North Gregory Hotel
Whatever the real origins of the events and the images Paterson wrote the song and it received its first public performance at the North Gregory Hotel in Winton. The current hotel is the fourth North Gregory (the other three either burned down or were destroyed) but it is still on the location of the original pub. From photographs the original North Gregory was a modest building with little more than bark walls and a corrugated iron roof.
The Jolly Swagman
The swagman has been immortalised, albeit in fibreglass, beside the swimming pool over the road from the Waltzing Matilda Centre. Appropriately he sits near a very healthy looking coolibah tree. However the more impressive display is at the centre where the entire billabong scene is recreated.
The Waltzing Matilda Centre
Completed in 1998 at a cost of $3.1 million the Waltzing Matilda Centre combined Winton's existing Qantilda Museum with an impressive range of new attractions many constructed around the story of the swagman as told in 'Banjo' Paterson's 'Waltzing Matilda'. There is a Billabong Courtyard in which lifesize characters (ie the troopers and the swaggie) and caught in action under a full-size coolabah tree. The centre also is home to the Outback Regional Art Gallery which concentrates on both historic and contemporary images of Australian outback and rural life.
The Home of the Legend component of the Centre has a number of famous Australian singing and talking while visitors watch holograms of the past.
Also part of the Waltzing Matilda Centre is Qantilda Pioneer Place.This is a typical collection of memorabilia of the area including displays of old machinery, a recreation of Christina Macpherson playing 'Craiglea' and an extensive display of Qantas material. There are over 5000 items in the collection which includes a special Aboriginal section and a good reading room.
The Centre is open all year from 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. and, on weekends and public holidays, from 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m., tel: (07) 4657 1466 or check out: http://www.matildacentre.com.au/. There is also a gift shop and a restaurant.
Entry to the entire complex is $20.00 for adults, $10 for school children, concession is $17.50, and $49.00 for families.
Corfield & Fitzmaurice
Winton has a number of tourist attractions but none quite compare with a visit to the store of Corfield & Fitzmaurice in the main street. Corfield arrived in the area in the late 1870s and established a general store. The original store was replaced in 1916 and the current building, now listed by the National Trust, is one of the most perfectly preserved old-style general stores in Australia. A feature is "The Age of the Dinosaurs Display". A life size dinosaur diorama and an excellent Fossil display.
Winton Club
Winton is the birthplace of Qantas. On 16 November 1920 the Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service was registered as a company with its headquarters in the town. The first official meeting of Qantas took place at the Winton Club on 10 February 1921. The Club still stands on the corner of Oondooroo and Vindex streets one block north of the main street. It is open to visitors on Thursday and Friday nights.
Royal Theatre
There are, as far as can be determined, only two remaining open air picture theatres (not drive-ins but genuine open air theatres with canvas seating) left in Australia. The famous Sun Theatre in Broome and the Royal Theatre in Winton. It is a wonderful relic of a past time which still has the original projection equipment. Shows are held on Wednesday nights April to September.
Memorial Cairn
13.8km on the Route of the River Gums, a scenic self drive tour, is located the Memorial Cairn which records the town's involvement in the famous shearer's strike of 1891. Over 500 shearers camped south of the town for four months during the dispute and, although Winton was not greatly affected by the strike, the Mounted Police arrived from Charleville to keep order.
Lark Quarry Conservation Park
Located 110 km from Winton the Lark Quarry Conservation Park with its famous Dinosaur Stampede is an interesting insight into life in western Queensland some ninety five million years ago. This is the only group of footprints of running dinosaurs in the world. First discovered in the early 1960s it was completely excavated in 1976-77. Three species of dinosaur made the 1200 tracks - a large flesh eating carnosaur and many small coelurosaurs and ornithopods. Contact 1300 665 115 or check out: http://www.dinosaurtrackways.com.au/.
The brochure on Lark Quarry explains the footprints: 'Most of the footprints were made when a carnosaur trapped groups of coelurosaurs and ornithopods on the muddy edge of a lake.' .
It can be part of a 380 km day long round trip to the south of Winton which takes in the opal fields at Opalton, the Lark Quarry site and the spectacular sights at Carisbrooke Station on the Cork Mail Road.
Opalton Fields
The Opalton fields are a reminder of how things can change in far western Queensland. Discovered in 1888 they were not worked until 1893. By 1896 there were 500-600 men on the fields but the inevitable problem of water (which had to be carted over 20 km) ensured that when the price of opals dropped the field was abandoned. A few hearty souls are still mining the area..
Carisbrooke Station
Carisbrooke Station, a working sheep and cattle property, with its bora rings, Aboriginal rock paintings, and dramatic scenery is regarded by many of the Winton locals as a place which deserves to be ranked with some of Australia's most interesting outback destinations. Guided tours of the property including entry to Lark Quarry occur three days a week, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, April to September . Contact: (07) 4657 0084 or check out: http://www.carisbrooketours.com.au/index.html
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