Cunningham Street, the main street of Dalby

Dalby
A thriving service centre in the heart of the Darling Downs.
Dalby is a large and buoyant centre located on the Myall Creek 216 km north-west of Brisbane and 342 m above sea-level. This Darling Downs town is located in an area of fertile volcanic soil and is surrounded by fields of wheat, cotton, sunflowers, sorgum, millet and barley. Although the area is known as Queensland's wheat centre, other forms of farming abound, including stud cattle, sheep, pigs and angora goats. The region's thriving cotton industry spreads from Dalby, south to Goondiwindi and west across to St George.

Dalby is a typical large country town with pleasant picnic spots beside the river, an attractive park in the centre of town, wide country town streets (particularly Cunningham Street, the main thoroughfare) and plenty of attractions although, in fairness, most of them are located outside town. See Jimbour for the most famous attraction in the area.

Dalby was declared a township in 1854 and became a municipality in 1863. It is said that it was named after Dalby on the Isle of Man although, in recent times, a disgruntled local alderman, tired of taking on the burden of the local citizenry, decided the name should be an acronym for 'Do a little bit yourself!'

The power of the local landholders, particularly Thomas Bell at Jimbour, ensured that the area progressed rapidly in terms of services and very slowly in terms of the closer settlement of the vast sheep and cattle runs. Thus the railway arrived at Dalby in 1868 and the town became an important railhead. But it wasn't until after 1945 that closer settlement occurred as a result of soldier resettlement schemes .

This resulted in more intensive agriculture and, consequently, Dalby has become an important service and agricultural centre.

Things to see:  

The Crossing
Historically the town's main attraction is 'The Crossing' which is located on the Myall Creek. Today it is literally nothing more than a memorial commemorating the first settlement of the area. It was here that a camp was established on what would eventually become the township of Dalby by Henry Dennis, who was seeking out land on behalf of his wealthy employer Charles Coxen.

Driving from the east you turn left just before the creek and the Criterion Hotel. The sign on the plaque reads: 'The Crossing - So named by early travellers because near here was the crossing place of the Myall Creek; it then being on the only track available to and from the few pastoral holdings lying to the west. The first known white man to pass this way was Henry Dennis. He camped about this spot in 1841. After that time the crossing became a well known rendezvous for squatters, stockmen, shearers, fencers and teamsters and other grand old pioneers of those days.'

Buildings
Just over the road from the crossing in Gray Park there's a cenotaph to Samuel Stewart who died in February 1851 and was buried beside the river. Further along the road is the beautiful old home 'Randwick' - a fine example of a 'Queenslander', with the elaborate timber architecture which makes such buildings so distinctive and attractive.

Nearby, in Cunningham Street, is St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church which was consecrated in 1921. It is notable for its interesting use of different coloured bricks. Usually brick mosaic is an exercise in bad taste but, in this particular instance, it gives the building an almost byzantine feel.

Pioneer Park Museum
At the western end of town, in Black St, is the Pioneer Park Museum which has a number of interesting buildings, including a well-preserved blacksmith's shop. It is very folksy and suffers by comparison with the superb museums at Chinchilla and Miles.

There is an excellent and well-written book on the Dalby district by Tony Matthews titled Beyond the Crossing: A History of Dalby and District.

Thomas Jack Park
Amongst the town's other attractions are the Thomas Jack Park, which is on the main route through Dalby from Brisbane to Longreach. A large and attractive reserve with good stands of native trees and bushes, it is an ideal stopping place for travellers passing through the town.

Bunya Mountains
52 km north of town are the very beautiful Bunya Mountains. The Bunya Mountains National Park is notable for the fact that it contains the last significant stand of bunya pine in Queensland. It is still possible to find scars on the surface of the pines where Aborigines cut footholds with their stone axes so they could clamber up the trees to get the sweet bunya pine nuts which are, by any measure, remarkable, being produced in cones the size of a football. Each cone holds around 120 nuts. It is estimated that some of the bunya pines are over 500 years old. They were regarded as sacred by the indigenous locals who came to the area for a bunya feast when the cones were ripe and the nuts were in abundance.

Covering 11 700 hectares, the park has camping grounds and excellent bushwalking. There are nine major walking tracks ranging from the 500-m Bunya Bunya track to the 10-km Big Falls Circuit Track. The trails pass through scenery which varies from rainforest to scrub and includes waterfalls and panoramic lookouts. For more details contact (07) 4668 3127. There are a number of guest houses and holiday retreats in the area.

	Tourist Information
	Dalby Visitor Information Centre Thomas Jack Park, Drayton St Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4662 1066
	Motels
	Dalby Manor Motor Inn Cnr Drayton & Pratten Sts Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4662 1011 Rating: ***
	Dalby Parkview Motel 31 Drayton St Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4662 3222 Rating: **
	Gallery Motor Inn 128 Drayton St Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4662 2300 Rating: **
	Myall Motel Myall St Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4662 3399 Rating: ***
	Pathfinder Motor Inn 62 Condamine St Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4662 4433 Rating: ***
	Hotels
	Country Club Hotel 151 Cunningham St Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4662 2232
	Criterion Hotel 77 Drayton St Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4662 3303
	Dalby Hotel/Motel 2 Cunningham St Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4662 3422
	Imperial Hotel Cunningham St Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4662 2085
	Russell Hotel Cunningham St Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4662 2122
	Windsor Hotel/Motel 32 Patrick St Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4662 2911
	Bed & Breakfast/Guesthouses
	Corowa Guesthouse Young-Leahy Rd Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4663 5559 Rating: ***
	Caravan Parks
	Myall Creek Caravan Park Patrick St Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4662 4793 Rating: **
	Pioneer Village Caravan Park Black St Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4662 1811 Rating: ***
	Restaurants
	Arcadia 151 Restaurant 51 Cunningham St Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4662 5686
	Black Forest Inn 117 Cunningham St Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4662 3056
	Hun Far Ching Chinese 44 Drayton St Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4662 4766
	Jade Court Chinese 64 Condamine St Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4662 1696
	Pizza Pantry Cnr Drayton & Myall Sts Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4662 3917
	Ridgeview Cottage Ridgeview St Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4662 5580
	Veronique 107 Drayton St Dalby QLD 4405 Telephone: (07) 4662 5322