Cloncurry is an outback town in North West of Queensland, about 770 kilometres west of Townsville via the Flinders Highway. The town lies adjacent to the Cloncurry River. This town was founded by Ernest Henry in 1867 with the discovery of copper. But the name 'Cloncurry' was given by Burke, after Lady Elizabeth Cloncurry, his cousin. The traditional owners of the region are the Mitakoodi, Kalkadoon and Pitta Pitta Aboriginal people. Mining – especially copper- is still the core of this town besides the grazing industry and transport services.
Cloncurry is a very interesting town known as 'the Friendly Heart of the Great North West'. Here is a list of 5 free things that you can do while visiting Cloncurry.
Chinaman Creek Dam
1. Water plays
Chinaman Creek Dam is one place that you can go for fishing, bird watching or just sit down and relax enjoying the sound of nature. If you want to go camping as well as fishing, Clem Walton is the place to go. But unfortunately, there are lice in the water, both at Chinaman Creek Dam and Clem Walton. If you decide to go swimming here, just do some precautions; apply thick waterproof sunscreen or an oil-based lotion, avoid the thick weed area and rinse off as soon as exiting the water. There is free water play for children at Florence Clark Memorial Park.
Afghan Cemetery
If you are channelling Angelina Jolie in
Tomb Rider, there are some cemeteries around Cloncurry that are worth visiting. No, I'm not suggesting doing any vandalism but it's worth investigating the history of these cemeteries.
Afghan Cemetery and Chinese Cemetery are some of them. Thousands of Afghani and Pakistani cameleers played an important role in shaping the Australian outback, including in Cloncurry. They were part of the Australian gold rush era. The north-east corner of the old Cloncurry Cemetery is the resting place for many cameleers who lived and worked in Queensland during the late 19th and early 20th Century. The prosperous Cloncurry mineral field attracted Chinese gold diggers. Cloncurry Chinese Cemetery, at the junction of Copper Mine Creek and Cloncurry River Anabranch, contains the graves of many Chinese who lived and worked in the Cloncurry district from as early as the 1870s.
Mary Kathleen Playground
Enjoy 360 degrees of the tropical outback of Cloncurry from this
lookout, just behind the
Cloncurry Unearthed Visitor Information Center and Museum.
Florence Clark Playground
4. Playgrounds and parklandThere are some good playgrounds and parkland that you can visit here to stretch a leg or burn out your children's extra energy. Some of them are
Florence Clark Memorial Park,
Schumacher Park Playground and
Mary Kathleen Memorial Park.
Mary Kathleen Uranium Pit
Just a little bit out from Cloncurry, you can also visit
Burke and Wills Memorial and
Mary Kathleen - The Ghost Town.
Burke and Wills Memorial
It's time to visit Cloncurry! Just be aware of the
cow that eats cars around here!
