Tales of the outback in Longreach, home of Qantas Founders Museum
Yarn-spinners are in abundance in Longreach, a Queensland town with a colourful history.
When Queen Elizabeth’s Rolls-Royce delivered her to Camden Park Station, outside the western Queensland town of Longreach, in 1970, she declared it the only place she’d been that had 360-degree views without a sign of any other man-made structure. It’s a story that Daniel Walker relishes telling. And he’s proud that if she returned today, she’d find it unchanged. “Outback Dan”, as he is known, is a third-generation cattle and sheep farmer, whose grandparents hosted the Queen and Prince Philip for afternoon tea on that memorable day.
If you’re yearning for a yarn, Longreach is the place to hear one; the locals are terrific storytellers. As we explore the town, where the streets are all named for birds, Dan has plenty of tales about his family and their life on the 7487ha cattle property established by his grandfather, Sir James Walker, in the 1930s. We’re heading there on a three-hour private tour he runs.
It’s a highly personal way of learning about this outback town, which sits on the “long reach” of the Thomson River, about 700km west of Rockhampton. Dropping in at the homestead where Dan’s brother James lives with his family, we find nine-year-old Chloe feeding the horses. As we head off to a billabong for morning tea, Dan is keeping an eye out for Pixie the pig, who has a penchant for damper and other treats. We take a look at the old shearing shed, which could easily whirr to life if it weren’t for the fact sheep have largely been replaced by cattle.
As we sit under the shade of coolabah trees, watching flocks of green budgerigars zoom by, Dan explains how diversification has helped many outback families survive years of drought. Part of Camden Park is leased to a solar farm, while another is set aside as a camping area.
Tourism isn’t new to Longreach, of course. The birthplace of Qantas a century ago and home to the recently refurbished Qantas Founders Museum, the town also drew the Queen back in 1988 to open another major attraction, the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame, a tribute to the people who made their lives on the land.
Whether you arrive by road, air or aboard the twice-weekly Spirit of the Outback train from Brisbane and Rockhampton, there’s plenty to do and some surprisingly sophisticated accommodation.
Glamping came to Longreach this year with the opening of Mitchell Grass Retreat, which sits on a floodplain a couple of minutes’ drive from the town centre. Fifteen tents are fitted with supremely comfortable beds, European appliances and deep bathtubs with views. Little touches make the difference: marshmallows for the firepit outside each tent, a decanter of port, organic tea and coffee, single packs of Tim-Tams. Each deck has a gas barbecue (meat packs available on request), and breakfasts of paleo granola, vanilla bean yoghurt, fresh fruit and berry muffins are delivered each morning.
For those who prefer solid walls, Saltbush Retreat is an elegantly rustic mix of converted stables, slab huts and log cabin-style rooms within walking distance of the Stockman’s Hall of Fame and the Qantas museum. My hut features a cowhide rug, leather armchairs and dining table suspended by swing chains. On a deck at the rear of the retreat are three claw-foot bathtubs for a soak-with-a-view; swimwear is recommended, although it’s likely the only observers may be a curious mob of kangaroos.
I’m not looking for, or expecting, nightlife in Longreach, but a river cruise with Outback Aussie Tours proves surprisingly entertaining. With captain Darren Corke at the helm, and his wife Jane serving drinks and canapes, we cover more than 10km of the Thomson River, stopping to spot turtles on the bank or watch for passing birdlife, including pelicans and brown falcons. After rounding the aptly named Sunset Bend, we alight at a clearing for Smithy’s Outback Dinner and Show. If you’re lucky, the irrepressible Alan “Smithy” Smith, owner of the operation, will be on hand to welcome you and tell a few stories. A two-course, table service dinner of camp-oven food such as barramundi or lamb casserole is accompanied by live music.
More tales of outback legends await at the Qantas Founders Museum, a tribute to the aviation pioneers who launched the national carrier a century ago. World War I veteran pilots Hudson Fysh, Paul McGinness and Fergus McMaster started their airline with an Avro 504K, a replica of which is on display. In the museum’s new Airpark, another four aircraft with Qantas links can be explored on guided two-hour tours during which visitors hear the colourful histories of the Boeing 707 and 747, Super Constellation and DC-3.
The “Super Connie”, described by guide Sarah as “the world’s sexiest aircraft”, was bought at auction by the museum for half the price of a Landcruiser and underwent a five-year restoration process. Aside from the facts, figures, dimensions and technicalities that roll off Sarah’s tongue, we are most intrigued by the eye-widening tales of celebrities and early aviators. The derring-do wartime exploits of the three Qantas founders make for wonderful stories, but are almost eclipsed when we walk into the open-plan cabin of the 707, with its private bedroom, pure gold trim and crystal lamps. Horribly dated now, these were the lavish additions when the aircraft was owned by the Saudi government and used by sheiks and ambassadors. The plane was chartered by Michael Jackson for The Jacksons’ Victory tour in 1984 but his efforts to buy it were thwarted. John Travolta owns a Boeing 707, which will find a new home at HARS Aviation Museum in NSW’s Illawarra when COVID allows. A Qantas Super Connie was used for domestic legs of the Royal Tour of Australia in 1954.
On my last night in town, I head to the Airpark to see the new Luminescent Longreach light and sound show, projected onto the side of the mighty Boeing 747. Twenty minutes fly by as we stand transfixed among the aircraft that opened Australia to the world. Book well ahead for this, as numbers are limited, and it’s already hugely popular. The next day, as I climb the stairs of a QantasLink Dash 8-400 at Longreach Airport, I look back towards its glamorous predecessors in the Airpark and wonder what stories will be told in the future about this flying machine.
In the know
Qantas centenary celebrations will be held at the Qantas Founders Museum, next to Longreach Airport, on Monday, marking the day the company was registered in 1920 as the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services. Admission to the museum will be free, and a morning tea will be held for all visitors. Scaled down celebrations due to COVID-19 travel restrictions will include guided tours of the Qantas hangar.
More to the story
When grazier David Elliott found the thigh bone of a sauropod on his western Queensland property in 1999, he saw the tourism potential in telling the amazing story of Australian dinosaurs.
Today, visitors to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs museum (pictured) can take tours that explain the region’s history and paleontology, including a behind-the-scenes look at the dinosaur fossil preparation laboratory, and a walk through Dinosaur Canyon, lined with beastly life-like replicas.
The new Gondwana Stars Observatory and adjacent March of the Titanosaurs exhibition, which will showcase and protect a sauropod trackway uncovered in 2018, are due to open next April. The jump-up on which the Australian Age of Dinosaurs is located became Australia’s first International Dark Sky Sanctuary last year and the new observatory is designed to simulate the colours and texture of a meteorite crater.
The Australian Age of Dinosaurs is a two-hour drive from Longreach, just outside Winton.
■ australianageofdinosaurs.com
Lee Mylne was a guest of Tourism and Events Queensland.
