Boulia blooms when it’s raining babies

It’s been a bumper year in the tiny desert town of Boulia, where you could be forgiven for thinking it never rains, just pours.

Boulia residents Maryellen Boyd, left, with eight-month-old daughter Violet Blacket, and former Canadian backpacker Lindsay Leonard with son Leo. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

It’s been a bumper year in the tiny desert town of Boulia, where you could be forgiven for thinking it never rains, just pours.

The tiny western Queensland community — famous for its Min Min lights and camel races — is not only flush with water after welcome downpours earlier this year.

It’s also in the midst of a backpacker-inspired baby boom.

“There must be something in the water,” jokes mother of three Maryellen Boyd.

Only a few years ago, locals feared the primary school could close because of dwindling stud­ent numbers. But a flock of young mothers, several of them backpackers who found love while working in town, have boosted the number of children in the region.

Ms Boyd, 28, has had three since moving to Boulia for work as a contract musterer and meeting her husband, Scott Blacket, who was working on his parents’ ­property and as a helicopter pilot.

The couple recently bought the caravan park, which Ms Boyd runs while raising her family. “It looked like a ghost town when I first moved here,” she says. “Now it’s a great little town for kids. All of my friends in town have kids.”

The baby boom has generated an optimistic buzz. Like many country towns, the population of vast Boulia Shire has been shrinking for decades, down to 426 at the latest census. Mayor Rick Britton guesses that within three years there could be 40-50 students ­registered at the primary school, up from just 27 in 2017.

“There was a period about two years ago when there were 14 expectan­t mothers and most of those have stayed here,” Mr Britton says.

Another local tallied eight women who had given birth in the past year. Most of Boulia’s ­babies are delivered at Mount Isa, 300km to the north.

Mr Britton, who runs a cattle station, says plentiful work meant young people could remain in the district and raise their families.

Decent rainfall and flooding through the Channel Country has given the region one of its most productive years in recent memory, boosting jobs and spending.

“We’re usually in drought and everyone else has a good one,” Mr Britton says. “But this year we were the lucky ones. I’ve never seen the feed in the paddocks at the level we’ve got now.”

Canadian-born Lindsay Leonard, 27, is seven months’ pregnant with her second child after giving birth to Leo 20 months ago. She moved to Boulia five years ago to work at the town’s roadhouse for a six-month stint and fell in love with local man Ronny Britton.

“When I first came here there weren’t a lot of young people,” Ms Leonard says.

“There were quite a few single guys but slowly they’ve all met partners, and most have had kids.”