While in Augathella, we heard that a town called Tambo about 120 kms up the road was an interesting place to visit so we decided to go and take a look for ourselves.
We were still at the start of our month-long caravan trip around outback Queensland with old friends Peter and Cathy and so weren’t in any hurry to be anywhere in particular.
We discovered that Tambo had a really beautiful free camping ground at Stubby Bend on the banks of the Barcoo River and were happy to find that there was a massive area available for camping which meant plenty of room for everyone!
There were no facilities at Stubby Bend itself but just down the road in the small town there was water and a toilet dump point.
So what has the tiny town of Tambo (population 283 in the last census) got to offer?
Well, first off are the famous Tambo Teddies, started by three local ladies in 1992.
At this time wool prices had crashed, the district was in the grips of a drought and the community was challenged to come up with new ideas to sustain the economy.
A brain storming session developed the idea that Tambo could assist the wool industry, encourage tourists and create employment by making unique teddy bears from wool pelts and stuffed with wool.
The delightful teddies were a huge success and before long the business grew to employ 15 part time workers.
The shop is a must-visit if you’re in Tambo and of course we went and admired these cute little hand made bears and learned more about the process of making them.
Tambo is also famous for the being the site of the first ever air crash experienced by the Qantas airline.
The accident happened on Mar 24, 1927 and sadly both the pilot of the DeHavilland DH9 and the two passengers died.
There is a plaque at the site of the accident but other than that, no indication that a tragedy had happened there.
We discovered that the real highlight of a stay in Tambo were the chicken races held at the Royal Carrangarra Hotel’s “Schnitzel Stadium”.
Now chicken racing isn’t exactly my idea of entertainment but when in Rome – as they say!
I was worried about the poor chickens but the dozen or so taking part didn’t seem to be the slightest bit perturbed. In fact, all they were required to do was run after a remote controlled car with some chicken feed aboard!
Some of the chickens ran the wrong way, some didn’t run at all. It really didn’t matter as long as one of them crossed the arbitrary and invisible finish line!
While we waited for the race to begin, the punters (there was a surprisingly large crowd!) were able to bid in an auction for each of the chooks.
Before the bidding started the compere announced the previous form of each of the racers. Some of them had never won but there were others that had been placed consistently in the nightly races so these attracted a lot of enthusiasm from the crowd, resulting in some high stakes.
Every night the winner shares the winnings with Little Windmills -The Country Kids Charity – which supports remote families with sick and injured children, subsidising medical costs, travel and accommodation and providing essential equipment and services.
On the night we were there the first prize was won by a syndicate of young lads who looked as though they might have been Uni students or trainees on a field course trip to Tambo.
There was great excitement as the chickens dashed round the course – somewhat erratically – with feathers flying and the punters yelling.
The syndicate’s chook eventually went into the lead and displaying fine form, was first past the post!
There was such a great atmosphere at the Schnitzel Stadium and despite my initial misgivings about the chickens’ welfare, we had a fun and hilarious time!
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