10 reasons to explore the wilds of outback Queensland

A NEW open-air exhibition has opened at the Age of Dinosaurs Museum in Winton and there is plenty more to do while you’re there.

Historic Nogo Station hosts morning teas. Picture: Mark Calleja

THE TOWNS of Longreach and Winton in Queensland’s central west are linked to great events in pioneer and pastoral history, like the birth of Australia’s aviation industry and our famed bush folklore. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find prehistoric bones.

The team at Homelife went exploring.

1. Camel races

Camels graze by the road between Longreach and Winton, where the annual camel races are held every July. In these here parts, the horizons are wide and the country is harsh and capricious — but with a resilience that seems to rub off on locals.

2. Historical roots

Despite crippling drought for the past half-decade, local tour operator Sue Smith says, “This region is a fertile nest of innovative ideas from way back … and that is pretty relevant to the whole development of the outback and this country.”

3. River cruises

With her husband Alan, Sue runs the Longreach Outback Aussie Tours, which includes sunset cruises down the Thomson River. In living memory, this river has never run dry. More than ever, it’s the lifeblood of the region, remaining as a miraculous oasis in a dirt-dry landscape.

4. Home of aviation

The Qantas Founders Museum in Longreach. Picture: David May.

One of Longreach’s big-ticket attractions is the Qantas Founders Museum; the airline giant began as a fledgling aviation service, now honoured through displays of vintage and replica aircraft.

5. Homestead hospitality

Queensland Drought. Lane and Jeremy Kinnon at NOGO Station just out of Longreach. Picture: Mark Calleja

Nogo Station plays host to the regular kangaroo and guests on their station tours and homestead morning teas.

6. Bush folklore

The Station Store is an old fashioned emporium selling gifts to workwear, harking back to the times of Banjo Paterson and his penning of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ in 1895.

An old stagecoach at the Kinnon & Co Station Store in Longreach. Picture: Supplied

7. Tight-knit community

Tenacious Chinese market gardener, Willie Mar, had supplied Winton with fresh fruit and vegetables for almost 80 years. The faint outlines of his old vegetable beds, scored into the hard earth, are an insight into early Chinese pioneers in the outback.

8. Dinosaur bones

Banjo the Dinosaur at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum near Winton. Picture: Jeremy Pierce

In Winton’s Bladensburg National Park, floodplains are faintly tinged with green from sporadic rains. The town is known as Australia’s dinosaur capital; home to the nation’s largest collection of dinosaur fossils.

9. Desert cinema

Over the years, the ruthless landscape has attracted many filmmakers. Winton’s Royal Theatre screens films in an open-air cinema.

10. Adventure

Longreach Railway Station. Picture: Barry Pascoe

At the very end of the Queensland Central railway line, the towns of Longreach and Winston stand as promise of the great outback adventure, where replica planes, racing camels and fossilised footprints pattern the earth.

This story was originally published on Homelife and is republished with permission.