Are We There Yet?: Boulia and the Land of the Min Min Lights

Monday, 9 September 2024

Boulia and the Land of the Min Min Lights

Over the years we have seen many TV commercials about visiting the Land of the Min Min Lights, so this July we did it. Situated 1735k west from Brisbane, we turned west from Winton onto the Kennedy Development Road heading for Boulia. The road is quite good, although it is single lane bitumen most of the way.

There are many good overnight campsites along the way, and many sights to stop and look at. We stayed at Poddy Creek one night, and Middleton Pub the second night. Really should have stayed at the pub a second (or third night).

At Boulia we stayed at the Racecourse Reserve, a very large area that includes areas by the riverside. We camped in a large open area to take advantage of the solar. There are no facilities.

The name Boulia comes from the local Pitta Pitta people meaning water hole. The town is located on the Burke River (named after Burke of Burke and Wills fame). The first known Europeans to the area were the Burke and Wills expedition in 1861. There is a sign just before town telling of the Burke and Wills expedition, and the town provides free water for travellers.

Taps are located in the centre of the main street.

Over 100 million years ago the area was part of the Great Inland Sea and today it is good grazing land. This bought early pastoralists to set up properties in the area in the late 1860's early 1870's. The town was officially proclaimed on 31 July 1879 and land was put aside to develop the town as a service centre for local pastoralists and travellers. It wasn't until 1883 that the first land was put up for sale.

Being in the Outback, and visiting towns that in the past were serviced by Cobb and Co, and before that cameleers and camels that brought food and supplies to the pastoralists and construction teams, we were still surprised to see wild camels roaming outside of the town. It is recorded that over 100,000 wild camels roam the outback.

The area is famous for sightings of the Min Min Lights - one or two bright white floating lights that seem to follow you, and appear and disappear very quickly. Some people have reported the lights as yellow or blue, but mostly they are bright white. The first recorded sighting of the lights wasn't until the 1890s near the site of the old Min Min Hotel. However, Aboriginal people have recorded sightings well before this. The Aboriginal people believe the lights are the spirits of the elders looking after the country. We didn't see any lights.

We did go to the Min Min Experience at the information centre, well worth a visit at a cost of $30, but we purchased a combo ticket for the Min Min and the Heritage Complex (usually $20) for $40 for both, and the Heritage Complex was the highlight. The Min Min Experience takes 45 minutes as one walks through 5 or 6 rooms and watches the interactive stories about the Min Min. Shelley at the information centre was lovely and so informative about the town and the history and the town today.

There is also a book at the information centre that records the Min Min sightings, worth a read if one has time.

The Heritage Museum houses a lot of old machinery and artifacts, but it also has some very interesting history. The 'Stone House', built on the site in 1888 by James Edwards Jones is still in good order and houses some original furniture of the time.

There are hospital and dental machinery and artifacts in the main building, along with history of the local area and local aboriginal history. Another room houses photographs and stories of war.

Between the machinery and old movie theatre building is some space junk - very interesting.

Another building houses a 100 million year old marine fossil from when the land was part of the inland sea - an 80% complete plesiosaur - real bones, not replicas.