Aramac

History

Aramac lay on the traditional tribal lands of the Iningai. Iningai (also known as Yiningay, Muttaburra, Tateburra, Yinangay, Yinangi) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Iningai people. The Iningai language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Longreach Region and Barcaldine Region, particularly the towns of Longreach, Barcaldine, Muttaburra and Aramac as well as the properties of Bowen Downs and catchments of Cornish Creek and Alice River. In 1860, pastoralists and explorers, William Landsborough and Nathaniel Buchanan, travelled through the region looking for land to acquire. They came across a creek surrounded by good grazing country and Landsborough named it Aramac (derived from R.R. Mac) in honour of the future Premier of Queensland, Robert Ramsey Mackenzie. British pastoral occupation began in the region in 1862 with the formation of the massive Bowen Downs station. Aramac Station was established by John Rule and Dyson Lacey in 1863. In 1867, an employee of Aramac Station, John William Kingston, opened a bark-hut store at an outlying point on the Aramac Creek. Enlarged two years later to include a hotel (Kingston's Bazaar), Kingston's settlement was declared a town site in 1869 and surveyed as a town in 1875. It was the region's first town, and the centre of the first local-government division. To this day John William Kingston is recognised as the original founder of Aramac. His grave bears a plaque in the Aramac Cemetery acknowledging his achievement. The town was originally called Marathon. The name was changed to that of Aramac, after the station, when the survey was conducted in 1875. Recollections of an 1878 visit to Aramac were published in the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin in 1933, describing the…

Geography

Aramac is located north of Barcaldine, and by road from the state capital, Brisbane. It is situated on Aramac Creek, which flows into the Thomson River west of town. The Muttaburra–Aramac Road enters from the north and exits as Barcaldine–Aramac Road to the south. The predominant industry is grazing. The town water for Aramac is supplied from two bores connecting into the Great Artesian Basin.

Most-observed species

• Willie-wagtail

  Rhipidura leucophrys (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  39
• Magpie-lark

  Grallina cyanoleuca (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  38
• Black Kite

  Milvus migrans (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  37
• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  36
• Crested Pigeon

  Ocyphaps lophotes (Temminck, 1822) · Aves
  32
• Emu

  Dromaius novaehollandiae (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  30
• Zebra Finch

  Taeniopygia guttata (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  26
• Apostlebird

  Struthidea cinerea Gould, 1837 · Aves
  24