The Barcoo River in western Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 that rises on the northern slopes of the Warrego Range, flows in a south westerly direction and unites with the Thomson River

Thomson River (Queensland)

The Thomson River is situated in western Queensland, Australia, and forms part of the Lake Eyre Basin. The river was named by the explorer, Edmund Kennedy, in the 1840s....

 to form Cooper Creek

Cooper Creek

Cooper Creek is one of the most famous and yet least visited rivers in Australia. It is sometimes known as the Barcoo River from one of its tributaries and is one of three major Queensland river systems that flow into the Lake Eyre Basin...

. The first European to see the river was Thomas Mitchell in 1846, who named it Victoria Stream. It was renamed by Edmund Kennedy

Edmund Kennedy

Edmund Besley Court Kennedy was an explorer in Australia in the mid nineteenth century. He was the Assistant-Surveyor of New South Wales, working with Sir Thomas Mitchell...

 after a name supplied by local Aborigines.

The waters of the river flow towards Lake Eyre

Lake Eyre

Lake Eyre is the lowest point in Australia, at approximately below sea level, and, on the rare occasions that it fills, it is the largest lake in Australia and 18th largest in the world...

 in central Australia while those of rivers further east join the Murray-Darling basin and reach the sea in South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

. The river forms a boundary between outback Australia

Outback

The Outback is the vast, remote, arid area of Australia, term colloquially can refer to any lands outside the main urban areas. The term "the outback" is generally used to refer to locations that are comparatively more remote than those areas named "the bush".-Overview:The outback is home to a...

 and the "Far Outback"; west of the Barcoo legend has it there is very little in the way of civilization.

Tributaries include the Alice River

Alice River (Queensland)

The Alice River in central Queensland, Australia rises on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range. The river bisects the Shire of Barcaldine, flowing in a south-westerly direction towards Isisford and its confluence with the Barcoo River to form Cooper Creek. Barcaldine is located on Lagoon...

, Torrens, Landsborough and Towerhill Creeks. Towns situated on the banks of the Barcoo River include Blackall

Blackall, Queensland

-External links:*...

, Isisford

Isisford, Queensland

Isisford is a small town located in central western Queensland, Australia. It is located on the Barcoo River, and is approximately 120 kilometres south east of the town of Longreach. At the 2006 census, Isisford and the surrounding area had a population of 262...

, Tambo

Tambo, Queensland

Tambo is a town located in central western Queensland, Australia, on the banks of the Barcoo River. Tambo is southeast of the town of Blackall via the Landsborough Highway, and approximately north west of the state capital, Brisbane. At the 2006 census, Tambo had a population of 345.The town was...

 and Retreat. The southern boundary of Welford National Park

Welford National Park

Welford is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 991 km west of Brisbane founded by Claire Gillman. It is located just to the south east of Jundah. The park was established in 1992 to protect the biodiversity of the mulga lands, mitchell grass and Channel Country ecoregions...

 is marked by the Barcoo River and Isisford Weir has been constructed on the Barcoo.

Barcoo Grunter

Also known as Jade Perch, (Scortum barcoo) a native Australian freshwater fish found in the eastern Northern Territory rivers of Limmen, Roper, Macarthur and the Barkley Basin, and between the Gilbert River in Northern Queensland and the Lake Eyre drainage of central Australia. Barcoo Grunther is an excellent food fish, and often used in intensive grow-out ponds or tanks in aquaculture.

Disease

The river, or at least the district, also gives its name to several diseases, once widespread in outback Australia but now largely unknown. One is "Barcoo Rot", a skin disease, perhaps similar to "Desert Sore", and characterised by crusted impetiginous skin sores and occurring in association with heat, dirt, minor traumas and a diet chronically deficient in fresh fruit and vegetables. The second is "Barcoo Fever

Barcoo Fever

Barcoo fever is an illness once common in the Australian outback that is now virtually unknown. It was characterised by nausea and vomiting exacerbated by the sight or smell of food and, unlike the usual gastro-intestinal infections, by constipation rather than diarrhoea. Fever and myalgia were...

", in which the sufferer experienced fever

Fever

Fever is a common medical sign characterized by an elevation of temperature above the normal range of due to an increase in the body temperature regulatory set-point. This increase in set-point triggers increased muscle tone and shivering.As a person's temperature increases, there is, in...

, nausea and vomiting which was exacerbated by the sight or smell of food, and constipation

Constipation

Constipation refers to bowel movements that are infrequent or hard to pass. Constipation is a common cause of painful defecation...

. This disease, once common in the outback, has also vanished. It may have been due to drinking water contaminated by cyanobacterial (blue-green algal) toxins. Provision of more reliable food supplies and safer sources of water in the "Far Barcoo" may explain why these diseases have now all but disappeared.

The name also appears in the phrase "the Barcoo Salute" — brushing the ever present bush-flies from the face with either hand. Some diseases are no longer found but flies are still abundant in outback Australia.