I visited Dalby in June last year while on my mining town tour. I was speaking with a mature lady at the information bureau who seemed to know the town inside out and very knowledgeable. She said that other than when the various mining camps run out of vegies etc or the miners came to town for the odd purchase, the town got very little benefit from the mining. The mining camps brought food in from Sydney in big containers, and most of the miners would go to Toowoomba or Brissy for serious shopping.