Outback Queensland Travel

Queensland's Outback has it all - from the magnificent natural diversity of the Channel Country in the south west, the heritage-rich Matilda Country of the central west and the ancient lands of the Dinosaur, Fossil and Mining Country in the north west.

The Outback is a large region covering most of the center of Australia, including inland areas of New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Outback refers to remote and arid areas of Australia, although the term colloquially can refer to any lands outside of the main urban areas.

The term "outback" is generally used to refer to locations that are comparatively more remote than those areas deemed "the bush".

The Dinosaur, Fossil and Mining Country of the North West region is located along the Gulf of Carpentaria coast. The region's terrain is mostly arid or savannah country. The region has a population of 34,750 or less than 1% of the state's total 28.1% of the region's population identify as Indigenous.

The Matilda Country of the Central West Region of Queensland is a fascinating part of Australia. It's where the ethos of the bush was created, in towns like Longreach, Charleville, Blackall, Barcaldine and Winton. Here lived the poets, shearers, stockmen and entrepreneurs who defined our national character in the nineteenth century.

The Channel Country of Queensland, Australia, is located in the remote south west of the state. The South West region, borders the states of New South Wales and South Australia and the Northern Territory and is sparsely populated.

It is a series of ancient flood plains with rivers which flow intermittently. The principal rivers are Cooper's Creek and the Diamantina River. When there is sufficient rainfall in their catchment area these rivers flow into Lake Eyre, South Australia. In most years the flood waters are absorbed into the earth or evaporate, however. The primary land use is cattle grazing.

Cities and Major Towns of Outback Queensland

• Mount Isa
• Burketown,
• Cloncurry
• Doomadgee
• Kowanyama,
• Mornington Island
• Normanton.
• Roma
• Cunnamulla
• Birdsville.
• Quilpie
• Boulia
• Longreach
• Winton
• Charleville
• Blackall
•  Barcaldine

Things to See at Outback Queensland

• Matilda Highway, a tourist route which starts just over the NSW/Qld border north of Bourke and runs north-west through all of these towns on its way to the Gulf.
• Bedourie's Artesian Spa and Swimming Pool Complex has a 22 person Therapeutic Spa, which is one of the favourite for locals and visitors alike.
• The Flinders Discovery Centre in Hughenden houses a skeletal life-size replica of the Muttaburrasaurus Langdoni, a dinosaur fossil display including local fossils, and gemstones and fossils from around the world.
• Charleville's Historic House Museum is full of treasures of every day outback life, from the days of early European settlement when life was tough and outback ingenuity was born.
• Mount Isa Underground Hospital and Museum - The first hospital in Mount Isa was a row of tents operated by the company from the earliest years of mining operations.
• Qantas Founders Museum - The Qantas Founders Museum includes the historic 1922 Qantas hangar.
• Royal Flying Doctor Service Visitor Centre at Mount Isa
• Australia's Dinosaur Trail at Winton - Follow in the footsteps of the prehistoric creatures that once roamed this ancient land.
  
• Banjo's Outback Theatre and Woolshed at Longreach. The Banjo's Outback Theatre shows you the life, drama and laughter of the outback's legendary Pioneering Days
• Riversleigh Fossils Centre - Conveniently displaying the results of excavation at the World Heritage site
• The Big Rig, Warrego Highway, Roma - The town's major tourist attraction pays tribute to its oil and gas industry from the early 1900s. It is located on an old oil derrick on the outskirts of the town, and is part of the Queensland Heritage Trails Network.
• Cosmos Centre at Charleville. The Cosmos Centre is an astronomy centre open night and day. 
• Kooroorinya Falls is a natural waterhole surrounded by high rock walls on one side and sandy, shaded banks on the other.
• Camooweal Caves National Park provides a stopover for weary travellers to camp and refresh in a remote bush setting. The caves are sinkholes in the ground. Here, water has percolated through 500 million year-old layers of soluble dolomite creating caverns linked by vertical shafts up to 75 metres deep. The caves are not accessible to visitors.
• Simpson Desert National Park - Spanning 1,012,000 hectares in the arid outback, this is Queensland's largest protected area.
• White Mountains National Park - White sandstone bluffs and gorges characterise this rugged wilderness area.