Woleebee, Queensland

Woleebee
Suburb
Wandoan South Solar Farm, Woleebee, 2023 Wandoan South Solar Farm, Woleebee, 2023
Coordinates:
Country	Australia
State	Queensland
LGA	Western Downs Region
Location	36.7 km (22.8 mi) WSW of Wandoan 94.5 km (58.7 mi) NW of Miles 231 km (144 mi) NW of Dalby, Queensland 314 km (195 mi) NW of Toowoomba 442 km (275 mi) WNW of Brisbane
Government
• State electorates	Callide Warrego
• Federal division	Maranoa
Area
• Total	586.5 km2 (226.4 sq mi)
Population
• Total	62 (2021 census)
• Density	0.1057/km2 (0.2738/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+10:00 (AEST)
Postcode	4419
Suburbs around Woleebee Bundi Wandoan Guluguba Bundi Woleebee Gurulmundi Jackson North Bogandilla Glenaubyn

Woleebee is a rural locality in the Western Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Woleebee had a population of 62 people.

Geography

File:Communication tower at Woleebee Creek Village, Woleebee, Queensland, 2023.jpg

Communication tower at Woleebee Creek Village,, 2023

Cherwondah State Forest and Gurulmundi State Forest are in the south-east of the locality. Apart from these protected areas, the land use is predominantly grazing on native vegetation with mining taking place both on the surface and underground.

Woleebee Creek Village is a mining camp in the south-east of the locality () used by fly-in-fly-out workers in the local mining industry. In 2013, it was expanded to accommodate 1700 workers.

Wandoan South Solar Farm occupies 500 hectares (1,200 acres) with solar photovoltaic panels and can produce up to 125 megawatts (168,000 hp) of electricity.

A thermal coal resource area called Juandah has been identified at in the locality. It has estimated reserves of 10 to 100 megatonnes (9,800,000 to 98,400,000 long tons; 11,000,000 to 110,000,000 short tons).

History

File:Sundown Provisional School, Woleebee, circa 1930s 02.jpg

Sundown Provisional School, circa 1930s

Toby's Knob in the Woleebee district was the site of the hide-out of the Aboriginal bushranger known as Wild Toby during the 1870s and 1880s.

Sundown Provisional School was located on Sundown Road. The school opened 2 March 1931 and closed 1 February 1937, due to low enrolment numbers. Students were later transported to Wandoan State School and Guluguba State School via school bus.

Wandoan South Solar Farm was completed in 2023.

Demographics

In the 2016 census, Woleebee had a population of 95 people.

In the 2021 census, Woleebee had a population of 62 people.

Despite the large number of fly-in-fly-out workers that live in the Woleebee Creek Village, these workers are counted at their "usual residence" for census purposes, rather than appearing in the census population data for Woleebee.

Education

There are no schools in Woleebee. The nearest government primary schools are Wandoan State School in neighbouring Wandoan to the north, Guluguba State School in neighbouring Guluguba to the north-east, and Dulacca State School in Dulacca to the south. The nearest government secondary schools are Wandoan State School (to Year 10) and Miles State High School (to Year 12) in Miles to the south-west. However, some parts of Woleebee are too distant to attend these secondary schools. The alternatives are distance education and boarding school.