McKinlay is an outback town and locality in McKinlay Shire, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, the locality of McKinlay had a populati…McKinlay is an outback town and locality in McKinlay Shire, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, the locality of McKinlay had a population of 162 people. McKinlay is in the Gulf Country in the remote north-west of Queensland, 1,595 kilometres north west of the state capital Brisbane and 228 kilometres south east of the regional centre of Mount Isa.