Early non-indigenous settlers arrived in the area on horseback or in horse drawn vehicles. Tracks linked the pastoral station homesteads and out-stations, which also provided the first Post Offices and Receiving Offices for mail.
Road building was the primary task for the Divisional Boards, once they were established in 1879. Before the railway line was constructed in the mid-1880s, coaches provided the only form of public transport, travelling from the already established towns of Clermont, Tambo, Blackall and Emerald.
Cobb & Co coach at Queens Hotel, Jericho.
Coaches continued to run from the towns established along the east-west rail line to the towns to the north and south until after the turn of the twentieth century.
Rail transport was vital for the movement of passengers, mail and goods until roads were finally bitumenised in the 1970s and 1980s.