Cloncurry is situated in the north-west of Queensland, 770 kilometres west of the city of Townsville via the Flinders Highway.

[10] Cattle grazing is the significant industry in the region, and a large sale yards is located in the town.

Open cut mining has impacted the landscape and the nearby former mine-site Mary Kathleen is a tourist attraction.

In August 2024, the Mitakoodi and Mayi people were formally acknowledged and officially obtained native title determination.

The first Europeans to traverse these tribal lands of peoples such as the Maithakari and the Wanamara,[citation needed] were Burke and Wills on their epic, and ultimately fatal, transcontinental expedition.

Ernest Henry discovered copper in the area in 1867,[11] and the town sprang up to service the Great Australia Mine to the south.

[16] Queensland's Northern Line railway reached Cloncurry in December 1907[14] and was officially opened the next year.

[15][17] In 1914, a fire broke out in the town resulting in the destruction of the Post Office, the hotel, eleven shops, two store-rooms and a cottage.

The amalgamation of the Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational churches in 1977 to form the Uniting Church in Australia intended to combine these outback services, creating a huge North West Patrol area to be covered which could not be achieved by road transport, so the Cloncurry congregation purchased an aircraft in 1976 to provide the patrol service out of Cloncurry by air wherever possible, using road travel only to access places that did not have suitable airstrips.

[19] During World War II, Cloncurry was the location of RAAF No.23 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot (IAFD), completed in 1942 and closed on 14 August 1944.

[14] The first-ever flight of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia took place from Cloncurry on 15 May 1928, using a de Havilland DH.50 aircraft hired from the then small airline, Qantas.

[21][22] It was announced on 11 February 2021 that Cloncurry had been chosen as the production location of the 2021 edition of Network 10's reality game show Australian Survivor.

[35] The Cloncurry branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association has its rooms at Charlotte Scott House in Scarr Street.

Supported by other denominations, the McKay Patrol operates a Cessna 182Q aeroplane to provide spiritual and practical help to people living in remote areas in the north-west of Queensland and the eastern Tablelands of the Northern Territory, an area of approximately 625,000 square kilometres (241,000 sq mi) with a population of less than 10,000 people.

The patrol also provides regular church services in the towns of Cloncurry, Julia Creek, McKinlay, and Karumba and at Adels Grove homestead.

[41] Investigations published in 1997 revealed that this temperature was measured in an improvised screen made from a beer crate and that it equated to 47–49 °C (117–120 °F) under standard conditions.