Monday 21 August - Muttaburra

Ian wanted to check the tyre pressure while the tyres were cold so this was the first thing he did this morning.  They were a bit low so he got the pump out to inflate them. Obviously the pump thought pumping up 8 tyres yesterday was too much work and went on strike today.  Thank goodness it didn't stop working yesterday.  At least they are inflated enough to continue on until we can put some more in.  Yesterday Ian was looking at the map of the area and found the town of Muttaburra.  When he looked it up in the brochures we had, it sounded nice so we decided to make a slight detour and turned right instead of left.  Why, because we can.  So we are now in the geographical centre of Queensland, set up in the council ran caravan park.  Had some lunch then headed into town.  Once again it is a small country town trying to encourage tourists to visit and spend some money.  We headed to Dr Arratta Museum which is housed in the old district hospital which closed in 1989.  Dr Arratta was the doctor here for 35 years around the 1920's and the museum houses old medical equipment.  The town was much larger then and people from Winton and Longreach would come to the hospital here.  The building of the railway to Winton and Longreach instead of Muttaburra caused the towns decline.   Next stop was the Union Camp and Union Hole where in 1891, 400 striking shearers camped and got their water.  According to our tour guide at the museum, this was the start of the Union movement and in the nearby town of Barcaldine the labour party was founded.  Continued our tour of the town and stopped off at A.A. Cassimatis Store and Cottage.   This museum shows the living conditions in the early 1900's and the general store in a small and remote community.  The business was established in 1913 by the Cassimatis family who moved here from Greece.  It was not only a general store, it was also a bank, green grocer, haberdashery, liquor store and motor mechanic.  The doors closed in 1978 and the museum was started.  Had the usual array of items found in museums.  The area is also where the Muttaburrasaurus fossilised dinosaur skeleton was found in 1963 by a local grazier.  There is a life sized replica in the main street.  Back to the park where we are 1 of 5 vans here for the night.