The town is also famous as the former home of Jackie Howe
- a sheep shearer who set the world record for shearing with hand
shears in its day. When he retired he bought and run the Universal
Hotel - a pub that does not exist anymore, but a facade that is similar
to the original one is behind his statue in the main street. The
building contains a museum and a souvenir shop.
The town was also the first in Queensland to have an artesian
bore.
Now many Queensland outback towns do, thanks to a large artesian water
supply deep in the ground under outback Queensland.
Blackall is also one of the towns in Australia, and the only one in
Queensland, that claims to be the place of the original "Black
Stump".
There are different theories and the full truth behind the historical
expression is not fully known, but in modern meaning (and
some
historical theories) it means that beyond the black stump is (or was in
its day) no civilisation.
Black Stump sign. by deepwarren via Flickr.com
Here's a map of the town. You can
double-click
anywhere on the map to zoom it in and see the places
closer. Drag the map to move around, and if you want to see the
satellite image with Google Earth, click on "Sat" in the top right hand
corner.
Note:
This site uses
British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will
find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all
correct in the language used in Australia.
Disclaimer: Although
best efforts have been made to ensure
that all the information on this site is correct,
gondwananet.com is not to be blamed should there be a mistake.
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