The Birdsville Bakery
An Antipodean travel company serving World Travellers since 1983
An Iconic Outback Bakery
No trip to Outback Queensland is complete without a classic Aussie meat pie. And without a doubt the best meat pies are found at the renowned Birdsville Bakery, situated on the legendary Birdsville racetrack approximately 1,600km west of Queensland’s capital Brisbane. Perched by the red dunes of the Simpson Desert, the iconic bakery’s menu is filled with both traditional options and tasty novelties, most notably its famous curried Camel pies.
Since being built from scratch in 2004, Birdsville’s first and only bakery has long served as a tourist destination, especially during the town’s big seasonal events. Operating daily during the tourist season from March to October each year, it stockpiles thousands of pies. When the town’s population swells from 120 to up to 10,000 during the Big Red Bash music festival in July and the Birdsville Races in September, the bakery is ready and the hungry visitors extremely grateful.
What’s on the Birdsville Bakery Menu?
Over the years the Birdsville Bakery has built a reputation as a fantastic place, not only for the tastiest pies in the outback, but also the most exotic. Their signature is the unique and award-winning curried camel pie – tender meat that melts in your mouth. Found nowhere else in Australia, it has been drawing travellers from far and wide for over fifteen years.
Other favourites include kangaroo and claret, rabbit, butter chicken, lamb shank, and the more traditional varieties of chunky beef, mixed beef, and sausage rolls. Endless options for any craving.
Those with a sweet tooth are also sure to be satisfied, with a wide array of Aussie favourites on stock. Chow down on lamingtons, apple turnovers, wattle seed custard tarts, and quandong and caramel tarts.
Still want more? The bakery even offers bistro dinners with special a menu featuring their secret recipes, BFC (Birdsville Fried Chicken) and Lamb’s Shank. Yummy!
But it wouldn’t be a real Australian outback feast without a cold one to accompany it, now would it? Fear not – as one of the only licensed bakeries in Australia, the Birdsville Bakery has got you covered. Beers are also on sale for you to cool down while in the shade of the scorching outback sun.
New Ownership
The Birdsville Bakery has come under new ownership since April 2020, after having been placed into liquidation by its previous owner and closed for almost a year. The Ellis family, who also purchased the neighbouring Birdsville Hotel several months earlier, has bought the bakery with plans to operate the two in conjunction with each other. The previous owner, Martin Josselyn of Diamantina Holdings bought the bakery in 2017 for $1.2 million from its original owner, Robert ‘Dusty’ Miller.
The new owners intend to continue operating the property as a bakery and pay tribute to Mr Miller’s legacy by keeping his renowned camel pies on the menu. Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus pandemic, they have been unable to immediately open it up. But they are reportedly using the time to modernise the point of sale area, spruce up the interior, and recruit a new baker in time to reopen the doors in time for the 2021 season.
Tour of Birdsville
Odyssey Traveller visits Birdsville and tries the bakery’s pies on tow of our tours: our tour of Broken Hill and the outback; and our tour of Queensland.
In our tour of Broken Hill and the outback, we begin and end in the ‘Silver City’ of Broken Hill, New South Wales, exploring the mining history and artistic legacy of the capital of the outback. We take in the works of the ‘Brushmen of the Bush’ at the Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery and visiting the moving Lode Miners Memorial and elegant Broken Hill Courthouse. Leaving Broken Hill, we head towards Birdsville, stopping off at the opal mining town of White Cliff and Menindee Lake National Park on the way. From Birdsville we head south to Marree on the legendary Birdsville Trail, before visiting the flora and fauna sanctuary of the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary, on the northern edge of the Flinders Range. Leaving the Flinders, we head back to outback NSW, passing through the ‘corner country’, possibly the most remote area in Australia.
We also get well and truly off the beaten track on our 19-day small group outback tour of Queensland. Away from the usual tourist centres – Brisbane, the Gold Coast, the Great Barrier Reef, Cairns, Port Douglas, and the Daintree Rainforest – we discover the big skies, stunning pastoral and desert landscapes, and fascinating history of the outback communities of western Queensland with a tour guide. This tour begins in Brisbane, heading west into Queensland, up into North Queensland, and then back south-east to Brisbane, pausing along the way to explore and learn at each stop on day tour (s) with local guides, This escorted tour is suitable for the mature and senior traveller whether as a couple or solo traveller.
If you’re interested in exploring Australia, why not join an Odyssey outback tour? Our tours are designed especially for mature Australians, who seek to learn about the history and culture of their destinations. We are now offering a number of outback Australia small group tours, including:
- An odyssey through the outback roads of the Kimberley, taking you on a scenic flight over the rock formations of Purnululu National Park and to the ancient landscape of the Mitchell Plateau, where the red dirt meets the west coast.
- An outback adventure through outback Queensland, learning about the history of the cattle station in the outback town of Longreach and Aboriginal culture at the UNESCO World Heritage Listed Brewarrina Fish Traps.
- A tour of the Flinders Ranges, South Australia, taking in ancient Aboriginal art and quintessential arid Australian landscape in one of the most accessible areas of the golden outback.
Articles about Australia published by Odyssey Traveller:
You can read all the articles Odyssey Traveller has published for mature aged and senior travellers.