Visit the Cultural Attractions of Longreach, Queensland

Longreach in outback Queensland is where the national airline – the world’s second oldest – began 100 years ago. Step back in time at the Qantas Founders Outback Museum with its artifacts and displays highlighting the airline’s history, the in-depth ‘Spirit of Australia’ Platinum Tour is a fascinating way to spend the day.

This outback Queensland town, 1200 km from Brisbane and 700 km west of Rockhampton in the state’s Central West, holds a special place in Australia’s heart and is pivotal to its history.

In 1900 this historic town boasted no less than 14 hotels – more than some of our major capital cities at the time.

Visit the Longreach Arts and Crafts Centre, then head to The Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre. An interactive museum in a state-of-the-art building with five galleries charting the story of the outback, it pays tribute to Australian stockmen and Aborigines. You’ll learn about pioneer life and Australia’s heritage as an agricultural country of tough outback pioneers. The highlight, the Outback Show, includes stockmen, horses, sheep, working dogs, and even a cowboy riding a 1000kg bull.

See displays of early Longreach history including agricultural machinery at the Longreach Powerhouse Museum. Visit Longreach Swimming Baths and Nogo Cottage. At Camden Park Station meet an outback family, visit shearing sheds and learn about life on the land. Cruising the Thomson River is another Longreach highlight, as is an exhilarating ride aboard a restored Cobb & Co stagecoach on the old mail route. And, in September, take in the Outback Food and Wine Festival.

From Longreach, travel 177 km to Winton and visit the Waltzing Matilda Centre for the story behind the iconic Aussie song. Nearby, the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History houses the world’s largest collection of Australian dinosaur fossils, a Fossil Preparation Laboratory and Dinosaur Canyon.

Take a scenic flight over the vast stretches of land of the Central West for a true outback experience. It’s here in Longreach and surrounds that you’ll discover Australia’s cultural history is like no other place on earth.