Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has declared 2019 to be the year of Outback Tourism in Queensland.
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It's a laudable initiative made even more pressing and timely by the floods which played havoc with our cattle producing industry earlier this year, with corresponding knock-on effects to the towns of North West Queensland.
Easter is past us and that means the tourist season has already started and I've noticed an increase in caravans coming through.
Actually the season started slightly earlier with the annual Julia Creek Dirt N Dust festival attracting thousands for the event's 25th anniversary, made more poignant by the fact that the town was essentially ground zero in the February floods.
Last weekend we had the second Winton Way Out West festival, with 6000 people attracted by some of the best country and western artists in Australia and North America on the bill.
The large crowd were determined not to be bothered by the billions of flies and had a great time putting money into the economy of another area ravaged by the floods.
The fun continues this weekend on two fronts in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
In the Gregory hundreds of campers will gather for the annual "saddle and paddle" weekend with the Gregory Downs races on Saturday followed by the Gregory Canoe Classic on Sunday.
Meanwhile over in Karumba, the Carpentaria Shire Council is hosting its first ever Barra and Blues Festival which will coincide with the official opening of the Les Wilson Barramundi Discovery Centre.
Before too long we'll have the Winton, Cloncurry, and Mount Isa shows, the Boulia Camel Races and the Birdsville Big Red Bash featuring Midnight Oil and then the rodeo season: Quamby, followed by the 65th anniversary Curry Merry Muster and then the 60th anniversary Mount Isa Mines Rodeo.
A new addition is the June/July Outback Queensland Masters, a six-weekend tour of outback golf courses ending with the million dollar hole-in-one challenge in Mount Isa.
This is a great initiative that will hopefully give many city folk the excuse to get out bush - and importantly get out their wallets and help the local economy - Derek Barry
Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
