This was published 15 years ago

Blackall

January 1, 2009 — 12.00am

Blackall
An attractive and interesting Western Queensland town.
It is not widely known now but Blackall's claim to fame was once based on the popular, and for the time, risque limerick:

A popular girl of Blackall / Wore a newspaper dress to a ball / Her rig-out caught fire / And burned her entire, / Front page, sporting section and all.

Equally 'Banjo' Paterson made much of the town's river, the famous Barcoo, including the memorable lines: 'On the outer Barcoo, where churches are few / and men of religion are scanty, / On a road seldom crossed save by folk who are lost / One Michael Magee had a shanty.'

Could he have had somewhere around Blackall in mind?

Since those heady days the town has achieved much greater fame. It claims to be 'the home of the fair dinkum black stump' and boasts 'You are in Jackie Howe country - the world's greatest ever blade shearer'.

The signs outside the town also declare 'Welcome to Blackall - you are in merino country. Blackall- the biggest cattle selling centre in the Central West. Population 2234.' In an area of Queensland where monotony is the norm these are significant claims for a small town to make.

Located 1127 km north-west of Brisbane and 284 metres above sea-level, Blackall is a rather attractive country town with trees down the centre of the main street, lots of old-style pubs and a lazy air which is in keeping with its location.

The area around Blackall was explored by Sir Thomas Mitchell in 1846. He came across the Barcoo River, which he called the 'Victoria', believing that it flowed north into the Gulf of Carpentaria. He returned to Sydney buoyed up by this information. Less than a year later Edmund Kennedy returned to the area and proved Mitchell incorrect by following the Barcoo until it became part of the mighty Cooper Creek.

The town was first settled in 1864 and in 1868 it was surveyed, gazetted and named after Samuel Wensley Blackall, then-governor of Queensland. Blackall died three year later in Brisbane but not before he had inspected a new cemetery at Toowong and chosen the site with the greatest elevation for his remains.

The area around the town was taken up by huge pastoral leases and over the next forty years the town became an important centre for transportation. Prior to the arrival of the rail service in Barcaldine in 1886 it was the main town in the region.

Things to see:

Jackie Howe Statue
Perhaps the most famous event in Blackall's history was the remarkable shearing achievement of Jackie Howe in 1892. The event has been memorialised in the form of a handsome statue located outside the Tattersalls Hotel in the main street. The inscription on the plaque explains why Howe is still so admired in western Queensland: 'World Champion Blade Shearer Jackie Howe (John Robert Howe) 1861-1920. Blade shore 321 sheep in 7 hours 40 minutes at 'Alice Downs' Blackall on Monday 10 October 1892'. It was a world record which was not beaten until 1950 when electric shears were introduced. According to local mythology Howe's remarkable abilities came from his huge hands and the fact that he trained by squeezing a rubber ball. In later life he became a publican and was much liked by his fellow shearers.

The Black Stump
The black stump has always loomed large in rural Australian mythology as a place beyond which was no man's land. Hence the impossible location of 'beyond the black stump'. Looking at the countryside around Blackall it would be fair to think that some wit coined the phrase to describe the hopelessness of life in Central Queensland. In fact the official explanation emblazoned on a sign by the stump is far more pedestrian:

This historic site permanently marks the original Astro station established in 1887 by the Surveyor-General for the purpose of survey, based on the principal meridional circuit traversed around the town of Blackall. The circuit around Blackall was 27 miles square and contained an area of 729 square miles. The surveyors placed their theodolites on the stump for latitude and longitude observations. The stump was used rather than a set of legs because the theodolite used on such observations were of a large size. This Astro station was used as part of the principal survey to fix the position of principal towns extending from Brisbane to Boulia via. Roma, Charleville and Blackall. It was designed to establish the points of important centres with which the survey work of the whole colony could be connected, and enable the mapping of Queensland on a more accurate basis. It was considered at the time that the country to the west of Blackall was 'beyond the black stump'. This piece of petrified wood replaces the original stump which was burnt out.

To see the Black Stump, which looks decidedly grey, turn into Hawthorn Street from the Landsborough Highway and go around to the back of the school.

The Blackall Wool Scour
4.2 km north of town (turn north into Clemantis Street from the Landsborough Highway) is the Blackall Wool Scour. The process of wool scouring, which had once been done by hand, involved putting the greasy wool through a special scouring solution, drying the cleaned wool, then pressing it into bales. When the wool scour was built in 1906 it was considered a miracle of modern technology. It is open for inspection seven days a week from 8.00am - 4.00pm and guided tours are on offer.

Black's Palace Sites
To the east of the town lies one of Queensland's most important Aboriginal sites. The Black's Palace artefacts, located on Marston Station, constitute the largest complex of Aboriginal drawings known to exist in Central Queensland. The paintings are set on the sandstone cliff faces of a gorge which is about 500-600 metres long and about 200 metres wide. Anthropologists have recorded some 9 471 figures in the area ranging from stencils of hands, feet, boomerangs and axes to drawings of spears, clubs, shields, snakes and lizards. There are also a large number of abstract patterns. Tragically the site is now closed to the public. It is sad that such an important site is not open to those who wish to inspect this remarkable piece of Australian culture.

Tourist Information

Blackall Tourist Information
Short St
Blackall QLD 4472
Telephone: (07) 4657 4637
Facsimile: (07) 4657 4637

Outback Queensland Tourism Authority
108 Shamrock St
Blackall QLD 4472
Telephone: (07) 4657 4255 or (07) 4654 4450
Facsimile: (07) 4657 4437

Motels

Blackall Motel
Cnr Shamrock & Myrtle Sts
Blackall QLD 4472
Telephone: (07) 4657 4611
Facsimile: (076) 57 4611
Rating: **

Coolibah Motel
36 Shamrock St
Blackall QLD 4472
Telephone: (07) 46574380
Facsimile: (07) 4657 4187
Rating: **

Hotels

Bushman¹s Hotel
166 Shamrock St
Blackall QLD 4472
Telephone: (07) 4657 4143

Prince of Wales Hotel
63 Shamrock St
Blackall QLD 4472
Telephone: (07) 4657 4731

The Barcoo Hotel
95 Shamrock St
Blackall QLD 4472
Telephone: (07) 4657 4197

Union Hotel
35 Coronation Dve
Blackall QLD 4472
Telephone: (07) 4657 4877

Farm & Eco Holidays

Avington Outback Holiday Station
ring for directions
Blackall QLD 4472
Telephone: (07) 4657 5952
Rating: ***

Caravan Parks

Blackall Caravan Park
53 Garden St
Blackall QLD 4472
Telephone: (07) 4657 4816

Restaurants