14/09/2026
MEMORY LANE MONDAY
We believe this photo was taken around 80 years ago, walking a mob of Shorthorns from the Territory, through the Boulia Shire into the railhead at Dajarra.
The photo is a reminder of the days when getting cattle to market meant long days in the saddle, dusty stock routes and plenty of patience.
For Boulia and the surrounding Channel Country, Dajarra was an important link to the outside world. When the railway reached Dajarra in 1917, the town became a major cattle railhead, with mobs of cattle being walked in from vast distances to be loaded onto trains bound for the eastern markets.
That meant the stock routes through Boulia, Urandangi and across the surrounding country were part of a much bigger cattle supply chain. Urandangi became an important droving stop between Camooweal and Dajarra, with mobs sometimes numbering up to 2,000 head passing through.
Boulia itself increasingly looked towards Dajarra and Cloncurry for its rail connection rather than east towards Winton. Historical research notes that the rail connection at Dajarra became particularly important to Boulia from the early to mid 1900’s.
So, when you look at this photo, you’re not just seeing cattle being walked to a train, you’re seeing a piece of the old Boulia–Urandangi–Dajarra cattle trail, when the movement of stock was measured in days and weeks rather than hours.
And for the drovers? Thete was no GPS, no road trains and certainly no air-conditioning. Just horses, cattle, country and knowing the waterholes and how to get them there.
A great piece of our region’s pastoral history.
