Outback Queensland
Head inland from Queensland’s coast, and over the Great Dividing Range, and the landscape changes – the lush greens of the rainforest turn to reds and browns, the towns become further and further apart, and the vegetation, and the population, sparser. This is the Outback. For many people, the Outback is what Australia is all about.
Although remote, the Outback is easily accessible by major highways, though the quality of the roads may vary from place to place. The Flinders Highway joins northern Queensland with the Northern Territory, the Capricorn Highway runs along the Tropic of Capricorn from Rockhampton on the coast inland to Longreach, and the Lansborough and Mitchell Highways run from the border with New South Wales to Mount Isa. Travellers in the Outback should always carry spares, plenty of fuel and water with them, and the well-prepared can enjoy some of the best road trips in the world in the form of some classic Outback journeys down the tracks that join Queensland with South Australia or the Northern Territory.
Queensland’s Outback is home to some of Australia’s greatest examples of history and culture, including Aboriginal art dating back up to 60,000 years, and fossilised history – dinosaur footprints have been found in the rocks of the semi desert regions of the Outback. The sheer size of the Outback region is stunning – individual cattle stations cover areas in the hundreds of square miles, and farmers don’t have trucks or horses to patrol their grazing lands, they have planes! And the Outback is of course home to some colourful characters who will make your stay just that little bit more memorable!
Outback History – the Stockman’s Hall of Fame in Longreach charts the pioneer history of the Out Back
Origins of Flight – visit Cloncurry, Winton and Longreach and learn all about the birth of Qantas
Fossils and Dinosaurs - the region is home to some of the best fossils in Australia; visit the Riversleigh Fossil Interpretive Centre in Mount Isa for a fascinating display of fossils; the Lark Quarry Environmental Park for 100 million year old dinosaur footprints; and Hughenden for the replica dinosaur skeleton.
Birdsville Track – explore this historic stock route from Birdsville down to Maree in South Australia
Go underground – visit the working mines of Mount Isa
Outback Pubs – the Birdsville Hotel in Birdsville and the Walkbout Hotel in McKinlay are the best known examples of this bastion of Outback life
The North West part of Queensland’s Outback is perhaps the closest to what people imagine the Outback to be like. Here the vast rugged landscape seems unending, and earth is a deep red, burnt colour. This is dinosaur country, and fossils abound – it is also gem country and “fossicking” is a favourite pastime. You can also head underground and tour a working mine. Although most of the area has a sunbaked appearance, it is not the case everywhere – the barren landscape is interrupted by stunning gorges, pristine lakes where freshwater fishing can be enjoyed, and much more. For a true taste of the Outback, camp out under the stars and enjoy the peace, quiet and magic of the place.
Hughenden and Porcupine Gorge National Park
Hughenden, situated roughly half-way between Townsville on the coast and Mount Isa, is a busy commercial town on the banks of the Flinders River (Queensland’s longest river), known locally as the home of “beauty and the beast” – the beast being the replica of the skeleton of Muttaburrasaurus, one of the biggest and most complete dinosaur skeletons to have been found in Australia, housed in the Flinders Discovery Centre; and the beauty being Porcupine Gorge National Park. Hughenden is really the hub of the north west region of Queensland’s Outback, and is its position on the Flinders Highway means that all major attractions and other major towns are easily accessible from here.
Dinosaurs once roamed this area, which was once a vast pre-historic inland sea and fossils can be found in the creek beds around the town. Porcupine Gorge National Park truly is an oasis in the otherwise dry country of the North West outback. Here there are some great rock formations, including towering sandstone cliffs and layers of sedimentary rocks dating back millions of years. It is also a great place for birdwatching and wildlife spotting – trek down to the bottom of the gorge (around 1 ½ miles) and look up to spot parrots, birds of prey, and other native species, as well as rock wallabies down below.
Cloncurry
Cloncurry, the “Friendly heart of the Great North West”, or “the Curry”, was the largest producer of copper in the days of the British Empire, since it was discovered here in 1867. This natural mineral wealth soon made Cloncurry one of the most prosperous in Queensland’s Outback country. But it is not known only for its copper for it has been the site of the launch of a number of ideas that have since proved integral to both the Outback and to Australia as a whole. The saying goes that Qantas was “conceived in Cloncurry, born in Winton and grew up in Longreach”, and the original hangar still stands here. Cloncurry’s major claim to fame however is as the birthplace of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, and the John Flynn Place Museum charts the history of this iconic outback service.
Mount Isa:
Mount Isa is one of the major towns in Queensland’s Outback and one which owes its existence to the mining industry. Here there are rich deposits of copper, silver, lead and zinc, and visitors can visit the mines, both on an underground tour and an overground bus tour. There are also some Outback institutions here, such as the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), whose base is open to visitors, and the School of Distance Education, which brings schooling to children in remote locations via radio. There is also the Kalkadoon Tribal Centre and Culture Keeping Place, run by Kalkadoon community elders and displaying Aboriginal artefacts.
McKinlay: Worth a mention, and perhaps a quick visit if you are passing throughm McKinlay is not really known for anything other than being the location for the filming of “Crocodile Dundee”, and Walkabout Creek Hotel houses lots of film memorabilia.
Central West/Matilda Country:
It was the landscape of the Central West of Queensland’s Outback that inspired Banjo Paterson to write the iconic Waltzing Matilda, inextricably linked with Australia and all things Australian ever since, and here you can learn all about the pioneering years through a wide variety of attractions, exhibitions and museums. Here is a great place to try out some traditional bushtucker round the campfire and learn more about the history and stories of the Outback. It is here that Qantas was born, and where the legend of the stockman began, and it is a town known as the home of Australian bush poetry.
Winton:
125 miles south east of Mount Isa lies Winton, a laid-back sheep farming community and a handy place to stop over on the route to Longreach. First settled back in 1875 when it was known as Pelican Waterhole, it was here that Banjo Paterson wrote Waltzing Matilda in 1895. Although Longreach is the place most readily associated with the formation of Qantas, it was in Winton that the airline was officially formed and where its first board meeting was held on 21 February 1921. From Winton, visit Opalton, one of the state’s oldest opal fields, Combo Waterhole, where the “swaggie” in Waltzing Matilda met his fate, and Lark Quarry (two hours drive away), where a 93million year old dinosaur stampede is captured in fossil form.
Longreach:
Just over 100 miles further south east from Winton is the legendary township of Longreach, a prosperous Outback town famous for being the home of the Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service, or Qantas as it became known. Now it is famous for its Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre, one of the main attractions in Queensland’s Outback region. The Stockman’s Hall of Fame, around a mile out of the town on the road to Barcaldine, covers all aspects of the early pioneers’ life, including Aboriginal tribes, explorers and of course the stockmen, from the first white settlement through to modern times. It gives a fascinating insight into the development of Outback Australia. The Qantas Founders Outback Museum is housed in a hangar at the airport which was once the first operational base for the airline, and which was also the first aircraft “factory” in Australia, where six bi-planes were assembled in 1926. The museum houses a replica of the first plane owned by Qantas. To get a full flavour of Outback life, Longreach offers visitors the opportunity to stay in a typical Australian Outback country pub, and for the more adventurous, why not camp out under the Outback stars!?
South West Outback:/Channel Country
The South West region of Queensland’s Outback is remote and sparsely populated, and shares borders with the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales. Although it hardly ever rains here, there is plenty of water in the many billabongs, rivers and lakes, as the area is fed by the myriad channels that criss-cross it, carrying water from the monsoon rains that fall further north. Here, bushwalking and fishing are popular pastimes, and visitors to the area can enjoy some great Outback hospitality, including staying at one of Australia’s best known hotels.
Birdsville:
Birdsville has the honour of being the most remote place in all Queensland. Just 8 miles from the border with South Australia, it is at the northern end of the famous Birdsville Track, which covers the 300 mile journey down to Maree in South Australia, with the Simpson Desert to the west and Sturt’s Stony Desert to the east This track is famous for being one of the busiest stock routes where thousands of heads of cattle were driven south. Birdsville was a busy place as it acted as the “tariff wall” between Queensland and South Australia – a charge was made for each animal that left Queensland, which enabled the town to prosper. However, with the formation of the Federation in 1901, the charge was abolished and the town went into a decline, becoming a near ghost town. Since then, the town has been revitalised, and is now home to the annual Birdsville Races, when the town’s population swells from just 120 to 6000 in two days, as well as being the starting point for people travelling down the Track to South Australia. Birdsville is home to the Birdsville Pub, one of the Outback’s iconic hotels, and about as remote a bed for the night as you can get! Established on the edge of the Simpson Desert in 1884, it has played host to thousands of travellers wanting an authentic taste of the Outback – sip an icy cold beer and soak up the atmosphere as you mingle with the local inhabitants!
Charleville:
Charleville is the largest town in the South West Outback and is accessible by train from Brisbane on Queensland Rail’s Westlander service. Its situation on the Warrego River made it something of an oasis town, and as such it developed into a major outback centre. It was also on Qantas’ first fare-paying passenger route, linking Charleville with Cloncurry via Winton and Longreach. This part of the Outback is rich in history, and visitors can join the Charleville Heritage Trail, taking them through the history of the town and its buildings. Here also, due to the lack of pollution, are some great opportunities for star-spotting – Charleville is home to the Cosmos Centre and Observatory, which is well worth a visit. The area is also home to a wide range of native flora and fauna – spot kangaroos, emus, and birds of prey on your journey.
The Westlander train travels between Brisbane and Charleville and the Inlander from Townsville to Mount Isa. Bus companies such as McCaffertys and Greyhound Australia also operate scheduled services between coastal towns and the Outback – from Rockhampton to Longreach, from Townsville to Mount Isa, and Brisbane to Mount Is via Longreach.
Although remote, the Outback is easily accessible by major highways, though the quality of the roads may vary from place to place. The Flinders Highway joins northern Queensland with the Northern Territory, the Capricorn Highway runs along the Tropic of Capricorn from Rockhampton on the coast inland to Longreach, and the Lansborough and Mitchell Highways run from the border with New South Wales to Mount Isa. Travellers in the Outback should always carry spares, plenty of fuel and water with them, and the well-prepared can enjoy some of the best road trips in the world in the form of some classic Outback journeys down the tracks that join Queensland with South Australia or the Northern Territory.
Queensland’s Outback is home to some of Australia’s greatest examples of history and culture, including Aboriginal art dating back up to 60,000 years, and fossilised history – dinosaur footprints have been found in the rocks of the semi desert regions of the Outback. The sheer size of the Outback region is stunning – individual cattle stations cover areas in the hundreds of square miles, and farmers don’t have trucks or horses to patrol their grazing lands, they have planes! And the Outback is of course home to some colourful characters who will make your stay just that little bit more memorable!
Top Attractions in Queenslanda?Ts Outback
Aboriginal Rock Art – some of the best preserved examples can be found in Mount Moffett National Park in the Central West, Kajabbi and Lawn Hill National Park in the North West, and South of Mount Isa at Black Mountain.Outback History – the Stockman’s Hall of Fame in Longreach charts the pioneer history of the Out Back
Origins of Flight – visit Cloncurry, Winton and Longreach and learn all about the birth of Qantas
Fossils and Dinosaurs - the region is home to some of the best fossils in Australia; visit the Riversleigh Fossil Interpretive Centre in Mount Isa for a fascinating display of fossils; the Lark Quarry Environmental Park for 100 million year old dinosaur footprints; and Hughenden for the replica dinosaur skeleton.
Birdsville Track – explore this historic stock route from Birdsville down to Maree in South Australia
Go underground – visit the working mines of Mount Isa
Outback Pubs – the Birdsville Hotel in Birdsville and the Walkbout Hotel in McKinlay are the best known examples of this bastion of Outback life
Places to Visit
North West/Dinoaur, Fossil and Mining CountryThe North West part of Queensland’s Outback is perhaps the closest to what people imagine the Outback to be like. Here the vast rugged landscape seems unending, and earth is a deep red, burnt colour. This is dinosaur country, and fossils abound – it is also gem country and “fossicking” is a favourite pastime. You can also head underground and tour a working mine. Although most of the area has a sunbaked appearance, it is not the case everywhere – the barren landscape is interrupted by stunning gorges, pristine lakes where freshwater fishing can be enjoyed, and much more. For a true taste of the Outback, camp out under the stars and enjoy the peace, quiet and magic of the place.
Hughenden and Porcupine Gorge National Park
Hughenden, situated roughly half-way between Townsville on the coast and Mount Isa, is a busy commercial town on the banks of the Flinders River (Queensland’s longest river), known locally as the home of “beauty and the beast” – the beast being the replica of the skeleton of Muttaburrasaurus, one of the biggest and most complete dinosaur skeletons to have been found in Australia, housed in the Flinders Discovery Centre; and the beauty being Porcupine Gorge National Park. Hughenden is really the hub of the north west region of Queensland’s Outback, and is its position on the Flinders Highway means that all major attractions and other major towns are easily accessible from here.
Dinosaurs once roamed this area, which was once a vast pre-historic inland sea and fossils can be found in the creek beds around the town. Porcupine Gorge National Park truly is an oasis in the otherwise dry country of the North West outback. Here there are some great rock formations, including towering sandstone cliffs and layers of sedimentary rocks dating back millions of years. It is also a great place for birdwatching and wildlife spotting – trek down to the bottom of the gorge (around 1 ½ miles) and look up to spot parrots, birds of prey, and other native species, as well as rock wallabies down below.
Cloncurry
Cloncurry, the “Friendly heart of the Great North West”, or “the Curry”, was the largest producer of copper in the days of the British Empire, since it was discovered here in 1867. This natural mineral wealth soon made Cloncurry one of the most prosperous in Queensland’s Outback country. But it is not known only for its copper for it has been the site of the launch of a number of ideas that have since proved integral to both the Outback and to Australia as a whole. The saying goes that Qantas was “conceived in Cloncurry, born in Winton and grew up in Longreach”, and the original hangar still stands here. Cloncurry’s major claim to fame however is as the birthplace of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, and the John Flynn Place Museum charts the history of this iconic outback service.
Mount Isa:
Mount Isa is one of the major towns in Queensland’s Outback and one which owes its existence to the mining industry. Here there are rich deposits of copper, silver, lead and zinc, and visitors can visit the mines, both on an underground tour and an overground bus tour. There are also some Outback institutions here, such as the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), whose base is open to visitors, and the School of Distance Education, which brings schooling to children in remote locations via radio. There is also the Kalkadoon Tribal Centre and Culture Keeping Place, run by Kalkadoon community elders and displaying Aboriginal artefacts.
McKinlay: Worth a mention, and perhaps a quick visit if you are passing throughm McKinlay is not really known for anything other than being the location for the filming of “Crocodile Dundee”, and Walkabout Creek Hotel houses lots of film memorabilia.
Central West/Matilda Country:
It was the landscape of the Central West of Queensland’s Outback that inspired Banjo Paterson to write the iconic Waltzing Matilda, inextricably linked with Australia and all things Australian ever since, and here you can learn all about the pioneering years through a wide variety of attractions, exhibitions and museums. Here is a great place to try out some traditional bushtucker round the campfire and learn more about the history and stories of the Outback. It is here that Qantas was born, and where the legend of the stockman began, and it is a town known as the home of Australian bush poetry.
Winton:
125 miles south east of Mount Isa lies Winton, a laid-back sheep farming community and a handy place to stop over on the route to Longreach. First settled back in 1875 when it was known as Pelican Waterhole, it was here that Banjo Paterson wrote Waltzing Matilda in 1895. Although Longreach is the place most readily associated with the formation of Qantas, it was in Winton that the airline was officially formed and where its first board meeting was held on 21 February 1921. From Winton, visit Opalton, one of the state’s oldest opal fields, Combo Waterhole, where the “swaggie” in Waltzing Matilda met his fate, and Lark Quarry (two hours drive away), where a 93million year old dinosaur stampede is captured in fossil form.
Longreach:
Just over 100 miles further south east from Winton is the legendary township of Longreach, a prosperous Outback town famous for being the home of the Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service, or Qantas as it became known. Now it is famous for its Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre, one of the main attractions in Queensland’s Outback region. The Stockman’s Hall of Fame, around a mile out of the town on the road to Barcaldine, covers all aspects of the early pioneers’ life, including Aboriginal tribes, explorers and of course the stockmen, from the first white settlement through to modern times. It gives a fascinating insight into the development of Outback Australia. The Qantas Founders Outback Museum is housed in a hangar at the airport which was once the first operational base for the airline, and which was also the first aircraft “factory” in Australia, where six bi-planes were assembled in 1926. The museum houses a replica of the first plane owned by Qantas. To get a full flavour of Outback life, Longreach offers visitors the opportunity to stay in a typical Australian Outback country pub, and for the more adventurous, why not camp out under the Outback stars!?
South West Outback:/Channel Country
The South West region of Queensland’s Outback is remote and sparsely populated, and shares borders with the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales. Although it hardly ever rains here, there is plenty of water in the many billabongs, rivers and lakes, as the area is fed by the myriad channels that criss-cross it, carrying water from the monsoon rains that fall further north. Here, bushwalking and fishing are popular pastimes, and visitors to the area can enjoy some great Outback hospitality, including staying at one of Australia’s best known hotels.
Birdsville:
Birdsville has the honour of being the most remote place in all Queensland. Just 8 miles from the border with South Australia, it is at the northern end of the famous Birdsville Track, which covers the 300 mile journey down to Maree in South Australia, with the Simpson Desert to the west and Sturt’s Stony Desert to the east This track is famous for being one of the busiest stock routes where thousands of heads of cattle were driven south. Birdsville was a busy place as it acted as the “tariff wall” between Queensland and South Australia – a charge was made for each animal that left Queensland, which enabled the town to prosper. However, with the formation of the Federation in 1901, the charge was abolished and the town went into a decline, becoming a near ghost town. Since then, the town has been revitalised, and is now home to the annual Birdsville Races, when the town’s population swells from just 120 to 6000 in two days, as well as being the starting point for people travelling down the Track to South Australia. Birdsville is home to the Birdsville Pub, one of the Outback’s iconic hotels, and about as remote a bed for the night as you can get! Established on the edge of the Simpson Desert in 1884, it has played host to thousands of travellers wanting an authentic taste of the Outback – sip an icy cold beer and soak up the atmosphere as you mingle with the local inhabitants!
Charleville:
Charleville is the largest town in the South West Outback and is accessible by train from Brisbane on Queensland Rail’s Westlander service. Its situation on the Warrego River made it something of an oasis town, and as such it developed into a major outback centre. It was also on Qantas’ first fare-paying passenger route, linking Charleville with Cloncurry via Winton and Longreach. This part of the Outback is rich in history, and visitors can join the Charleville Heritage Trail, taking them through the history of the town and its buildings. Here also, due to the lack of pollution, are some great opportunities for star-spotting – Charleville is home to the Cosmos Centre and Observatory, which is well worth a visit. The area is also home to a wide range of native flora and fauna – spot kangaroos, emus, and birds of prey on your journey.
Getting to and around Outback Queensland
If long drives do not appeal, then many of the larger towns in the Outback region (Mount Isa, Longreach and Charleville) are served by domestic airlines. Traveltrain Holidays, the dedicated tourism arm of Queensland Rail, operates the Spirit of the Outback train, which makes the journey from Brisbane to Longreach via Rockhampton and the Outback heritage towns of Blackwater, Emerald and Barcaldine.The Westlander train travels between Brisbane and Charleville and the Inlander from Townsville to Mount Isa. Bus companies such as McCaffertys and Greyhound Australia also operate scheduled services between coastal towns and the Outback – from Rockhampton to Longreach, from Townsville to Mount Isa, and Brisbane to Mount Is via Longreach.
Cities and regions within Australia
