Blackall, QLD
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
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.
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.
Is Blackall 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.
Below the national middle on the data we score
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Blackall 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
22/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (22/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
86/100More affordable than most suburbs
Median weekly rent was $157 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 86% 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.
Blackall at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 1,365
- Median age
- 49
- Median weekly household income
- $1,143
- SEIFA score
- 932
- Local government area
- Blackall Tambo
- Coordinates
- -24.6579, 145.3070
Map of Blackall
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Blackall
What it costs to live in Blackall and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $157
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $867
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 65%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 27%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Blackall demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
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% 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.
- 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.
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Common questions about Blackall
Is Blackall 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, Blackall rates 43/100 overall (Below the national middle on the data we score). Public transport, schools and safety aren't scored yet — see our methodology for why.
What is the median rent in Blackall?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Blackall was $157, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $867. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Blackall?
Blackall is a suburb of Queensland, Australia, in the Blackall Tambo local government area.
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.
Nearby suburbs in Queensland
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