It is situated on Aramac Creek, which flows into the Thomson River 60 kilometres (37 mi) west of town.

[5][6] In 1860, pastoralists and explorers, William Landsborough and Nathaniel Buchanan, travelled through the region looking for land to acquire.

[7] British pastoral occupation began in the region in 1862 with the formation of the massive Bowen Downs station.

[9] Recollections of an 1878 visit to Aramac were published in the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin in 1933, describing the township as consisting of "neat weatherboard structures, painted, and comprising four stores, three hotels, and three butchers' shops, with a post office, bank, court house, and surgery",[10] and the surrounding countryside and as "one of the emporia of the West.

"He has been on its threshold, having traversed the desert, and beheld, not without surprise, broad rolling downs stretching away to the horizon, with an open landscape, sparsely mottled with trees, the whole presenting a vivid contrast to the dense scrub and scanty herbage of some of the more easterly districts.

Besides this, if the visit has been made during Show week, he has come more, fully to appreciate the great pastoral interest, as represented in the persons of men of intelligence and energy -the pioneers of colonisation, the promoters of commerce.

"[10]Little is known about the original indigenous population, although there was a reported massacre of 25 local Aborigines at the nearby Mailman's Gorge.

The author stated:"The indigenous people were very numerous in the ranges around Aramac in the early days and the murder of a travelling jeweller and his wife and child caused reprisals.

"[13]An 1865 account said the death of a shepherd or a government employee at Stainburn Downs station, north-west of Aramac, led to a revenge attack by squatters.

[14] Another account states that after the body of the station-worker was found, Alexander "Long" Gordon (after whom the main street of Aramac is named) tracked "the blacks" out to a cave near Greyrock at Mailman's Gorge where he shot every one of them dead.

"The discipline is kind, quietly firm, and sensible; the moral tone appears to be healthy; the school habits are very satisfactory; general behaviour is respectful and attentive; the class movements are quietly and effectively carried out, and very good order is maintained.

However, when the Central Western railway line reached Barcaldine to the south in 1886, it drew trade away from Aramac.

Having surveyed a route, in 1906, the Aramac Shire Council tried to borrow money from the Queensland Government to build their own railway.

Eventually the council borrowed the funding to build the Aramac Tramway connecting to the Western Central Line at Lagoon Creek, 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the Barcaldine railway station.

On Sunday 14 December 1952, the new St John's Catholic Church was officially opened by Bishop Andrew Tynan.

Bowyer presided and, as the Governor was unable to attend, gave the following speech:[26]"This memorial was erected by the people of the Aramac Shire, as a modest tribute to the patriotism and loyalty of the men who enlisted to take part in the late deplorable European War.

"In June 1924, a branch of the Country Women's Association was formed in Aramac,[27] and by August that year were active, their efforts much appreciated in the town, and reported in the Western Champion: "Something new in entertainments was provided on Friday evening at the Shire Bail, when the Aramac branch of the Country Women's Association arranged a Euchre and Ping Pong tournament for us, with dance thrown in.

[45] Barcaldine Regional Council operates the Ollie Landers Community Library at 68 Gordon Street.