To the traveller speeding along the
Mitchell Highway from
Charleville to
Longreach,
Tambo seems nothing special. Located 200 km from
Charleville and 208 km from
Barcaldine it's just another town in western Queensland. A sign at the southern end of the town announces that it has a
population of about 500 and is located 398 m above sea level. This would hardly cause the traveller to even pause.
Post Office, Tambo 1885 Plan and Elevation
Educational Academy at Tambo, 1905
A closer look reveals that it is a town which has been held in time.
Tambo is a country town out of the 1940s or 1950s. There's a couple of lazy pubs, a disused picture theatre which looks like it closed its doors only yesterday, a
general store which still feels like a
general store - drapery, vegetables, groceries - and a number of old buildings which date back to the 1870s and 1880s.
Tambo proudly claims that it is the oldest town in Central Western Queensland. Certainly it was surveyed and gazetted in the early 1860s and settlement began in 1863.
The first European through the area was Sir Thomas
Mitchell who described the region around present day
Tambo as 'downs and plains extending westward beyond the reach of vision'. Even the Barcoo River, which is frequently nothing more than a line of waterholes, was described as 'a river traceable to the remotest verge of the horizon'. It was on the basis of these recommendations that the town was established.
Initially it became an important stopping place for itinerant carriers and drovers. A blacksmith's
shop was established and by 1865 there was a pub for the thirsty travellers making their way from
Charleville to
Longreach.
Postal workers in front of the Tambo Telegraph Office
Tambo Post Office, built 1904
Post Office, Tambo
Most notable are the two post offices in the main street. The operational one was built in 1904. It still has the charm of the time and its open weatherboard design is attractive.
Over the road is the original
post office which was built in 1876. The key can be obtained from the Council Offices next door but there is little point unless you are interested in old bottles or telegraphic equipment
Tambo New Post and Telegraph Office - Elevations 1924
You can view a full size of this plan
PLAN HERETambo Shire Hall building Built in 1957
At the southern end of town is a grim reminder that even in a place as remote as
Tambo was affected by the deadly influenza epidemic of 1919. A Memorial erected by townspeople commemorates Reginald Barry who died trying to save the people in
Tambo stricken with influenza.
Memorial for Reginald Sylvester Barry
Tambo monument
Reginald Sylvester Barry was a manager of
Tambo Station for its owners the Turnbull family. He was community minded as
well as being a member of the
Tambo Shire Council. In 1919,
Tambo was hit by a strain of deadly influenza which was sweeping Australia. Barry , although a
young man, had lost his wife and two of his three children a year earlier.
During the epidemic, he threw himself into helping those infected by the deadly influenza germs. Finally just as the disease was beginning to abate in
Tambo, Reg Barry caught the influenza himself and died. The citizens of
Tambo erected
the monument in his honour.