The Grand Tour of Blackall

We decided to stay here for another couple of days to take advantage of the park and the town’s history. They have put a lot of effort into both finding things that would appeal to tourists and displays featuring historical content. We roamed the streets all morning taking in a number of the sights (and sites).

Standing next to Jackie Howe

The first impressive feat was by Jackie Howe who holds the world record for shearing with hand shears 321 sheep in seven hours and ten minutes. He went on to own a local hotel and was a pivotal supporter of T J Ryan who went on to become Queenslands first Labor Premier. Howe was revered in the Federal Labor Party as one of the original promoters of its ideas.

Lt. E. T. Towner

Across the street is the Blackall Memorial Garden with a bronze statue of Lt. E. T. Towner who received to awards for gallantry in 1918. He won both the Victoria Cross and the Military Cross for his heroics in France

The remnants of the original black stump

And finally, an explanation of the term beyond the black stump is provided by another landmark in Blackall. The black stump was a large black stump that was situated in Blackall and was used as a base point for surveying instruments used at the time to survey outback Queensland. At the time, Blackall was considered to be the edge of civilisation in Queensland hence the term.

Said elephant

From there we moved onto view an elephant, presented to Blackall by Perry’s Circus to commemorate Perry Bros Circus close association with the Barcoo area. Then onto Rams Park which has a display of the importance sheep and wool to the district. Sadly the exhibitions (like us) are starting to show their age. The ram has certainly seen better days.

The ram with a prophylaxis on his horn

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