A historic Queensland race club has closed after drawing competitors and punters from across the outback for 140 years.
The Camooweal Jockey Club in north-west Queensland was forced to shut its doors this week after its track was deemed too dangerous to race on.
The club has not hosted a race in three years, first due to COVID and then issues with the quality of the track.
Despite Racing Queensland's $200,000 investment to try and get the track up to standard, jockey club president Lloyd Hicks said the repair cost was too high.
"We have small stones on our track," he said.
"There have been new regulations brought in and we cannot get it to the conditions that Queensland Racing and the jockeys need it to be, which is very unfortunate.
"The condition of the track has actually been improving and the community puts a lot of work into removing the stones, but the regulations are moving faster than we can."
'Sad to see'
With a decent prize pool and a strong social focus, Camooweal's annual race events played an important role in boosting the local economy.
Mr Hicks said the club was hoping to remodel so the track could be used for community events.
"We will still use the facilities, still maintain them, and just hold some other event that is easier for the community to organise," he said.
Locals said it was disappointing to see important country events dying off.
"It's so sad for these little bush communities," Bob Guteridge said.
"These events bring communities together as well as attracting visitors."
Sue Weir said it was "sad to see bush races being shut down due to new rules".
"The club has raced for 140 years without the help of the racing mob from the south," she said.
Millions invested
The Queensland government invested more than $105 million into country racing over six years through its Country Racing Program.
Over the past four years, more than 270 Country Racing Program projects have been awarded, including for repairs and maintenance to 85 country racing clubs.
But the funding has not always resulted in improvements.
In June 2022 almost $1m in taxpayers' money was wasted on upgrades to the Charleville racetrack, which remains unusable.
