A journey along the Tropic of Capricorn

This is the first in a three-part series by Garry Greenwood as he travels the path along the Tropic of Capricorn.

I’ve just arrived in Barcaldine, central Queensland — the most westerly town on the Capricorn Highway. I’m thinking I might have left this journey a little too late in the year as it’s now becoming very hot out here on these far western plains.

I’ve managed to find a cool and cosy corner in the Commercial Hotel in town from where I’m now penning my story thus far. I’ve been on the road — the Capricorn Highway, heading west for just over a week and am planning on reaching Longreach tomorrow from where I will head south-east in search of cooler climes and other experiences.

The Tropic of Capricorn is an imaginary line circling the Earth 23.5 degrees south of the Equator. In Queensland, it passes through Rockhampton, where I commenced my journey, to Longreach, where I intend leaving the imaginary line to head south. There are also several outback townships in between that I visited. It’s also where the sun shines directly overhead — its most southerly position around midday on the 21st of December each year. If you stand in the sun around that time you will have little or no shadow.

Shadowing this imaginary line is a railway track running parallel with the highway. This is the rail line running all the way to Longreach and once, continued far beyond. Nowadays the rail section between the Gladstone Port turnoff, near Rockhampton, and the huge coal mines around Blackwater is a hive of rail activity. Every few minutes or so you will witness huge coal trains, all around a kilometre in length and fully laden with their dark cargos heading for the Gladstone coal export loader, now the world’s largest coal loading facility.

Blackwater is Australia’s new coal capital. Here everything appears new — a new city, new rail facilities, new people, new money and new jobs advertised on noticeboards around town. If you want a job — go there!

Heading a further 100km west of Blackwater along the Tropic of Capricorn is the city of Emerald, surrounded by endless fields of grains and citrus orchards. I was surprised to see so much agriculture so far west and in such a dry region. This agriculture is made possible because of the nearby Fairbairn dam and its huge reservoir, Lake Maraboon, which holds the water of three Sydney Harbours.

Once you leave the city lights of Emerald, heading forever west, the traffic volume reduces dramatically and for the remainder of my journey so far, I haven’t seem another train on the track alongside the highway.

Around 50km west of the Emerald city exists another type of mining venture — the Gemfield villages of Anakie, Sapphire, Rubyvale and The Willows. As the village name Anakie suggests, the miners here are of a different breed than those of the orderliness of the Blackwater coalfields. Here, everyone dances to the tune of a different drum, as scattered throughout a huge area around these villages are areas reserved for gemstone mining and fossicking. In these regions the construction of all manner of temporary dwellings is allowed. This makes for a totally different experience and visual backdrop as some of these dwellings are made of bottles, rocks, scrap timber, caravans and combinations of the aforementioned.

Everyone is welcome to try their hand and luck at sapphire mining and a whole industry serving the needs of the miners and novices exits — equipment hire, mine guides, mining instructors and more.

I met a couple who bought a bucket of gem-bearing soil at a caravan park in Sapphire who proceeded to sieve the soil, wash the pebbly residue then carefully pick through it and they found several semi-precious gems, some with higher grade potential. Not bad for an hour’s labour.

Throughout the Gemfields there are dozens of establishments of varying structural designs selling gemstones and jewellery, with many offering to buy your lucky finds. Buyers come here from all over the world to purchase uncut gemstones, to be cut and polished overseas, then sold as Thai or Brazilian rubies and emeralds.

There are well-stocked stores at Sapphire, Rubyvale and The Willows, and a wide variety of accommodation types ranging from caravan parks in all the villages, plus motels and hotels. There is good mobile phone coverage throughout, too.

As you head further west along the Capricorn Highway, under the brilliant sunshine provided by the Tropic of Capricorn, you will notice a great absence of traces of human activity. The traffic becomes even lighter; the road widens, becomes smoother, straightens and surprisingly it’s becoming greener.

Journey me as I continue to head further west along the Tropic of Capricorn.

Have you ever travelled into outback Australia? Where did you go and what did you see? Share your stories with us.