Kynuna is rich with history but you wouldn’t know it when you find this small township in the shire of McKinlay on the Landsborough Highway.
Settle down for a cold beer at the famous Blue Heeler Hotel built in 1889, and now the last hotel still operating. Kynuna was originally a staging post for Cobb and Co Coaches and once boasted 3 bustling hotels.
Every Australian is familiar with “Waltzing Matilda” but few know that it’s origins began in Kynuna. It’s been reported that Bob MacPherson, owner of Dagworth Station told Banjo Paterson of the suicide of Samuel Hoffmeister in September 1894 at the Combo Waterhole 13 kms upstream of the Diamantina River. Hoffmeister is said to have been one of the striking shearers involved in the burning down of the Dagworth Woolshed. This story with a number of others inspired Banjo to write “Waltzing Matilda” at Dagworth and his fiancée Christina MacPherson adapted a popular Scottish tune “Craiglea” for the original music. Matilda was the name the wanderers of the day used for the pack/swag they carried on their back as they went “waltzing” down the roads of the outback.
A monument to “Waltzing Matilda” can be found at the entrance of the picturesque Combo Waterhole Conservation Park is located 16 kms east of Kynuna. The overshot dams built by the Chinese labourers in 1883 are technical masterpieces.
You can take the 2.5 kms walk return circuit to the waterhole along the Diamantina River and have a picnic “under the shade of a Coolabah tree”.
Our technicians often drive through Kynuna on the way to Winton from their workshop in Cloncurry. If you live in the area and need any help with IT, give us a call on 1 300 775 442.
