later the telephone reached Quilpie . A fire destroyed a block of the main street in 1926. With no town water the residents watched helplessly. In 1927 the first court house was established. Prior to 1930, Quilpie was within the Shire of Adavale, headquartered at Adavale. However, the decision to route the railway line through Quilpie rather than Adavale had led to a population drift away from Adavale making Quilpie the larger town. On 17 July 1930, there was a re-organisation of local government in the district, resulting in the abolition of the Shire of Adavale and the creation of the Shire of Quilpie with Quilpie as its headquarters. A bore was sunk into the Great Artesian Basin in 1933. It provided drinking water for the town and for a period between 1952 and 1963 the hot water was used to generate electricity for the town. St Finbarr's Catholic School opened in early 1950, shortly after the arrival in January 1950 of three Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, Sisters Macrina, Carmel and Magdalen. By the end of 1950, over 60 children were enrolled. A boarding school for boys and girls was opened in 1951. The first lay teacher, Michael West, was appointed in 1983. When the boarding facility closed in 2008, it was the last rural Catholic primary boarding school in Queensland. In 2009, the first lay principal, Aaron Wells, was appointed and the administration of the school passed from the Sisters to the Catholic Education Office of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toowoomba who operate the school in the Mary MacKillop tradition (MacKillop being the founder of the Sisters of St Joseph). Goombie State School opened on Goombie Station (north of Quilpie at ) on 27 January 1875 and closed on 9 December 1977. At the , Quilpie had a population of 645. Around 14% of the population of Quilpie identity as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and around 2% were born outside Australia. The current Quilpie Public Library building opened in 2005. At the , Quilpie had a population of 560. At the , Quilpie had a population of 574 people. In the , Quilpie had a population of 595 people. Economy The area is wholly devoted to grazing. Boulder opal, oil and gas mining are major secondary industries for the local economy. The majority of the employees of these industries are local residents, with