Ex-drover and bush poet Bruce Simpson looked at the shallow waters of the Georgina River just out of Camooweal. He pushed a battered Akubra hat back on his head and squatted in the way drovers had in years past.

“She was probably the best river in western Queensland, the water was always clean and you could drink out of it along with the cattle,” he said. A few short words that underlined the importance of good water to those who moved the big mobs of cattle across the Outback.

In those days Camooweal was a drovers’ town. It was here that they let their plant horses out to graze on the Common, and where they rested up between droving trips. The Georgina stock route was busy back then for a number of reasons. Prime among them were the trucking yards at Dajarra, on the road between Boulia and Mount Isa. But it was also important for cattle going down to the clover-rich fattening country along the Diamantina and the Cooper. There are still a few drovers who take that route today, mostly moving cattle from the Barkly Tableland to fatten them along the Diamantina.

Camooweal remains central to the drovers’ ethos and is the ideal place to start your trip. For some years an ever-diminishing group have held a reunion there. It is an annual event, that sadly becomes smaller as the years go by. I recall once chatting with Noel ‘Pic’ Willetts who was probably the last of the old-time drovers to take a mob “down the river”. “It was a good life,” he had said. “Pretty uncomplicated if you knew what you were doing.”

There are two tracks on either side of the Georgina. Both were used as stock routes, but the one on the eastern side runs closer to the river. Like most Outback rivers, the Georgina is for the most part little more than a string of water-holes. The country along the track is still a part of the massive Barkly Tableland and you pass through a couple of the larger stations ‑ Headingly and Barkly Downs. For much of the way the Northern end is typical of the Downs; open vistas of Mitchell grass that waves in the breeze in a good season, but by the end of the Dry, there is little left but cracked earth and a few dry stalks of grass.

Away from the river the only surface water is contained in turkey’s nest dams fed by sub-artesian water. The cattle walk to the water each day and viewed from the air their paths can be seen to fan out over the plains with the dam at their centre. Camping near these dams is not a good idea, as cattle scared off water like this may not drink again for days.

The ’Dangi pub was often blamed for the downfall of many a bush worker in its day. One drover was said to have put the entire proceeds of his last trip over the bar, then followed that by drinking away his entire droving plant. He rode away after, with just two horses. He had ridden in with a plant of close to 50.

One of the reasons for the pub’s location is the permanent water-hole nearby. In the late afternoon the sun filters softly through the coolibahs along its banks and little corellas flock in to roost for the night. To depart Urandangi, hopefully minus a hangover, there are a few options. One track takes you over into the Territory, and down to Tobermorey Station. Another takes you east to a T-junction and ultimately Dajarra. This was the route many drovers took because their cattle were destined for the rail yards there. There is no rail head at Dajarra these days, but it was once a rollicking town with store bullocks coming in from as far away as the Kimberly. The third option keeps heading south to join up with the Donohue Highway. This route is the one most current drovers take because it moves them down to the fattening paddocks of the Channel country.

Our route lay down to the south towards the Donohue and Glenormiston Station. It’s always good to travel here with an eye for your surroundings, as opposed to being just a way to reach one place from another. Bird life is prolific, to say the least, with galahs and corellas being the most prevalent, but no lack of hawks and eagles, along with the smaller, nervously darting varieties. Here and there are the remains of those days long gone, sometimes in the form of old cattle-yards. They are still standing and a testament to the skills of those who built them. In one place a lone bronco panel stood unused, a silent reminder of the way cattle were handled without yards.

Just south of Urandangi is Walgra Station. It was a fattening destination for some bullocks coming in from the Territory once, but there was a darker side to its history. Along with the country further south including Carandotta and Roxborough Downs, there were incidents known as gidgee poisoning. This only occurred at certain times of the year, but left a lot of dead cattle. It was a lesson quickly learnt by pastoralists.

About 20km south of Roxborough Downs the stock route joins the Donohue Highway at Glenormiston Station. But your affair with the Lady Georgina isn’t over yet. She seems to float in and out of your life like some carefree spirit. Bone dry in places, yet a water-hole brimming with zest the next. Such is the ephemeral nature of Outback rivers.

Head west and the Northern Territory border is crossed, as the road becomes the Plenty Highway. We decided to camp for a few days on Glenormiston at a water-hole that Bruce knew about. He was right on the money. The Georgina here has river gums along its banks instead of the usual coolibahs. The water flows clean and firewood is easy to come by. We had a dinner date up at the homestead the next night and the younger ringers gathered around the old drover to hear his yarns. The respect they showed to this elder statesman of the bush was heartening to say the least. As for Bruce, he remarked in his usual quiet way. “This will be a change” he said. “I never got my knees under the table in the big house before.”

Sadly Bruce Simpson is no longer with us and another part of our rich bush heritage has been written. Bruce left behind a number of very fine books he wrote, most of them poetry of his own creation. I would rate him as one of the absolute best in the ranks of bush poets. His prose was well-written and it all came from his own experiences. His books are still available through ABC shops. I was proud to call him my friend.

He also wrote about explorer Ludwig Leichhardt in a book called In Leichhardt’s Footsteps. In the book he puts forward some compelling theories as to how the Prussian explorer may have perished. It’s gripping reading for anyone interested in our explorers.

On stock routes: To many of Australia’s latter-day explorers, stock routes have become a bit of a hot topic. Very often they are marked. A gate or fence will have a sign with the initials TSR, or travelling stock route. Some TSRs will be along an existing road and it’s not uncommon to see cattle or sheep grazing on what has come to be known as the ‘long paddock’.

There is little in the way of heritage listing on stock routes apart from the 2000km-long Canning in Western Australia, and Well 19 on a stock route in the Murchison district of WA just east of the Carnarvon/Mullewa road. In the Northern Territory four-wheel drive explorers can travel the Bullita stock route, but the notorious Murranji Track is no longer open.

In Queensland there are 24 Shire Councils charged with the management of existing stock routes, but none are heritage listed. The NSW Department of Primary Industries has a booklet available that lists stock routes in that state.

Each year the Drovers Camp Festival is held in Camooweal. On every occasion, those drovers who are still able to attend do so. There is a wide variety of activities to be experienced including whip cracking and bronco branding as well as bush poetry and a host of other things. Visit droverscamp.com.au for more information.

Camooweal is also central to other destinations including the Northern Territory and more of the Barkly Tableland. North of the town is the gravel road to Gregory and the route into Lawn Hill National Park.