Barcaldine Regional Council’s Rec Park approaches one year anniversary

You won’t find any seagulls, sharks or stingers at Queensland’s newest ‘beach’, but there is an abundance of watersports, sunshine and country hospitality.

Barcaldine Rec Park.

It’s a sight you would see on any given weekend along Australia’s coastline – sunscreen-soaked children running around in rashies, building sandcastles and splashing by the water’s edge.

But you won’t find any seagulls, sharks or stingers at Queensland’s newest ‘beach’ – given it’s about 600km from the nearest ocean.

While technically a ‘lake’, the $2.5M Barcaldine Rec Park has fast become the most popular new attraction in western Queensland, with the 2.4km round ski park offering everything from water sports to waterfront dining.

The Barcaldine Regional Council project, which was in the works for a decade, received State Government funding in 2016 and excavation of the site at Kurrajong Drive began in September 2019.

December 18 will mark one year since the gates opened to the 250m wide lake, which has a maximum water depth of 3.2m and even boasts its own palm tree-filled island.

Barcaldine Regional Council CEO Shane Gray has only been in town for 14 weeks but is already raving about the facility.

“Coming from a number of regional communities, it’s great that where we are in Barcaldine has something like this for the community, for its residents, for visitors,” Mr Gray said.

“It’s a 2.4km round ski park that has motorsports, paddleboards, swimming, we have a cafe and restaurant here and there’s so many other things to do in Barcy so it’s a great time and a great place to be.

“When you look at something like this, it’s not just social infrastructure but hard infrastructure, and every community would be divided about where we spend our money, however from a facility we have here for a community like this, it’s very hard to put a price on what a community asset is.

“One of these assets, it’s not about building just for now, it’s about legacy. This is to have something that we’re recognised for and people will talk about it and come back.”

Barcaldine Rec Park.

Mr Gray said the council wasn’t keeping tally, but on any given day there would be a number of families either out in boats or sitting on the side of the lake enjoying a swim.

“There’s a lot of stuff that’s happening, we’ve had a donation of I guess we call them canoes, there’s a lot of rowing, we’ve had regattas already, there’s a lot of attraction,” he said.

For the first time, Barcaldine has its own watersports association and also a rowing club, which recently played host to Australian Outback Rowing Regatta’s ‘The Outback Sprints’ on October 1.

With the success of the lake, Mr Gray said the council was now turning its focus on it’s next big project – The Barcy Red.

“We’ve created at the end of the lake, in a joint initiative with government funding and Barcy Red,” he said.

“We’ve got up to a 70km motorbike trail so you can bring your bikes, have a swim, have watersports and also go for a ride through the common area called Barcy Red that will be opened up towards the end of this year.

‘It’s just another facility that’s provided free of charge for our community and for visitors.

“We have motorsports coming soon … I can’t give the full detail because it’s all under wraps but we’re going to have a large number of competitors in the Barcy region.

“I think we’re talking something like 50 competitors, that could be 150 visitors, plus local spectators.

“It’s under wraps and is probably one of the best kept secrets because we can’t share it just yet, but when it happens, come and have a look.”

Barcaldine Regional Council CEO Shane Gray checking of The Barcy Red area.

Both projects are all part of boosting tourism in the community, with Barcaldine businesses already reaping the rewards.

“The idea is that we can go to the coast, we can travel, we can go overseas, but sometimes exploring our backyard brings up a gem or two and this is one of those places you can visit … once you’re here you can look at everything,” Mr Gray said.

“You can go to the centre of Queensland, which is actually Muttaburra, you can travel to Aramac, you can come to Barcy and see the Tree of Knowledge which is iconic in Australia and political history.

“It doesn’t matter where you go in any of our regions, it’s worth exploring to see what you don’t already know and if you’ve been here once, there’s people coming back, tourists love it.

“Any facility that we create has got to have a value-add and we’re seeing that – we’re seeing our shops, our service industries all doing very well.

“I’d encourage everyone to come and stay a while and spend some time and enjoy the country hospitality.”

Originally published as Barcaldine Regional Council’s Rec Park approaches one year anniversary