A small outback settlement on the edge of the desert. It is the headquarters for the Bulloo Shire, the third largest shire in Queensland, with an area of 73,500 square kilometres and a population of just 580 people.

Location: 1014 km west of Brisbane; 126 m above sea level

Places of interest: Bulloo River; artesian bore (1891, depth of 795 metres, the water comes to the surface at 84 degrees).

Brief history: the town came into existence in the 1870s as a service centre for the area's pastoralists. It was gazetted in 1874.

Origin of name: derived from the local parish name, which was the name of a pastoral run nearby. It is reportedly an Aboriginal word, language and dialect not recorded, for the echidna.

Surrounding Area

Burke and Wills 'Dig' Tree

The Burke and Wills 'Dig' Tree is one of Australia's national icons and an enduring reminder of our pioneering spirit. The Dig Tree near the South Australian border is where William Brahe, left in command of stockade Depot Camp 6 by explorers Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills, buried supplies and carved 'Dig' on 21st April 1861. Brahe, after waiting for months for Burke and Wills to return from their expedition to the Gulf, left the camp the day the starving and exhausted explorers returned. After making several attempts to reach civilisation Burke and Wills died of starvation at Cooper Creek and the now-famous "Dig" Tree marks the site where they met their tragic end. John King survived the Burke and Wills expedition with the assistance of friendly Aborigines. Only ten years after the explorers' deaths, homesteads were being established on the watercourse. A station at Innamincka was the first permanent settlement in the area.

Nappa Merrie Station is proud to officially manage the site on behalf of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland. Located on the Northern bank of Cooper Creek, the 'Dig Tree' is a Coolibah (Eucalyptus microtha). It is believed that the tree is 200-250 years old. The three blazes on the dig tree were:

B LXV Trunk, creek side
Dig 3FT NW Trunk, land side
Dec 6 60 April 21 61 Limb upstream

These Blazes have now been covered to help preserve the tree. Burke's face was carved into another tree (the 'Face Tree') about 30m downstream of the 'Dig Tree' by John Dick in 1898 and is still clearly visible. Apart from the boardwalk structure built around the tree to help protect it, the site as you view it now is as Burke and Wills and companions would have viewed it nearly 140 years ago.

Charles Sturt named Cooper Creek (formerly Cooper's Creek) in 1845 after Charles Cooper, the Chief Justice of South Australia. It is sometimes known as the Barcoo River from one of its tributaries and is one of three major Queensland river systems that flow into the Lake Eyre basin.