Cuttaburra is a rural

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

in the

Shire of Paroo The Shire of Paroo is a Local government in Australia, local government area in South West Queensland, Australia. The administrative centre is the town of Cunnamulla. The Paroo Shire covers an area of . In the , the Shire of Paroo had a populati ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. It is on the Queensland border with

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. In the , Cuttaburra had a population of 22 people.

Geography

Cuttaburra Creek is a tributary of the

Warrego River The Warrego River is an intermittent river that is part of the Darling catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, which is located in South West Queensland and in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. The Warrego River is the north ...

, joining it south of

Cunnamulla Cunnamulla () is a town and a Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Shire of Paroo, Queensland, Australia. It is south of Charleville, Queensland, Charleville, and approximately west of the state capital, Brisbane. In the 2021 Au ...

. The creek forms the north-east boundary of the locality. The southern boundary of the locality is the

border of Queensland Queensland is the north-eastern state of Australia and has land borders with three other Australian states and territories: New South Wales (to the south), South Australia (to the south-west) and Northern Territory (to the west). To the north o ...

with

( latitude 29 South). In 1916,

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

and

palaeontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

Robert Etheridge described the area as having "shifting" sand hills and

claypan Claypan is a dense, compact, slowly permeable layer in the subsoil. It has a much higher clay content than the overlying material, from which it is separated by a sharply defined boundary. The dense structure restricts root growth and water infiltra ...

s. The shifting sand hills were of colours that varied by colour from a yellowish tint to a deep brick red and were up to 50 feet in height. He observed that the wind drove these shifting sand hills along over time. He said that the claypans were:

"shallow depressions, more or less oval or circular in outline, large or small, distributed throughout the red soil country, treeless, often bearing a copious growth of grass, particularly
cane grass Cane or caning may refer to: *Walking stick, or walking cane, a device used primarily to aid walking *Assistive cane, a walking stick used as a mobility aid for better balance *White cane, a mobility or safety device used by blind or visually imp ...
and various kinds of salt-bush. These pans are water-bearing in wet seasons, but otherwise dry, and in flood time many of them, no doubt, communicate with one another. Of this nature appears to be the Cuttaburra branch of the Paroo River, an indescribable flat and weird surface of great extent."

The Binya National Park is located within the locality on the south-western boundary. Apart from this protected area, the land use is predominantly

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to free range (roam around) and consume wild vegetations in order to feed conversion ratio, convert the otherwise indigestible (by human diges ...

on native vegetation.

History

The Cuttaburra Creek is shown on an 1872 map of Queensland. The locality name is believed to derive from the creek name and is thought to be an Aboriginal word. In some

Aboriginal languages the word ''burra'' means ''hill ants''. Cuttaburra Provisional School opened in 1899. It closed circa 1906.

Demographics

In the , Cuttaburra had a population of 10 people. In the , Cuttaburra had a population of 22 people.

Education

The nearest government primary schools are Eulo State School in neighbouring

Eulo Eulo ( ) is an outback town and locality in the Shire of Paroo, Queensland, Australia. It is known for its opal mining. In the , the locality of Eulo had a population of 94 people. Geography Eulo is west of Cunnamulla and west of Brisban ...

to the north-west and Cunnamulla State School in neighbouring

to the north. The nearest government secondary school is Cunnamulla State School (to Year 12). However, students in most of Cuttaburra would be too distant to attend these schools; the alternatives are

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...

and boarding school.

References

External links

{{Shire of Paroo Shire of Paroo Localities in Queensland