A Guide to Welford National Park: Red Dunes and Desert Colours in Outback Queensland
A Guide to Welford National Park: Red Dunes and Desert Colours in Outback Queensland
Some places make you work for them. Welford National Park is one of those places. It is hot, it is dusty, and it sits a long way from anywhere. But roll in at the right time of day, watch the late sun set the dunes glowing every shade of red you can imagine, and you will understand exactly why we put up with the dust.
We pulled into Welford on the way back from Birdsville, swinging in not long after Windorah on a trip that was already a fair way off the beaten track. It was the end of October, which is right on the ragged edge of the outback season. The thermometer sat around 40 degrees most of the day, and the place was dead quiet. We barely saw another soul. For some people that is a deal-breaker; for us it was a big part of the appeal.
This guide covers everything you need to know before you go: how to get there, where to camp, the drives worth your time, the wildlife, the best season to visit, and the sobering history that gave this country its name. If you are short on time, the quick guide just below sums up the lot.
Welford National Park at a Glance
- Where: Central West Queensland, in the Channel Country on the Barcoo River. About 264km south-west of Longreach and 50km south of Jundah.
- Getting there: Well signposted off the Quilpie Windorah Road. Leave the bitumen and follow the Welford signs along Hammond Downs Road, then into the park on the Jundah Quilpie Road. About 110km and 1.5 hours from Windorah when dry. 4WD recommended; roads are impassable when wet.
- Camping: One camping area at Little Boomerang Waterhole. Drop toilet only, no other facilities. Level sites but little shade. Permit required, book online with Queensland Parks.
- Best drive: The Desert Circuit Drive, a 4WD one-way loop, allow at least an hour and a half with stops. The Spinifex Sand Dune is the highlight of Welford.
- Other drives: River Circuit Drive (12.3km one way, allow about 1.5 hours) and Mulga Circuit Drive (71km return, allow about 4 hours, 4WD required).
- Best time to visit: Winter, roughly May to August. Avoid summer, when 40 degree-plus days and wet-season flooding make it hard going and can close Welford.
- Fuel and supplies: Nearest at Jundah (50km) or Windorah (110km). Carry all your own drinking water. No phone signal at Welford.
- Time needed: One night minimum; two nights is ideal to do all three drives without rushing.
- Don’t miss: Sunrise or sunset from the top of the Spinifex Sand Dune.
Where is Welford National Park?
Welford sits in Central West Queensland, in the Channel Country along the Barcoo River. It is about 264km south-west of Longreach and 50km south of Jundah, which makes it properly remote. This is Cooper Creek catchment country: red sand dunes, Mitchell grass plains and mulga scrub that floods after big rains and bakes the rest of the year.
At around 124,000 hectares, it is a fair chunk of country. Welford started life as a grazing property and was declared a national park in 1992, and today it protects a great mix of red sand dune, grassland, mulga and river habitats.
Getting There
Most people reach Welford from one of two directions, either through Quilpie or through Windorah, depending on which way they are heading. We came in from Windorah, having rolled out of Birdsville earlier in the trip.
Welford is well signposted off the Quilpie Windorah Road, so it is hard to get lost. Leave the bitumen and follow the signs for Welford along Hammond Downs Road, then turn into the park on the Jundah Quilpie Road. There are enough signs along the way to get you there without any fuss. The run in from Windorah is about 110km all up, and with the gravel in fantastic condition when we did it, it only took us about an hour and a half. There are other ways in too, depending on where you are coming from, including down from Jundah in the north or across from Blackall and Yaraka, but for most people it will be the Quilpie or Windorah approach.
A 4WD is the sensible choice out here, and the roads turn to impassable bog after rain, so always check conditions before you commit. The nearest fuel and supplies are back at Jundah, 50km away, or Windorah at 110km, so top up and stock up before you head in. There is obviously no fuel, no shop and no phone signal once you are in Welford. Just the usual on any outback adventure.
A Handy Free Camp on the Way: Behind the Windorah Pub
Quick tip if you are coming through Windorah like we did. The pub lets you camp out the back for free, and it is honestly not a bad little spot (nice grassy vacant block of land – just go and ask at the pub first). You get access to showers, which feels like a genuine luxury out this way, and then you wander around the front for a proper pub feed and a cold one. We have camped here numerous times on our way out to the Simpson Desert.
We had a cracking dinner there before pushing on to Welford the next morning. For a free camp with a hot shower and a meal on tap, it is hard to beat, and it sets you up nicely for the run into Welford.
Camping at Welford: Basic, but You Came for the Outback
Welford has just the one camping area, at Little Boomerang Waterhole, tucked about 10km off the Jundah Quilpie Road. Do not expect facilities. You get a drop toilet and that is about it, so come fully self-sufficient with all your own water. Whatever you bring in, make sure you take back out with you, and always respect the bush.
The sites are all level but there is not much shade, and it gets extremely hot as you head into the warmer months. The camping area is close to the Barcoo River, but when we camped it was no longer directly along it; the section in front of the river had been fenced off for revegetation. Back when you could camp along the water it would have been a far nicer spot (it may be open again but we cannot say for sure). Even so, we really enjoyed ourselves here. We came expecting dust and not much else in the way of a camp spot, and that is exactly the outback experience we were after.
You can still walk down to the river in under a minute, and it is a great spot to sit and watch loads of terrapins and plenty of birdlife. On a warmer day it is a great place to sit in the shade and enjoy the cool breeze coming off the river.
Things to Do: Three Scenic Drives
There are a few drives and things to see at Welford. We only spent the one night here with about half a day to explore, and we really needed a full day, so we did not get to the Mulga Circuit Drive. We did do the River and Desert Circuit Drives, and the Desert Circuit Drive is by far the best of the attractions.
The Desert Circuit Drive and Spinifex Sand Dune
The Desert Circuit Drive is a one-way loop, and it will take you at least an hour and a half if you stop at all the points of interest along the way, which you will want to.
The highlight is the Spinifex Sand Dune. It is a stunning red dune and the views from up top are superb. The ranger reckons it is Welford’s most photographed feature and is magic at sunset, and sunrise or sunset from up here would be a cracker, so spend a good half an hour if you can. There is plenty to see along the way and loads of great photo opportunities.
If you have never crossed the Simpson Desert or stood on top of Big Red, this dune gives you a real taste of what desert country looks like, a bit like a sample of our Simpson Desert crossing on the Madigan Line. The colours along the whole drive are breathtaking, every shade of red and burnt orange you picture when you think of the outback, the kind of scene that ends up in every iconic outback photograph.
Along the way you will also pass a life-giving desert waterhole sitting among the dunes, an old oil bore that was drilled deep in search of oil back in the day, and the remains of an old windmill site where water was once pumped for stock. Leave it all as you find it for the next traveller.
The River Circuit Drive and The Jetty
The River Circuit Drive is the short one, and to be honest there is not much to see along it.
It does take you down to the Jetty, an interesting rock formation jutting out across the Barcoo River that, with a bit of imagination, looks a little like a jetty. Other than that there is not much else, but it is a really short drive, so if you are visiting you may as well take it. Get out and take a stroll along the river as you never know what you might see.
The Mulga Circuit Drive: The One We Missed
This is the one that got away on us. We ran out of daylight, so the Mulga Circuit Drive will have to wait until our next visit.
It is the longest of the three at about 71km return, and the guide recommends a proper 4WD and the best part of a day. It takes in Frances and Trafalgar Waterholes before climbing into stony mulga country, with the Sawyers Creek viewpoint the pick of it. If you have the full day we did not, it is worth doing.
Wildlife and Birdlife
For a place that looks so harsh, Welford is teeming with life if you slow down and look. The waterholes are the place to start. You might spot pelicans, brolgas, black swans, whistling kites and even the near-threatened freckled duck around the water (we did not see any freckled ducks, just a couple of hot freckled travellers).
In the mulga woodlands, keep an eye out for Major Mitchell’s cockatoos with their gorgeous pink crests, along with red-winged parrots and mulga parrots.
It is good rock-wallaby country too. Dawn and dusk near the escarpments give you the best chance of spotting yellow-footed rock-wallabies, which are always a treat to come across.
How Welford Got Its Name
Welford is a beautiful place, but the name carries a heavy story (like everywhere that has a history), and it is worth knowing before you go.
Welford is named after Richard Welford, a British-born barrister who took up the run here on the Barcoo around 1870 and called it Walton. He held it barely two years. In about April 1872, Welford and his stockman, Henry Hall, were killed, by most accounts an act of resistance by Aboriginal people to the taking of their land.
What followed is the darker chapter. Punitive expeditions by Native Police detachments and local pastoralists swept the region in reprisal, and large numbers of Aboriginal people were shot: at Welford’s station, along the Barcoo River, and through the Cheviot Range to the south-east, around what is now Hell Hole Gorge National Park. Oral histories tell of people being rounded up and killed, with some accounts saying bodies were thrown into the gorge itself. The run was later sold and renamed Welford Downs, and that name carried through to the national park we know today. If you want the fuller account of the reprisals and the gorge, we cover it in our guide to Hell Hole Gorge National Park, which sits in the same chapter of this country’s past.
You will not find much about this told on signs out at Welford, and it is much the same over at Hell Hole Gorge, so it is worth knowing before you go. It is a quiet, beautiful place today, but it carries a difficult past.
The Best Time to Visit (and a Heat Warning)
Let us be straight with you: we visited at the wrong time of year, and we knew it. Late October is right on the tail end of the outback season, and at around 40 degrees during the day and warm through the night, it was hot. Not unbearable, but hot enough that we skipped a few things and chased shade more than we would have liked. The flies were around but manageable, and the upside was that we practically had the place to ourselves.
The sweet spot for Welford, like most of outback Queensland, is winter, roughly May to August. The days are mild and clear, the nights can get genuinely cold, and the whole place is far more comfortable to explore. Worth knowing too: these western parks close after rain, and there are seasonal closures through the year, so always check the Queensland Parks alerts before you set off. If you do visit in the warmer months like we did, there are a few spots where you could cool off in the water when the heat gets up, though that was not something we got into ourselves.
Adding to the Adventure
Here is the good news. Welford does not have to be a trip on its own. It is one of a number of national parks scattered across Central West Queensland, and a few of them string together nicely if you have a week or two to really get out there.
The obvious pairing is Idalia National Park, which is exactly where we headed next. That drive was about three and a half hours, all gravel, and the roads were good when we did it. Idalia gives you sculpted sandstone, colourful gorges and rare yellow-footed rock-wallabies, and we have a full guide to it here.
The other one with a shared history is Hell Hole Gorge National Park, the site tied to the Welford reprisals we talked about above. It is a fair drive from this part of the world thanks to the way the access points are spread out, so it is not a quick hop; but then nothing out here ever is. It is well worth knowing about if you are planning a bigger trip.
Beyond the national parks, there is a whole lot more to see out this way, far more than we could ever fit into one post. If you are making the trip, it is well worth working in places like Eromanga (visit the dinosaur museum), the Betoota Hotel (pull in for some great history and a nice cold beer), Birdsville, the Simpson Desert, Haddon Corner and Innamincka. The list goes on and on, and that is half the fun of getting this far off the beaten track.
Practical Tips for Visiting Welford National Park
- Go in winter if you can. May to August is far more comfortable than the 40 degree days we copped in late October.
- Come fully self-sufficient. Carry all your own drinking water, fuel up at Jundah or Windorah, and take back out whatever you bring in. Always remember to respect our land. The only facility is a drop toilet.
- Book your camping permit online with Queensland Parks before you go.
- Check road and park alerts first. These parks close after rain and roads can be impassable when wet.
- Allow more time than you think. A full day, and ideally two nights, lets you do all three drives without rushing.
- Do the Desert Circuit Drive at golden hour. Sunrise or sunset on the Spinifex Sand Dune is the highlight of the whole trip.
- Carry a paper map or offline maps. There is no phone signal at Welford.
- Take your binoculars. The birdlife around the waterholes is brilliant.
Final Thoughts
Welford might not be most people’s cup of tea. It is a proper outback national park, so expect heat, dust and not much in the way of facilities. But if you love stunning sand dunes and amazing outback colours, it is well worth at least one night when you are driving through.
And if you have never made it out to the Simpson Desert, that little red sand dune and the spinifex around it give you a very small but very real taste of what the desert has to offer. It is only a tiny sample, but picture what you see here multiplied several hundred times over into the distance, with far bigger dunes rolling on and on, and you start to get a feel for the beauty of what is out there. Think of it as a small introduction to the kind of adventures still waiting for you. We only had the one night, and we already know we will be back to do the Mulga Circuit Drive and catch a sunrise or sunset from the top of that dune.
Have you made it out to Welford, or is it sitting on your outback hit list? Drop a comment below and let us know; we would love to hear how your trip went.
The thoughts of Peter
