Emerald to Undara

Turning north, we travelled up the Gregory Highway through what is coal mining country, although the only indication was a covered conveyor belt which we followed for several kilometres. At Clermont the highway became the Gregory Development Road, and very narrow, bouncy and rough, with deep crumbling edges. And instead of repairing the damage, Main Roads just puts up warning signs!

This is station country and the cattle of choice are Brahman. We saw hundreds of animals of all colours in the paddocks, and on the road verges, and many road trains carrying cattle. When passing a road train we hit the edge and arrived at our destination to find things in the cupboards and drawers rearranged, but thankfully no damage. We camped on the roadside overnight before continuing on to Charters Towers.

Charters Towers was built on gold and today three mines still operate in the area. It was once the second largest city in Queensland with a population of 30,000, and was known as ‘The World’, as everything one ever needed or wanted could be had there. Gold was discovered in 1871 and many stately buildings from that time grace the streets of the town. We did a walking tour which included the Queensland Ambulance Transport Brigade, built in 1900 with a restored 1940s Ford ambulance on display; the Police Station, built in 1910 and a rare surviving example of early 20^th century police barracks; the Post Office, built in 1892 with the clock tower added six years later; the Australian Bank of Commerce, now The World Theatre; and Stock Exchange Arcade, originally built as the Royal Arcade in 1888. It became the Stock Exchange in 1890 and was a bustling centre of activity with three calls a day.

A new commercial development on the highway features ‘The World’, a stainless steel globe with a diameter of four metres, with inspiring stories surrounding its base. The buildings feature artworks rendered in millions of 1cm glass and ceramic mosaic tiles, each individually hand cut and glued into place, which depict the history of the town from 1872 to 1922. Nearby is a reconstructed poppet head, built over the original Columbia block mine.

On Towers Hill we took in 360-degree views of the town and surrounding mountain ranges. The hill is dotted with disused mining shafts and was once home to the Pyrites Works, where gold was extracted from the ore by pyrites chlorination. Charters Towers had 15,000 US Army Airforce personnel stationed there during WWII and they used the airport in the Battle of the Coral Sea. The chimney at the Pyrites Works was in the flight path and was demolished in 1942.

During the war Towers Hill was also home to a Replenishing Centre, where more than 30 concrete bunkers were built to store bombs, detonators and ammunition for the Townsville RAAF base. They all faced different directions to avoid a chain reaction should there be an accidental explosion. Two bunkers now house audio visual displays showing aspects of its purpose.

We had a personal guided tour (we were the only participants!) of the Venus Gold Battery which commenced crushing in July 1872, and learned how gold was extracted by crushing, then mercury and cyanide treatments. The tour featured excellent hologram and water screen projections which really brought history to life.

Our final activity was a visit to the Burdekin Weir a short distance out of town, where the Burdekin River was dammed in 1902 to provide a water supply for the town. It was completed in a rush to beat the wet season rains and was overflowing just nineteen days later. The sluice gates, which were meant to be temporary, are still in use. The wall was raised another three metres in 1996, and it was quite a sight to see the water spilling over after recent rains.

“From Townsville to Greenvale we’re building a line

Through the ranges and gorges to the great nickel mine

The long days are dusty and hotter than hell

And that’s why we all worship Three Rivers Hotel.”

Another town, another Slim Dusty song! We continued in a north-westerly direction on the Gregory Development Road, also known as Sir John McEwan Beef Road, and it was a very good surface, rebuilt in 2020 according to the signs. There’d been some rain overnight in Charters Towers, the first since Augathella three weeks ago, but we had a rain-free journey to Greenvale. The town was established in 1972 to support the nickel mine, and some of the longest trains in Australia travelled along the railway line to the port at Townsville until the mine closed in 1993.

As a postscript to the Ceduna to Broken Hill chapter of our blog, and while on the subject of Slim Dusty and pub songs, we heard later on the radio that the hotel which features in The Pub With No Beer was the Cockburn Hotel, just inside the SA/NSW border, which we’d stopped in front of for lunch.

Growing adjacent to the Greenvale hotel are two sausage trees, native to tropical Africa and, according to the sign, found mainly in Mozambique. Apart from three trees in Townsville and Adelaide Botanic Gardens, these are the only known specimens in Australia.

We camped at a gravel pit just out of town before continuing our journey to the resort in Undara Volcanic National Park. This is a huge camping area with a range of accommodation, including old railway carriages and swag tents. Our site was on the edge of the resort backing onto bushland and were entertained by noisy parrots flitting in and out of the trees. In the late afternoon we had a visit from a very tame pretty-faced wallaby.

This is the first opportunity we’ve had to do any bush walking and Rod says he is now in his ‘happy place’! We walked the Kalkani Crater rim, a 2.5km class 3 walk with the climb to the rim rising 50 metres in 600. The rim was surrounded by volcanic rocks, and trees were growing in the crater. Geologists estimate the last eruption was less than 20,000 years ago.

Next morning we walked the Bluff Track which took us up to a point where we overlooked the resort, and returned us via the 100-Mile Swamp where we saw kangaroos and wallabies grazing. The swamp filling with water is a one in ten year event and the wildlife is prolific. In the afternoon we walked to Atkinson’s Lookout, a gentle climb through huge granite rocks, for views of extinct volcanoes on the horizon.

The highlight of our time at Undara was the Archway Explorer tour. We were bussed into the National Park and given a two-hour guided tour of three lava tubes. Undara is an Aboriginal word meaning ‘long way’ and the lava tube cave system extends for 160km. According to geologists, about 190,000 years ago a shield volcano erupted, oozing molten lava over the surrounding landscape. The lava flowed rapidly down a dry riverbed and the top outer layer cooled to form a crust, while the molten lava below drained outwards, leaving behind a series of hollow tubes. The roofs of some tubes have collapsed creating caves, and some fill with water after rain.