KAJABBI, QUEENSLAND

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A tiny settlement that is little more than a pub and a couple of houses in an absolutely desolate landscape on the banks of the frequently dry Leichhardt River.
Location: 118 km north east of Mount Isa; 100 km north west of Cloncurry.
Origin of name: originally a railway station name given by Railways Department in 1915, it is an Aboriginal word for the kite hawk, however the language and dialect were not recorded.
Brief history: it was near Kajabbi that the Kalkadoon Aborigines fought a pitched battle against the white cattlemen who had invaded their tribal lands. Government troops met the Kalkadoons at Battle Mountain in 1884. The predictable result was that nearly all of the Kalkadoons were slaughtered. Kajabbi was little more than a supply centre for the local cattle stations until the nearby mines at Dobbyn and Mount Cuthbert attracted copper miners to the area. A railhead was established in the 1920s for the shipment of cattle to the coast.
Natural features: Leichhardt River; Lake Julius (25 km west, a freshwater dam for Mount Isa Mines Ltd); Battle Hill (site of the battle of 1884).
Built features: Kalkadoon Hotel.
Heritage features: mining relics