A REAL SURPRISE IN BELL TOWNSHIP (21 MAY 2016)

We had arranged to spend two nights in Bell.....we were settled nicely in the caravan park......it was time to take a good long walk around the township. As we did so, we found some remarkable parallels with Mendooran. 

Both are small towns in primary production areas, both are on a main highway, The Castlereagh and the Bunya respectively, both show significant superficial signs of decay and, when one digs below the surface, in both we found a resilient and enterprising community.

Nestled at the base of the Bunya Mountains, Bell is anything but a metropolis, and is rightly described as nestling amongst countryside which features "rolling hills of quilt-like patterned farmland"  as this aerial shot demonstrates (thanks to Wikipiedia for both!)

The Bunya Highway forms the main street

as the number of heavy vehicles passing through the town clearly demonstrated

Here we found the town general store and fuel outlet. From the outside it does not look anything remarkable,

but this is a classic case of looks being deceiving.  Liz poked her nose inside in a quest for the Weekend Australian, with limited hope of success.  She emerged a minute or so later, not only victoriously clutching the prized broadsheet, but loudly singing the praises of the range and quantity of goods on offer and the level of service provided.  When I later brought the Cruiser up here for a top-up, I confirmed her report. Bell is indeed well served by its general store.

The short strip of the Bell ‘CBD’ also includes a ‘coffee and cake cafe’ (I’m embarrassed to admit I cannot remember its name),

the now defunct town garage,

and the building which once housed the town gallery. The gallery is one of the Bell enterprises which has undergone a resurrection as we were later to discover.

The Bell RSL building completes those to be found in the main street, but there is more to the town than this.

Diagonally opposite the junction on which the caravan park is located we find Dennis Street and here, where it joins the main street, is the Bell War Memorial plinth

on which the names of all who enlisted from this area are inscribed. Now there is nothing extraordinary about that, 

but as I gazed down the names I was struck by the listing of the Shaws.  What a complete tragedy this must have been for this family....all three have the letter ‘K’ after their names....killed in action.

Behind the memorial stand the old Bell railway station and sheds,

preserved for posterity.

The train no longer comes to Bell from Dalby. All that now remains here is the marvellous mural on the shed wall telling of busier times.

Dennis Street is also home to Bell’s only hotel, a rather grand old wooden building which dominates the streetscape of otherwise empty commercial buildings.

We did manage an ale or two here on the evening of our arrival when we were astonished to learn that this pub only does meals on a Friday evening.  Oddly enough, that is the night on which the local pub social club gathers to raffle chooks and place their footy tips, and despite the fact that we did engage in a lively conversation with a charming old chap who has lived in Bell all his life, fatigue (and an evening meal already prepared and waiting) saw us dally for only a short time. But we did leave with a priceless piece of local advice....."make sure you visit the Catholic Church before you leave".

The following day we continued our Bell township ramble, and, past the pub on Dennis Street came to the grain silos which had stood out so clearly on our approach to the town,

and a short distance beyond them the many buildings of the local school.

In what I considered to be a clever use of space and resources, the school grounds also house the Bell community swimming pool, 

which, from what I could see by peering over the fence, looked very well built and maintained.

From here we tramped up the hill into the backstreets, a climb which provided a good view over the surrounding countryside

and took us past some very colourful bougainvilleas.

Turning into Cassidy Street we firstly came across the local skate park, children’s playground and public picnic area, the surrounds of which clearly reflected the lack of rain which has beset this entire area for many, many months.

The modest building of the Presbyterian Church stands opposite the park,

and I was more than amused to note that several of the park benches in the picnic area opposite were actually church pews.  Now that’s advertising for you, or is it a matter of inviting folk to practise sitting on one of these most uncomfortable seating inventions as a form of training with the hope that church attendance might follow?

It is in this street that we also came across several homes with beautiful garden surrounds (unlike what we saw later).

One of these was soon to assume special significance. The paintings on the front verandah wall were the first hint of what we were about to see..

Right next to this home is far from imposing Bell Catholic Church

with its distinctive symbol on the front wall.

The ‘bell’ theme is continued on up the edge of the entrance stairway.

All very quaint I hear you say....what is all the fuss about? 

Well, just have a look at what we found inside this most humble of church buildings. 

This has to be the most colourfully decorated church interior we have ever seen.

All the walls are ablaze with colour.

Obviously and understandably all the art has a religious theme in which various major events described in the Bible, 






such as the Garden of Eden,

and the Nativity (to highlight just two) are depicted.





This is breathtaking stuff.  And believe it or not it was all painted by the woman who lives next door.....and she happened to be watering her front garden as we strolled by. Having seen the extraordinary result of her artistic efforts I was delighted to be able to meet her and pass on our compliments for what she had achieved....so much more personal that a note in the visitors’ book! 

But it doesn’t end here at the Bell Catholic Church. The plethora of art is continued in the church grounds next door, in the Bell Biblical Garden.

Here meandering paths through this dry-land garden take visitors through the story of the crucifixion.

Throughout this marvellous garden, different scenes represent various incidents and stages in the events from the betrayal of Jesus right through to the resurrection.

In this panorama, for example, are statues depicting the stripping of the garments, the nailing to the cross, the crucifixion itself and the removal from the cross.

The art forms are varied.  In the crucifixion scene, for example, wire has been used to represent the body on the cross,

whilst the removal is depicted in mosaics.












And whilst on the subject of mosaics, as we were wandering around I spotted something very familiar. Here was a real reminder of home, a mosaic of Mary MacKillop.

As we made our way back to the main street we did spy a sign pointing to the church, but as you can see it is small and somewhat overgrown. Had it not been for the chat we had the previous evening in the pub, we may never have been encouraged to visit this quite incredible place of worship.



They really should do better here in Bell to promote what is, in my view, a significant tourist attraction, one which in itself makes a trip to this town well worth the effort.

I have to say my head was still spinning as we toddled off to the opposite side of town. We had earlier spotted the advertising material on the side of one of the disused buildings on the main street pointing to the new town gallery etc., and decided this could be worth a look.

After a brisk five minutes or so along the road which also leads to the local golf club and race track, we could see our target destination on the left in front of us.










And here we were in for another surprise behind the doors of the new and impressive BellBunya Community Centre.







The entry hall is lined with craft products, all locally produced, beyond which is the servery counter of the in house coffee shop. Here the staff, all volunteers, were preparing the morning treat of Devonshire teas. After the exercise we were getting this morning, my conscience would remain silent if a tasty scone had found its way into my mouth. “Did you bring any money, Lizzie?”  The answer was negative.

Damn! The waiting tables and chairs of the cafe area did not feel the pressure of a Marshie bottom and the quality of the BellBunya baking will forever remain a mystery to us!








The staff were most obliging. We had barely entered when one detached herself from her culinary duties and gave us the guided tour.  In another surprise we learnt that Bell is the hub of a local art group, some members of which have now left the district, but return regularly to add their work to the display in the centre’s quite large gallery


Fortunately I had taken this shot before Liz and the staff member pointed out the sign which forbade photography in this area....something to do with copyright or what have you. I had seen it, but took the view that this wide photo did nothing to infringe artistic sensibilities, and worked on that old principle that it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission! Liz was somewhat embarrassed, the staff member was somewhat miffed, and your scribe was somewhat secretly pleased with himself beneath an exterior expression of suitable contrition!

But then she (our hostess) brightened up as she showed us another of Bell’s treasures, this beautifully coloured parrot which willl not be the subject of any 'dead parrot' jokes (for all you Monty Python fans!)

I’ll let the accompanying poster tell the incredible story of this ornithological oddity. Yet another of Bell’s surprises!

This is the ‘sporting’ end of town. The town bowls club and rinks share a boundary with the community centre












whilst across the road we came to the modest building which is home to the Bell golf club

where we found something we had come across before, but not often. Here in Bell much of the golf course is co-located with the race track. It was quite odd looking at one of the surprisingly good greens across the running rail.

So let me conclude our Bell adventure where I began, with the comment that we found much here in common with Mendooran. Some parts of town, including much of the main street, look quite derelict

as do many of the houses.















And yet, in the same street, for example, new dwellings are on show

and we found plenty to suggest that the folk of Bell are an enterprising lot, making the most of what they have here at the ‘gateway to the Bunyas’.

And finally, the town's name. It has nothing to do with things than peal and clang to call the faithful to church or the hungry to dinner. 






The township was originally on part of the large land holding known as Jimbour Station, the owner of which was one Sir Joshua Peter Bell, a man who surely must have been know as much for his facial hair as his grazing interests! And whilst this oddly hirsute gentleman has long departed this world, his name lives on in this surprising little town.




These days the enterprise in the area around Bell continues as it began.....cattle grazing, pig production and cropping, with the addition of cotton farming in parts, all of which results in the 'patchwork' appearance of the land as we saw at the beginning of this missive.

What a fascinating day we had discovering the secrets of Bell. As for the morrow we are off to Wooroolin, another even smaller town where the free camp area is our target destination. Are the notes in our camps book accurate?  We shall soon see.