Around 30,000 tourists are estimated to visit the Marree region annually, experiencing, in particular, the Birdsville, Oodnadatta and Strzelecki Tracks, the Simpson Desert and the Innamincka Regional Reserve. The Marree resident population in the 2021 census was 65 people, with 100-150 workers at Marree during peak tourist season.

Long before they became legendary stock routes, the Birdsville Oodnadatta and Strzelecki Tracks were part of ancient Aboriginal trade and travel routes. In a land where all human activity depends on the presence of water, these routes are defined by a succession of watering places. It is these watering places that allowed them to become stock routes in the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century as pastoralism established itself in the arid centre of Australia.

Getting there

Leaving Ikara – Flinders Ranges behind , we traveled through Hawker (for fuel), Leigh Creek (for groceries), Copley (for their famous Quondong Pies, of which they had sold out ☹️), and Lyndhurst (because there is no other way to go) 240 kilometres. The road is sealed, but roadworks for about 5km meant going over some fairly bumpy dirt road.

Oasis Caravan Park and Cabins

The Marree Oasis Caravan Park and Cabins is across the road from the Oasis Roadhouse. With temperatures staying around 40°C, a powered site was a must, although our caravan aircon overheated and stopped working during the hottest part of the day. The water in Marree is desalinated from the Artesian Basin and is lovely to drink.

Lake Eyre Yacht Club

Started in 2000, the yacht club deemed Marree the ideal central meeting spot for its 250 Australian and international members to gather.

The annual regatta is held at Lake Killamperpunna, 157 km from Marree. However, Marree is the closest town to the lake. For members attending the regatta, there is free camping in the grounds of the Yacht Club.

Marree Hotel (née Great Northern Hotel )

The Maree Hotel was built in 1883 to support the arrival of the railway.

The hotel is also home to the Tom Kruse museum.

The history of the mail run from Adelaide to Queensland is defined by the 
Birdsville Track mail service, which first began in 1884. Initially, the service used horses and buggies, but it became famous for its motorised era, particularly the legendary runs of Tom Kruse between 1936 and 1957, who delivered mail and supplies from Marree to Birdsville in a Leyland Badger truck. Modern mail is now delivered by air, but the Birdsville Track is still known as the world’s longest mail run. 

• The Birdsville Track was opened in the 1860s to walk cattle from northern Queensland and the Northern Territory to the nearest railhead in Port Augusta, which was later moved to Marree.

A Potted History of Marree

40,000 years – of Diyari aboriginal occupation.

• Four decades of archaeological field work has placed Aboriginal occupation of the Lake Eyre Basin at around 40,000 years ago.

1840 – first European explorer arrived, Edward John Eyre.

1859 – German botanist Joseph Herrgott, “discovered” a fresh water spring, one of a string of springs from the Great Artesian Basin.

• The paths of ancient Aboriginal trade routes, where traders hopped from one spring to another, carrying materials from the Flinders Ranges deep into central Australia and back; The Aboriginal people passed their knowledge on to explorers and settlers, telling them, ‘It isn’t the straightest route, but it’s the only one if you want to survive’. These routes are now called ‘The Oodnadatta Track, The Birdsville Track and the Strzelecki Track’

1861 – First Australian Mosque built.

• The remains of the oldest mosque in Australia which was built in 1861, are near Hergott Springs, Marree in South Australia. This was once one of the country’s most important camel junctions and had been known as Little Asia or Little Afghanistan.
• The first camels and cameleers were brought to Australia in 1840, to assist with exploration and transport of goods.
• All camaleers in Australia were referred to as Afghans or Ghans. Even though they were also Indian and Pakistani

1872 – Camp established

• Hergott Springs camp was established for maintenance workers on the Overland Telegraph Line. The camp soon grew into an outpost for all expeditions heading north and eventually Afghan camel drivers established a base at the settlement, from where they headed off the outlying centres of Oodnadatta, Birdsville and Alice Springs.

1883 – Town, Railway & Hotel

• Hergott Springs Camp was surveyed and officially became the town of Hergott Springs
• Central Australia Railway reached the town and the first train ran to the railway station in January 1884.
• The hotel was built. Then called the Great Northern Hotel, it is now known as the Marree Hotel.

1884 – Post office and telegraph established.

• The South Australia Post and Telegraph Department established a telegraph and post office in Marree in June 1884. It operated in a canvas tent, until a more permanent structure was built. 

1917 – Name Change

• Originally Called Hergott Springs, the name was changed to Marree in 1917 due to anti-German sentiment during World War 1

1957 – Marree becomes ‘break of gauge’ station.

• Marree station allowed passengers and freight to transfer between the old narrow-gauge line to Alice Springs and a new standard-gauge line from Port Augusta. The standard-gauge line was built to carry coal from Leigh Creek, while the narrow-gauge line was needed for cattle traffic from the Birdsville Track and passengers continuing north on The Ghan
• 1067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow-gauge track on one side of Marree Station and 1435 mm (4 ft 8½ in) standard-gauge track on the other.

1987 – Railway closed.

• In 1980 the narrow gauge line from Marree to Alice Springs closed when the Adelaide–Alice Springs line was rebuilt much further west. The Steel lines were reused for the new route. In 1987 the standard gauge line to Marree was closed north of the coal mine and the town lost its railway connection completely.
• The old narrow gauge wooden sleepers were repurposed for various buildings etc in the region. Examples we saw were part of the William Creek Hotel and the Coward Springs store and hot pool.

Around the town of Marree

Sunsets

We asked the locals the best place to view the sunset, they said the Cemetery. The cemetery is derived into quarters. One quarter is European, one Indigenous, one Afghan (which also includes Pakistani and Indian), and the 4th quarter is empty. There were many graves, but only a few grave stones, many broken. We wondered if the annual floods caused too much damage to keep replacing them. Not sure.

Flight over Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre.

It was AMAZING. But too many photos to add here, so will make the next post just about the flight.

Cheers til next time, Helen & Tim