Barcaldine, Blackall to Tambo QLD

After a peaceful night in Barcaldine we drove into town to have a look around. 

The first thing we saw was the award winning ‘Tree of Knowledge Memorial’ that commemorates the history of the shearer’s strike. In 1891 they gathered under the ghost gum to protest the working conditions of the day. This led to Barcaldine becoming the birthplace of the Labour movement in Australia. Unfortunately it appears the tree was poisoned in 2006 but the remains of the tree have been immortalised in unique frame with 4000 suspended timbers portraying the tree canopy. 

We had a look at the War Memorial Clock built in 1924. 

100km later we arrived in Blackall whose history is steeped in the wool industry but has now been replaced by cattle.  

We stopped at the Big Ram historical park and looked at the varied collection of antique machinery. 

The Pioneer Bore is the site of the first artesian bore drilled in Queensland in 1885. The hot, mineralised water is still flowing out of a pipe.

The Legend shearer Jackie Howe is celebrated here as the World Champion Blade Shearer when he blade shore 321 sheep in 7 hours 49 minutes in 1892.

The Black Stump was used to survey the area and help mapping of Queensland. In 1887 it was considered that the country west of Blackall was ‘beyond the black stump’.

We took a photo of Jumbo the Elephant, a life size sculpture, in recognition of the Perry Brothers Circus history in the town. 

We then drove another 100 or so kilometres to Tambo where we quickly found a spot in the popular free camping area just 1km out of town. 

Later we walked out to see the site of a Qantas crash in 1927. Although it was argued that the new aircraft had not yet been registered with the company and thus not officially a Qantas plane.

Another beautiful sunset to end the day…