Jericho

Jericho is a rural town and locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia.

Jericho is a rural town and locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, Jericho had a population of 115 people.

The first exploration by Europeans was by Major Thomas Mitchell who passed through the area in 1846. By the 1850s settlers had moved in.

The Jordan Creek/River (as it is variously known) was named after Harry Jordan, an early settler in the area.The town and locality name are derived from the railway station which was named Jericho in 1885 by railway surveyor/engineer Willoughby Hannam, because it was the first station west of Jordan Creek (a reference to the Biblical town of Jericho being to the west of Jordan River). The Central Western railway was open to Jericho on 8 June 1885.Jericho Post Office opened on 2 July 1885 (a receiving office had been open from 1884).Jericho State School opened on 20 February 1888.Jericho Methodist Church opened in October 1930. It became the Jericho Uniting Church following the merger of many Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches into the Uniting Church in Australia in 1977. It subsequently closed and is now in private ownership. It was at 15 Davy Street (23.6058°S 146.1246°E? / -23.6058; 146.1246? (Jericho Methodist Church)).In December 2010, half of the town's houses were inundated by floods.At the 2011 census, Jericho and the surrounding region had a population of 369.On 22 November 2019 the Queensland Government decided to amalgamate the localities in the Barcaldine Region, resulting in five expanded localities based on the larger towns: Alpha, Aramac, Barcaldine, Jericho and Muttaburra. Jericho was expanded to incorporate Dunrobin (all except the south-west corner), Garfield (all except the western corner), Grant (eastern corner), Hobartville (south-western part), Mexico, and Narbethong (north-east corner).