The Burketown Bore

From the sign....
The Burketewn Bore was drilled by the Queensland Government in 1897. At the time the sinking of the bore was an important new facility for Burketown and an indicator of the expected economic development. of the area. The Gulf country's currency was high in 1890s, largely due to the establishment of the big meat works, and Burketower was to be a major centre for travelling stock.

However the water is suitable only for adult cattle to drink, and is not much use for anything else. In a 1959 report C.S.I.R.O. noted that the water was. unsuitable for drinking, domestic use or irrigation, the flow was uncontrolled and the casing was leaking very badly.

Over the decades vast amounts of artesian water, full of all sorts of minerals, have created an unusual environment in the flooded surrounding area. You'll see the large mound of minerals left as the heated water has evaporated over the past century, creating am impressive structure around the old bore hole.

Hot Showers
A Public Bath House was built in the 1940s. Users had to be very careful not to scald themselves, which a bit tricky, since it involved using a valve ar the borehead to mix the bore water with cooled water in a catchiment tank on top of the Bath House.

Somewhat more recently, the vital statistics supplied by C.S.I.R.O. in 1959 for registered Bore No. 330, Burketown were:

Depth: 702.3 (m)
Elevation: 10 (m)
Depth of Aquifers: 329.2 (salt), 606.6, 671.0 and 690.7
Flow rate M3/D: 180
Temp . 68C°.
Total salts: 598 mg/l

https://www.burke.qld.gov.au/our-region/history…

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