One of the oldest towns in the central west - Aramac

We left Blackall and headed to Barcaldine and then to Aramac. The town was originally named Marathon and was renamed Aramac after the first explorer to the area, Robert Ramsay MacKenzie (R.R. Mac). 

The camp ground is located beside the show grounds and the council advertise pay for two and get two for free, so we found a spot and headed to the council, which is also the info centre and paid our $15 a night for two nights and booked in for four. $30 for four nights WITH power and water, what a bargain. 

We saw some spectacular sunsets ...

... and an interesting moon.

A short walk down the road and we came across this ... it is the wash station for the trucks, I think,  and it has this 'thing' with wild pig skulls all over it. Very strange.

The second day we drove about 70 kms to Muttaburra,  and the next night we went to dinner at the Aramac Hotel. A little expensive, but I had the best chicken kiev I have had in a while.

 Day four was spent exploring the Aramac area. 

The area use to be one of the biggest wool producing areas in Australia. However, it was cattle that made Aramac famous.

In the main street is a statue of a white bull. Cattle rustler Harry Redford stole cattle from a local property, including the white bull and made his way to South Australia to sell the livestock. Someone recognized the white bull and got the police. Harry was arrested and he and the bull were taken to Roma for trial. The jury found Harry not guilty,  and the legend of Captain Starlight was born.

Early in the 1900’s the Queensland Government was running rail tracks across the state. Aramac was not included on the state grid, so residents made the decision to build their own railway to Barcaldine. The railway ran from 1913 to 1975. Today a tramway museum is situated around the old station. It was very interesting. 

We didn't do the Lake Dunn circuit, as there was no water in the lake. However, another camper took part of that route and saw some great 'junk art', which seems to be popular in the area. Guess we will do it next time.

The town is not very big, and many buildings have information boards about the history of the building. This building had no information,  but it appears to be old and some type of ticket office. 

Town trivia - actor John Jarrett grew up in the Aramac area and his father was a church minister.