Quilpie
Postcode: 4480
Quilpie is a town and Local Government Area (Quilpie Shire) situated in western Queensland, Australia. Situated on the banks of the Bulloo River and on the Diamantina Developmental Road, it is 208 kilometres west of Charleville, and 980 kilometres west of the state capital, Brisbane. Quilpie is the administrative centre of the Quilpie Shire, which has a population of 1085 persons (ABS estimate 2003). Other townships in the shire include Adavale and Eromanga. The town of Quilpie was gazetted in 1917.
The economy of the area is based on the grazing and mining industries. The area has one of the largest deposits of boulder opal in the world, and also has extensive deposits of gas and oil.
The eastern gateway to the Channel Country, the south-western Queensland town of Quilpie is 217km west of Charleville.
Settled in the second half of the 19th century to service extensive sheep and cattle holdings, Quilpie is better known these days as an important centre for boulder opals and embraces some of the state’s more productive mines – Pinkilla, Bulla Creek and, most notably, Haricks.
The town, which flanks the Bulloo River, takes its name from the local Aboriginal word for the stone curlew, quilpeta, and all save one of the town’s streets have been named after birds.