Towns in Australia

Exploring Australia, town by town

Ilfracombe QLD

Ilfracombe

Postcode: 4727

Ilfracombe is a small town in Queensland, Australia. The main industry is sheep rearing, mainly for wool. It is the administrative centre of the Ilfracombe Shire Local Government Area.

Ilfracombe is the home of an excellent collection of antique agricultural machinery.

Ilfracombe Shire Council is a Local Government Area in the central west of Queensland, Australia. The shire consists of the rural area surrounding the town of Ilfracombe, its administrative centre.

The shire contains many large cattle and sheep stations. By population, it is one of the smallest local government areas in Queensland.

Tiny western Queensland township surrounded by large grazing properties.

Looking at the tiny settlement of Ilfracombe, with its one hotel and rather isolated Folk Museum, it is hard to imagine that, in the 1890s, the town had three hotels each with its own dance hall, a soft drink maker, a coach builder, two general stores, a billiard saloon, a dressmaker, three commission agents, a couple of butchers, a baker and a saddler. The story of western Queensland is contained in these changes. Once transportation became efficient the number of people living in the outback declined. What took a month in the 1890s can now take only a few hours.