Emerald

Had a couple of days in Emerald and discovered this Central Highlands town has put some effort into its public art scene. The art walk takes you through town past various murals and installations that celebrate local history and the surrounding agricultural landscape.

The Giant Easel is one of those quintessentially Australian attractions - an oversized easel displaying artwork that changes periodically. It's the kind of thing you stop for, take the obligatory photo, and appreciate the effort regional towns put into drawing visitors off the highway.

The real drawcard is Fairbairn Dam, about 20 kilometres from town. This is a proper piece of engineering - one of Queensland's largest dams by surface area, built in the 1960s to support the region's agricultural industries. The scale of it is impressive when you see it in person, all that water stored up in the middle of cattle country.

The dam's popular with locals for fishing and water sports, and there are decent spots around the foreshore for picnics. The views across the water are pleasant, and it's interesting to see how critical this infrastructure is for the region's irrigated agriculture - cotton, grain, and horticulture all depend on that reliable water supply.

Emerald might not be on most tourist itineraries, but if you're passing through on the Capricorn Highway, the art walk and dam make for a decent few hours exploring what makes these regional Queensland towns tick. The combination of agricultural prosperity and community pride in local culture gives you a different perspective on outback Australia than you get in the bigger tourist centres.Læs mere