Birdsville
Famous isolated outback township which is little more
than a pub and few houses.
It is hard to imagine any place in Australia which evokes
quite the sense of loneliness and isolation as that of
Birdsville, the tiny settlement at the northern end of the
notorious and dangerous Birdsville track. The poet Douglas
Stewart seemed to sum it up when he wrote that it 'has
shrunk / Between two deserts / On a ridge in the sun'.
Located over 1600 km west of Brisbane in the vast
Diamantina Shire, Birdsville sits on the edge of the Simpson
Desert and operates like some kind of mysterious magnet to
people who want to go to the most isolated place on the
continent.
The first European explorer to venture into this lonely
area was Charles Sturt, after whom Sturt Stony Desert to the
south-east of the town is named. Sturt was unambiguous in
his response to the terrain describing it as a 'desperate
region having no parallel on earth'. Such warnings didn't
stop the intrepid and foolhardy Burke and Wills who, with
King and Gray, passed only a few kilometres from the present
town site on their 1860 journey to the Gulf. Wills noted the
large number of birds in the region.
In the 1870s the grab for pastoral land reached westwards
and a series of large stations - Pandie Pandie, Planet
Downs, Alton Downs - were established. Pandie Pandie is
located 15 km south of the Queensland border although the
original homestead has a distinctly Queensland feel to it.
Birdsville was originally named Diamantina Crossing. The
Diamantina River, which intermittently runs to the east of
the town, was named in 1866 by the explorer William
Landsborough who was honouring the wife of Queensland's
first governor, the unusually-named Diamantina Roma Bowen.
The town was renamed Birdsville by the owner of Pandie
Pandie Station who was amazed by the diversity of birdlife
which inhabited the area. It is extraordinary to find
seagulls in the salt lakes which exist in the area.
Birdsville came to importance in the 1880s when the
drovers and station owners in western Queensland realised
that moving cattle through the Channel country and down the
Birdsville Track to the railhead at Marree (which had been
opened in 1884) was the most efficient way to transport
cattle to the coastal markets.
Pre-Federation Queensland established a customs
collection point at Birdsville which was only 10 km from the
border. By the late 1880s there were two hotels, three
general stores, a doctor, a bank and a police magistrate.
Birdsville's raison d'etre virtually disappeared with
Federation in 1901 when interstate trade was freed and since
then it has been declining in importance. It currently has a
population of about 100. The current fascination with
isolated places has meant that a regular stream of 4WD
adventurers, all determined to travel the 500 km of the
Birdsville track, pass through the town. This adventure
travelling has done much to sustain the town's faltering
economy.
Things to see:
Heritage Buildings
The old Australian Inland Mission Hospital, a wonderful
rough stone building, was constructed in 1882 as the Royal
Hotel, one of the town's first two pubs. It was bought by
the AIM in 1923 and used as a hospital base for the Royal
Flying Doctor. It was from this building that Birdsville's
first pedal wireless broadcast occurred in 1929.
Birdsville's second pub, the Birdsville Hotel, was built
in 1884-5. A simple, stone, single-storey building it is now
listed by the National Trust. It has become something of a
mandatory stopover point in the town. During September, when
the town's spring races are held and people fly and drive in
from all over Australia, the pub does a roaring trade.
Simpson Desert National Park
65 km to the west of Birdsville is the vast Simpson Desert
National Park covering approximately 505 000 hectares and
characterised by huge sand dunes which run parallel to each
other at distances of anything from 200 to 600 metres. The
average height of the dunes is 30 metres. Significantly
there is no major river system in the park. This is classic
arid desert terrain and vegetation. The dead heart of
Australia.
A word of warning: about 100 km down the Birdsville Track
is a simple memorial to the Page family who in 1963, after
their car had broken down on the road, tried to walk out.
All five members of the family died. This is not an area for
risk taking.
Australian Businesses for sale
Caravan Parks for sale
Motels for sale
Hotels for sale
Broadwalk Business Brokers
Businesses for Sale in Birdsville
: Buy or Sell Hotels, Motels, Caravan Parks, Bed & Breakfast,
Pubs, Wine Bars, Restaurants, Cafe, English Tea Rooms, Coffee Shops,
Deli, Catering Business, Pubs, Bars, Sandwich Bars, Pizza Delivery,
Bakeries, Hot Food Take-away, Fish & Chips, Petrol & Service Stations,
Australian Businesses for sale, Car Sales, Motor & Transport, Car/Van
Hires, Newsagents, Dry Cleaners, Salons, General Stores, Retail Stores,
Post Office, Printers, Convenience Stores, Clothes shop, Hair Dressers,
Beauty Salon, Fruit Markets, Butchers, Florist, Card & Gift shop, Sports
shop, Book Shops, Care Agency, Pharmacy, Tool-Hardware & DIY shops, Pet
Shops, Auto Mechanical, Auto Parts & Accessories,
Bakery Businesses for sale , Motel sales, caravan park sales, Hotel
sales, Business sales, Bar for sale, Juice Bar for sale,
Beauty Salon for sale, Bike and Motorcycle Businesses for sale ,
Australian Businesses for sale, Blinds and Shutters Businesses for sale , Boat Business for sale ,
Book Shop , Bread Run, Building and Construction , Butcher Shop,
Café Business for sale, Car Dealerships for sale, Car Rental
Business for sale , Car Yard, Cleaning Business for sale, Computer
Business for sale, Childcare Centre for sale, Confectionary
Business for sale, Convenience Store for sale, Deli Businesses for
sale , Distribution Businesses for sale , Earth Moving Businesses
for sale , Businesses for sale , Engineering Businesses for sale ,
Export/Import Businesses for sale , Fitness Centres for sale,
Florist for sale, Franchise Businesses for sale , Fruit and Veg
Shop for sale, Function Centre for sale, Funeral Parlour for sale,
Furniture Businesses for sale , Garden Equipment Businesses for
sale , General Store s for sale, Gift Shop for sale, Hairdressing
salons for sale , Hardware Businesses for sale , Hire Businesses for
sale , Businesses for sale, Motels for sale, Caravan Parks for sale,
hotels for sale, Ice Cream Businesses for sale , Juice Bar for sale, Laundrette ' s for sale, Lawn Mowing Businesses for sale , Magazine
Businesses for sale , Manufacturing Businesses for sale , Marine
Businesses for sale , Menswear Businesses for sale , Milk Run 's
for sale, Mixed Businesses for sale , Mobile Businesses for sale ,
News agency Businesses for sale , Pawnbroker Businesses for sale ,
Preschool for sale, Pest Control Businesses for sale ,Business for
sale Pet Shop, Plumbing Businesses for sale , Post Office for sale ,
Removalist Businesses for sale, Restaurants for sale, Roadhouses for
sale, Rubbish Removal Businesses for sale , Rural Supplies
Businesses for sale , Sales and Distribution Businesses for sale ,
Security Businesses for sale , Service Station for sale, Shoe Shop
for sale, Supermarkets for sale, Takeaway Businesses for sale ,
Taxi Businesses for sale , Transport Businesses for sale , Vending
Machine Businesses for sale , Wholesale Businesses for sale,
Wrecking Yard for sale in Birdsville.
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