After yesterday's long and dusty drive to the Dinosaur Stampede we decided to wait until tomorrow to visit the Age of Dinosaurs  and just visit a few of the attractions around town in the morning before hitting the hot 35°C forecast for today. First port of call was Winton's Diamantina Heritage Truck & Machinery Museum. It is run by a community-based, volunteer-managed organisation dedicated to the preservation and presentation of Australia's unique road transport heritage. Many perfectly restored trucks were on display, along with various other pieces of machinery, including a self contained standby power plant used at Winton.

Nearby the Truck & Machinery Museum was the Musical Fence. Here there are two sections of tensioned multistrand fence which are connected to sounding boards suspended under weather shelters which can be played as a musical instrument. One was already 'singing' under the influence of the light prevailing wind without any human intervention. There were other percussion "instruments" made out of various junk and the signboard invited visitors to make their own music. It is interesting to note that the area adjacent to the Musical Fence was once one of Qantas' original airfield. 

Closer back into town stands Arno's Wall. Constructed by Arno Grotjahn, it is a 2m high concrete wall jamb packed with rock and other "junk" he has collected over time, including when he was mining at Opalton. Arno's wall divides his house from Arno Park and on the other side of the Park is the Winton Club.

It was here in the visitor’s room that the first official Board Meeting of QANTAS Ltd was held on February 9th, 1921. However the building now standing is not the same as it was when that meeting was held because after being burnt down in 1916, the Club was again burnt down in 1943. The majority of the building was saved and until 1955, various rooms and facilities were added.

After a dinner of Winton butcher's sausages on the Weber with a side of Penne pasta in Napoli sauce, we made our way over to the Royal Open Air Theatre for a night of nostalgia. This theatre was established in 1918 and is one of the only two such open air theatres still operating. Sitting in the canvas seats under the stars we were given a brief history of the theatre, including its recent history relating to the formation of a community not-for-profit group to keep the theatre alive.

The first part of the evening was the showing of advertisements using original slides on a carbon arc projector dating back to 1938 when the theatre was rebuilt after a fire. 

There was an intermission which allowed us to view the historical display of movie posters and slides, as well as the projection room. After intermission an historical Bing Crosby documentary was shown. 

It was a pleasant evening enjoying what was screened and supporting the local group to keep an important part of Winton's history alive.