That’s the spirit
Graham Simmons visits a small country town with some big
attractions.
THE sign at the town entrance tells it all: “Welcome to
Cunnamulla, settled in the Dreamtime.” Aussie towns don’t get much
older than that. Nor do they get much more welcoming and community
spirited.
Cunnamulla, a heritage town in western Queensland about 11 hours
by road west of Brisbane, is a cohesive community. “If anyone is
down-and-out, they’re not down-and-out for very long,” says
old-timer Frank Osborne.
This spirit flowed into Cunnamulla’s plans to place the region
on the tourist map. It was with a great deal of fanfare that the
100-page Cunnamulla, Eulo,Yowah %26amp; Wyandra Information Guide was
launched last October. Well, there was a lot to write about.
Drawcards abound in Cunnamulla. For starters, it’s astonishing
to find Murray cod in the town’s Warrego River (which experienced
major flooding last week). In good years, the fish swim all the way
up to the Warrego from the Murray-Darling. This gives some idea of
the river’s expanse and drawing power - and I was privileged to
take in the Warrego by kayak at dawn and on a river cruise in the
evening. These are the best times of day to appreciate the
astonishing variety of birdlife. More than a quarter of all
Australian bird species - including pelicans, storks, galahs,
corellas and rainbow bee-eaters - are found on the Warrego’s
banks.
Cunnamulla? The name comes from a pair of Aboriginal words
meaning “stretch of long water” - not a bad appellation for the
Warrego River.
The town’s history goes back to 1860 when the settlement was at
the intersection of two major stock routes, the first from St
George to Thargomindah and the second from Bourke to Charleville.
Naturally, many pubs grew up to service the drovers’ thirsts - and
there is still a pubulation of five for a population of fewer than
1500.
At Charlotte Plains, 45kilometres from Cunnamulla on the St
George road, Robyn and Reid Russell welcome visitors with
accommodation in comfortably appointed shearers’ quarters. A major
attraction of the property is its hot-water bore, yielding
drinkable water at about 46degrees. The waters have still to be
tested for their therapeutic value but even a brief soak in the
bore feels supremely restorative.
The Turnworth Bore is one of the last uncapped bores in
Australia. It originally had a flow of nearly 10megalitres a day,
but at the time of my visit, it was down to well under
twomegalitres. That is still more than enough to give any number of
bodies a good broiling.
Robyn Russell’s business partner, Willy Cooma, is known as The
Camel Man. He hails from Christmas Island and trained as a chef in
Singapore, becoming personal chef to the Sultan of Brunei before
working in top European restaurants.
Then the Australian outback called. Fifteen years ago he set out
on his first camel trek, from Griffith in NSW to Birdsville. “I’ve
done about 45,000kilometres by camel since then,” he says.
Cooma has just returned from a trip to the Simpson Desert, where
he rounded up more than 150 wild camels. Many of these are now back
at Charlotte Plains, where he grooms and trains them for his
expeditions. Hitched to his comfortable, carpet-strewn wagon
(complete with stereo sound system), the camels will take visitors
on tours of up to three days. The next big trip is in April, from
Charlotte Plains to the Noorama Picnic Races.
Cunnamulla also has some innovative, world-class regional
development projects. Don and Deb Dunsdon’s wheat farm features
three giant dams (the biggest holding more than 6000megalitres)
which enable organic wheat to be grown - the first wheat to be
harvested in Cunnamulla and potentially a huge export earner. Table
grapes are also a major crop.
Other attractions just west of Cunnamulla include the Yowah Nuts
of Yowah - ironstone rocks that, when cracked, contain fine opal.
Yes, those 100 pages contain some true outback gems.
TRIP NOTES
* Getting there: Qantaslink flies daily from
Brisbane to Charleville. MacAir (www.macair.com.au) flies from
Brisbane to Cunnamulla on Wednesdays and Sundays.
* While there: Camel Trek from Charlotte Plains
to Noorama Picnic Races (see http://www.nooramaracing.com),
between April 9 and 16, 2008. Bookings, phone Robyn Russell on (07)
4655 4923 or email robyn.russell@bigpond.com.
For The Cunnamulla, Eulo, Yowah and Wyandra Information Guide,
phone (07) 4655 1679.
Source: The Sun-Herald
Posted
on
Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 5:14 pm under