Winton (Queensland)

Winton is a small town in the center of the south-western Queensland, Australia, with about 1000 inhabitants. The city on the Western River is located in a rural area surrounded by cattle and sheep farms, where it is an important agricultural center. Winton is the seat of the same local government area ( LGA) Winton Shire Council in which a total of about 1400 people live.

Geographical location

Winton is located about 1150 kilometers north- west of the capital Brisbane.

Traffic

About the Landsborough Highway Winton is connected to the approximately 170 kilometers southeast to Longreach and about 340 kilometers northeast lying Cloncurry. About the Kennedy Developmental Road, 200 kilometers north of Hughenden location can be reached. Winton is also the starting point of the Outback Highway, which leads to Western Australia.

Winton has a railway connection via Longreach to Rockhampton on the east coast of Queensland. Another line leads north over Hughenden to Townsville.

History

The area around Winton was first traversed in 1848 by the explorer Ludwig Leichhardt. Other explorers of the Australian outback followed before 1866 settled the first permanent European settlers in this area. In 1876 the city received its name from the head of the local Post Office after its birth, the eponymous district of the town of Bournemouth in England.

In 1920, the Australian airline Qantas was founded in Winton.

Waltzing Matilda

Largest gained fame as the birthplace of the song Winton Waltzing Matilda, the unofficial national anthem of Australia. Banjo Paterson wrote the song during a holiday stay at a nearby farm in 1895. The North Gregory Hotel in the city of the song was performed for the first time. In 1998, the Waltzing Matilda Centre was opened in Winton, the first museum dedicated to this song.

Dinosaur

In the area around Winton, the most significant finds of dinosaur bones and other fossils in Australia were made. The archaeological site Lark Quarry, about 115 kilometers south-west of Winton, in which traces of a dinosaur stampede were found, since 2004 has been one of the natural monuments of Australia and is thus under special protection. The traces of this Stampede regarded as unique evidence and also served as Steven Spielberg as a model for a scene in his film Jurassic Park.