Rainfall variations in Queensland, Australia: 1891–1986

State‐wide and regional rainfall indices are developed for Queensland for the summer and winter half‐year seasons from 1890 to 1986. Using these, marked variations in summer season rainfall are identified, though variations in winter rainfall appear to be of smaller magnitude. For Queensland, the associations between rainfall and the Southern Oscillation vary with season, region, and through time. The previously identified period, 1921–1950, of ‘weak’ Southern Oscillation variations is shown to be a time of less variable rainfall in Queensland and also one of weaker associations between Queensland rainfall and other climatic variables. During times of strong development of the Southern Oscillation, rainfall variations show a greater amount of covariation in space and within the monsoon season than at times of weak Southern Oscillation development. A proxy record of rainfall variations in central Queensland (back to AD 1735) shows more extreme wet and dry periods than those found in the instrumental records of the past 100 years.