State Queensland Abolished 1972 Founded 1885 Namesake Barcoo River | Created 1885 Demographic Rural Date dissolved 1972 | |
Barcoo was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland from 1885 to 1972.
It was created in 1885 by dividing the district of Mitchell, with Barcoo taking up its western area. It was named after the Barcoo River, and covered remote rural areas in Southwest Queensland.
Barcoo was mostly a safe seat for the Australian Labor Party and was the seat of Premier T. J. Ryan. Remarkably, all members since Tommy Ryan were elected to this seat in by-elections; the last time a new member was elected to it in a general election was in 1909.
The death of Frank Murphy created a by-election on 5 March 1892. A shearer, Tommy Ryan (not to be confused with the Queensland Premier T. J. Ryan) was the first endorsed Labour candidate in Queensland and won the seat against opponent William Henry Campbell, the editor and proprietor of the local newspaper The Western Champion.
It was abolished in the redistribution preceding the 1972 election.