Innamincka

South Australia (Outback Region)

Innamincka
Innamincka grew around a hotel that serviced the early drovers who brought cattle down the Strzelecki Track. It is on the banks of the Cooper Creek and before federation of the Australian colonies in 1801, was a customs outpost where duty on goods coming into the colony was collected. Cooper Creek, which runs through Innamincka, is best known for the misadventures of explorers Burke and Wills, who ended their inept 1861 expedition by dying here. The ruins of the Australian Inland Mission hospital (1328) still stand in the town. Close to the spot where the Innamincka Hostel once stood, a large cairn with two memorial plaques commemorates the expeditions by Captain Charles Sturt (1844-45) and Burke and Wills (1860-61). Will's grave can be seen near Cooper Creek, west of the town and a memorial-to Burke's last resting place is along the creek to the east. Another historic spot is King's Marker, a memorial on the spot where John King, the sole survivor of Burke and Will's tragic expedition was found. INNAMINCKA was later founded on much the same spot as a customs house to collect taxes on stock being moved between Queensland and South Australia. Never more than a handful of buildings, it found fame mainly because John Flynn’s Flying Doctor Service ran a mission here and because the hotel piled up decades of empties into a legendary 180-metre-long bottle dump before the town was abandoned in 1952.

Recreational four-wheel driving has led to a renaissance: a new hotel has weekend barbecues, a video jukebox and impromptu dance sessions on Friday and Saturday nights; the Innamincka Trading Post (tel 08/8675 9900) stocks provisions and fuel; the mission was rebuilt in 1994 as a museum (for opening hours ask at the Trading Post); and opposite is a solar-powered telephone and spotless toilet/shower block. Pelicans, parrots and inquisitive dingoes will be your companions if you camp out for free along the creek. It only takes an hour to look around the museum and hunt for evidence of the bottle dump before you’re ready for other distractions: taking a walk, fishing for yellowbelly, bream and catfish, swimming in the creek, or renting a canoe from the hotel or the Trading Post. With a vehicle you could strike out 20km west to Wills’ grave or 8km east to where Burke was buried (both bodies were removed to Adelaide in 1862). Another 8km beyond Burke’s cairn is Cullyamurra waterhole, the largest permanent body of water in central Australia, and a footpath to rock engravings of crosses, rainbow patterns and bird tracks. Four-wheel-drive vehicles can also tackle the 110-kilometre track north to the shallow Coongie Lakes, where you can swim and watch the abundant birdlife. An hour’s drive east of Innamincka along a rather poor track is Queensland, the Dig Tree and a fuelless route to Quilpie. Innamincka Regional Reserve
A large part of the land around Innamincka including the Coongie Lakes, is now a regional reserve. A visit to Coongie Lakes, about 100km northwest from Innamincka, is very rewarding. Coongie, a recognised World Heritage area, is in fact one of Australia's most important arid zone wetlands. This oasis in the desert, fed by the northwest arm of the Cooper, has an incredible amount of birdlife and natural beauty.