The Big Ram Print Page

The Big Ram signifies the importance of the sheep and wool industry to the area.

Queensland’s sheep belt carves its way through the centre of the state, stretching from the northern  border of New South Wales to the Gulf of Carpentaria - a distance roughly 1,200 kilometres long and 800 kilometres wide, it covers about 55 million hectares.

The route is readily supplied with water from the Great Artesian  Basin and not withstanding long periods of drought, this major resource has sustained the wool industry  for almost 170 years. Unfortunately, as a result of low world demand and a flat market in the 1990s,  and prolonged drought over recent years, sheep numbers have dwindled dramatically and the industry’s  economic value has slipped to its lowest in 50 years.

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