Mt Isa
Mining is what makes Mt Isa, and with three men to every one female, it is a ladies paradise. That is if you are into big burly miners. The land around Isa is hilly and atop one such mound a 360 degree view provided a glimpse into the mines and the city as a whole.
Signpost at Mt Isa Lookout
With materials not easily available in the outback, early pioneers had to make do. The ‘tent house’ is a prime example of this ingenuity. Infact, many tent houses were erected in Isa, however only one remains. Picking the front door key up off a table outside the motel next door (see we really aren’t in a city), we let ourselves into this house. Canvas walls, covered by a tin roof and perched upon a wooden floor provided all the comforts of home. Furnished as if still occupied we felt we were intruding into someone’s current home. Pictures of loved ones sat on beside tables, cupboards were full of everyday items and the bookshelf contained some risqué tomes for the era.
Inside the Tent House, Mt Isa
The Tent House
Thankfully Isa has a lake nearby. Lake Moondarra provides an escape from the dust and is rather well maintained with peacocks and chooks roaming its shores and plenty of barra in its waters.
With our fill of big city adventures, we headed east on the Barkley. Thicker scrub soon dominated the countryside, the Selwyn Ranges providing an undulating change of scenery. The land no longer looked so desolate, however the next town sure did.
Mary Kathleen, as the town is known, is a mere 56 kilometres from Mt Isa, but a lifetime away. Established in the 1950’s, the mining town had every conceivable need, including cinema, sports fields, swimming pool, shops etc.
Standing in the Supermarket, Mary Kathleen
However, in late 1983 the contract for uranium oxide was filled and it was decided to close the mine and disband the town. In 1984 the township was auctioned off. All that remains of this ghost town are the building foundations and walkways. The bitumen roads are slowly being reclaimed by nature, but it is eerie to park in the shopping centre carpark, complete with curb and guttering, and walk through what was until relatively recently a bustling town centre.
Parked in the shopping centre carpark, footpath can be seen at Mary Kathleen
Off to find a ‘real’ town for the night, it was back on the Barkley. Some of the longest road trains we have come across shared our path. Ten car lengths long, these beasts still enthuses a sense of awe in us. How do they drive them on these outback roads?
Look how long the road train is!
We settled into Cloncurry, or the ‘Curry’ as it is known and took some time to chill. There is not much to the town, but a browse through the local museum provided some photos of Mary Kathleen in its heyday, and the famous Burke and Wills water bottle. The town was named by Burke after his cousin Lady Elizabeth Cloncurry of County Galway in Ireland. Back in Ireland in the family home, the water bottle was rediscovered by a maid clearing the cellar for the arrival of electricity in the 1930’s.
The Burke & Wills water bottle
A change of direction had us on the Flinders Highway, the red rock ranges giving way to a flat plain land. You have no doubt heard of ‘Big Sky Country’ well out here it is ‘Massive Sky Country’. Far in the distance road trains look like caterpillars crawling across this red land and as the blue sky meets the horizon you can actually see the curvature of the earth.
Flat, barren and dry. There is no other way to describe life out here where you can count the blades of grass on one hand. However, pulling into the township of Julia Creek, it became apparent how cattle graziers make a living out here. We were standing on the centre of the Great Artesian Basin. The basin underlies a fifth of Australia and holds enough water to fill Sydney Harbour 130,000 times. The water travels at a rate of a metre a year from Cape York in the north. Extending to Dubbo in the south, dating has determined that water down there is millions of years old. With such slow progress it begs the question will it run out one day?
The Minmi dinosaur skeleton, Richmond
Having made use of this clean pure water, we headed for our main destination out here- the fossil capital of Australia. The star attractions of Richmond are the Kronosaurus (a marine dinosaur) and Australia’s best preserved dinosaur skeleton- the 100 million year old Minmi.
The mighty Kronosaurus, Richmond
With so many fossil remains out here, the council has designated public fossicking areas. Armed with hammers and chisels we set off to find our own beast. Nearly everyone who fossicks finds something, and we came away with some Belemnites and Bivalves. Maybe not as exciting as a dinosaur bone, but they did feed on these carnivorous marine animals.
Moon rocks, a natural phenomenon in Richmond
Fossicking for dinosaur relics. We did find some!
Sticking on the dinosaur trail we landed in Hughenden. Like people, there are some towns that you just don’t gel with. Although Hughenden also has a fascinating prehistoric past, and a life sized replica of a Muttaburrasaurus, it was not one of our favourite destinations.
A life size Muttaburrasaurus, Hughenden
However, Porcupine Gorge, 60 kilometres north sure was. Looking across the Savannah Plains you would never guess that the creek has carved a very impressive canyon. Sided by hundreds of million year old multi coloured rocks, the vertical drop measures 100 metres into the earth.
Porcupine Gorge
We were left with the impression of a large knife having sliced open this land, its jagged blade revealing the layers from times of inland seas, rainforests and droughts.
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