Local sport teams have their fair share of unusual team names, but a rugby union club in north-west Queensland has a local reputation for being the most mysterious.
The Cloncurry Question Marks rugby club celebrated its 25th anniversary this season, and only now have the origins of its name been revealed.
In the mid-90s, the north-west rugby competition only consisted of four Mount Isa-based teams, with one Mount Isa verses Cloncurry friendly match played annually.
After a Cloncurry win in 1995, local mining worker Wayne Simonsen had the light-bulb moment that the town could have its own team.
"I looked around the pub, leant over to one of my friends and said 'I think we can pull together a side here'," he said.
"I started to go through the process of putting a team together and unknown to me one was already made."
Cloncurry engineer John "Tubby" Jeckle had incorporated a club in 1990 with the hopes it would eventually get off the ground.
"The conversation then moved onto what are we going to call the club and Tubby piped-up and said that he already had to register it under a name," Mr Simonsen said.
The team was registered with the placeholder name The Nondescripts, taking after another rugby union club closer to Cairns in the early nineties.
"We looked around the room and thought that matches us pretty well," he said.
"And then came the question mark logo with that, which you still see around today."
Question Marks still hover
In recent years, the Cloncurry Question Marks has been made up of majority Mount Isa locals, with home games in Cloncurry played sparingly.
Wayne Simonsen said this was indicative of mining rosters in north-west Queensland and its impact on sport.
"The mines moving to the twelve-hour shifts means no one has weekends now and it's very hard to commit to sport," he said.
"Which is sad, because when I first started the Question Marks it was a good way to integrate the mines with the community."
As rugby union in the north-west is played over summer, Simonsen said this also created a hurdle for station workers.
"The problem with the rural lads is when it's mustering season you lose them," he said.
Despite the struggle, Wayne Simonson made the trip to Mount Isa to see the team play before it broke for Christmas.
"It's so heartwarming to see the team continue, it was the best years of my life," Mr Simonsen said.
