Blackall and Longreach

Had a couple of nights in Blackall on our way to Longreach. Must say we are always impressed at how these small outback towns promote themselves and make the most of any natural and/or historic attractions. At Blackall there is a restored Wool Scour that is quite remarkable. It is the only one left now that Australia no longer 'rides on the sheep's back'. We're still a major sheep country, but all shorn fleece is now shipped to China for the necessary washing and scouring. The Blackall Wool Scour used hot water from the Artesian Basin along with a mighty steam engine to power the whole works. It was fully restored some years ago and is carefully maintained and quite a wonder to see just how efficient was that old technology. In its day tens of thousands sheep were brought here to be shorn with their fleece graded and processed at the same place. It was baled and loaded into a branch railway line to join up with the main line down to Brisbane for shipping.

We had a lovely day out looking over this Wool Scour and with the open grounds with a small mob of sheep - and one goat - Charley also was most interested.

Next town was Longreach, where we also stayed for a few days. 

An original Qantas hangar.

The town has two major attractions - firstly the wonderful Qantas Founders' Museum. The Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service (Qantas) was founded in 1920 in Winton and moved its headquarters the following year to Longreach. It has an award winning, world-class museum and cultural display, with interative displays and videos, etc., to tell the history of our national airline. It also has on display a de Havilland DH-61 Giant Moth, de Havilland DH-50, and Avro 504K Dyak; Quantas' first aircraft as well as some more modern craft like a Catalina and a massive Boeing 747. Well worth visiting.

Secondly, the town has the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame - a massive complex detailing much of the work of Australia's early outback settler families and the essential work of the stockmen/drovers on those vast cattle stations (ranches to non-Australians). 

Beautiful old Longreach Railway Station

The vast view from the Lookout

One day we drove about half and hour out of town where, in the middle of nowhere (it seems) is a mesa (jump-up) called Captain Starlight's Lookout. It's named after a bushranger character in Rolf Boldrewood's novel "Robbery Under Arms". 

There's no pathway but a very rough, rocky way to the top. It took about 15 minutes to scramble up - but in that time Charley was up and down about 4 times. The view from the top was well worth it - in any direction.

Three days is not long enough in Longreach!

Staying an extra few days gave us time to wash off some outback dust from our car and van and also do the essential clothes wash, too.

We had a final dinner at the local pub Bistro, and next morning, packed up and were on our way again.  

Longreach and Winton

We arrived in Longreach after another long drive through out Outback countryside as we had been told the Stockman's Hall of Fame was not to be missed. There is also the Q.A.N.T.A.S. Founders Museum which appealed to us, not to forget the early history of the town with its Cobb & Co coach network spreading from here across the land in the early days of settlement.

We liked the idea of a coach ride to give us a taste of the old days, so we booked 'An Outback Show and Coachride' (with a gallop through the bush!) to begin our stay in Longreach. An old fashioned 'Dad & Dave' kind of presentation with input from clever horses, a lovely cheeky red heeler dog and chooks (chickens - to non-Australians!) was most enjoyable, before we were all loaded onto a coach pulled by four horses for our ride out from town to the bushy area nearby. Loved the ride although I doubt I'd have liked travelling very far a century or more ago. Roads were unmade and bumpy and with horses needing to be changed every ten miles it would have been an extremely uncomfortable and slow journey, although I supposed I've been very spoilt by modern transport. A Devonshire tea refreshed us and the afternoon finished with a viewing in a bush cinema of an old 1950s Australian movie "Smiley gets a Gun".

We had been looking forward to the Q.A.N.T.A.S. Founders Museum and were not disappointed when we visited. It is beautifully built and with much early history on the founding and growth of the Qantas airways and together with multi-media displays there was much to look at. A guided tour and talk about the planes on display here - an early Avro, a Catalina, the first 707 and finally a 747 was given by a very knowledgeable guide. Did you know that the big jet engines are attached to the plane by only 3 bolts?? I had looked forward to experiencing First Class for the first time on the 747, but sadly that part of the plane had been re-figured for more economy seats. I had to settle for Business Class and so I still have an unfulfilled dream!

On our final day in Longreach we visited the iconic Stockman's Hall of Fame. A beautiful building containing several levels each giving a different display on early Australian life and especially the outback people who persevered in those early settlement days on remote cattle stations.

The Hall of Fame featured a very talented leather worker, films and (another) Outback Show. Again there were multi-media displays and a area devoted to the Royal Flying Doctor Service was especially interesting.

Heading north again we came to Winton but just before we got there, we noticed a turn-off to the left directing us to The Age of Dinosaurs centre. Well, of course, we couldn't go past that and so turn in and drove about 10 kilometres before we had to unhitch the caravan and drive up a very steep hill (called a 'Jump Up') to the recently built complex. These dinosaur bones had been noticed for quite a few years by a local property owner, David Elliot, and eventually he sent photos to the University of Queensland who naturally were extremely interested. The result is the world's largest collection of Australian dinosaur fossils and a most  innovative natural history museum in which to house them. A massive amount of fossils have been extracted, encased in plaster and lined up on shelves in the laboratory awaiting attention. As this part of the country is extremely hot during much of the year, excavation work is only carried out for a short period in winter months. The bones are then worked on in the laboratory throughout the year. I would guess there would be about 100 years of work waiting! Volunteers to help are warmly welcomed and have a training session beforehand.

Peter decided that this would be a great experience and signed up for two day's work, so whilst I stayed with the caravan in Winton Peter went off to work each morning - just like the old days (although no pay this time!). He loved the work and learnt much about dinosaur fossils. I used the spare time to edit the family history journal which I do quarterly, interspersed with walks around town and talks with locals.

Winton, too, featured in the early days of Qantas, and it was also on a station near here that Banjo Paterson wrote the words to an old (supposedly, Scottish) ballad with the result that "Waltzing Matilda" is known far and wide and loved by more Australians than our anthem "Advance Australia Fair". Winton has a very good  museum devoted mainly to Waltzing Matilda, but again featuring local history as well.

After three really interesting days, it was time to pack up again and continue our trip and wonder what other unexpected experiences we'll have.