Top 7 Reasons to Visit Cloncurry

by Gayle Beveridge-Marien (subscribe)

We were on an eighty-day autumn and winter road trip when we visited Cloncurry, a small Queensland town of around 3,000 people, just a two-and-a-half-hour flight from Brisbane. Cloncurry is a quintessential outback town, 120kms east of Mount Isa and 770 kilometres west of the city of Townsville via the Flinders Highway. The town, which has its roots in copper mining, was founded in 1867 but draws most of its fame as the birthplace of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS). We stayed over to give ourselves enough time to explore Cloncurry's history and mining, and we were not disappointed. Here are my top seven reasons to visit Cloncurry.


1. Dramatic Landscapes. We shared the driving and made the 568kms from Longreach in one day. The land between Longreach and Cloncurry is, for the most part, open plains. There are long, straight and monotonous stretches in the road. Now and then we come upon high rocky outcrops springing up from the plains. There is a road stop at one of the more impressive ones and we take some time for photos and to stretch our legs.


2. Wildlife and Pastoral Stock. We spotted some camels in a large paddock but weren't sure if they were wild. We saw a flock of emus, but of kangaroos saw more as road kill than we saw alive. Large numbers of black-breasted kite feed of each carcass, but my attempts to take a good photo before they flew off were not successful. There is stock in the paddocks along here, brahma cattle and some large flocks of sheep.


3. Termite Mounds. We pushed on to Cloncurry where the landscape was greener and there was bushland. We started to see termite mounds in abundance on either side of the road. Unfortunately, there is no good place to pull over for photos as the verges were sloped and rocky. I was able to get a much closer look at the termite mounds in town, as there were many on the land adjoining the Cloncurry Caravan Park.


4. A Mining Town. After we settled in, I walked into town to the post office. The Cloncurry ambience was indeed one I would expect of a mining town. I looked down one of the side streets where I could see a slag heap from the copper mines.


Copper was discovered here by Ernest Henry in the 1860s and gave rise to the Great Australia Mine, located 2kms south of the town. The mine operated until 1919 when the practicalities of this remote area forced a closure but it reopened in 1995 and is now operated as an open cut. Notably, this 19th-century mine has yielded up a new discovery in the 21st century in the gem Cloncurryite, only recognised in 2006 and aptly named after the area. This is a sky-blue gem with clusters of needle-like crystals which is associated with native copper.


Today there are a number of mines in the area including Mount Colin Mine, Mount Frosty Mine and Ernest Henry Mining, which is a copper, gold mining and processing operation, 38kms from town. Although we didn't have time during our stay, visitors can get a fossicking licence and a fossicking mud map from the Visitor Information Centre at Cloncurry Unearthed in McIlwraith Street (Flinders Highway).


5. John Flynn Place and Art Gallery. We started our first full day with a visit to John Flynn Place. John Flynn, who came to be called Flynn of the Inland, was a Reverend in the Presbyterian Church. It was his dream to create a mantle of safety for the people of the outback, and he fulfilled this with the creation of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. The RFDS began here in Cloncurry on May 15th, 1928. The first flight took off two days later in 'Victory', a bi-plane leased from QANTAS for 2 shillings per mile flown. John Flynn Place is located on the corner of King Street and Daintree Street, Cloncurry. They can be contacted on (07) 4742 4153. Click here to visit the Cloncurry Council John Flynn Place page.


The museum walls are lined with storyboards of his work and there are many artefacts to view, including his Magic Lantern projector, which John Flynn, a keen photographer, used to show slides in his promotions of the Flying Doctor Service. There is a quarter-scale model of 'Victory' and a restored 1924 Dodge which is the same as that used by Flynn on his outback travels in the 1920s.


The lower level of the museum is dedicated to Alfred Traeger and his invention, the pedal radio. Traeger's radio solved the problem of a workable communication for the Outback. One of these early radios is on display, along with another of Traeger's inventions, the Morse code typewriter. Radios from the 1930s and 1960s are also on display.


There are movies to watch and we press the button for The Inlanders, a 1949 movie that follows the travels of the Reverend Kingsley 'Skipper' Partridge. You would not believe where he went in his ute; it would put many a modern 4WD to shame.

6. Cloncurry Unearthed (Mary Kathleen) Museum. After lunch, we wandered through the Cloncurry Unearthed (Mary Kathleen) Museum. We saw a short movie on the history of Cloncurry and then viewed the mineral and gem collection that is claimed to be one of the most comprehensive in Australia, with more than 16,000 specimens. The rocks and fossils are indeed beautiful, but much of it is lost on us. An avid collector would no doubt be very excited to be here. Outside, we climb concrete stairs to a lookout across the town and countryside. Click here to visit their website or call on (07) 4742 1361. The Cloncurry Visitor Information Centre is at Cloncurry Unearthed, which is in McIlwraith Street (Flinders Highway).


7. A Rock of Changing Colours.At 5.30pm we went to the edge of town, across the road from the Cloncurry Caravan Park, to view a large rock outcrop at sunset. The locals had told us it changes colour, and they were not wrong. They call it their Uluru. The colour changes over the course of a half-hour were dramatic. Just before sunset, the rocks were a deep rich red.


Where to Stay. We stayed in a cabin at the Cloncurry Caravan Park. The grounds are expansive. There is a shaded seating area, a pool, a gym, an activities room, a laundry and a camp kitchen. There is also a restaurant if you don't fancy cooking. Click here to visit the caravan park website or ring them on 1800 635 559. Alternatively, there is another caravan park and a number of motels. Click here for a Google list of accommodation options.


Getting There. The quickest way to Cloncurry is by plane with flights out of Brisbane taking about two and a half hours. You can travel there by train from Brisbane via Townsville, by bus from Brisbane (a long trip) or by car. Click here for more details of travel options from Brisbane.


If you're travelling in the area, don't pass Cloncurry by on your way to somewhere else; it's definitely worth at least a full day for exploration, and indeed probably more. Click here to visit the Cloncurry Discovery page for visitor assistance and information and click here for a tourism booklet.

Help us improve  Click here if you liked this article  84

Share: email  facebook  twitter

Why? An interesting mining town which gave birth to the Flying Doctor Service

When: Any time but I would recommend autumn and winter

Phone: (07) 4742 1361

Website: https://www.cloncurry.qld.gov.au/discover/home

Where: Cloncurry is a two-and-a-half-hour flight from Brisbane, 120 kms east of Mount Isa and 770 kilometres west of the city of Townsville via the Flinders Highway.