You’ll know you’ve arrived when you spot the Cunnamulla Fella!
This larger-than-life statue is a tribute to the Aussie larrikin stockman. Slim Dusty has had a hand in making the Cunnamulla Fella famous when he put the lyrics of Stan Coster to song.
Never was this more so than in the 50s and 60s when Australia was riding on the sheep’s back, wool was pound for pound and cattle were worth their weight in gold. This vibrant era provided endless employment opportunities for young lads just out of school when most finished at year eight to work on the sheep and cattle stations.
These young fellows, many only 15 or 16, worked long, hard hours from sun up to sun down often seven days a week mustering sheep, chasing scrubbers and breaking in horses. At the end of a hard day’s work they would squat around the campfires on their saddles or swags yarning about the day’s events.
It was around this time that Stan Coster wrote the song The Cunnamulla Fella, later immortalised by the late Slim Dusty.
As a tribute to all these young fellas who worked the land a project by the Paroo Shire Council, which had taken two years to bring to completion, came to an end as the Cunnamulla Fella was unveiled to the public on Friday 18 November, 2005.