(Cunnamulla, the highway starting point, is 119km from the New South Wales border; Cunnamulla to Karumba, the northernmost point, is 1700km including major excursions)

Trip duration: The entire trip can take more than two weeks to complete. There are 12 highway stages, none of which is longer than 375km.

On the road
From Cunnamulla, near the NSW border, the trip begins on the Mitchell Highway, which becomes the Landsborough Highway at Augathella. Towns along the way include historic Blackall, Barcaldine, Longreach, Winton and Cloncurry. The entire highway is sealed and mostly two lanes. Other major highways and sealed roads link up with the Matilda Highway at various points along its length and these are all suited to a standard family car.

Cunnamulla is between the intersection of two major stock routes, and Cobb & Co coaches began running in the area in 1867. The Cunnamulla-Eulo Festival of Opals is held here in September.

Charleville has strong links with aviation history, through Qantas and the pioneering Smith brothers also the base for both the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the School of Distance Education. Take a guided tour of the night skies through the telescopes of the Outback Queensland Skywatch.

Blackall on the Barcoo River, is the major town in a thriving pastoral region. Visit the historic Woolscour and the site of the original Black Stump.

Barcaldine the ‘Garden City of the West’.

Between Emerald and Longreach, is another sheep and cattle centre. Barcaldine holds an important place in Australia history, being the site of the revolutionary 1891 Shearers’ Strike.

There’s a folk museum, heritage centre and many historic buildings. Not far from here is Black’s Palace, an Aboriginal site with burial caves and impressive rock paintings.

Longreach, the central west’s largest town and pastoral centre, has an important link with the remarkable Qantas story, and is home to the outback pioneer tourist attraction, the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame.

Winton is the birthplace of Australia’s alternative national anthem. Waltzing Matilda, and Qantas Airline, Winton is also the town closest to Lark Quarry (a two-hour drive) where hundreds of dinosaur footprints can be seen.

Cloncurry, centre for a copper boom in the last century, Cloncurry was the largest copper producer in the British empire in 1916. The town has close links with the history of the Flying doctor Service, and is a base for journeys to the major mining town of Mount Isa.

The mining town of Mount Isa owes its existence to an immensely rich copper, silver, lead and zinc mine, and the towns skyline is dominated by the massive 270 metre-high exhaust stack from the lead smelter. The Isa, lays claim to being the largest city on the world, it covers an area of 41,255 square km.

The busy town of Charters Towers, 130km inland from Townsville, was the Queensland’s fabulously rich second city in the gold-rush days. Many old houses with classic verandahs and lace work, and imposing public buildings and mining structure remains. On Mossman St a few metres up the hill from the corner of Gill St is the picturesque Stock Exchange Arcade, built in 1887 and restored in 1972. Today it houses the National Trust office, a tourist office, a couple of galleries and shop and a mining museum.

At 62 Mossman St, the Zara Clark Museum, has an interesting collection on transport and lifestyle in the early Charter Towers.

For further information, contact:

Queensland Travel Centre
196 Adelaide Street
BRISBANE QLD 4000]
Phone: (07) 221 6111
Fax: (07) 221 5320

Acknowledgement

Images courtesy of Tourism Queensland

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