We finally got away from our great camp at Majors Creek Farm Stay around 10.30am. It was a slow start to the morning.

It had been a fabulous camp amongst the mango trees. We all could have murdered the roosters next door though. There were two of them and they set off very early in the morning. They sounded like they were trying to outdo each other with the loudness and determination of their cock-a-doodle-dos. Be warned if you camp there that the roosters are right next door!

It was a cloudy and overcast day as we headed west. We crossed the mighty Burdekin River over the Macrossan Bridge. It is hard to imagine the water level being almost up to the bridge!

I had contacted an old friend who we had met when crossing the Nullarbor in 2016. Bill and Bea now live in Charters Towers and, after contacting Bill, found out that he was currently caretaking the campground for the Council at the showground. We went directly to the showground where Bill was waiting for us. He had a great grassy spot picked out for us with access to power and water and we quickly set up camp.

Pa and Riley decided to have a quiet reading afternoon but, after lunch, Katie, Ben, Maddie and I set off to check out ‘the Towers’. We drove up to Towers Hill and wow! The views from up there are amazing. There were boardwalks with information boards telling the history of the Towers.

None of us had any idea of the significance of Charters Towers in Queensland or Australia’s history. At one time Charters Towers was known as ‘The World’ as it had the most significant gold mines in the world at that time. It was once the second largest town in Queensland after Brisbane. It is now home to some 8,000 people.

A gold rush started in 1871 when the adopted Aboriginal child of Henry Mossman, Jupiter Mossman found gold in some quartz. They’d been caught in a terrible storm and their horses had escaped. Jupiter was collecting the runaway horses when he found the quartz. The three men then went to Townsville and lodged their claim.

This started a gold rush and people came from all over the world to try their luck. The town had some 28 pubs at one time and many fortunes were made and lost. Some of the historic buildings in the CBD are from that time. These include the grand Post Office, the City Hall, the Ambulance Station, the Newspaper, and the Stock Exchange Arcade.

For so many years the Stock Exchange in Charters Towers set the price for gold world wide. Isn’t that amazing!

By the end of the peak period around 1916 some 7,000,000 ounces of gold had been mined in Charters Towers. At today’s prices that would be worth some $21billion US dollars.

Mining continues in the area with three mines still in operation. These mines employ over 2,000 local people so mining still plays a significant role in the area.

Towers Hill also played a significant role during WWII. Some 29 concrete bunkers were built into the hill and they were used during the war to store bombs and other ammunition in the fight against the Japanese. There was a very real fear in Australia at the time that the Japanese would invade and the Charters Towers area had thousands of Military personnel based there.

Some of the old bunkers are now a memorial and have interactive displays. Ben was a bit disappointed that you couldn’t go underground into the bunkers!

Down the hill from the Lookout is a memorial to all the miners at the Miners Walk. This is a boardwalk with information boards about the miners and there’s a list of all the miners who have died over the years. Ben and Maddie loved the glass covered mine shaft that they could lie on and peer down into. It is filled with water at the bottom but apparently goes much further down.

We took the kids back to camp and set off again to check out Goldtower. Goldtower is a relatively new complex housing large shopping , a shopping plaza, Mitre 10, a new child care centre under construction as well as being home to the incredible Wall of History mosaic.

It is also home to The World sculpture and an old poppet head that has been restored with a huge pile of fake gold at the end.

The Wall of History is an amazing artwork along one side of the Plaza building and is 7 metres high and 80 metres long. It depicts the history of Charters Towers from the accidental finding of gold by Jupiter Mossman through to the golden age of the town. The mosaic is made from over 5,000,000 tiny tiles and is truly spectacular.

On the walls of the large stores are another set of mosaics also depicting life in Charters Towers through history.

It was great to catch up with Bill. What a great camp spot we had.