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| Old Queensland Stock Routes | |
|---|---|
| Name | Old Queensland Stock Routes |
| Settlement type | Historical track network |
| Subdivision type | Country |
| Subdivision name | Australia |
| Subdivision type1 | State |
| Subdivision name1 | Queensland |
| Established title | Established |
| Established date | 19th century |
| Unit pref | Metric |
Old Queensland Stock Routes
Old Queensland Stock Routes are historic droving tracks and watering corridors developed in 19th-century Queensland to move cattle and sheep between pastoral runs, markets, and railheads. They link pastoral districts such as the Darling Downs, South West Queensland, Central Queensland and North Queensland with river crossings like the Barcoo River and transport nodes including Brisbane and the former terminus at Charleville. The network intersects with colonial institutions such as the Queensland Parliament pastoral legislation and bodies like the Darling Downs Pastoralists' Association.
The routes originate in the 1840s and 1850s during expansion by figures such as pastoralist Ernest Henry and explorer Thomas Mitchell whose expeditions influenced corridor selection, while surveyors from the Surveyor-General of Queensland formalised tracks. Early use involved drovers associated with companies like the Australian Agricultural Company and individual pastoralists including Clem Jones and John McKinlay who navigated floodplains of the Maranoa River, Lachlan River and Warrego River. Legislative frameworks including the Crown Lands Act 1861 and later Acts affected stock route reservation and watering rights, and conflicts arose involving Aboriginal groups such as the Kalkadoon and Gunggari during frontier expansion. Rail development by entities such as the Queensland Rail from the 1860s shifted droving patterns toward coach roads like the Brisbane–Toowoomba road and to saleyards at regional towns including Dalby, Roma, Longreach and Thargomindah.
The network comprises arterial tracks, spur trails and linkages across bioregions like the Brigalow Belt, Channel Country and Mitchell Grass Downs. Major corridors radiated from nodes at Brisbane and Ipswich toward the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Border Rivers area, connecting stock reserves at places such as Cunnamulla and Augathella. Routes pass notable landscape features including the Great Dividing Range, Cooper Creek catchment and floodplain crossings at Bulloo River and Sturt Stony Desert. Seasonal variabilities tied to the La Niña and El Niño–Southern Oscillation influenced timings on corridors moving livestock to markets like the Brisbane Markets and Rockhampton.
Key infrastructure included native and introduced watering points such as permanently spring-fed sites at Termite mounds-associated springs and constructed troughs near telegraph stations like Alice River Telegraph Station and coach hotels including the Royal Mail Hotel, Stanthorpe. Roadbed improvements, stockyards, paddocks, fencing, and drover huts were installed by pastoral leases managed by corporations like the North Australian Pastoral Company and proprietors such as Sir Samuel McCaughey. Survey markers placed by the Department of Public Lands (Queensland) and milestones near river crossings regulated spacing between watering points. Rope- and log-built bridges on creek crossings, and stone-faced wells at sites associated with explorers Ludwig Leichhardt and John McDouall Stuart, illustrate engineering adaptations to local geomorphology.
The stock routes traverse ecosystems supporting species recorded by naturalists associated with the Queensland Museum and the Royal Society of Queensland, intersecting habitats of fauna like the Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Brigalow Belt fauna and migratory birds catalogued by ornithologists linked to the Bird Observers Club of Australia. Cultural values include Aboriginal songlines and traditional pathways of groups such as the Wakka Wakka, Kooma and Gamilaraay, and they feature in colonial-era accounts by writers like Barcroft Boake and Henry Lawson who referenced droving life. The routes played roles in economic flows tied to enterprises like the Melbourne–Brisbane cattle trade and social institutions like drovers' unions exemplified in archives of the Australian Workers' Union.
Management involves multiple agencies and stakeholders including the Department of Environment and Science (Queensland), local government areas such as the Maranoa Region council, pastoral leaseholders, Indigenous land councils like the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission successors and conservation NGOs such as the Australian Conservation Foundation. Conservation actions coordinate with frameworks like the Nature Conservation Act 1992 and regional plans including the Queensland South West Regional Plan, addressing invasive species control, water allocation administered under statutes such as the Water Act 2000 (Queensland) and heritage maintenance by organisations like the National Trust of Queensland. Collaborative programs involve universities including the University of Queensland and research institutions like the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation for ecological monitoring and cultural heritage surveys.
Portions of the network appear in heritage registers maintained by the Queensland Heritage Council and local heritage overlays in shires such as Murweh Shire and Balonne Shire. Notable sections include droving tracks near Cunnamulla with remaining stockyards, the artesian-fed watering sites of the Great Artesian Basin margin at Blackall, drover huts preserved around Longreach and stone-lined wells near Charters Towers. Commemorative place markers and museums such as the Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Queensland Museum collections interpret droving history, while events like the Drought Relief Fund rallies and heritage trails administered by the Queensland Heritage Trails Network celebrate the routes' legacy.
Category:Historic trails in Queensland Category:Heritage of Queensland