We were up reasonably early for the next part of our trip and today we had decided to drive to Roma taking in Chinchilla and Miles on the way.
We loaded up the car, booked out of The Drovers Inn and headed off.
Our first stop was intended to be the Dalby Pioneer Park Museum, we drove past it at first, did a you turn and took the car in through the main gate to be meet by the caretaker or owner asking “What do you want? You will have to park on the road”.
After that and feeling like it wasn’t going to be a good experience, we headed out of the gate and planned to get to the Miles Historical Village Museum instead which is another half hour drive after Chinchilla.
We were glad the man was quite blunt as we found out later on in the day the Miles Historical Village Museum was great.
The drive from Dalby to Chinchilla takes about an hour and we stopped at the Boonarga Cactoblastis Memorial Hall on the way through.
The Boonarga Cactoblastis Memorial Hall on was opened by the Boonarga community in 1936 to commemorate the triumph of the Cactoblastis moth that help eradicate the prickly pear cactus throughout this area.
The hall is on the main highway so if you are travelling past it is a quick stop off for photos and then back on your way.
Our next stop was Chinchilla, the Chinchilla Tourist Information Centre has toilets etc. and is across the road from the Pioneer Cemetery and the plaque commemorating Dr Frederich Wilheim Ludwig Leichhardt and Charley Fisher who was the first white person to have passed through the Chinchilla area in 1844.
The township of Chinchilla was established in 1877 after this with the Chinchilla Post Office opening in 1878.
The Pioneer Cemetery was the first cemetery in Chinchilla and has some very old graves and headstones around it.
There are picnic tables in the area across the road from the Chinchilla Tourist Information Centre, obviously not in the cemetery but on the edge of the area with plenty of parking, so it was great place to have a toilet break and have some morning tea while taking in a bit of history.
Then we were off to Miles and lunch at the The Creek Cafe, you can find them at 41 Murilla Street, Miles.
They are on the corner of the main road through town and Pine Street across for the Windsor Hotel / Motel.
It wasn’t a bad place to have lunch either and the food was great!
The Miles Historic Village Museum is only just down the road from The Creek Cafe and so it set up the rest of the day quite well.
As the Mile museum is such an awesome place I thought that it wouldn’t give it justice by throwing a few photos on this page so hit the The Miles Historic Village Museum link below this to read about the museum and see a lot more photos of the place.
* Read about the next part of our Dalby Road Trip here “The Miles Historic Village Museum”
* Or if you want to head back to the start of the holiday here, “Road Trip Out West”
Next time you are travelling through Chinchilla going west ask at the Information centre for directions to the Cactoblastis monument. It is on Clarks Rd which runs parallel to the Warrego Hwy so does not take you out of your way. You re-join the Hwy at Baking Board. The monument is part of the fence line of the property where the Cactoblastis were initially bred after leaving quarantine in Sherwood, Brisbane. Alan Dodd lived and worked there on return from Argentina in 1925. If you wish, email me for a photo and the map.
Thanks for that Margaret, and thanks for the offer too, I had a look and found it online so I now know where it is.
I have recently shifted up north a bit so I may have a chance of getting back there and taking some photos of it.
They certainly put a stop to the spread, I notice that there is still a lot of cactus popping up on the side of the road again in parts.
I was wondering if the moth is still around and getting stuck into the plant still?