One hour south of Barcaldine on the Landsborough Highway (and covered by Brisbane-Mount Isa buses ), a sign at BLACKALL welcomes you to Merino Country. It was near here in 1892 that Jackie Howe fleeced 321 sheep in under eight hours using hand shears, a still-unbroken record. If you want to visit a sheep station to see modern shearers in action, it can be arranged by the tourist office just off Shamrock Street on Short Street (daily 9am-noon & 1-5pm; tel 07/4657 4637). There's more on the industry at the steam-driven woolscour , built in 1908 and in operation for seventy years; it has been restored recently and runs daily from April to November, with guides on hand to show you around (8am-4pm; $5.50).

In town, you could also track down the famous black stump , a surveying point used in pinpointing Queensland's borders in the nineteenth century and now the butt of many jokes; the original stump has been replaced by a more interesting fossilized one. Around 100km southwest of Blackall, Idalia National Park preserves one of Queensland's last population of yellow-footed rock wallabies in the wild - more easily seen at the fauna park in Charleville if you're heading that way. For details of access to Idalia, and possible guided night tours of the park, contact the ranger on 07/4657 5033.

Blackall town sits on the banks of the often dry (but occasionally five-metre-deep) Barcoo River ; 200m-long Shamrock Street, shaded by palms and bottle trees, is the main road on which you'll find banks, supplies and a few places to eat - if your dress is reasonably smart you can savour good food at the Blackall Club . The most central place to stay is the brand-new Accacia Motor Inn (tel 07/4657 6022; $70-90), and at Blackall Caravan Park (tel 07/4657 4816; on-site vans under $50) on Hart Lane you can yarn with other travellers around a huge campfire and be fed pot roasts, billy tea and damper for an extra fee. Long-distance bus tickets are available from Blackall Travel (tel 07/4657 4422).