Winton to Hervey Bay

Winton to Hervey Bay

The town of Winton is now famous in several different ways. The first public performance of “Waltzing Matilda”, written by Banjo Patterson while at a nearby Station in 1895 happened at the North Gregory Hotel. Secondly the Australian airline Qantas had its first official board meeting at The Winton Club. Again there are a few “historic” pubs established in the late 1890’s.

About 110 km from Winton, the site of the Lark Quarry is the world’s only recorded evidence of a Dinosaur stampede that is thought to have occurred 95 million years ago. These footprints were the inspiration behind the stampede scene in the movie “Jurassic Park”. The surrounding area is also famous for large opal finds, and fossicking expeditions can be arranged

The Waltzing Matilda Centre celebrates the song through high-tech interactive displays and exhibitions. One room houses paintings by the “Brushmen of the Bush”, including Pro Hart. The Centre also incorporates a museum with some wonderful exhibits, highlighting the hardships of early pioneers. There was so much to see we had to do it in two trips. Several monuments and sculptures of Banjo Patterson are a feature of the Matilda centre and the main street. There is also a building which displays plaster casts of the dinosaur footprints found at Lark Quarry.

The orange and blue colours in the outback sky at sunrise and sunset are very strong and quite stunning. One evening after sunset we were entertained by a bush poet. The Banjo Patterson influence is very strong in the area. As in most places we have been there were many more things we could have done, but you would need a lot more time to appreciate what is on offer. Our last night in Winton was spent with our friends Chris and Wendy as they were going on to spend time in Emerald fossicking and we were making our way over to Hervey Bay. Once again, lots of fun and many laughs made a good night.

From Winton we started our trek across to the east coast, entering the Lake Eyre Basin, formed by the catchment of Australia’s inland rivers. The surrounding area is very flat and dry. Our first stop was Longreach to visit The Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre, opened by Queen Elizabeth in 1988, Australia’s Bicentenary This is a marvelous tribute to the men, women, children, companies and many facets influential in the development of Australian’s outback. The displays are very comprehensive and it is recommended that you allow six hours to visit the centre and this can be done over a couple of days. We didn’t have that much time as we were driving through to the little town of Alpha but would certainly recommend anyone going out to Longreach takes the time to appreciate the displays and the museum.

The next day our travels took us east through the towns of Emerald, Blackwater – the International Coal Centre and we arrived in Rockhampton late afternoon. Many coal mines are in the area and there are some huge power stations. We passed several coal trains which seemed to be several kilometers in length with two engines up front and two engines in the centre. We started to pass through some more fertile areas where lots of crops are grown, including experimental crops of new varieties of wheat and corn where good yields are obtained in a much shorter time. The areas around Rockhampton are large beef producing areas. By the time we had arrived light rain had set in and this continued overnight.

The showers continued next day as we headed south to Hervey Bay through some heavily forested country and had lunch in the delightful little town of Gin Gin. From Gin Gin we headed through cane farms and forests via Childers. Timber, dairy, orchards and sugar cane are the main industries. Arrived late afternoon at Jean’s family who have a house in Dundowran Beach, just north of Hervey Bay. The house is situated on a hill and has a view of the Bay from many rooms. We haven’t seen the family since Christmas so there was a lot of news to catch up on. We planned to stay a week which was great after being on the road for no more than two nights for a couple of weeks.