MARY KATHLEEN to the MATILDA HIGHWAY

11^th September, 2012

Fifty seven kilometres to the east of Mount Isa we come to a screeching stop in front of a signpost that says Mary Kathleen.  When Wok was in his early teens his older brother Les journeyed north into Queensland from New South Wales and worked here for a few years.  We decided to turn off the highway and find out a little bit more about the mining town of Mary Kathleen.  Just off the highway is an information board that tells us a bit about the history of the town.



Our curiosity is now kindled as we hadn’t realised that the town was no longer in existence so we drive over the grid and down what once would have been the main road to the mine and the town.



The main road entrance to Mary Kathleen Mine and town

We decide to explore the mine area first and after slowly working our way along the unmaintained bitumen road we come to a sign that leaves us in no doubt that we have arrived at our destination.

The mine entrance tree sign - plus assorted bits

A short stroll up the dirt road brings us to a series of concrete slabs either side of the roadway.

Foundations of mine buildings - mine site in background

These would have obviously been the foundations for the mine administration buildings and workshops.  As we walk towards the tailings dump we pass more concrete foundations

Wok walks towards the mine

until finally we are overlooking the tiered open cut mine.

Mary Kathleen open cut mine (abandoned)

Uranium was mined here between 1954 until the early sixties when the mine ceased operation.  It then reopened in the early 1970’s and shut down for the second time in 1984.  There has been renewed interest in the mine this year and plans are in progress to reopen it (not to mine for uranium) but to extract the copper and rare earth minerals that are in the tailings dump and still underground.  We drive back to the town site and stop at the roundabout that was the main entrance into the town of Mary Kathleen.

Main entrance to the town of Mary Kathleen (abandoned)

Then we drive up and down the residential streets where the concrete slabs for the carports still remain.  The town centre was built around a square which still had the remains of a large pond and fountain.

Mitzi and the Van parked in the Town Centre of Mary Kathleen

The town once housed 1,000 people.  It had all the services that modern towns now have with a bank, store, medical centre, police station, fire station, primary school, service station, churches, swimming pool, golf club, bowling club, tennis courts, basketball courts etc. etc.  We could see from the layout that the town was well designed with gardens and rockeries in public areas.  No structures remain – everything was taken away.  The abandoned town site has now become an unofficial camping ground so we find a shady spot beside the slab for the single men’s quarters

Our campsite for the night - nobody else around

and settle in for the night.  In the morning we awake to the early bird chorus and watch the cattle graze around us.  Then to our surprise a gaggle of brolgas walk serenely past. 

Five brolgas on their morning constitutional

These tall stately birds never seem to be in a hurry.  Even when we tried to get closer to take photos they just seemed to glide away from us – walking faster than we could run.  This is the closest we have managed to get to brolgas and never thought we would see them in this sort of country.  You just never know what’s around the corner.  We head off towards Cloncurry and stop in at the Information Centre for information naturally.  There is a small hill behind the centre and we climb up to the top for a view of Cloncurry. 

Cloncurry

It’s an interesting outback town with its early history steeped in gold mining.  Mining is still an integral part of the community along with the cattle industry.  With the information for the Matilda Highway in our hot little hands we continue on our merry way.  Eleven kilometres from Cloncurry we turn south onto the Matilda Highway and a hundred kilometres further on come to a familiar sight.  Now we have never been to the town of McKinlay but the hotel has got to be one of the best known hotels in Australia. 

Walkabout Creek Hotel in McKinlay

The Walkabout Creek Hotel was made famous by being Paul Hogan’s watering place and unofficial office for his tour company in the movie Crocodile Dundee.  We enter into the foyer where a large mural (with crocodile taking the starring role) has been painted on the wall.

Mural inside hotel

It is nearly noon but the pub was spookily empty of patrons.  The purple clothed billiard table seemed to be crying out for someone to come and play

Billiard room with #%*! PURPLE games table.

and with no-one at the bar we thought that maybe this might be the Pub with No Beer?

Where is everyone???

But no!  The beer was cold and on tap.  It seems the action really doesn’t start happening until the late afternoon when everyone finishes work for the day.  Wok was seriously considering setting up camp in the bar and spending the afternoon but figured that by mid afternoon he would probably be lying paralytic on the floor and miss the party anyway.  So we hopped back in Mitzi and drove further south until we came to a rest area beside the road and set up camp for the night.  Tomorrow we will arrive at Winton where our search for dinosaurs will begin …..