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AN OUTBACK LEGEND Horses have been a part of our Outback lifestyles for decades—whether mustering livestock, transporting goods, or racing down the track, equines have marched alongside us in creating the region we know and love today. They’ve worked with us, traveled with us, and provided some of the most unbelievable moments in sporting history. One such horse that has marked our region on the map is Miss Petty, the Outback racehorse who’d earned herself the title ‘Queen of the Track’ with 22 long years of holding the Australasian record for most consecutive wins straight. While not on the track-winning trophies, Miss Petty was in the paddocks and the open land, mustering like she’d been born to cut cattle or carrying kids on gentle trail rides like a seasoned school horse. It’s safe to say, Miss petty was a jack-of-all-trades and certainly a horse we’ll never forget! Source: www.redridgeinteriorqueensland.com/miss-petty-bush-salute

THE BIRDSVILLE RACES, QUEENSLAND This iconic outback event started in 1882 and is the most romanticized of all. People travel from everywhere to reach the remote little speck on the eastern edge of the Simpson Desert - by 4WD, by plane, by caravan, by truck, by bus, by private aircraft, by horse, and even by camel. The horses are hidden somewhere in an ochre cloud of dust at the furthest end of the racecourse. The crowd yells for their favorites, drinks more beer, and finds any tiny patch of refuge from the burning sun they can. "There's nothing like this in the world," the bloke next to me sighs happily as he downs probably his 10th tinnie of the day, his scrap of bet paper in his hand. He's right. This tiny town of 115 people suddenly swells to host more than 8000, sleeping in the lone Birdsville Hotel, the caravan park, a newly erected tented camp, the private mini-cities put up by visiting tour companies, and in swags thrown out on the ground. Source: www.traveller.com.au/best-places-to-watch-country-horse-r...

Brothers Charles Collinson Rawson and Edmund Stanfield Rawson purchased the grazing property Abington in the Pioneer Valley, including a portion known as Shamrock Vale in 1867, and nicknamed it Sleepy Hollow, and hence its popular name The Hollow. Two houses, The Hollow and The Nyth were built on the banks of the Pioneer River, the present township of Mirani occupying the home paddock of The Hollow. Here the Rawsons attempted to recreate formal English gardens, including a lawn tennis court, gravel paths with vistas created by shrubberies, exotic vines and trees, a weather station, an attractive English-style fowl-house, and to the side of a fourteen foot wide verandah, a large fernery of split palms which housed a bathroom at one end. On the high bank of the Pioneer River, they planted an extensive fenced vegetable garden and orchard. H.H. Finch Hatton, who visited the homestead in 1878, described it in his book Advance Australia as "the prettiest place on the whole of the Pioneer". Due to this garden's beauty and place in local folklore, the name and inspiration has been included in the Mackay Regional Botanic Gardens, even though the garden and homestead were located some 30 minutes upriver at Mirani. Source: www.mackayregionalbotanicgardens.com.au/about/history_of_...

Qantas is the oldest continuously operating airline in the world. Qantas founders were World War One airmen who recognized that only aviation could bridge the tyranny of distance that so defined life in the vast, open spaces of our continent. They had a vision for a national airline that connected Australia with the world. But they had to start small. In 1921, they began barnstorming across the outback in a rickety bi-plane. The first medical evacuation was recorded in 1921, and the first scheduled passenger flight came soon after. In 1926, when the first Qantas engineer began work on a new fleet, Qantas became the only airline in the world to build, fly and maintain its own aircraft. Source: www.qanta.

The Qantas DH50. In 1926, Arthur Baird, Qantas’ chief engineer, started building Qantas DH50 aircraft under license at Longreach. We’re one of the few airlines to have built and operated our own aircraft. Source: www.facebook.com/Qantas/photos/a.10157970955437686/101579...

The Avro 504K was the first QANTAS aircraft and was used by the airline for five years. Powered by a 100 h.p. Sunbeam Dyak engine, it was modified to carry up to two passengers as well as the pilot. After higher-capacity aircraft were received, the original Qantas Avro 504K was sold in 1926. This high-quality replica was one of two built by Qantas engineers and apprentices from the original plans and is the central exhibit in Qantas Founders Museum. The other Avro can be viewed at Mascot Airport Domestic Terminal. VH-EBQ, “City of Bunbury”, was the first Qantas aircraft named after a West Australian provincial town to mark the 150th Anniversary of Western Australia and Bunbury being declared a city. VH-EBQ was accepted by Boeing by Qantas on 10th December 1979. During its working life with Qantas, it is estimated the aircraft carried over 5.4 million passengers and flew over 82.54 million kilometers – equivalent to more than 2000 trips around the world or ten round trips to the moon or ten years continuous flying. VH-EBQ is unique in being the only surviving Boeing 747 – 200 with Rolls Royce engines. VH-EBQ was donated to Qantas Founders Museum by Qantas Airways and landed at Longreach on 16th November 2002. Source: qfom.com.au/about/qantas-founders-museum-aircraft-collect...