This was our first time to Chinchilla and we knew almost nothing about the town or its history. We stayed at the Charleys Creek van park on the outskirts of town, which was excellent. We had a great set up along the creek. While there is not a great deal to do in the town, the campsite proved a lovely place to spend some time.

We got to Chinchilla on 27th May 2024 for 3 nights. Our friends Liz and Barry were with us, with their little dog Rosie.

Kerry’s snippets in fuchsia

History

First Nations

Unfortunately I found very little information on the First Nations people of the area. The Baranggum people lived in the region for thousands of years before British colonisation. They spoke the now extinct Barunggam language.

Their area extended from Channing Creek near the current Yuleba on the west to Myall Creek near the current Dalby on the east, to the Great Dividing Range, and south to the Moonie and Condamine watersheds. They appear to have had kinship ties with the neighbouring Mandandanji, Bigambul and Yiman people.

The way of life of the First Nations people can be read here in the first 5 or so pages.

To read about the interaction between the First Nations people and the British settlers click here. While this is primarily written about the Toowoomba people, the story is likely to be similar for many other areas.

Colonial History

The first British explorer into the area was Allan Cunningham in 1827. Chinchilla was next discovered by explorer Ludwig Leichhardt on his 1844 expeditions.  However, it wasn’t until 1846 when he passed through again that he named Charley’s Creek and took up camp there with his party. The Creek was named in honour of Leichhardt’s Aboriginal guide – Charley Fisher – and it provided a reliable supply of water. This prompted the development of the first British colonial settlement in the Chinchilla District.

The name Chinchilla is a corruption of the Aboriginal word “tintinchilla” or “jinchilla” indicating cypress pine, possibly recorded by explorer and naturalist Ludwig Leichhardt. To read more about Chinchilla’s colonial history and its main features and attractions, click here.

Present day Chinchilla is a vibrant and thriving community in the heart of the Western Downs with an expanding retail sector and a diverse range of services and facilities. The town is world renowned for our its Melon Festival, which is held every second February.

In 2021, the total population of Chinchilla was estimated to be 7,157 people.

Day 1 – Monday 27 May

Getting There

Jondaryan Woolshed > Dalby (24km) > Chinchilla (84km) ~ 108km in total.

The stay at Chinchilla was part of a trip up to northern Queensland as far as Mission Beach – up the Great Inland Way and returning along the coast. We had covered much of the coastline north when we went around Australia in 2018 over a 2 year period. Posts for these travels can be found here.

The drive to Chinchilla is pretty much the same as that so far in the Darling Downs. Very flat countryside and a bumpy road to go with it. We saw a lot more cotton than further south.

We met the manager at the entrance and we followed him to our camp sites – the furthest from the entry, and in our opinion the best sites. The area is massive for camping with at least a dozen or more powered and watered sites.

We were side by side with Liz and Barry about 5m or so above the water and only 10m or so from the edge of the Creek. It’s a lovely spot, although the creek appeared stagnant and did not look the best. 

It was a bit of a hike to the ablutions, which were very simple – a couple of toilets and showers.  They are richly decorated with artwork on the outside walls.

Internet and phone wi-fi were OK

There were many fire pits around the van/camping area mostly using a truck wheel as the sides – perfect. You have to bring your own timber.

In the afternoon we called into the tourist information office. Nearby was the chinchillas famed big melon and we took the obligatory photo. 

Back at the van park we lit a fire and had a lovely evening.

Day 2 – Tuesday 28 May

My morning walk took me along Charleys Creek into town near the station.

Along the way a swarm of bats flew in making a racket and looking for a tree to catch hold of. See this in the video – click here.

At the station there is a series of 12 panel setting out the history of the town: First Nations, Ludwig Leichhardt, Cobb & Co, the Railway, Flooding (a massive issue), Dairy, Cropping, Forestry, Changing small communities, Electricity generation, Coal seam gas, and Prickly Pear. So much information. Maybe they should be moved to the Tourist Information Office. 

Right opposite the station is the Commercial Hotel and up from that the Tattersalls Hotel, which looks unused. Across the nearby bridge over the railway line is the very fine looking hotel – The Club.

I walked through the town and saw a few lovely buildings on the way.

With relatively few things to see at Chinchilla we had a lazy morning reading and emailing, before driving out to Chinchilla Weir. This is 8 km south of Chinchilla on the Condamine River. It was built in 1973 to overcome a shortage of water supply for the town of Chinchilla. Today it also supplies irrigators upstream through the pond created by the weir and downstream from water releases.

It’s quite an unusual and impressive looking structure, particularly when water is cascading over the crest of the weir as it was when we were there. check it out in the video – click here.  So many pelicans were on the weir – very impressive.

From there we went to see the Chinchilla Botanic Parklands. These were officially opened in 2019 and are a great asset for the town. The parklands were built on the site of the railway depot.

It is not a botanical garden, but rather an area of parklands that all the community can enjoy. There are many garden areas in the parklands – it would be great to be there in spring.

Spanning 4.2 hectares, the Parkland boasts state-of-the-art water treatment and irrigation systems with solar panels powering the entire site.  All of the plants were planted because of their ability to cope with the dry conditions of the Chinchilla area.

I really liked the sandstone rock area – such amazing colours and patterns in the rocks.

The water play area is excellent – kids love anything to do with water. The climbing area is also great for kids.

From there we went again to the Big Melon so that Liz and Barry could see it, then back to the lovely Charleys Creek.

That night we went into The Commercial for dinner – the only dog-friendly place Barry could find. It was pretty good food. But next morning I could not find my phone. After a manic hour searching the car and van we finally got onto the pub. Thank heavens they had found it. What a relief!!!  I phoned the pub which had just opened and the lady told me yes, they’ve got it and its on charge.  Des drove into town to collect it while I finished packing up the van for the drive to Roma.

 

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For photos of this post click here

For a short video of this pose click here