Richmond in far western QLD ( 1660km NW of Brissy or about 500 km w of Townsville ) is a pretty unique town and one that is part of Australian prehistoric history. Apart from being in outback QLD the roads are all tar that lead out to Richmond, but probably wouldn’t recommend a summer trip as the weather just belts down with its stifling heat. A smallish town with all the basic services and around 700 residence it has plenty of outback charm. We stayed right in the heart of town at Lake Fred Tritton C/park where from nearly every campsite you’ll have lake views as well as stunning sunrise and sunset sky views. Most of the time the lake is ok to swim, boat and fish in ( apparently stacked with Barra and 17 other species !! ) -along with BBQ’s and clean toilet blocks its not a bad spot from the harsh outback that you often see in QLD.
Apart from being a pastoral are the town is also a Mecca for tourists that want to come out here and find fossils. Going back to the importance of Richmond to our and indeed the world prehistoric importance - it was once part of the great inland sea. Years ago bones were found and dated back to 120 million years ago ( cretaceous era ), from this find several significant creatures were discovered. At the front of the Kronasaurus Korner ( the local fossil museum and part of the Dinosaur trail around western QLD ) is the huge life-size 10 metre cast of Penny - the Richmond plesiosaur ( Kronosaurus Queenslandicus ) which was a marine creature like no other.
At Kronasaurus Korner you can spend hours looking in the display rooms at all the fossils they have found in the area, def some of the best and only in the world. Here you can also buy a permit ( comes with a map and all the relevant info ) that allows you to ‘dig’ for fossils 10 min north of town in a couple of designated areas. Being an old sea bed, you're nearly guaranteed to find shells, fish fins and bones, squid tubes and so much more. It’s a bit overwhelming when you get there, but it's a simple as either digging anywhere, moving rocks or reading the info you were given and follow it. Some of the shells are bloody huge, the fish look awesomely deadly and with the self guided tour with its hand held audio around the centre you're in control on what you listen too and the pace. Occasionally you’ll see the lab rats behind glass cleaning up bones and fossils that have been found in the field ( ps… not really rats - just the workers ).
There is also a video to watch - and if you’ve done the two other centres at Winton and popped into the Hughenden dinosaur display the video here links all discoveries together. It’s a place definatly not to be missed with so much info, history and hands on displays.
Back up in town there are a few other options you can explore for free; like check out the Cambridge Downs Heritage display centre. This old stone building is made form locally sourced flagstone and represents what houses might have looked like some 150 years ago when the area was settled. The town was explored by Landsborough back in 1862 when he was looking for the Bourke and Wills party that went missing, and by 1880 pastoralist’s had moved to the area. Theres lots of history with the centre on the nearby goldfields, rail line to the gulf and significant town info.
Inside there is an array of wonderful memorabilia from days gone by including an outdoor display of restored stage coaches outback. Also check out the Bush tucker walk around the lake and several parks in the town. Some of the wide streets are lined with stunning and well kept Bougainvillea’s which are perfect in the hot outback climate. Around the town keep an eye out for the large roundish rocks which are Moon rocks and often have fossils inside ( just don’t go smashing the ones at the monument !). It's a beautiful little town to spend a day or two exploring...
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