Qantas Founders Outback Museum, QUEENSLAND
Airing Date: Jun 16th, 2003
The Qantas airline was established in 1920 after months - if not years - of brainstorming between the founding fathers, McGinness, Fysh McMaster and Baird.
After trying out a few names, they chose Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services, forming the famous acronym 'Qantas'.
The Qantas headquarters moved to Longreach, and in 1922 the first flight took off.
There's been some confusion over where the airline was formed. While it was actually formed in Winton, not Longreach, there's certainly no doubt that Longreach is the home of the new Qantas Founders Outback Museum.
The museum is dedicated to the pioneering days of the airline, and gives tourists a chance to check out an original hangar, a real Boeing 747 and an exhibition of 20 years of Qantas advertising.
If you've ever dreamed of being a pilot, you're in luck. Visitors to the museum are allowed to get right inside the cockpit of the Boeing.
After flying between San Francisco, Honolulu and Sydney for over 20 years, the plane has been laid to rest at the Qantas Founders Outback Museum. When it arrived there were concerns over whether it would actually fit on the runway. Thousands of Australians came to watch the auspicious event, and thousands more have arrived since to check out the massive aircraft.
After walking through the museum you'll be amazed by how far the airline has come.
Qantas, the second oldest commercial airline after KLM, used to have a Kangaroo Route service in the 1930s which took nine whole days to get to London. The aircraft didn't fly at night and passengers would have to stop-over in places like Calcutta, Bahrain and Cairo. If you can imagine that flight, the one day flight across the globe these days doesn't seem half as bad!
The facts:
Qantas and QantasLink flies to Longreach daily from all capital cities. Prices start at $965 from Sydney and $1101 from Perth.
Qantas
Tel: 13 13 13
Entry to the Qantas Founders Outback Museum is $15 for adults or $30 for a family. Tours of the Jumbo cost an extra $8.
Qantas Founders Outback Museum
Tel: 07 4658 3737
