The Indigenous people of the Isisford region are known as the Kuungkari people.[25] The first Europeans to enter the area were members of the expedition led by Thomas Mitchell, who journeyed through what is now Isisford in September 1846. Mitchell described a large native encampment being present with permanent huts and well-beaten pathways. The resident people were alarmed at the arrival of this group, and Mitchell continued through with little interaction. He made camp at a nearby lagoon, which he called Yuranigh's Pond, after Yuranigh, his Wiradjuri guide.[26]
In 1847, Edmund Kennedy's exploratory group travelled through the region where he obtained the name of the Barcoo River from an old Kuungkari man living near Yuranigh's Pond.[27]
The expedition of Augustus Charles Gregory passed through the same area in 1858. While they were encamped, they fired a shot into the scrub to scare away the local Aborigines.[28] In 1862, the expedition led by William Landsborough camped close to the same place and likewise felt threatened by the resident Kuungkari. A number armed with clubs and throwing sticks approached the camp and Landsborough ordered his men to fire. One Kuungkari man was shot dead and another wounded.[29]
British pastoralists began to enter the region in 1866 with John Charles Ellis and his brother Evelyn taking up land. They were sons of Charles Ellis, 6th Baron Howard de Walden and named their property Portland Downs after their maternal grandfather William Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland. A year later, Charles Lumley Hill established the neighbouring Isis Downs property and John Fanning formed Ruthven.[30][31][32] Frontier violence ensued with Fanning being killed in 1868 by resident Aboriginal men and another squatter named Richard Welford being killed in 1872. Punitive expeditions conducted by Native Police and local pastoralists such Charles Lumley Hill subsequently occurred, with many Indigenous people being shot.[33][34][31][35]
In May 1875, closer development started to occur with James Whitman opening a hotel, store and blacksmith.[36] The town was surveyed as the Town of Wittown in April 1878; it is said that Whitman named it after himself.[37] However, in May 1878, the name Isisford was proposed and by August 1878 it had been renamed Isisford, because it was near the Isis Downs pastoral run and a ford on the Barcoo River.[38][39][40][41]
Post office, 1898
Isisford Private School opened in the 1870s. It was by operated by Mr R Venables. It closed when Isisford Provisional School opened on 19 October 1881 with Venables becoming its first teacher. Circa 1883 the provisional school became Isisford State School. In 1892 it became Isisford Provisional School, returning to state school status in January 1894.[42][43]
A post office and telegraph line were operating by 1881.[39] Isis Downs Post Office opened on 1 June 1868, was replaced by the Wittown office in 1876 which was renamed Isisford in 1878.[44][45] In the following years the town progressed with the growth of the pastoral industry.[39]
Architectural drawing of the court house, 1885
The Queensland Government called for tenders to build a court house in Isisford in August 1883 with the contract awarded to William McLaughlin in November 1883.[46][47] The court house was completed in November 1885.[48]
In April 1910, Isisford became the first town in Australia to be serviced by a motorised mail delivery (from Ilfracombe, 90 kilometres (56 mi) to the north).[49] A plaque on the post office commemorates the centenary of the commencement of the service.
Isisford Convent School was established in 1950 by the Presentation Sisters. It closed in 1970.[42]
In September 1956, a deliberately lit fire at the Isisford Hotel resulted in the deaths of a mother and her child.[50]
In the mid-1990s, the first fossils of Isisfordia, an extinct genus of crocodile-like animals, was discovered in a dry creek close to the town.[51] The discovery was made by the town's former Deputy Mayor, Ian Duncan, after which the new species was named.[52]
At the 2011 census, Isisford and the surrounding area had a population of 262.[53] This figure has never surpassed 300.[39]
In the 2016 census, the locality of Isisford had a population of 218 people.[1]
On 10 September 2021, a new locality called Yaraka was created around the town of Yaraka, the land being excised from the locality of Isisford, to avoid confusion and restore historical connections.[54][55][56]
There is no secondary school in Isisford. The nearest government secondary schools are in Longreach and Blackall but are sufficiently distant that distance education and boarding school would be alternatives.[62]
^Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Kunggari (QLD)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University. ISBN978-0-708-10741-6.
^ ab"THE EARLY DAYS". Morning Bulletin. No. 18020. Queensland, Australia. 28 October 1922. p. 11. Retrieved 3 June 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Old Barcoo Days". The World's News. No. 245. New South Wales, Australia. 25 August 1906. p. 10. Retrieved 3 June 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
^Rayment, Bertie James (1970). My Towri. Jundah: Tabra Press.
^"TAMBO". Western Star And Roma Advertiser. Vol. I, no. 9. Queensland, Australia. 22 May 1875. p. 3. Archived from the original on 22 December 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^"The Sketcher". The Queenslander. Vol. XII, no. 121. Queensland, Australia. 8 December 1877. p. 14. Archived from the original on 22 December 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Country News". The Queenslander. Vol. XIV, no. 142. Queensland, Australia. 4 May 1878. p. 134. Retrieved 22 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^"COLONIAL". The Daily Northern Argus. No. 2869. Queensland, Australia. 22 August 1878. p. 2. Retrieved 22 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^Premier Postal History. "Post Office List". Premier Postal Auctions. Archived from the original on 15 May 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
^"Current News". The Queenslander. Vol. XI, no. 69. Queensland, Australia. 9 December 1876. p. 8. Retrieved 2 February 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
^"PUBLIC WORKS". The Queenslander. Vol. XXIV, no. 411. Queensland, Australia. 11 August 1883. p. 19. Archived from the original on 22 December 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Official Notifications". The Queenslander. Vol. XXIV, no. 423. Queensland, Australia. 3 November 1883. p. 734. Archived from the original on 22 December 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^"COUNTRY NEWS". The Western Champion. Vol. VII, no. 336. Queensland, Australia. 19 November 1885. p. 4. Archived from the original on 22 December 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Isisford Library". State Library of Queensland. State Library of Queensland. Archived from the original on 10 February 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
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