Barcoo

Distinguished and Famous people from Barcoo

Barcoo Shire's distinguished local service includes the work of an elected representative and a school principal. Their documented contributions concern the practical requirements of Channel Country life: communication, resilience and keeping a small school viable.

🤝 Bruce Scott OAM

Bruce Leslie Scott combined running Moothandella cattle station with local government service in Barcoo Shire. He became a councillor in 1994, served as mayor from 2000 to 2012 and returned to the mayoralty in 2016. His regional work included disaster management and efforts to improve digital connectivity. In 2017 he received the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to local government and the Barcoo community. He also served on the Night Parrot Recovery Team, bringing conservation into his regional work.

🎓 Corey Kempthorne

Corey Kempthorne received Barcoo Shire's Citizen of the Year award in 2021 for his work as principal of Stonehenge State School. With low enrolments threatening the school, he built relationships with local families and organised a daily bus so children from surrounding properties could attend. The council's account records eleven pupils that year, well above the number initially expected. In a small community, securing a workable journey to school can make a substantial difference to its future.

🚚 Noel Buntine

Noel Buntine was born at Stonehenge, south-west of Longreach, in 1927 and attended the state school before further education at Rockhampton. His later working life carried him into the Northern Territory, where he developed cattle-transport businesses centred on road trains and a Katherine base. He also served on pastoral land bodies and supported country racing. Stonehenge supplies the childhood and schooling connection behind that career. The school years came well before the big trucks and the larger contracts.