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Published: August 20th 2014
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The Bossy Brolga
This is the larger of the two Brolgas who seemed to get all the food and pushed his mate away. Not much of a gentleman! We saw our first two Brolgas strolling through the bush on the other side of the fence this morning. A lady camped nearby said they had been fed by someone yesterday so we thought we’d give it a go. They weren’t interested in bird seed but did seem to enjoy the bread. The bigger one was much quicker and more aggressive and got most of it. He also moaned and grunted like a pig while he was eating! Just past them we could also see the culprit of the early morning crowing – a large black rooster (cockerel, for the Poms) which seems to be feral, but very healthy!
We rang Nancy and arranged to meet in town after we’d done a couple of things at the shops. As we pulled up we saw Nancy carrying a bag, which she said was her Cryovac packed meat so we left her heading back to put it in the fridge and I went and ordered some for us, to be picked up around 4.30pm.
We met her at the QANTAS museum near midday and went in to look around. There were lots of information boards that explained how the company had
QANTAS Uniforms
The Qantas Museum showed a few of the old flight attendants uniforms. I like the flowery dress and the bright uniform, better than boring navy blue! started. It also explained how so many places could lay claim to the start of QANTAS (Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services). The idea was hatched by two ex Australian Flying Corps pilots, Paul McGinness and Hudson Fyshe while in Cloncurry. The initial plans were made in Winton, which is where it was registered in 1920, and the company was moved to Longreach in 1921 as it was considered to be a better base of operations (it was finally moved to Brisbane in 1930). They also got the support of local graziers, Fergus McMaster and Ainslie Templeton, and an engineer they’d worked with in the Flying Corps, Arthur Baird.
Another pastoralist, Alexander Kennedy also bought a substantial number of shares on condition that he was the first passenger on the scheduled service. In November 1922, McGuinness inaugurated the Charleville-Cloncurry aerial mail service and the next day Fysh and Baird flew 84 year old Alexander Kennedy to Cloncurry, fulfilling his condition, in a flight that took nearly eight hours. Kennedy continued to fly with the company once a year until he was 90.
One story I liked was when McGinness had seen that a business man had left
De Havilland 61 "Giant Moth", one of QANTAS' early fleet
This plane was the first Australian airline plane to have a toilet in it, although it was only a wooden box and seat with a can inside it (a thunderbox). his brief case after a meeting. He grabbed it, jumped into his plane and flew after the train. The owner was so grateful he later became an investor. He figured there as definitely a need for such a useful service.
Soon after the company settled into a routine in 1922, McGinness resigned. With his restless spirit, he wanted more adventure. Fyshe and Baird continued on, with Fyshe holding a host of positions, including managing director and chairman, until his retirement in 1966.
Arthur Baird and his team were so skilled at repairing the aircraft and the increased reliability of the planes meant that they had some time on their hands. Qantas reached an agreement with the plane manufacturer and designers De Havilland to allow them to build their own DH50 planes under licence. That kept them busy until 1929, when the new DH61 superseded the DH50 but was too big to build locally.
The Museum featured a number of video presentations, including one by an elderly Hudson Fyshe, himself, reminiscing on his past with the company while we watched old videos of the events; and a number of them by relatives of the founders. It was a
DH61 Giant Moth "Apollo" Interior
Usually an 8 seater, the Australian version of this plane had only 6 passenger seats as two seats were taken up the thunderbox, behind the wall, much to the relief of passengers on long flights. It got rid of the frantic run to the loo at the hangar on arrival at your destination! much easier way of accessing the information as it got quite tiring reading so many info boards!
There was also a mock up of the interior of the DH50, with the pilot on the outside and the passengers in a box behind him, out of the weather but very claustrophobic, with only tiny windows and either a wooden bench seat or a deck chair type canvas seat. You could sit inside it, although you couldn’t close the hatch. Outside in the Hangar, was a real DH61 that could seat seven people inside and even had a wooden toilet (thunder box, as they called it) rather like some of the bush toilets we’ve encountered on our travels, that QANTAS installed where the eighth seat should have been. You wouldn’t want to be in the cabin after someone had used it! There were even sliding windows to allow a breeze on a hot day..
The Hangar also had mock ups of the office and a meeting between Fyshe, McMasters and Kennedy; the engine workshop with Baird showing something to a woman pilot; and the area which was the workshop for building the DH50s.
We decided not to do the
An Avro Plane Model
There were four of these little planes "flying" around the main hall of the museum. They were each a model of a different early Qantas plane. tour of the DC707 and 747 as they cost a fortune (another $50! Each!) and we’d flown on both before. Barry also knew all he wanted to about the workings. We looked at them over the fence and marvelled at how big the 747 is against the 707.
We then all headed over the road to a picnic spot and had some lunch. While we were eating we saw some red winged parrots and had a bunch of demanding Apostlebirds wanting food. One stood right next to my foot and told me off with a grumpy look on his face until I threw some bread, cheeky thing. Two Little Eagles tried to settle in a tree nearby but were chased off by the Apostlebirds. There was also a small group of kangaroos in the paddock over the fence.
Once we’d finished, we said farewell to Nancy and agreed to meet in Winton. She walked back to her caravan park next door while we headed for town. I asked Barry to let me out so I could do some of the Botanic Walk while he went and bought more fuel, from the place that gave a discount to Seniors
Longreach Botanic Walk
This was a 2.5km straight line walk along the side of the highway but sheltered by the trees on either side of the path. It showed Australian Outback trees that you could expect to see in the region. It was designed to give locals ideas on what would grow in their gardens, and gave information about the climates each one liked. It was pretty and informative. – nice. The garden was very nice, all natives from the area, but was a rather longer walk than I realised. I was glad when I spotted Barry sitting at the end in the ute. We then picked up my $70 meat order and went back to the van to store it all away in the fridge.
I finished another nice day by watching the sunset over the Thomson River again, which was lovely.
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