Balonne Shire

Balonne Shire, with an area of 31,144 sq km, is generally 480 km west of Brisbane and adjoins the New South Wales border. Its administrative centre is St George, on the Balonne River.

The river was named by the New South Wales Surveyor-General, Sir Thomas Mitchell, on his fourth exploratory expedition in 1845-46, and is an approximation of the local Aboriginal name for the river. An unverified interpretation of the word is 'pelican'. The river's headwaters are the Condamine (rising near Killarney) and it empties into the Darling system.