THE HISTORIC Burns Philp building should be your first port of call in Normanton. More than a century and a quarter old, it is the tourist information centre and town library. There is also public internet access within the centre, which is air conditioned. The tourist office and library are open from 9.00am to 5.00pm weekdays and from 9.00am to 1.00pm on Saturdays. From time to time, art exhibitions are staged at the centre.

For history that goes even further back, head out of town. Just 37km from Normanton, you can see some of the blazes created at the campsite where Burke and Wills stayed during their epic and ill-fated journey more than 140 years ago. Burke and Wills marked many trees if they had sufficient time, usually with a shield shape and using the letter “B”. At Camp 119, used February 1861, Burke and Wills blazed 16 trees – four coolibahs, seven guttapercha and four others.

A monument that was erected in 1978 by the Normanton Lions Club marks this site. The coolibah closest to the monument was blazed by Frederick Walker in January 1862, when searching for Burke and Wills. Another coolibah blazed by Walker about 600m to the northeast, was discovered by David Hillan in 1998.