Apparently a teamster named John Higgins took up land in the vicinity of the Black Stump Run (possibly in the early 1860s when Robertson's Land Bills allowed land selection to occur). Higgins built an inn in the 1860s which he called The Black Stump Inn, located at the junction of roads leading to Gunnedah and Coonabarabran. The inn later became the Black Stump Wine Saloon and was destroyed by fire in 1908. It has been suggested that the saloon was an important staging post for traffic to north-west New South Wales and it became a marker by which people gauged their journeys. Merriwagga / Gunbar, New South Wales The village of Merriwagga and nearby community of Gunbar, in the Riverina district of New South Wales, have strong claims to the origin of the expression 'black stump'. Gunbar cemetery is the burial-place of Mrs. Barbara Blain, the woman whose accidental death in March 1886 possibly gave rise to the term. Barbara Blain's husband, James, was a carrier or teamster, based at Hay. In March 1886 James and Barbara Blain, in company with other carriers, stopped to camp at a pine ridge on "Gunbar" station. James and the other men left to load posts onto their drays and Barbara began preparations for the evening meal. When they returned, the men found Mrs. Blain had been fatally burnt, probably after her dress had caught alight from the flames of the camp-fire. Barbara Blain was buried at nearby Gunbar cemetery and an inquest into her death was subsequently held. James Blain apparently stated that when he found his wife she "looked like a black stump" (possibly as part of his evidence at the inquest). A watering place near where the tragedy occurred – roughly halfway between Gunbar and the village of Merriwagga – became known as Black Stump Tank. The Black Stump Picnic area at Merriwagga has a waggon and memorial stone (), with an inscription which explains the details of these events. Blackall, Queensland The town of Blackall, Queensland makes the following claim to the origin of the expression. In 1887 a group of surveyors arrived in Blackall (near the centre of Queensland, over 1,000 kilometres west of Brisbane) and established an Astro Station on this site to conduct survey readings to establish a principal meridional circuit traverse around the town. Stumps and other suitable stable platforms were often used rather than a