We’ve Travelled Through a Number of Old Towns Today

Before leaving Mundubbera, we stopped in the main street for breakfast at the only cafe in town. It served a delicious brekkie wrap. This is only a smalll town but it does have a war memorial in the roundabout at the top of the street by the post office.

We came across the little town of Eidsvold a little way up the road. In 1848 two brothers moved into the area and named two of their stations Eidsvold and Coonambula. These brothers were Scottish but their family had moved to Norway in 1825. They named Eidsvold Station after Eidsvoll where Norway’s constitution had been signed in 1814.

In the main street is Alice Maslen’s Hitching Rail. It was erected by the local council as recently as 1980. At the time Alice was an old woman who, in the age of the motor car, still brought her horse and sulky into town to do her shopping. She was a real remnant of the 19th century.

This area of Australia is certainly beef country with the grasslands providing prime grazing country.

There was a tiny town that we came across at Mulgildie. I could capture the whole of the Main Street in one photograph.

Mulgildie is a non-town with a famous sculpture – the Mulgildie Bunyip. Created by artist Brett Benecke to celebrate 80 years of service from the Mulgildie branch of the Country Women’s Association it “relates to the many and varied legends of the Bunyip Hole. The artist has used plate steel that has been through a forge and been shaped to depict the scales. The Bunyip is carrying his typical lunch, in relation to the legend of the area.” The sculpture was unveiled in 2010. Nearby is a sign explaining how to get to the Bunyip Hole and there is a brass plaque explaining that “Aboriginals tell the story of fearsome booming monsters that inhabit swamps and waterholes.

On the highway near Monto, we found some newly painted silos that illustrates the legend of the naming of the Three Moon, a local legend. It depicts an aboriginal elder sharing dreamtime stories and of times gone by with his granddaughter. It tells the story of the legends of the naming of Three Moon.

It includes a swagman, Aboriginal stockman or a Chinese station cook, that were boiling their billy on the banks of the creek and noticed three moon’s – one in the sky, one reflecting on the creek and one reflecting in his billy. There is another story also of how the name came about, involving aboriginals that were given the job of washing the sheep at a local property along the river bank around 1887. The way it was communicated to the aboriginals who tended to go walkabout was that they needed to return to the same location on the riverbend when three moon’s had passed away, this location from then on was called Three Moon.

We stopped to stretch our legs and refuel in the town of Monto. Apparently it is one of Queensland’s newest towns after being established in 1924 as part of a Soldier Settlement Scheme for men returning after WW1. New as it may be, that’s now over 100 years ago.

As we drove on, we encountered some sharp local rain showers. The were very heavy but gave us the chance to capture some interesting skycaps.

Biloela was our lunch stop today. We sat at table and picnic shelter by the large town water reservoir. It has a stunning mural almost around all of its circumference that illustrates the evolving society of the area from the days of aborigines, through early settler times and up to t he time that women were given the vote. It looked to be a good substitute for a history book!

Biloeila is famous for the story of a Tamil Sri Lankan couple and their Australian-born daughters who became central figures in a high-profile fight over Australia’s asylum policy. After years of detention, deportation attempts and legal setbacks, their case captured national attention. Community advocacy helped shift government policy, culminating in their return to Biloela and securing of permanent residency. Their journey underscores the complexity of refugee rights and the power of grassroots mobilization.

The environment arounf Biloeila was very different from the grazing country that we had passed earlier in the day. Much of this area is irrigated and we could see broad acres of grain crops and others crops and plantations that we could not name.

To finish the day, we chose an alternative route to Rockhampton that took us through the old gold mining town of Mount Morgan. It is described as a ‘true gem’.  The town is a remarkably well preserved and full of remarkable timber buildings. The unique combination of huge timber pubs, remnants of mining equipment in the median strips, elegant buildings slowly fading as their relevance and use stretch further into the past and images of a time when the town was genuinely rich and prosperous; all combine to make it feel like a town held in aspic. 

Unfortunately, our visit coincided with a major car racing event and that limited my abiity to get close to some of the more interesting old buildings.

The Mount Morgan Car Trials is an annual motorsport event held on the Mount Morgan Range. It features a challenging hill climb course with 26 corners and a 160-meter elevation change over 3 kilometers. The event attracts competitors from across Australia and is a popular event for both participants and spectators. 

While the road over the main range was closed for this event, a detour enabled us to get to Rockhampton for our overnight stop.