For a long time, we have struggled to figure out how we can best combine an Australia East Coast trip with an outback experience. Ayers Rock just seems completely off our itinerary… so how can we tweak it? Our attention is caught by the small town of Chillagoe, northeast of the Atherton Tablelands, with the nearby Chillagoe-Mungana Caves National Park in Australia’s Queensland outback. It is easy to combine with our planned Queensland itinerary, passing through the Atherton Tablelands.

 
So here we are on a late July afternoon on our way across the Atherton Tablelands towards Chillagoe. Before arriving, we have stops at the Millaa Millaa Falls, at Nerada Tea Plantation – hoping to catch sight of a tree kangaroo (and we do!), and at the Curtain Fig Tree at Yungaburra National Park.

In Mareeba, we turn left to begin our outback experience.

Immediately after Mareeba, we notice the first termite mound. These mounds mark the beginning of the outback and the tropical savanna. The scenery changes when we leave Mareeba – from lush farmlands to deserted cattle country. Little by little, the landscape becomes drier and introduces another kind of vegetation adapted to the outback conditions. Although the road looks all right and paved at first glance, we soon have to admit that we cannot go that fast. It is now the dry season, and the red-brown dust whirls around each time a car passes us in the opposite direction.

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So even if the distance does not look overwhelming on the map, it takes two hours to travel from Mareeba to Chillagoe via the old Wheelbarrow Way. As a tribute to the mining pioneers arriving in Chillagoe in the past, the 149 km road between Mareeba and Chillagoe was named the Wheelbarrow Way. It was named after the miners from the late 1800s who gathered all their stuff in a wheelbarrow and went into the sparsely inhabited land to look for work and settle. Today, this is every year commemorated with a fundraising footrace where the runners push wheelbarrows the 140 km (87 miles) between Chillagoe and Mareeba.

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On the way, we pass through the small towns of Dimbulah and Petford. At some moments, the road is slightly challenging. There are warnings about the risk of wild cows and wallaroos passing, signposted at the roadside. We soon see a couple of dead wallaroos and wallabies lying on the road, probably struck by a vehicle a short time ago. We feel grateful that we decided to drive to Chillagoe before the sun sets! Otherwise, we wouldn’t have had a chance to spot the dead animals and the occasional depressions in the road caused by earlier floodings in the wet season. Towards the end, there is also an unpaved stretch with just gravel. That unarguably means that we have to slow even more down. Nevertheless, the road seems reasonable in daylight – even for a car like ours that is not an off-road 4×4.

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After two hours, just around dusk, we finally arrive in Chillagoe at the Chillagoe Observatory & Eco Lodge. We find it very pleasant here after the dusty drive. On our way from Mareeba to Chillagoe, temperatures have gradually gone up. It is now around 28 degrees centigrade (100 degrees Fahrenheit) – notably in July, a winter month here! That it is so hot is a surprise to us – and we now appreciate that we thought about bringing our safari hats – we will probably need them! It is more popular to come here in winter since the summer season has tropical summer storms which flood the roads and the caves.

We now discover that the lodge is lovely, with small cabins and a campsite. Here, people sit around the campfires in the evening, enjoying the outback atmosphere!

The area is packed with history and culture and is a fantastic place to explore. Particularly a fascinating mining history linked to the small town.

Chillagoe is a historic mining town established in the outback in the late 1800s when a mineral field was detected, coinciding with rising copper prices in the country. The Chillagoe mine and smelters originally date from 1884. In 1888, William Atherton named the small place Chillagoe. A private railway line from Mareeba to Chillagoe and Mungana was initiated in 1897 and completed in 1900.

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Chillagoe Smelters became operational in 1901. It soon became a thriving mining industry of copper, lead, silver and gold mined and processed in the Chillagoe Smelters. The mines and smelters were active until 1943 and treated during those years 1,2500,000 tons of ore and produced 60,000 tons of copper, 50,000 tons of lead, 6,500,000 ounces of silver and 175,000 ounces of gold. They created thousands of jobs in North Queensland. Especially after the World War, they created jobs in the depressed mining districts (Chillagoe Smelters had been closed in 1914 due to severe flooding). Chillagoe was one of the largest metallurgical sites before World War I.

In its heyday during the first decades of the 1900s, Chillagoe had about 10,000 inhabitants, 13 hotels, two newspapers and a hospital. Today, the population is just a few hundred – and the town is now a small tourist destination. There is a primary school, a hospital, three caravan parks, two hotels and other accommodations, plus a mining museum (Chillagoe Historical Centre) with artefacts relating to the local history. Annual events are races at the racecourse and a rodeo.

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Still today, you can visit the remnants of the blast furnaces and chimneys a bit out of town. The Chillagoe Smelters have been declared a restricted area since the polluted ground with toxic material poses a considerable health risk and danger. Instead, an elevated viewpoint overlooking the entire site and the landscape is near the smelters. The three remaining chimneys symbolise the cultural heritage of the Chillagoe Smelters.

The slag heaps are still visible as a dark, flat terrain beside the smelters. It is an accumulation of waste produced by the melting process. The slag was brought to this place by horse-drawn trolleys. You will still find the old rails at several locations around Chillagoe.

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Life in the mining camp was tough. Water was short, snakes invaded the houses, dingos took the goats, and goannas took the hen eggs. The miners’ lives were unarguably harsher than the superintendent’s life. His impressive house stood on the rise with a view of the mining activities and production.

The Chillagoe-Mungana Caves National Park can be visited year-round – although there can be problems with flooded terrain during the wet season (December to March). In the National Park, you will find some of Australia’s most spectacular limestone caves with a beauty of stalactites, stalagmites and cave coral in the vast chambers and comprehensive narrow passages. Check out the Chillagoe-Mugana Caves National Park map.

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There are six caves to visit: The Archways, Pompeii Cave, Bauhinia Cave, Donna Cave, Trezkinn Cave and Royal Arch. The first three can be explored as self-guided tours, and the last three require a ranger-guided tour (which for each of the caves is provided daily). You will learn how the underground world was formed over hundreds of millions of years. Four hundred million years ago, limestone and coral reef beds were deposited here by the sea, leaving traces of fossilised corals for the future. Today, they appear as impressive rocks in Australia’s outback.

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Over time, the limestone dissolved, leaving passages and caverns behind and forming the present stalagmites and stalactites. Today, the caves are home to a diversity of insects, spiders and bats – besides being a location for finding fossilised animals.

Check out the cave descriptions below to judge if you are adequately fit and ready for the experience. Notice that for the self-guided walks, you should bring both torches, water and preferably a first-aid kit in the (unlikely) event of incidents.

You must get your tickets in advance from ‘The Hub’ for the ranger-guided tours.

Donna Cave
Ranger-guided tour (1 hour, moderate difficulty). You enter through a narrow opening into a universe of spectacular crystals and formations illuminated in the darkness. The walk is 470 m (1540 ft) with 330 steep steps. Access from Donna Cave car park.

Trezkinn Cave
Ranger-guided tour (45 minutes, moderate difficulty). The highlights of this cave are impressive limestones and a multitude of illuminated stalactites. Inside the cave is a 230 m (750 ft) walk with 250 steep steps. Access from Donna Cave car park.

Royal Arch
Ranger-guided tour (1.5 hours, easy/moderate difficulty). The cave has 11 caverns, which you will explore with hand-held lamps. In the darkness, you may spot bats and surprising fossils. The walk inside the cave is an 800 m (2,620 ft) walk with 300 steps – sometimes, you need to watch the low height of the passages. The cave can be accessed from the Royal Arch car park. When you walk through the remarkable woodland in the area, you will, with a little luck, be able to spot both wallabies and wallaroos.

Chillagoe caves Queensland | Photo: Travel In Culture

The Archways
Easy self-guided walk (allow at least 30 minutes, 220 m /720 ft walk). It is a semi-open cave system 15 km from Chillagoe. The cave is accessed from the Archways car park in Mungana.

Bauhinia Cave
It is a challenging self-guided walk (allow at least 20 minutes, 300 m / 980 ft). There is a narrow passage into an open underground chamber with breathtaking views. The cave can be accessed from Donna Cave’s car park.

Pompeii Cave
It is a challenging self-guided walk (allow at least 50 minutes, 600 m / 1,970 ft). Climb down a steep and dark passage for the views of spectacular rock formations. The cave is also inhabited by bats. Access from Donna Cave car park.

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Another stunning limestone outcrop above ground is the Balancing Rock. It is a giant rock balancing on a single touchpoint – as if it could fall over any moment. Nevertheless, it has been there for an eternity!

Before the arrival of Europeans, the area was inhabited by a people. It was home to the Kuku-Yulanji Aboriginal people, who excelled at depicting motives on the cave walls in the area where they lived.

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Mungana Aboriginal art site is quite close to the Archways. On the rock formations sloping inwards, you will spot aboriginal cave paintings. Surprisingly, visitors can come close to the rock art galleries – without any protective fence. It is very unique!

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Also, a short distance from the Balancing Rock just outside Chillagoe, another aboriginal art gallery, the Wullumba Aboriginal Rock Art Site, can be viewed. There is a track, the Royal Arch Track, which is 9 km (5.5 miles) return and takes around 2.5 hours. It passes the Wullumba Aboriginal Rock Art Site from the Balancing Rock Car Park to the Royal Arch Cave. You may even be lucky to spot a wallaby or a wallaroo in the outback landscape.

Chillagoe Weir is a swimming hole in the outback – a so-called billabong, one of Australia’s iconic, isolated ponds which fills with water seasonally. It is just out of town with easy access. A swim there is a veritable relief on a hot summer day!

The local billabong Chillagoe Weir is a pleasant swimming hole on a warm day | Photo: Travel In Culture

Also, other minerals and natural resources have been mined in recent years. Lime works were initiated in 1970, and marble mining was established in 1982.

Chillagoe is still today an industrial site exploiting the resources in the area. New ores are detected now and then. The marble quarry a bit out of town is the modern mineral field, and the trucks you encounter on your way between Mareeba and Chillagoe are precisely trucks loaded with marble products from the quarry and factory.

Chillagoe QLD | Photo: Travel In Culture

We are deeply fascinated by the comprehensive and intriguing history of the small town in Australia’s outback. The culture in the area has developed from the original Aboriginal cave art-producing people to a flourishing mining adventure as it was at its peak a hundred years ago.

Today, people visit passing through Australia’s outback – or as part of their Queensland trip. It is pleasant to stay here in winter with the high temperatures and tropical climate! Even if it is a dry outback, the area is still rich in animals and birdlife. We notice vast flocks of galahs every day around the Observatory where we stay – and listen to birdsong! We are stunned by the beautiful flocks of galahs in the trees and on the wires – especially when they gather in the evening. We do also spot the hopping wallaroos in the terrain.

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The sunset is breathtaking. Never before have we seen such an impressive sky with shades of yellow, purple and red. The finishing touch is that the moon lies down – smiling! It is a phenomenon which occurs only in the tropics – at particular times of the year!

Initially, we came here to get an outback experience without really knowing what to expect. Therefore, it is a complete surprise that this tiny place in Australia’s outback, Chillagoe, turns out to be one of our top Australian experiences!

Check also 10-Day Itinerary in Queensland Australia!

Read next: How to Explore Magnetic Island in 1 Day? and Where to See Australian Native Animals

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