Another great day sunny and cool to start however it soon warms up. The lad is still not 100% however we had decided to head to Winton 180kms north of Longreach as we had been told the Matilda Centre is a must see and this is the home of Waltzing Matilda. Brian has also always wanted to go to Winton to see some of the Dinosaur Displays. We had breakfast and were on the road at 0900am as we wanted to spend most of the day there.
Winton was first known as Pelican Waterhole, and this is the site of the first camp,settled by Robert Allen.The incidence of flooding brought about the relocation of the town to it's present poition.(see photo of the Pelican Waterhole in the main street) The road was pretty good and not alot of traffic either a few roadtrains other wise it was fine, we again saw a few Emus prowling and feeding in the paddocks they are very odd looking birds. We arrived in Winton and found a park right outside the Waltzing Matilda Centre so heading in and purchased our tickets to 3 attractions.
We started off by watching the amazing rendition of Waltzing Matilda sung by John Williamson, the scene was set by a billabong and was simply fantastic very stirring. (see photo) After spending the best part of the day we made our way to the small cafe and had lunch a lovely toasted sandwich and cold drink before heading off to see the other sights.
On the way out there is a bronze statue of the "Jolly Swagman" this was commissioned to commemorate "Waltzing Matilda" in 1959.It is dedicated to "Banjo" Paterson who wrote "Waltzing Matilda".
The other two attractions in the price of our entry were to see the Royal Open Air Theatre,(see photo) this was established in 1918 and is one of a few open air theatres in operation in Australia. It still operates every Wednesday evening with the original projection equipment from 1938, seating is in canvas deckchairs. Inside as you enter there is an amazing Opal collecton and some of the colurs are just amazing.
The final attraction was a Dinosaur display in the historic and amazingly old "Corfield and Fitzmaurice Store.The display of Dinosaur's was amazing you could view the Dinosaur Diorama,interpreting the world's only known fossilised trackways fo dinosaur's in flight, at Lark Quarry.The store also contains a display of boulder opal from the Queensland Boulder Opal Association and a Heritage building display. Casts of fossilised bones and fossilised plant material from the Australian Age of Dinosaurs collection are also housed here. (see photo of Dino) After seeing these amazing displays we walked along the main street and just enjoyed the sun and old shops that are that are main street Winton.
Once back at the car it was time to head back for Longreach, Chris decided she would drive and it gave me a break and a chance to view some of the sights. We stopped on the way home for a cuppa from our good old flask. It was an easy trip back with very little traffic and many Roadtrains heading toward Winton. We arrived back at the van at around
4.15pm made a cuppa and settled back to enjoy the last of the afternoon.
