Dalby

In the heart of the black soil plains of the northern Darling Downs of Queensland, 84km north-west of Toowoomba, Dalby is a thriving, picturesque town at the crossing of the Warrego, Bunya and Moonie Highways.

The spot where explorer Henry Dennis camped in 1841 is marked by an obelisk in Edward Street, and also where Dalby farewelled Ludwig Leichhardt on his 1844-45 expedition from the Downs to Port Essington.

The Pioneer Park Museum pays tribute to those who opened up the Downs while the Cactoblastis Memorial Cairn in the Myall Creek picnic area pay homage to the imported Argentinian caterpillar, which virtually ate the cursed prickly pear into oblivion in the late 1920s. It is one of the world's most successful attempts at biological pest control.

Dalby is an attractive, well-planned rural centre of 10,000 people in the centre of what has long been regarded as Australia"s richest grain and cotton growing area.

Festivals - Cotton Week (March)