The State We’re In 2026 – Day 2 – Deep in the heart of Texas

This morning we head west to Texas (as in Texas, Queensland, Australia).

But first a visit to the Big Thermometer at Stanthorpe – do we agree that this is the best Big Thing around these parts? Well, to a certain degree. The Celsius scale was named after Swedish astronomer, physicist and mathematician Anders Celsius who, in 1742, proposed a Centigrade temperature scale. Celsius died in 1744 at the age of 43 although his rival Fahrenheit was convinced he was 109.

The road to Texas is a high accident area with kangaroos and feral pigs the cause of many serious accidents so great caution was required.

But there are other hazards too.

An old shed at a property at Pikedale

The view over the Dumaresq River valley. The Texas area is home to the Bigambul People. Europeans first settled here in the 1840s. Texas has gone through a number of boom and bust cycles.

The historic Rabbit Works at Texas. The rabbit industry in the late 1920s was the largest employer in Australia. During the 1930s the Texas Rabbit Works employed 30 men and exported three tons of rabbit meat a week to England. The industry was credited with saving the Queensland town during the depression years. The works closed in 1992. Hare today, gone tomorrow!

There are stories of the rabbit industry here – it was not a hoppy ending. I really felt for them.

Texas was also a major centre for tobacco production in Australia. Chinese were the first with expertise to grow the crop from the 1890s followed by Italian immigrants in the 1950s.

Spirit of Texas – sculpture

Texas Heritage Centre – I got steamed up as it was closed.

We cross into New South Wales on the Old Texas Bridge over the Dumaresq River

Tobacco Drying Barns on the Dumaresq River flood plain – inside the tobacco leaves were hung to dry.

The smoke signals were all wrong and the industry collapsed in 1990 when the Government paid farmers to stop growing the crop. Smoking is such a drag.

We now follow the Bruxner Highway westward.

Yetman – Mural at store/Post Office – the kangaroo was prescribed glasses after a rootine eye check.

Birds were active in the park at Yetman. This is a Double-barred finch.

Yellow-rumped thornbills were active in the trees…

…and on the ground.

Red-rumped parrots

Sulphur-crested cockatoos

Grey nomad tip: With rising fuel costs, it’s good to camp near an RV Dump Point so you don’t spend on fuel travelling from a camp site to it. Effluence, not affluence!

More moo-vement from the roadsides.

We revisit the Goondiwindi Sculpture Park to see some newer exhibits.

Goondiwindi Big Table and Chairs. The usual sized set was at the base to see the enormity of this BIG set.

This sculpture was created by a bright spark.

Bin Chickens are in vogue now.

The moo was muffled with this one.

Toobeah Hotel built in 1911. Toobeah started out as a small railway town servicing the growing sheep market at the time. The town has become a cotton/wheat/livestock growing area. We could stay here but….Toobeah…or not Toobeah…that is the question.

The Weengallon Aboriginal Rock Wells form part of a trail of Aboriginal rock wells extending to northern Queensland. Known in the local Aboriginal language as ‘Ngaru-gi Gali’ (to drink), there are six wells at the Weengallon site some of which are up to twelve metres deep.