Eulo Lizard Race

This is a land of ancient landscapes – grassy plains stretching to the horizon, rugged red ranges and the sweep of sand dunes.
The Eulo Lizard Race is a testimony to the belief that Australians
would bet on two flies crawling up a wall.

Eulo has a population of less than 50 people and consequently is little more than a pub and a general store. Historically it was a place where opal miners from the nearby mines at Yowah gathered. It was also known for the famous ‘Paroo Track’ where the world lizard racing championships were held each August. Like Yowah, Eulo has dramatic seasonal variations in its population. In winter some opal miners, grey nomads and beekeepers enjoy the dry local weather. Beekeepers even bring their bees from the south to feed on the flowers of the local native Yapundah tree. The honey, a distinctive Warrego variety, is dark and delicious.

Passing through Tilbooroo, whereon was the situation the township of Eulo, I reached the unsurveyed Lower Paroo. Eulo had been an important centre, situated the direct route of travel to the West; it accommodated the travellers passing to and fro and was at the same time a nucleus for the thirsty bushman to quench their thirst, by the ‘melting’ of their cheques and the increase of the territorial revenue, as well as the emoluments of the public-house. An adjacent store was in readiness to supply all the ordinary station requirements. The public house, the store and a blacksmith’s shop constituted the original township of Eulo, which came into celebrity as the rendezvous of prodigal adventurers who professedly had settled upon the Paroo as graziers, but whose purpose was actually to squander their means in hilarious horse-play. In announcing at the Eulo Hotel the termination of their repast they would hurl tablecloths, dishes, plates and crockery on to the floor and indulge in the bravado of paying for the bill of damages. Exploits of this kind continuously bought their holdings into the hands of the land monopolist.

Below Tilbooroo run I found myself upon Calwarro run whereon the river runs into a succession of magnificent waterholes, of which the Calwarro waterhole is the principal. The Paroo River at this southern extremity is characterised by the disappearance of its distinctive channel; the waterholes are connected by low depressions and polygnum flats which a stranger may cross unaware that he has gone beyond the river he is in search of. In fact, such was the fate of an early surveyor, who in search of water crossed the Paroo and kept going onward in the backcountry, where he perished.