Mitchell

Mitchell is a town and locality in the Western Downs district of the Maranoa Region, Queensland, Australia.

Mitchell is a town and locality in the Western Downs district of the Maranoa Region, Queensland, Australia. The town services the local area, a cattle and sheep farming district. In the 2016 census, Mitchell had a population of 1031 people.

Before the arrival of Europeans, the Maranoa region was occupied by the Mandandanji and Gunggari Aboriginal peoples. Based on archaeological excavations in the Mount Moffatt area, it has been deduced that the Aboriginals had lived there for around 19,500 years. Descendants of the original peoples still live in and visit the area today.

Mandandanji (also known as Mandandanyi, Mandandanjdji, Kogai) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Mandandanji people. The Mandandanji language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Maranoa Regional Council, particularly Roma, Yuleba and Surat, then east towards Chinchilla and south-west towards Mitchell and St George.

The town is named after Sir Thomas Mitchell explorer and Surveyor General of New South Wales, who explored the area in 1846.In 1854, Edmund Morey established the property of Mitchell Downs. When the original homestead was largely destroyed by a flood in 1864, Thomas Close acquired the building's ruins and established the Maranoa Hotel.

On 1 January 1865, Mitchell Downs Post Office opened and around 1878 was renamed Mitchell Post Office.Mitchell State School opened on 1 April 1876.In 1902, after a short stand-off, bushrangers Patrick and James Kenniff were captured south of Mitchell at a location previously known as Back Creek but now known as Arrest Creek. Patrick was hanged in 1903 for the murder of Constable George Doyle (who had previously served at Wyandra) and Albert Dahlke, while James was released after 12 years imprisonment and died peacefully in 1940.Long Gully Provisional School opened on 1915 on the road from Mitchell to St George; it closed in 1918.St Patrick's Catholic Primary School opened on 4 November 1923.Mitchell Aboriginal Provisional School opened on 1 May 1935 and was later proclaimed Mitchell Aboriginal State School. It closed on 19 November 1948.At the 2006 census, Mitchell had a population of 944.Mitchell was once the administrative centre of the Shire of Booringa local government area. Since 2008, the town is now part of the Maranoa Region.

In the March 2010 floods, the Maranoa River reached a peak of 13.4 m in the town causing an inundation of 25 houses. The town experienced the worst flooding ever in 2012 when a monsoon trough hovered over central and southern Queensland and nearly inundated Charleville, 180km (112 mi) to the west. .

In the 2011 census, Mitchell had a population of 1,311 people.

Mitchell has a humid subtropical climate with hot summers and cold winters by Queensland standards. On 15 August 1979 Mitchell recorded a minimum temperature of -9.4 °C (15.1 °F), which is the third coldest temperature ever recorded in the state. Mitchell has the largest overall temperature range recorded in Australia (56.2°C, -9.4°C to 46.8°C). The town gets an average of 157.5 clear days annually.