Muttaburra

My Outback town of the year.

Muttaburra

My Outback town of the year.

When you’re on a road-trip, you pass through hundreds of towns. What causes you to stop and explore further? What makes an Outback town a good place to live and visit? Maybe it’s the same thing – a sense of community. If there’s a sense of community there will be pride in the town, and the best features will be available to be shared with travellers. My favourite town this trip is right in the centre of Queensland – Muttaburra. It has all these things in spades – pride in the town, a preserved history and it is such a welcoming place. I was lucky to chat to two of the town’s staunchest promoters – Margaretha on the historical tours who works for the Council, and Fiona who runs the local shop and servo, but I didn’t need much persuading.

Population is between sixty and ninety, depending how many travellers decide to spend winter here. There is so much to see and do. But first, to persuade visitors to stay over, the Council has taken on a proactive roll. They own the caravan park. You pay for two nights ($20 a night with power) but then the next three nights are free. The Freedom Park on the edge of the town by the dam is $8 a night but you need to be self-contained.

Or you can camp out of town at Pump Hole or Broadwater on the Thompson River for no charge. Great bird-watching and fishing locations. But it’s the little things that make difference. Each camp spot at Broadwater was signed very officially. I camped at ‘Water Edge’, but I was seriously tempted by ‘Mayor of Broadwater’ site or ‘Dot and Dave’s Place’. My fire place was marked out by rocks and has a rusty iron backing for photo opportunity, ambience and safety. All camp areas even have phone and internet coverage.

As you’ve been enticed to stay, you’ll be looking for things to do. The council has that covered too. When Cassimatis Store closed in 1978 the council stepped up and purchased it intact, including the adjoining cottage. Good on local pressure. The store had been operated by the same family since 1913 when they immigrated from Greece and provided everything a town needed – vegetables, groceries, alcohol, ice, haberdashery, bank, white goods, emporium. The Store is intact and authentic from the early 1900s. The same with the hospital that was built in the 1950s, although there had been an earlier hospital. The Council purchased the property and converted it to a historical medical museum.  Tours are run by a Council employee or a volunteer each day. Another historical site that is commemorated is the Union Camp and Union Hole. This is where two hundred striking shearers camped in 1891, and was part of the strike that formed the beginning of the Australian Labor Party.

The town was proclaimed in 1878 after the area was discovered by the explorer Landsborough and when Bowen Downs was settled by sheep graziers 1874. The town was on the mail Cobb and Co route to the South East. The Inigis aboriginal group lived in the area, but their lives were disrupted by settlement, many dying from disease or being forced to move on. The local tribe was Mootaburra which means ‘the meeting of waters’. Muttaburra is situated by the Thompson and Landsborough Rivers and Cornish Creek.

Some of the early corrugated iron buildings are still in town. The town has a shop, fuel, café, motel, medical centre, community hall. The school that has been operating for 139 years. Of course, there is a pub- the Exchange Hotel. Once there were six hotels. Muttaburra being part of the Artesian Basin, with a large dam, and being on important rivers that take the northern wet-season floodwaters to the Cooper Creek system, has copious water and the public gardens and parks around the town are a highlight.

The whole town is festooned with clever and creative sculptures made from recycled iron and old parts that all show an aspect of community life. Plus, there are many Muttaburrasaurus sculptures. In the Muttaburrasaurus Interpretation Centre there is a life-size model of the Muttaburrasaurus Langdoni that was discovered on a station near here by grazier, Doug Langdon in 1963. At the time it was the most complete fossilised dinosaur skeleton discovered in Australia. It is about a million years old, but is squirrelled away in the Queensland Museum out of sight. Bring it back to Muttaburra I say!

And now to more fossils and rocks. I said no more rock fossicking this trip but I was excited to see there were agates at a fossicking site near town. There is so much more at the site - agates, fossilised wood, jasper and quartzes. I have never seen such an amazing array of collectable rocks for specimens and tumbling or cutting and polishing, that are so easy to speck on top of the ground. Hurray. No digging needed. Fossilised molluscs are prevalent in the region too from the Eromanga Sea. Maybe someone will come across another fossilised dinosaur bone one day. Maybe me! I’ll be coming back.

To show how friendly the town is, every charge for amenities and displays is by donation or honesty boxes. They treat the travellers with the same respect as they treat each other. Did I mention there is a pub? I’m here Friday night. There’s a counter meal, live music and cold beer. I’ll be there … having lamb shanks for dinner.

And I will definitely be coming back to this amazing, delightful town. It speaks to my heart. It has so many special qualities. Put it on your map for an authentic Outback experience with old- fashioned Aussie mateship.

Muttaburra – Adventuring Lou’s Aussie Outback town of the year. Congratulations!