Today was a lot shorter. We travelled along the Leichardt Highway, then the Fitzroy Development Road and we are now at Dingo. Its a very small town in central Queensland, with a population of about 200. We are camped next to a busy road, railway line and a sawmill. Wonder how many interruptions we’ll have to our sleep tonight!!!
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| Sawmill at Dingo |
The countryside was more of the same; lots of river/creek crossings (all dry of course), dry looking country, some very flat and some with interesting hills. Then just when I almost got out my book along comes some interesting irrigation area with different crops. Plus somewhere off the road (get glimpses) there is coal and gas mining and very long trains laden with coal.
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| Theodore |
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| Cotton |
Talked to a very interesting local at Theodore, this town was purpose built by the Government to support irrigation in the area. Nowadays the main irrigated crop is cotton and other crops include wheat, sorgum and mung beans. Nice spot. Apparently the whole town was evacuated in the 2010-11 floods (when the Dawson River flooded) for a few weeks.
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Samples of grain grown in the district |
We diverted via the Mount Moura Coal Mine where over the past thirty years there have been three underground mining disasters on this lease and tragically 35 lives have been lost.The first was in 1975 when thirteen miners lost their lives; their bodies were never recovered. In 1986 after an explosion underground. twelve miners lost their lives. The final explosion happened in 1994 where 12 miners perished after two explosions. On August the 9th they were attempting a rescue when the second explosion happened and the bodies were never recovered. After this underground mining ceased. Its all open cut nowadays and they have changed the name of the mine. The company has committed to never disturbing the ground where the men lie buried.
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| Open cut coal mining |
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| Coal Train |
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