Hot springs a hot tourism experience in outback Queensland as artesian waters re-emerge

The hot springs in Cunnamulla look out over the Warrego River. (ABC Western Qld: Danielle Lancaster)

The Australian outback is hardly known for its water, but this is likely to change as hot spring tourism sees a resurgence in regional Queensland.

With more hot springs emerging in the bush, tourism operators are jumping at the chance to turn artesian bathing into the outback’s next big attraction.

The rural town of Cunnamulla, 800 kilometres west of Brisbane, is the latest to open a hot spring resort.

The attraction joins 27 existing hot spring destinations in regional Queensland.

Natalie Flecker, chair of the Outback Queensland Tourism Association, said hot springs were the fifth-most popular tourist experience worldwide.

“This just places us really well to welcome those travellers to outback Queensland,” she said.

“It’s a hot adventure tourism product.”

What is a hot spring?

Queensland’s hot springs emerge naturally due to pressure from the Great Artesian Basin (GAB), two-thirds of which lies beneath the vast state.

The water that bubbles up is boiling, mineral-rich, and has a distinctly “eggy” smell.

Bathing in these artesian waters is certainly not a new practice.

“It’s a revival of a very old tradition,” said Jen Silcock, a research fellow in desert ecology at the University of Queensland.

“In early colonial history, there were a huge number of artesian spas and people did flock to them.

“And they were really important ceremonially [for Indigenous groups] as well. They were meeting places and used like that for millennia.”

Much of the natural upwelling of springs had disappeared after unregulated bore drilling from early settlers more than 150 years ago.

But the results of a decades-long Great Artesian Basin rehabilitation program has been successful in coaxing springs back to the surface.

Dr Silcock said there was a significant increase in the number and variety of hot spring attractions in western Queensland in the past five years.

“So it’s not new, but certainly the way that it’s [hot springs] being embraced by travellers and grey nomads is,” she said.

Council takes leap of faith

From mud baths in Eulo to aquatic centres in Bedourie, tourists travel thousands of kilometres to experience the outback waters.

As Cunnamulla Mayor Suzette Beresford puts it, artesian water is “essential to the life” of the rural towns blessed with having it.

“It can be used for everything. It’s used for stock, it’s used for households, it’s used for gardens, bathing, laundry — everything,” she said.

Working with the operators of Peninsula Hot Spring in Victoria, the council has spent years planning Queensland’s newest multi-million-dollar hot spring resort.

The $11.7 million Cunnamulla Hot Springs facility is funded by the Queensland government and the former federal Coalition government under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

It is a head-first dive for the rural council, but Ms Beresford is confident it will be worth it.

“It’ll have a great flow-on effect for local businesses … and of course it will provide employment opportunities,” she said.

Harnessing a ‘connection with nature’

Cunnamulla Hot Springs operator Charles Davidson said the town’s remoteness is its selling point, but also its weakness.

“The biggest challenge out here is going to be the staffing … and accommodation,” Mr Davidson said.

Inspired by onsens, or Japanese hot springs, Mr Davidson wants visitors to see Australia “in its purest form”.

“You get that connection with nature, the feeling of oneness,” he said.

Cunnamulla local and Kunja traditional owner Julie Fox grew up with the outback waters and sees their development as a “blessing” for the community.

“I feel that this is something I didn’t have when I was growing up here,” she said.

“It’s something that my children and grandchildren can enjoy.”