Blackall and the elephant

I happened to hear on the radio that Blackall unveiled its big elephant on Australia Day.

Blackall is a small town in Central Queensland, population 950 at last count. We have been there several times: the photos are from our first visit in 2004.

For such a small place, Blackall has quite a number of claims to fame. This is sheep country, and there is a monument to Jackie Howe, a gun shearer who in 1892 sheared 321 sheep in 7 hours 40 minutes, using hand shears. (A gun shearer is a hand shearer who works very fast, shearing a sheep in a few minutes.) Blackall also has the last remaining steam driven woolscour in Australia, used for washing fleeces. The first artesian bore was drilled at Blackall, and the town boasts a swimming complex with comfortably warm artesian water. Finally Blackall claims to be the home of the legendary ‘black stump’, a marker used in surveys to fix the positions of principal towns in Queensland. (The term ‘Beyond the black stump’ means beyond the boundaries of civilisation, or in the outback.)

But why an elephant (extra)? Well it seems that Blackall can also claim a role in the birth of the circus industry in Australia, since the Perry Brothers’ circus originated here, and toured Australia for over a hundred years. It was the last circus to tour with elephants in Australia.

So Blackall is entitled to its elephant.