South-west Queensland businesses are the only certain winners when the Melbourne Cup of the Outback goes under starter’s orders tomorrow.
Up to 6,000 people are expected to attend the iconic Birdsville Races and grey nomads will be as well represented as ever.
In Quilpie, south of Longreach, the travelling hordes have already been making their presence felt.
Local bakery owner Cathy Wendelborn says the flow of traffic through the town has been constant over recent days as racegoers made their way west.
“It’s been good so far the ones that have come no longer afford to maintain the track and is to ask WA Main Roads to take over its control.
“A council our size just doesn’t have the financial backing to be able to spend what really should be spent on that road,” Shire president Fred Mills told a shire meeting. “We either need greater funding or we need them to take it over, so that’s the pitch we’re putting. “
However, Cllr Mills said the chances of getting support from Main Roads was probably next to nothing … but said the shire had to at least try to get something done.”
Anne Koeyers, from Drysdale Station on the Kalumburu Road agrees, and says the iconic road desperately needs more maintenance grading … and she doesn’t care who’s in charge of it.
“To be perfectly honest with you, I don’t care who maintains the road or gets control of the road. I just want to see it with a reasonable service to drive on for most of the dry season,” she told the ABC. “I understand the shire’s problems in that it’s a huge job and we get big wet seasons, but for quite a lot of years it (the road) was getting better and better and it didn’t seem to be a problem coming up with the funding.”
She said part of the problem over the last few years has been the clearing of the drains.
“It’s got to the point where this year and last year, the road during the peak tourism season has been absolutely horrendous,” she said.
