In what Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has called a “major coup” for the state, the show announced that season six will be filmed in the small town, 1700km northwest of Brisbane.

Cloncurry’s Mayor Greg Campbell said local landowners and traditional owners had been able to point the crew in the right direction to the best filming places of the vast outback landscape.”It’s been a reasonably poorly kept secret around town,” Campbell laughed.

“We’ve had the location scouts for the show coming to town probably since November last year.

“We were in the mix with another couple of towns and just the natural beauty of what we had to offer, all the businesses that can contribute and support the program came to the fore and the team settled on Cloncurry as the best location.”

Campbell said having a staff member, Luke Chaplain, at the “right place” was key to securing the coup.

“We’ve been putting Cloncurry out there as a location for other things and TV and film was one of those things,” he said.

Campbell said having professional landscape photos of the town already shot and ready to send to TV crews to pitch the region was vital.

“When they came up to visit, obviously we hadn’t had a great start to the wet season so where we were telling them to picture waterholes full and the dam full, we were able to sell that to them,” he said.

He said availability of tradesman and accommodation in the town was also a practical draw.

“The first of the crew is already on-site, they’ll start to rock up en masse in a couple of weeks,” he said.

“Things like building the sets and the catering for 150-odd people is going to be a challenge, but a great challenge for the town.”

In a statement released today, Palaszczuk said the show would add an estimated $14.6 million into Queensland’s economy and create 150 jobs for crew members.

Campbell said he expected about a third of the $14.6 million would directly benefit Cloncurry.

Palaszczuk said Queensland was the place to film right now.

“The positive impacts flowing from our production boom are vast and varied,” she said.

“From big-budget feature films to hit TV series and now one of Australia’s best-loved reality shows, there really is no limit to the scope, scale and volume of what’s coming through our door.”

Screen Queensland chief executive Kylie Munnich said the announcement was good news for Cloncurry.

“It’s rewarding to see such a big show as Australian Survivor heading to outback Queensland — a region that knows adversity and hardship firsthand,” Munnich said.

– ABC / Kelly Butterworth