Longreach Trip – Qantas Founders Museum

During my road trip to Longreach, I attended the Qantas founders Museum.   Qantas is the second oldest continually operating airline in the world, after KLM.   It was founded in Winton, Qld in 1920 as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services (Q.A.N.T.A.S)..  The home base was established at Longreach, based on the railway.

The museum covers the early history of the airline as a pioneering private airline, doing charters, air mail, flying doctor services and any other flying they could get their hands on.   Aviation was still in its infancy, but the vast distances and lack of transport infrastructure made it an interesting proposition for rural Australia.

While I think Qantas has lost its way in recent years, the Airline was very important to rural communities in the early years and the museum had quite good coverage of this.   They had replicas of the early aircraft and engines, uniforms, models and other information right up to the early 747 period.

The museum consists of the main building, plus a hanger and the large aircraft.   The standard museum ticket covers the main building and the hanger only.   I found it to be quite expensive at $39.   You cannot even walk around on the ground around the large aircraft.

To access those, you must purchase a tour.   I didn’t do this, so had to look at the larger aircraft through the fence.  The tours were considerably more expensive again.   I did however purchase a retro keyring as a souvenir.   Since I drove my car over 3,000km to get there, a keyring seemed a good memento.  I also got a polo shirt.

I think the museum is worth a visit, but I also think the prices are very high for what you get.  They would make more sense if you could walk around the large aircraft too.