Fairbairn Dam, Queensland.

The first photo is of one of the streets in Emerald, the Fairbairn Dam and Lake Maraboon which has changed since our last visit with more work being done as shown in the photos.

Fairbairn Dam is an eathfill-filled embankment dam across the Nogoa River, located southwest of Emerald in Central Queensland.  Constructed in 1972 for the primary purpose of irrigation, the impoundment created byt the dam serves as one the potable water supplies for the region and assists with some flood mitigation.  Lake Maraboon with an active capacity of 1,301,000 ML (2.86 x 10"imp gal; 3.44 x 10" US gal) was formed by damming of the Nogoa River, and, in 2008, was Queensland's second largest dam.  Maraboon is the Aboriginal for 'where the black ducks fly".
Wikipedia

Will be away till after the weekend.  Off in the caravan to the east coast of Tasmania.

The Gemfields, Queensland Part 2.

More of the Gemfields.  The homes, well I'm not sure if anyone lives in some of them.
The photos were taken as we moved along so hence the foreground might be blurred on a few.

On the way into Sapphire.

A Minion on top of the rusty sign.

The electrician's residence (above)

Would say no one is home in the above photo - maybe they come once in awhile.

Like the clothes line out the back, then a Caravan Park in Rubyvale.

The shop where we bought some food which was very tasty.

This town of Anakie is across the highway on the opposite side of Sapphire and it's where a Gemfest is held each year.  We only saw a small Pub and a couple of houses.