north to south through the locality and through the town (as Hill Street) connecting the town to St George to the north and Mungindi on the border with New South Wales. The South-Western railway line passes through the locality from east to west and the town is served for freight rail by the Thallon railway station.[5][6]
Thallon is a major wheat and woolgrowing area.[7]
History
Thallon State School group with teacher Thomas Douglas King, 1923
Gamilaraay (Gamilaroi, Kamilaroi, Comilroy) is a language from South-West Queensland and North-West New South Wales. The Gamilaraay language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Balonne Shire Council, including the towns of Dirranbandi, Thallon, Talwood and Bungunya as well as the border towns of Mungindi and Boomi extending to Moree, Tamworth and Coonabarabran in NSW.[8]
Explorer Thomas Mitchell was the first European in the Thallon district and his initials can still be found on a bloodwood tree near the Moonie River.[7]
With the coming of the railway, the town developed and shops and a hotel were established.[7]
Thallon State School opened on 24 July 1911.[9][10][11]
St Joseph's Catholic Church was built in 1916 from timber using a "ready-to-erect" system. It was 30 by 25 feet (9.1 by 7.6 m). It cost £268. It was officially opened by ArchbishopJames Duhig on Sunday 17 September 1916. It was in Garah Street (28°38′19″S 148°51′54″E / 28.638697°S 148.865°E / -28.638697; 148.865 (St Joseph's Catholic Church)) on a 0.5 acres (0.20 ha) site donated by F. McLoughlin. In 1980, it closed due to termite damage.[12][13][14][15]
Myrtlemount Provisional School, Warrie Provisional School and Hollymount Provisional School (all named after local pastoral stations) opened on 29 September 1919 as a group of part-time schools (sharing a teacher between them). All three schools closed in 1922 due to low student numbers.[16]
Demographics
In the 2011 census, the locality of Thallon and the surrounding area had a population of 382 people.[17]
In the 2016 census, the locality of Thallon had a population of 257 people.[18]
In the 2021 census, the locality of Thallon had a population of 231 people.[1]
Thallon State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at 15 Henry Street (28°38′01″S 148°52′04″E / 28.6336°S 148.8677°E / -28.6336; 148.8677 (Thallon State School)).[20][21] In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 36 students with 4 teachers (3 full-time equivalent) and 7 non-teaching staff (3 full-time equivalent).[22] In 2022, the school had an enrolment of 18 students.[23]
There is no secondary school in Thallon; the nearest is in neighbouring St George.[5]
Facilities
Thallon Post Office, 2008Thallon Public Hall, 2008
Thallon has a post office, hotel, community hall, showground, park and sportsground.[24]
The Thallon-Daymar branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association has its rooms at 47 William Street.[27]Daymar is a neighbouring town, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) east of Thallon.
William the Wombat
William the Wombat, one of Australia's big things, 2018
In 2015, the town of Thallon decided to build a large statue of a northern hairy-nosed wombat as one of Australia's Big Things to attract tourists and to highlight the critically endangered status of the species which had once inhabited the Thallon area but is now extinct in that area. The statue is 2 m × 3.5 m (6.6 ft × 11.5 ft) and was built by David Joffe at Natureworks in Brisbane. It arrived in Thallon in October 2017 and is on display in the park.[28][29]
There is a small population of the wombats at the Richard Underwood Nature Refuge, located between St George and Surat, established in 2009.[30]
^"Thallon – railway station in the Shire of Balonne (entry 33801)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
^ a b c d"Thallon". Western Downs - Places to visit. Tourism Queensland. Retrieved 25 May 2007.
^"Indigenous Language map of Queensland". State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
^"Thallon State School". Thallon State School. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
^"Opening and closing dates of Queensland Schools". Queensland Government. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
^"History". Thallon State School. 29 March 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
^Blake, Thom. "St Joseph's Catholic Church". Queensland Religious Places. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
^"LISMORE DISTRICT". The Brisbane Courier. No. 18, 181. Queensland, Australia. 25 April 1916. p. 4. Retrieved 18 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Thallon". Balonne Beacon. Vol. X, no. 69. Queensland, Australia. 2 September 1916. p. 3. Retrieved 18 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Thallon". Balonne Beacon. Vol. X, no. 75. Queensland, Australia. 23 September 1916. p. 2. Retrieved 18 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
^"William the Wombat". Southern Queensland Country Tourism. Archived from the original on 26 March 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
^Amy-Lyne (19 October 2017). "William the Wombat to put town on map". Toowoomba Chronicle. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
^Robinson, Lucy (6 May 2021). "'Precious, eccentric, easy to love': Northern hairy-nosed wombat numbers reach 300". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
Further reading
Kershaw, Hilary (1986), 75th anniversary of Thallon, 75th Anniversary Committee, ISBN 978-1-86252-429-3
O'Flynn, Melanie A (2011), Before the line : the Thallon district before 1911, M. O'Flynn
Trevethan, Jane (2011), Thallon centenary : 100 years down the line 1911-2011, Thallon State School P & C Committee
External links
Media related to Thallon, Queensland at Wikimedia Commons