Friday we went to the Quantas Museum.  Once again we looked through the main Museum and there was lots of information about the airlines founders, particularly Paul McGuinness and Hudson Fysh, two former Australian Flying Corps pilots.  Arthur Baird was another who joined Quantas shortly after the first aircraft was purchased and filled the role of engineer.  

Despite the noise, I actually quite liked the miniature planes that were going around and around above our heads.  Sometimes you just need something simple like that to break up all the information that is there for you to read and I'm sure the kids love them!  The mobile displays that have been acquired through an Anzac grant are very good.  There was two and by touching the icon you wish to read on the flat top screen, it is enlarged.  There is a paper plane that flies over the screen and a little plane that takes off when you touch it, amongst other images such as a poppy that the petals open when you touch it.  Very clever.  Keeps the big kids amused as well.

The Quantas Museum has recently acquired a grant of $11.3 million to build a shed to protect the 707 and 747 Quantas planes and it will be built within the next twelve months.  Four years ago you were able to go inside the DC3, but it has now been placed over in the yard with the 707 and 747 and no longer can you go on board this aircraft.  It will also be placed under cover, together with the latest acquisition, the 'Super Constellation'.  This is the plane that sat in Manilla for 26 years before it was purchased by the Museum and brought to Longreach.  Over the last twelve months an amazing amount of work has been done by volounteers to restore the aircraft to its present condition.  The 707 arrived in Longreach on the 10th June 2007.

Quantas began in this region of outback Queensland in 1920.  We did particularly find the story of the 'City of Bunbury' 747 being landed at the Longreach airport on the 82nd anniversary of Quantas, the 16th November 2002, really interesting.  There is a video to watch of the landing.  The runway at Longreach is actually too short and narrow to land the plane, but a special crew trained for sometime for the important task. They had enough fuel to attempt three landings and if not successful the plane would have returned to Sydney.  They landed the 747 on the first attempt.  We were provided with a sheet of all the facts and Jemima our English guide was excellent.  She has only been in Longreach three months and doing the job for two!  Some of the facts she told us that were not on the 'Secrets' sheet were that the aircraft has 18 tyres and each cost $3,000.  They will do 190 landings before they do a retread and the tyres can have a retread 7 times before they need to be replaced.  Another interesting fact from Jemima is that it takes 14 seconds for the wheels to come down on the plane and 12 seconds to go up!  Not sure if this is the case for all planes!

Some of the 'Secrets' of the 747  

The last room we all looked at was the Exhibition room and different stories are told though various forms of media from time to time.  A photographic Exhibition on the Donaldson Family's Life in the Gulf Country of Outback Queensland 1910 - 1927 was on display.   It was a very sad story. 

In 1910 cattle station manager 'Willie' Donaldson travelled to Sydney to marry his sweetheart, Helen Hewitt and bring her back to Queensland.  After travelling by ship to Townsville, they took the train to Cloncurry where Willie collected his wagon and horses and the couple set off on their six day journey to Calton Hills Station.  Willie declared "with the reins in my hand and you by my side, what more could any man want'!   In 1925 the Donaldsons moved to Rocklands, a cattle station close to Camooweal.  Helen enjoyed the company of other women in the CWA.  In 1925 their two daughters Ethel and Dorothy started school in Charters Towers, flying from Camooweal to Cloncurry, then catching the train.  

In 1927 Willie Donaldson was travelling back to north Queensland after buying bulls in Victoria.  While the aircraft was attempting to land at Tambo, it stalled and crashed.  The pilot and a Winton passenger were killed instantly and Willie was badly injured and died later that day.  It was Quantas' first fatal crash and the staff of the young airline were deeply distressed and shocked.  Helen was only 40 at the time of the death of her husband.  Helen was unable to leave her young children to travel the long distance to attend her husband's funeral.  It was written; Indeed circumstances prevented her ever visiting Willie's grave at Tambo cemetary.  Helen relocated her family to Brisbane in the next couple of months.  Helen raised her seven children,the youngest son Alan was only 11 months at the time of his father's death.

In 2008 Alan visited the Quantas Founders Museum and then travelled to Tambo, where for the first time he was able to visit the crash site and see his father's resting place.  A really sad story and even more sad that it took 81 years for Alan to visit Tambo.  I guess everyone's situation is different.

What a blog for Longreach!  I have had to turn it into three!  Here I was thinking because we had visited Longreach before there wouldn't be too much more to blog about!  It seems there is always another story to tell.  Once again we have enjoyed out visit to this town and from our experiences we most deinitely rate the town 'The Heart of Outback Queensland'.