Calliope Accommodation, Hotels, Tours & Information

Calliope

According to Greek mythologists, Calliope was the muse of epic poetry. According to Australian historians, Calliope was the name of the ship which carried Governor Fitzroy into Port Curtis in 1854.

One assumes this town took its name from a ship rather than mythology, although epic tales have been told about the diggers who joined the rush for gold in these parts in the 1860s.

Memories of those heady days linger on in the town's Diggers Arms Hotel, which first opened its doors during the rush.

You can retrace the golden days in the town library which has marked the new millennium by setting up a Heritage Corner, with books, documents, photographs and locally written articles on the past.

On the banks of the Calliope River just to the north of the shire capital is the Port Curtis Historical Village, which conserves significant pioneer buildings and artefacts.

Built on the successive fortunes of local timber-getters, wool growers, beef barons and the transient fortunes of the goldminers, Calliope is close to the junction of the Bruce and Dawson highways.

As a consequence, it is a convenient spot from which to take in the sights and scenery of the surrounding tablelands, Boyne River Valley, the expansive Lake Awoonga, the peaks of Mt Castletower National Park and Tannum Sands and Boyne Island south of Gladstone.