The 'friendliest town in the south-west', Cunnamulla has been an important link on the Queensland stock trail for more than 150 years and still shifts more wool through its railhead than any other station in the state.
Explorers Thomas Mitchell and Edmund Kennedy passed this way and their glowing report sparked settlement on the Warrego River and the interest of Cobb and Co, which opened one of its first major coach stops in Cunnamulla in the 1870s.
The history of the region is recorded in the Bicentennial Museum, while a tale hangs by an old tree in Stockyard Street.
As the story goes, a bush ranger named Joseph Wells sought refuge in the tree when he found his horse had gone walkabout. Trouble was, his dog took up station at the foot of the tree and the locals bailed him up, demanding their cash and justice.
They got both. Wells had the dubious distinction of being the last man to be hanged in Queensland for the crime of robbery under arms.
