Longreach

Longreach sits on the Thomson River in the semi-arid plains of central western Queensland, roughly 1,200 kilometres north-west of Brisbane and 700 kilometres west of Rockhampton. The town has a population of around 3,000 people and serves as the commercial and cultural hub for the surrounding grazing country, which runs vast numbers of sheep and cattle on properties that can exceed a million acres.

The Qantas Founders Museum is the town's premier attraction and one of the best aviation museums in Australia. Qantas was registered in Winton (160 kilometres north) in 1920 but moved its headquarters to Longreach in 1921 and operated from the town until the late 1920s. The museum houses a full-size Boeing 747-200 (retired from the Qantas fleet and flown to Longreach) and a Boeing 707, both of which can be explored on guided tours. The indoor galleries cover the airline's full history from its biplane mail runs to the present day.

The Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre, on the opposite side of town, tells the story of the people who built the Australian pastoral industry. The building itself, designed by Gabriel Poole and completed in 1988, is a striking structure of exposed timber and iron. The galleries inside cover drovers, shearers, Aboriginal stockmen, pioneering women, Afghan cameleers and the Royal Flying Doctor Service, and the collection includes original wagons, saddles, photographs and oral history recordings.

Longreach is also the departure point for the Thomson River sunset cruise, a flat-bottomed boat trip along the Thomson River at dusk that includes a bush stockman's dinner on the riverbank. The Outback Pioneers tour operation runs this and other day experiences including station visits, bore-water baths and stargazing sessions that take advantage of the exceptional dark skies in western Queensland.

The town is best visited in the cooler months from April to September, when daytime temperatures are around 25 degrees and the skies are reliably clear. Summer is extremely hot, regularly exceeding 40 degrees. Longreach Airport has daily Qantaslink flights from Brisbane, making it one of the most accessible outback towns in Australia.