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‘Taking the Waters’: Mineral Springs, Artesian Bores and Health Tourism in Queensland, 1870–1950

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2013

Peter Griggs
Peter Griggs*
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Extract

In late 1907, Charles Fraser, the Victorian government entomologist, travelled to North Queensland. His observations of the flora and fauna in this part of Australia were later published in the Victorian Naturalist. However, this journey was not motivated entirely by his desire to study natural history. As a sufferer of ‘rhematic [sic] troubles’, he spent a few days soaking in the mineral-impregnated waters at Innot Hot Springs, a small inland village approximately 150 kilometres south-east of Cairns. First established in the late 1880s, the tiny settlement is still visited during the winter months by many ‘grey nomads’ en route to Karumba, where the fishing is promoted as being excellent. They break their journey at Innot Hot Springs to soak in the indoor or outdoor swimming pools filled with mineralised water of varying temperatures sourced from the nearby Nettle Creek. Some view it simply as a place to relax after the long journey from southern Australia, having perhaps already tried the artesian bore water baths at Moree and Mitchell en route. Others may consider the mineral waters to have healing qualities; like Charles Fraser, they are literally ‘taking the waters’.

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Articles
Information
Queensland Review , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , December 2013 , pp. 157 - 173
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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References

Endnotes

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21 Wise's Queensland Post Office and Commercial Directories, 1911–12, p. 249; 1913–14, p. 261; 1916–17, p. 323.

22 Hotel, Muckadilla, The famous Muckadilla bore (Brisbane: Muckadilla Hotel and Biggs & Morcom, c. 1922), pp. 5Google Scholar, 16; Chronicle and North Coast Advertiser, 8 April 1921, 3.

23 Western Star and Roma Advertiser, 18 October 1924, 5.

24 Hoch, Isabel, Barcaldine Local Authority 1846–1986 (Barcaldine: Barcaldine Shire Council, 1986), p. 59Google Scholar; Ludwig Bruck, ‘The mineral springs of Australia’, Australasian Medical Gazette, January 1891, 105; Western Champion, 18 June 1921, 13; Townsville Daily Bulletin, 24 September 1912, 3.

25 QGITB, Central Queensland: its marvellous pastoral and mineral Resources (Brisbane: Queensland Government Printer, 1914), p. 37.

26 Springthorpe, Therapeutics, dietetics and hygiene: an Australian text-book, p. 997; Woolcock, ‘Our salubrious climate’, p. 184; Thom Blake and Margaret Cook, Great Artesian Basin: historical overview (Brisbane: Queensland Department of Natural Resources, 2006), p. 54.

27 Dalby Town Council, Dalby and its wonder water: Dalby's Hot Artesian Baths (Dalby: Dalby Town Council, c. 1933), pp. 2–5; Brisbane Courier, 24 July 1922, 9; 1 July 1924, 14.

28 QGITB, The Marona District (South Western Queensland), p. 17; Bruck, ‘The mineral springs of Australia’, 103; Pearn and Little, ‘The taking of the waters’, p. 421.

29 Pearn and Little, ‘The taking of the waters’, p. 418; Bruck, ‘The mineral springs of Australia’, 104.

30 Bullard, Healing waters, pp. 53–9; Rolls, The hospital of the nation, pp. 151–66.

31 Anon., Muckadilla's hot spring: nature's great healer, p. 3 (10 pp. pamphlet, c. 1920); Wise's Queensland Post Office and Commercial Directory, 1916, p. 323; 1940, p. 491; Chronicle and North Coast Advertiser, 8 April 1921, 3.

32 Bruck, ‘The mineral springs of Australia’, 104; Anon., Muckadilla's Hot Spring, p. 3.

33 Strachan, Rod and Scott, Joan, In champagne country: stories and photographs of people and events in and around Roma (Toowoomba: Roma State School P&C Association, 1980), p. 60Google Scholar; Kerr, ‘Muckadilla for obstinate rheumatism’, 541–2.

34 Anon, Muckadilla's hot spring, p. 3; Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton), 6 March 1917, 4.

35 QGITB, North Queensland, Australia (Brisbane: Queensland Government Tourist Bureau, 1908), p. 42; Burns, Philip & Company Ltd, Picturesque travel (Sydney: Burns, Philip & Company, 1913), p. 22; Spencer, Roma souvenir booklet, p. 42; Muckadilla Hotel, The famous Muckadilla Bore, p. 5; Kerr, ‘Muckadilla for obstinate rheumatism’, 542.

36 Corfield, William, Reminiscences of Queensland (Brisbane: Frater, 1921), pp. 152–3Google Scholar.

37 Anon., Australia's wonderful mineral water (Brisbane: Biggs & Company, c. 1910), p. 16; QGITB, North Queensland: the holiday land (Brisbane: Queensland Government, c. 1925), p. 16.

38 Dalby Town Council, Dalby and its wonder water, p. 3.

39 The Australian tropiculturist and stockbreeder, 11 August 1896, p. 46; Muckadilla Hotel, The famous Muckadilla Bore, p. 10; for a Helidon Spa Water advertisement, see the advertising material at the front of Macluran, Mrs Macluran's cookery book.

40 Townsville Daily Bulletin, 26 February 1912, 5; Western Star and Roma Advertiser, 2 October 1918, 3; Chronicle and North Coast Advertiser, 8 April 1921, 3; Brisbane Courier, 6 February 1926, 20.

41 For this claim, see White, ‘From the majestic to the mundane’, 99.

42 For examples of reports about the origins of visitors, see the following: Kerr, ‘Muckadilla for obstinate rheumatism’, 542; Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton), 6 March 1917, 4; Western Champion, 5 October 1912, 9; Townsville Daily Bulletin, 26 February 1912, 5; Queenslander, 29 March 1934, 36; Brisbane Courier, 21 January 1926, 9.

43 Cairns Post, 29 November 1930, 8.

44 See, for example, QGITB, The Pocket Queensland, pp. 21, 146; QGITB, North Queensland, p. 16; QGITB, The Maranoa district, pp. 15–16; QGITB, North Queensland: a land teeming with wealth (Brisbane: Queensland Government, 1908), p. 42; Queensland Government, The Queen State: what Queensland can offer (Brisbane: Queensland Government Printer, 1933), p. 155; Anon., Muckadilla bore.

45 Dalby Town Council, Dalby and its wonder water, p. 2.

46 Muckadilla Hotel, The famous Muckadilla Bore, pp. 3, 16.

47 Northern Miner, 23 January 1897, 4; Cairns Post, 27 June 1923, 4.

48 Muckadilla Hotel, The famous Muckadilla bore, p. 20; Cairns Post, 6 December 1930, 7; Western Star and Roma Advertiser, 9 August 1930, 9.

49 Queenslander, 3 January 1929, 7; Wise's Queensland Post Office and Commercial Directory, 1929–1930, p. 430.

50 White, ‘From the majestic to the mundane’, pp. 101–2; for the decline in spa use in the United States, see Valenza, Taking the waters in Texas, pp. 144–7.

51 Matthews, Tony, Beyond the crossing: a history of Dalby and district (Dalby: Dalby Town Council, 1988), pp. 66–7Google Scholar; Courier-Mail, 28 September 1938, 7; Commonwealth Illustrated Directory (Queensland Edition), 1934–35 (Country Directory section), p. 11.

52 Blake and Cook, Great Artesian Basin, pp. 55, 83; Schneider, Margaret and Walden, Peg, Once across the Maranoa: the story of the Mitchell railway extension (Mitchell: Mitchell Railway Centenary Committee, 1985), p. 35Google Scholar; ‘Muckadilla Hotel’, http://www.muckadillahotel.com.au (viewed 29 June 2013).

53 Pearn and Little, ‘The taking of the waters’, p. 422; Blake and Cook, Great Artesian Basin, p. 57; Rutledge, Len, The motoring holiday guide to North Queensland, Australia (Brisbane: Queensland Tourist & Travel Corporation & Royal Automobile Club of Queensland, 1993), p. 123Google Scholar.

54 Connell, Medical tourism, pp. 15–16; Laing, Jennifer, ‘Peninsula Hot Springs: A new spa tourism experience ‘Down Under’, in Smith, Melanie and Puczkó, László (eds), Health and wellness tourism (Oxford: Elsevier, 2009), pp. 329–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

55 Lambert, Australia's great thermal way, pp. 41–59; ‘Great Artesian Spa’, http://www.westerndownsholidays.com.au/destinations/mitchell/attractions (viewed 29 June 2013); Innot Hot Springs Leisure and Health Park, http://tur.com.au/parks/qld/tropical-north-queensland/innot-hot-springs-leisure-and-health-park (viewed 29 June 2013).