Our Desert Uplands’ red sandy soils were created over eons of weathering its sandstone formations and ranges, and are considered some of the oldest soils on the planet. These still-eroding escarpments along with the old-growth open forest country and native wells, tell of a rich Aboriginal past, of many tribes living and trading between the coast and the inland deserts, the gulf and the big rivers to the south. European settlement came in the late 1800s, with sheep, goats, horses and cattle, with now the latter predominant in extensive grazing enterprises across the bioregion.
Our ancient history tells of…….
- For over a hundred thousand years, Aboriginal Australians lived healthily in this desert woodland in egalitarian tribal groups with strong lore and boundaries.
- Coming out from Charters Towers in the north, from Rockhampton, Springsure and Emerald west along the Tropic of Capricorn, and north-west from Roma, Toowoomba and Brisbane; European, South African and Asian pioneers sought opportunities from land-based entrepreneurial effort.