Outback Queensland - the spirit of Australia

The unique diversity of Australia is a magnet for many travellers and the Outback is one of the most special places.

In fact, Outback Queensland is one of my favourite outback destinations where I am always profoundly impacted by the breathtaking natural beauty and historical significance. I am also left in awe of the enduring human spirt seen in our indigenous and pioneering history.

This is also dinosaur country where ancient Australian dinosaurs roamed the earth where their footprints & fossils can still be seen today.

The Outback generally refers to locations that are more remote than rural areas.

Our purpose with this post is to give you just enough insight to spark your curiosity and enable you to plan your own expedition of discovery. Blessed are the curious for they shall have adventures.

This post tells the story of our memorable outback trip in 2021, starting from the north, and captures the most iconic parts of the central Queensland Outback.

We start our journey from the north at Porcupine Gorge National Park which is 64km north of Hughenden. This gorge follows Porcupine Creek which has carved out this amazing canyon. The park has an area of 5,410 ha and the erosion of the gorge has also created the Pyramid being an isolated monolith of multicoloured sandstone. There are excellent camping areas at the gorge but you need to book ahead as it is very popular.

The Flinders Discovery Centre at Hughenden has an excellent museum and also has a theatre where you can get an overview of Porcupine Gorge before you head out.

Hughenden's is known for its silo art which is part of The Australian Silo Art Trail, stretching over 8,500km, beginning in Northam WA and ending in Three Moon Qld.

The last 40km of the drive from Hughenden to Winton is single lane bitumen, with black soil on either side, which necessitates passing oncoming vehicles with two wheels in the dirt .

This is fine in the dry however we experienced unseasonal rain on this leg which caused absolute mayhem with some vehicles needing to be winched back on to the bitumen. Black soil sticks like glue and even this free high pressure wash provided by Winton council had a job getting massive clods of black soil off our rig.

To make matters worse these conditions also necessitated the free camping area to be evacuated, closing of the overflow camping at the showground and the caravan parks were already full. Consequently the council allowed overnight caravan parking in the street and at some public car parks.

Winton's Waltzing Matilda Centre is a 'must do' in Winton which celebrates Banjo Paterson's bush ballad that became Australia's unofficial national anthem. The centre boasts state of the art interpretation, telling the story of Waltzing Matilda. I have visited the centre twice before and it still leaves me profoundly impacted by the story behind the ballad, the hardships & resilience of the pioneering era and in particular, the story of the Great Shearers Strike of 1891.

Waltzing Matilda is a fascinating song that has triggered a very emotional response in most Australians for over a century.

It is said that Banjo Paterson was inspired to write Waltzing Matilda when he heard about the the fate of one of the shearers at nearby Dagworth Station. The song was performed in public for the first time at the original North Gregory Hotel in Winton on 6th April 1895.

I love this photo from the Waltzing Matilda Centre exhibit. The caption with the photo says: "The hand that built the nation. Hands like this were owned by people with stout hearts, strong backs and an iron will. They laid the foundation for what we have today"

This region sits in world renown dinosaur country which is generally includes Hughenden, Winton & Richmond.

This photo is from the Flinders Discovery Centre at Hughenden yet the best part of the dinosaur trail would have to be the Age of Dinosaurs 24km south of Winton. This amazing museum is home to the world’s largest collection of Australian dinosaur fossils with the most productive Fossil Preparation Laboratory in the Southern Hemisphere. When we were there they were getting 700 visitors per day.

Another highlight on the dinosaur trail is the Dinosaur Stampede National Monument at Lark Quarry Conservation Park, 100km out of Winton, where the exhibit includes these real dinosaur footprints.

Our next leg took us to Longreach being a major service centre to central Queensland. Longreach has a plethora of authentic outback attractions including world-class museums such as Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame, & Qantas Founders Museum which both tell the rich history of the regions significant place in Australia's history including the beginning of Qantas Airways operations in 1921.

On our last visit to Longreach, we really enjoyed the Thomson River Sunset Starlight Cruise Experience where we were awash with photo opportunities. (photo courtesy of Starlight Cruise)

This cruise also included the Stockman's Campfire Dinner & show which is a real outback experience complete with billy tea and damper. (photo courtesy of Starlight Cruise)

You could easily spend five days or more at Longreach. This town was so popular during our visit that the key attractions needed booking for up to 10 days in advance. In fact, visitor numbers for all towns on this outback Queensland trip broke previous records by a long shot which of course was largely due to the boom in domestic tourism due to COVID closing overseas travel.

On this trip we stayed 3 nights, for the first time, at the Ilfracombe Caravan Park which adjoins the iconic Wellshot Hotel. Both venues provide renown entertainment and are only 27km from Longreach.

If you are interested in the history of Wellshot, Australia's greatest sheep station, a great video is "A Rush for Grass". This video is available from the Tourist Information Centre in Longreach.

Bull bars on 4WD's are hard core out here.

In fact, during the recent drought their was so much road kill that the council had to send a front end loader up the road between Barcaldine & Longreach every morning to clear the road kill off the road.

Our next leg took us to beautiful Barcaldine, or Barcy to the locals, which is known as the garden city of the west.

The most dominant attraction here is the historic Tree of Knowledge which is famous for being the birthplace of the Australian Labour movement as an outcome of Great Shearers Strike of 1891. The tree was poisoned in 2006, preserved and placed under an award winning timber structure.

In the 19th century, working conditions for sheep shearers were very poor until many joined unions who won better working conditions. The great Shearers Strike of 1891was essentially triggered over the use of non union labour and almost brought Queensland to the brink of civil war. This event was one of the factors leading to the formation of the Australian Labour Party.

Thirteen union leaders, charged with sedition & conspiracy, were sentenced to three years prison. Three of these men later became members of parliament. The manifesto of the Australian Labour Party was read out under the Tree of Knowledge in 1892. This document has since been added to UNESCO's Memory of the World International Register.

A drive around town showcases many other historic buildings being quintessentially outback Queensland design. The Australian Workers Heritage Centre is also a premier attraction which honours all workers, past, present and future.

We met a delightful elderly lady at Barcaldine Hospital who had lived in Barcaldine most of her life. She told us the story of how they got their first house. They had a block of land but things were very tough in those days and it was not easy to build their house. They soon saw an ad from someone selling half of their house as long as the buyer could cut it off and remove it. It turned out to be their neighbour over the road. So, they bought the half house, cut it off from the remaining house, then rolled it, in one entire piece, over the road to their block of land on 44 gallon drums then set it up on piers. Various extensions followed over the years ahead.

We stayed for 2 nights at the Barcy showground, as everything else was booked out. We had a delightful site and found this to be one the best showgrounds ever.

We soon felt the need to give the caravan parks a break and experience some real bush camping. Where better to get all of this than Lara Wetlands which is 28 kms south of Barcaldine.

Lara Wetlands is a 15,000 acre working cattle station abundant with birds & wildlife. Here we enjoyed a campfire every night, star gazing and swimming in the natural hot springs.

The night before we planned to leave Lara, we copped more unseasonal rain which made the exit road impassable necessitating us to stay for two more days while the track dried out. Whilst initially frustrating, this extra time was a delight and allowed us to really wind down and relax. During our stay, Lara had 100 caravans on site whereas their usual peak for a season would peak at 60.

Once back on the blacktop we headed for Blackall on the banks of the mighty Barcoo River.

Blackall has the reputation as the Arts Capital of the West, boasting an outdoor gallery of public artworks.

I really love the story of gun shearer Jack Howe who put Blackall on the map in 1892, at nearby Alice Downs Station, when he set a world record by shearing 321 sheep in seven hours and 40 minutes, with blade shears, finishing 20 mins before knock off time. It took another 58 years before anyone matched this feat yet they needed machine shears. They say Jack's hands were the size of tennis rackets.

The above statue immortalises Jack Howe and sits in front of a small museum that celebrates Jack and the rich wool history of this region.

The first artesian bore was drilled in Blackall in 1885 and Blackall is also the home of the Black Stump. The black stump marks the original Astro Station for surveying from 1887. If you are west of here you are ‘beyond the black stump’.

The Blackall region has a very rich wool heritage which is best experienced at the Historic Blackall Woolscour, the last remaining scour in Australia being a virtual living museum. Our guide once worked at the Woolscour and gave a very informative tour where we got a real sense of the pioneering era and the era when Australia's economy was 'riding on the sheeps back'.

On our way to Roma, on our next leg, we stopped over at Morven where we found a museum with this hut entirely built from flattened kerosene tins. Such structures were built as houses in the outback during the great depression of the 1930s, where many were struggling to survive.

The largest town in the Maranoa Region is Roma where we wanted to see The Roma Saleyards being the largest cattle selling centre in Australia, with over 400,000 cattle passing through here each year.

Visitors are welcomed with the new state-of-the-art interpretive centre telling the story of the cattle industry. You can also join a free guided tour and watch live as auctioneers demonstrate their fast-paced skills. Tours commence at 8.30 am every Tuesday.

Our final destination to explore was the iconic Carnarvon Gorge National Park which is one of Australia's best & most popular National Parks. This park has some of the best walking trails of any national park we have visited and is a 'must do'. Carnarvon Gorge NP features towering sandstone cliffs, richly coloured gorges, magnificent flora & fauna and Aboriginal rock art.

The most popular part of the park to visit is the Carnarvon Gorge section which has great camping sites and is one of the few places I have seen the elusive Platypus in the wild.

On the way into the gorge we were met by this cunning horse who stood in the middle of the road forcing us to stop, then he came around and stuck his head in the window seemingly insistent on getting a treat before we could drive past.

We enjoyed this sign at a caravan park who seemed to have some guests doing the wrong thing

Other destination options on this journey:

If you are heading north west, as an extended part of this journey, don't miss McKinaly which was put on the map with the filming of Crocodile Dundee.

The original film set with Walkabout Creek Hotel is still on display.

At Julia Creek Caravan Park, you get a real surprise package.

You can sit back with wine & nibbles and watch a stunning sunset in these artesian spa baths however they are popular and you will need to book ahead.

The last key part of the dinosaur trail is Richmond best known for Kronosaurus Korner a marine fossil museum.

David & Rosemary Allan – the faces behind:

May adventure & discovery be your constant companions.

Reflection:

For me, a trip is memorable when I am enriched by a deeper sense of connection to a place which triggers an emotional or spiritual response. This comes from feelings of Awe when I feel part of something bigger. Such as, seeing dramatic landscapes, being caught up in the history and sensing the passion of the human spirit.

A memorable experience will cause me to day dream about the next trip even more than the last trip.

Remember: Your adventure begins the moment you decide to go.