Western Central Queensland

Barcaldine

Located 580km west of Rockhampton, Barcaldine is an excellent place to base yourself from to explore Western Central Queensland on weekends and during school holidays.

As a new teacher in town, you'll receive a warm outback welcome and be treated to good old fashioned, country hospitality.

Start and/or end your day with a relaxing sunrise/sunset walk or bike ride along Lagoon Creek or the Botanical Walk. There's free exercise equipment along Lagoon Creek, making it popular with the locals. If you're a keen angler, you can try your hand at catching a Yellowbelly. On weekends, head to nearby Lara Wetlands or spend your time exploring the region to see if you can find all 200 geocaches hidden there.

Barcaldine's main street reflects the community's love of art and culture and you'll find murals, musical instruments, beautiful gardens and the Tree of Knowledge.

Barcaldine P–12 State School is a modern facility, with double teaching spaces in the primary sector of the school. The secondary sector has various specialist teaching spaces and general classrooms. The school is fully air-conditioned and has extensive playing fields, with a large undercover sports complex providing courts for basketball, netball, volleyball and tennis.

Barcaldine fun fact

Barcaldine's streets are named after trees. Some of the streets you could live on include Elm Street, Bottlebrush Avenue, Maple Street and Fir Street. They are lined with ghost gums and ironbark trees, making this one of the lushest outback Queensland towns to visit, even when the town's dry.

Winton

Winton is located 178​km north-west of Longreach, accessible by air, bus and all-weather highways to Brisbane, Sydney, Rockhampton, Mt Isa and Townsville. Local primary industries for the area include wool, beef, tourism, gypsum and opal mining. Due to its location as a crossroads for the west, Winton has a good range of services and is a friendly, progressive and enjoyable place to live.

Home to dinosaur fossils, Waltzing Matilda and Queensland’s Boulder Opal, Winton is steeped in history, creating opportunities for hands-on learning for your students. The free Winton Music Fence provides the kids (big and small!) with endless fun exploring their hidden musical talents. With vast Mitchell grass plains, broken by coloured gorges, ridges and mesas, you’ll be in awe of the nature of the landscape around you.

Winton P–12 State School provides students with opportunities for learning through their own community and access to learning beyond their community, so they feel like a part of the broader Queensland community. The school works closely with local families, council, businesses and government agencies to achieve this.

Visit Experience Winton for more information.

 

Winton fun fact

Winton is the only place in the world with recorded evidence of a dinosaur stampede. More than 95 million years old, there are 33,00 dinosaur footprints captured in stone.

Aramac

Aramac is a great place for teachers who are looking to get off the beaten track and explore. This is one of the oldest towns in the central west. There are unique and wonderful natural attractions in the area to explore on weekends and school holidays, such as Lake Dunn, Gray Rock and Horsetailers Gorge, all of which are on the Lake Dunn Sculpture Trail. This trail features 40 sculptures for you to hunt and enjoy. Known as the largest outdoor art gallery, it's not to be missed if you're teaching out this way.

Aramac State School is a K–10 school that, like many outback schools, has a strong working relationship with the local community. Students enjoy participating in inter-house and inter-school sporting and cultural events and the school aims to provide students with a range of interest-based opportunities and differentiated learning to support them to achieve success. The school is a Positive Behaviour for Learning school, where they focus on teaching, recognising and congratulating positive behaviour choices by all students.

 

Aramac fun fact

Although Aramac is one of Australia's largest wool producers, it's their cattle industry that made them famous. While you're in Aramac, learn about the connection the town has with the infamous Harry Redford (Captain Starlight) and why there are a number of white bull statues around the town.

Blackall

Head to Blackall and explore Outback Queensland 'beyond the black stump'.

You'll feel right at home in Blackall, thanks to the warm welcome of friendly locals who value the teachers who join their community. Enjoy a laid-back country lifestyle, complete with tree lined streets and heritage buildings.

In your spare time, you can explore the town's wool history, the outback sculpture trail, and the Glassland Art Gallery. Take a trip out to Idalia National Park where you'll be in awe of the majestic red river gums, spring-fed waterholes and rocky escarpments. You may even get a glimpse of the local flora and fauna.

Blackall State School is a P–12 school where teachers are passionate about promoting the academic, cultural, physical and social development of each child. School staff encourage students to become self-motivated, life-long learners who can work independently and cooperatively to gain the skills they need to make choices about their lives, now and into the future. They promote individual learning and success through flexible pathway options including school-based traineeships and apprenticeships, work experience, external TAFE and university early entry study.

Blackall fun fact

The Black Stump in Blackall was first used for surveying purposes and marks the original Astro Station, established in 1887. Anything west of the stump is considered 'beyond the black stump'.

Alpha

The country town of Alpha is located 169 km west of Emerald and is rich in history. The town's major industry is beef production. It might be a small town, but you'll find most of the facilities, shopping and services you need to make Alpha your new home.

The local school, Alpha State School, plays an important role in the community, catering for students from Prep to Year 10 and assisting students in Year 11 and 12 who are doing distance education. Class sizes are small and individual differences and needs appreciated and nurtured. The school's focus sports are swimming, athletics, rugby league, netball, and touch football, with students able to access after-school sports. The establishment of junior and senior choirs has added a cultural dimension to the school and the growth of the school's cattle club showcases the students' rural upbringing.

Alpha fun fact

Alpha is a town inspired by local artists and poets.

Take a leisurely walk around town and you'll find a Fossilised Forest Sculpture, and 27 murals painted by local artists that pay tribute to the pioneers of the bush and the area's history.

You could find yourself living on Shakespeare, Milton or Byron Street, with many of Alpha's streets being named after poets.