Some Queensland History

Date of Adventure 3 and 4 November 2024

Driving out of Mareeba for my next destination included a few interesting stops. I went to a “market” in Tolga, between Mareeba and Atherton. This is a market that happens only on the first Sunday of the month. It’s a real local deal and mostly craft stuff. It’s always interesting to see how local markets work in other places. I did manage to get some good hot sauce. Most of the hot sauce in the stores is not very exciting.

I went on to the town of Herberton, where there is a “Historical Village”. Kind of different. This is a private museum. Some guy collected “stuff”, including buildings from around the area. They have reconstructed a lot of buildings, offices, etc. from a disperse period of time. It’s sort of eclectic. Most of the buildings have been reconstructed with mannequins to look like the period. But the period varies from building to building. This is just a simple photo display of some of the things in the village. I spent around 2 hours walking around. It’s interesting and probably worth the AUD 40 that it cost me. If you were into lots of historical artifacts you could spend more time than I did.

But after my touring Herberton it was time for a cold one!! I went back into Atherton to the Billycart Brewery. It was totally worth it. They have a great open-air place to sit and kick back. And the Sunday that I was there the food truck was Thai food and it was really good and pretty cheap. Something I’d do again if ever in the area.

Then it was on to Irvinebank to camp for the night. To get there was about 25 km of dirt road but well graded and easy. This is another place worth visiting!! It’s a partially deserted tin mining town. Unfortunately the Irvinebank Tavern is closed and the sign says that it’s now a private residence. Too bad because it looks like the kind of place I’d love to visit. But not too surprising. Free camping right across the street. They’ve even got zebras in the forest. Bathrooms nearby and a hot shower with a donation box to cover the cost of heating water. With only my Troopy and a camper that came in about dark, it was pretty mellow. I’m not sure what it would be like in high season!

But the real draw to Irvinebank is Brian’s Shed. I almost blew it off but decided to stop. You can search for it online. I didn’t take a lot of photos because I spent over 2 hours walking around the place and talking to Brian. He has collected all kinds of stuff. From minerals to some old WWII trucks to mine pumps. I would guess that most of the gear actually works. He spends a lot of time just repairing and refurbishing old equipment from the mining days and other things that people give him. I was the only visitor in a couple of days, according to his visitor’s log. He’s a totally interesting and straightforward person. I just got so involved talking to him that I didn’t take that many pictures. And, it’s free, for a donation, whatever you want. In the end…Brian’s Shed is a better experience in Queensland mining history than Herberton. At least in my opinion it is.

From there I took the back road through Silver Valley to Innot Hot Springs. It’s a really fun 4WD road. Actually you could make it in a 2WD car but there are a few slow spots. I was in a bit of a hurry. (Damn, I don’t know why I was hurrying!!) So I didn’t take any pictures of the drive. But it was a good one.

I’ll end this with a comment about Innot Hot Springs. There’s a “resort” caravan park there that apparently has some hot spring soaking but I chose to go over to the free spring. It has a lot of algae and it’s more of a wallow than a soak. The first place I checked was really hot…way too hot to get in. But I was able to find a reasonable place. Maybe 98-100 degrees F. I wallowed around in it for a while before getting out and heading for my station stay camping place for the night.