26th May 2026: We went to the Charleville Bilby Experience at Charleville Railway station, which  has 2 trains a week from Brisbane but currently not running. 

This is part of a project to increase Bilby numbers  by developing some large fenced off areas within national parks where predators (feral cats and foxes) are kept out and bilbys are reintroduced into these areas. There is a breeding program in Charleville to provide bilbys from genetically different populations to populate these areas. They rotate a few bilbies from this program to an area which serves as a viewing area so that the public can observe bilbies in artificially dark conditions so they may be observed under red light. This raises awareness and money for the Bilby cause!

We then drove along the Matilda Way, stopping at Blackall to observe the Black Stump- used by surveyors to anchor their theodolites in the 1888 to accurately survey outback Qld.The original stump burnt down in 1987. It presence has subsequently been marked with a petrified wood stump (1988) and a sculpture (2018).

We arrived in Barcaldine at about 4pm, refuelling at Ampol ($2.65/l) and we were  in time for damper and billy tea at the  caravan park. We walked the 2 km into town to see the “tree of knowledge “ under whose branches shearers on strike  used to meet, during the Great Shearer’s strike of 1891. It was also associated with the beginning of the Australian Labor Party. We then had dinner at the nearby recently renovated Balcaldine hotel.

Bilby
              Our caravan “beyond the Black Stump”
                      2018 Sculpture  of the Black Stump
                      1988 Petrified Wood Black Stump
Tree of knowledge Memorial, built after the malicious poisoning of the original 200 year old ghost gum(2006)




 

 








Comments

  1. Jill PierceMay 27, 2026 at 8:17 AM

    I hope the bilby program is working! Wish we were there with you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. NicMay 31, 2026 at 9:09 PM

    FUN FACT: Blackall claims bragging rights to ‘Beyond the Black Stump’ as theirs but so do others.
    In Blackall, the Black Stump monument marks a survey point with ‘civilisation’ on one side and the outback on the other.
    Coolah NSW, for examole, reckons the term originated there, citing a land boundary declared in 1829 by Governor Darling that ran through a property known as Black Stump Run beyond which there was not to be any settlement. The land beyond this point came to be referred to as ‘beyond the black stump’.
    Going even further back, there are mentions of a black stump in an 1831 court case associated with surveys of Woolloomooloo in the time of Governor Macquarie (1820-1821).

    ReplyDelete

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