March. April 29The area around Jericho
is the homeland of the
Bidjara people.The first Europeans here were a
party led by explorer Major Thomas
Mitchell in 1846.By the 1850s settlers had
reached the area.In 1914 the local Jericho Shire
was formed.A branch railway line from Jericho
to Blackall was built in 1908.In 1933 The Palace Aboriginal
site, sometimes also known as
Black’s Palace, located 60km south
of Jericho, was declared a Scientific
and Recreational Reserve.In 1950 the town was hit by a
devastating flood.In 1969 the Jericho Drive-In
Theatre was opened.In 1970 The Palace was gazetted
as a permanent Aboriginal site.By 1971 the owner of Marston
Station was appointed as the
honorary warden of The Palace site.In 1989 The Palace came under
the control of the then federal
Department of Environment and
Heritage. The site is no longer open
for public inspection.In 2008 Jericho became part of
the Barcaldine Regional Council.(^1) CRYSTAL TRUMPETERS
In 1988, as a Bicentennial Project, the town
constructed the Crystal Trumpeters to recall
the biblical story in which the Israelites
marched around the Palestinian city of
Jericho before blowing their trumpets to
collapse the fortifying walls. A sign on the
monument, on the Capricorn Highway
across the road from the Town Hall,
explains that: “Because Jericho,
Queensland, is built on the
Jordan River south of the Lake
Galilee, we decided to tell the
story of the original Jericho
(Joshua 6). The Israelites
came. They marched once
a day for six days and seven
times the next day. Then
they blew their trumpets and
made a lot of noise so the walls
would fall down and they could
enter (Joshua 18–22). To understand
why a bunch of desert nomads expected
these tactics to work against a fortified
city we have to go back 40 years before it
happened. This is told in the outer circle of
rocks (Exodus–Joshua).”
(^2) JERICHO
DRIVE-IN THEATRE
Located on Darwin Street, and beautifully
preserved with pleasant lawns and an
impressive modern all-weather screen, is the
Jericho Drive-In Theatre, where movies are
still regularly screened. It opened in 1969,
only has a capacity for 34 cars, has 34 seats
for those who don’t want to sit in their cars,
and operates on the third Saturday of every
month. It’s recognised as the smallest drive-
in picture theatre in Australia.
For details: 07 4651 4129.
(^3) THE PALACE
Located about 60km south of Jericho,
The Palace is the largest-known complex
of Indigenous art in central Queensland,
featuring etchings and drawings on the
sandstone cliff faces of a gorge about
600m long and 200m wide. Anthropologists
GEOBUZZ
Since 1988 Bruce Elder has travelled to every town in Australia. He has written more
than 10 travel books including the Globetrotter Guides to Australia, Sydney and
Queensland; 1015 Things to See and Do in Australia; and Explore Queensland and Explore
NSW. He worked as a full-time travel writer with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age
from 1996 to 2012. aussietowns.com.au
JERICHO
Places of interest TIMELINE
have recorded more than 9471 figures in the
area ranging from stencils of hands, feet,
boomerangs and axes as well as drawings
of spears, clubs, shields, snakes and lizards.
There are a large number of abstract patterns
as well. Located on private property between
Jericho and Tambo, south-east of Longreach,
the site is now closed to the public.
4 PAVING
THE GLORY
Along the southern side of
Darwin Street is a series
of pavers commemorating
“the centenary of Anzac”.
The project was completed in
2014–15 by school students in
the Barcaldine Regional Council
area. The sentences etched into
the pavers are local children’s
thoughts about what the Anzac
legend means to them.
(^5) TOWN MURAL
A mural with a charming sense of outback
fun, painted on the side of a corrugated
iron shed in Darwin Street, is worth seeing.
It shows three goannas having a beer and
leaning over a fence. Very outback and
very Australian.
Crystal Trumpeters.
Silverton Public
School
Jericho Drive-In Theatre.
PHOTO CREDITS, OPPOSITE: ROGER HARRISON/500PX; THIS PAGE, FAR RIGHT: HISTORIC COLLECTION / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO