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that is widely linked to the founding of the Australian Labor Party; the original tree was poisoned in 2006 and has been replaced by a memorial.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.
Is Barcaldine a good place to live?
There’s no single answer — it depends on what matters to you. So instead of one mystery number, we break it down: a transparent score on each part of life we can back with public data, and an honest “not yet” on the parts we can’t.
Around the national middle
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Barcaldine from public data. It sits alongside — and reconciles with — the socio-economic Suburb Score above; it is a transparent read, not a complete verdict.
Socio-economic advantage
41/100Around the national middle
Around the national middle — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (41/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
78/100More affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $200 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 78% of suburbs we can compare. Housing data only, no valuations. · ABS Census 2021
Not yet scored
We’d rather leave these open than publish a number we can’t stand behind. Here’s where each one stands.
- Amenities & accessNot scored yet — our OpenStreetMap amenity mapping is still rolling out across suburbs.
- Green spaceNot scored yet — our OpenStreetMap green-space mapping is still rolling out across suburbs.
- TransportNot scored yet — our OpenStreetMap public-transport mapping is still rolling out across suburbs.
- SchoolsNot scored yet — school performance (ACARA / ICSEA) needs a data-reuse licence cleared before we can publish it.
- SafetyNot scored yet — Australia has no single open crime dataset and safety data carries defamation and legal care, so it is gated pending a go/no-go and will be data-only when added.
- CommunityNot scored yet — we won't reduce community to a number from a proxy. We'd rather leave it open than publish an invented value judgement.
A transparent read on public data, not a verdict — and not a measure of any person or community. See our methodology for how each component is worked out and why some aren’t scored yet.
Barcaldine at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 1,540
- Median age
- 43
- Median weekly household income
- $1,487
- SEIFA score
- 972
- Local government area
- Barcaldine
- Coordinates
- -23.5711, 145.3475
Map of Barcaldine
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Barcaldine
What it costs to live in Barcaldine and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $200
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,213
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 62%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 29%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Barcaldine demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
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% 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.
- 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.
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Common questions about Barcaldine
Is Barcaldine a good place to live?
There's no single answer, so we score what the public data can back. On socio-economic advantage and housing affordability, Barcaldine rates 53/100 overall (Around the national middle). Public transport, schools and safety aren't scored yet — see our methodology for why.
What is the median rent in Barcaldine?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Barcaldine was $200, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,213. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Barcaldine?
Barcaldine is a suburb of Queensland, Australia, in the Barcaldine local government area.
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.
Nearby suburbs in Queensland
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