Yelarbon, Qld – Recreation Ground Camping, Stunning Silo Art & Rabbit Town History

We visit the small south-western town Yelarbon and thoroughly enjoy our stay at the Yelarbon Recreation Grounds. There’s much to see and enjoy in this little town! The Recreation Grounds offers a great choice of both powered and unpowered sites and has well maintained amenities with hot showers and clean toilets. There is even a laundry and a barbecue area. The caretaker is very helpful and friendly and has a wealth of local knowledge.

You’ll find the original Yelarbon gaol here, as well as a rail museum filled with lots of old railway memorabilia.

The silo art on Yelarbon’s GrainCorp Silos is one of the longest in Australia – measuring a total length of 96 metres and is most definitely one of highlights of the town. More than 1000 litres of paint was used in its creation. The artwork is titled ‘When the Rain Comes’ and shows a young boy playing at the Yelarbon Lagoon. In his hand, ready to sail, is a homemade paper boat. The newspaper boat is based on fragments of a very old newspaper that was found in the town’s old gaol. The silo art by artists ‘Brightsiders’ was undertaken in two stages, commencing in 2018, with completion in 2020, and now forms part of the Silo Art Trail.

The old strainer post on the edge of town, marks the end of what was the original Dingo Barrier Fence. This fence started at the Great Australian Bight in the south-west of South Australia, and made its way through South Australia, New South Wales, then into Queensland as far as Cloncurry, before heading south to end here at Yelarbon.

Yelarbon and District Soldiers Memorial Hall was opened and dedicated in 1925, commemorating those in the area who served in World War 1. This is a great looking hall and about one hundred years old! Beside the Hall is Yelarbon’s Memorial Park with its newish War Memorial commemorating those who served in both World War I and World War II. This striking memorial with its two-tier sandstone base and black granite obelisk was dedicated on ANZAC Day 1996. The original memorial is located behind this new memorial. The addition of brightly coloured large poppies here add a really nice touch with their remembrance symbolism.

Lost History – A Rabbit Tale: In 1916 Yelarbon became the first town in Queensland to open a rabbit freezing works. Trappers travelled from far and wide to consign carcasses to Yelarbon, and it eventually became known as ‘Rabbit Town’. Within a year of opening, the Yelarbon freezing works had processed over 110,000 rabbits and was supplying meat to markets around southern Queensland, plus pelts and furs to factories and hat makers in Sydney and Melbourne. By 1929 the rabbit industry was the largest employer of labour in Australia. Refrigerated meat was being exported by ship to Britain, North America and Asia, as it provided affordable meat to the domestic market. Check out more of the story in the video.

The Yelarbon Lagoon provides a permanent water source for the town. There is plenty of shade here under the river gums and it a tranquil spot to sit and enjoy the birdlife.

You’ll find Yelarbon about halfway between Goondiwindi and Inglewood on the Cunningham Highway. The town has a population of around 360 and was officially named in 1908 – Yelarbon is a local Bigambul name associated with the lagoon. A hundred plus years ago, Yelarbon would have been a commercial centre for local sheep grazing and grain properties. Later, it became an important collection depot for wheat when the railway was connected in 1908, linking Yelarbon with Brisbane for both freight and passenger services. The South Western rail line which starts at Warwick is still used for freight, only as far as Thallon. The rail service used to extend to Dirranbandi in the west until the line was extensively damaged in the 2010 floods.

You can view our video about Yelarbon on our YouTube channel.