Log Seventy Three – The Mitchell Grass Plains and the Art of the Soft Sell

3 June 2021

It seems every little town out here has developed a hook to try to catch the travelling public. The reward might be campers staying at local campsites and spending a few dollars along the way or maybe just a coffee and fuel stop in town. I thought I would report on a few of the more creative ‘hooks’ we have enjoyed.

Cunnamulla

This town boasts a bronze statue of the Cunnamulla Fella who is a character in a Slim Dusty song. No, I didn’t know that either until I arrived in Cunnamulla.

Augathella

This town deserves an award for creative effort. All through the town there are references to the 1950’s Australian movie Smiley. So I asked, was the movie filmed here, no was the reply. Oh, so some of the cast came from Augathella, no not even the extras. The movie was written in Augathella, no. So what was the connection? The response was the character Smiley was roughly based on a boy who once lived in Augathella! The wry grin from the local summed it up.

Thargomindah

This town has the oldest, working hydro electricity plant in Queensland, maybe Australia and maybe the world. This is pretty amazing considering it is installed on a flat, featureless, dry plain. The water driving the plant is coming up from an artesian bore under high pressure.

Barcaldine

This town is where the beginnings of the Australian Labor party can be traced. The first meeting of striking shearers was under a tree in the main street. The tree that was poisoned some years ago has been immortalised as a sculpture outside the train station.

Eromanga and Muttaburra

Dinosaurs are everywhere out here and many towns have their own museum or interpretation centre just for ‘their’ dinosaur. Muttaburra even had their dinosaur named after the town, it’s the Muttaburrasaurus!

Aramac

Aramac sports one fuel station, a library, a shop and not much more. You can’t get a coffee in Aramac. It is however the location of the great Harry Redford theft of some 600 head of cattle which were driven from around these parts all the way to Adelaide. Amongst the herd was one imported white bull. Harry got away with the deed.

Harry’s efforts are celebrated throughout Aramac with small white bull statues with names like Shopabull at the shop, Bowlabull at the lawn bowls club, Transpostabull at the trucking sheds and of course Postabull at the Post Office.

Lake Dunn

This is maybe the piece de resistance for soft sell in terms of effort, numbers and geographic spread.

A local artist has created a sculpture trail that is about 200 km long with some 40 sculptures all made from scrap metal. The sculptures included Wally from Where’s Wally fame along with lots of Australian animals and characters. The trail included about 100 kms of dirt road which added to the whole experience.