Days 39 & 40 Winton

Our stay in Winton started out wet. The weather threatened to remain wet. There were two caravan parks. One was a quagmire; the other was wet but bearable. We found some high ground in a corner and set up camp. Fortunately the rain stopped, the sun returned and the ground started to dry. We met a lovely couple from Canberra who parked up beside us.  We had some interesting conversations about the “fall and rise” of the members of the Labor Party!  After a great night around the BBQ and having enjoyed a delicious meal, our friends taught us to play Rummikub - somewhat similar to scrabble, but using numbers for tiles.

The museum at Winton was excellent. It was well researched and well laid out. We spent two days there reading about “Banjo” Paterson, the story behind Waltzing Matilda. He was staying at Dagworth Station with the Macphersons. Although engaged to Sarah Riley at the time, he was paying the Macpherson’s daughter, Christina, inappropriate attention. Her brothers did not approve and “Banjo” was asked to leave. Sarah was a close friend of Christina’s.

We also noticed that the swaggie pictured at the entrance to the museum display was wearing a gold seal cut signet ring. These are generally expensive and usually worn by people with a family crest. We wondered what circumstances brought the ring and the swagman together.

Apart from the story of Waltzing Matilda there was a huge amount of fascinating history about Winton and the surrounding properties.

The area was host to a dinosaur stampede and one of the commemorative features was dinosaur bins.

We visited the truck Museum just north of Winton. It had several trucks that had been beautifully renovated. It would have been interesting to have had some of the history of the trucks in addition to their names. We liked the Aussie indicator below.

There was also a mini that could drive forwards and backwards with equal ease.

 We had a look for the old QUANTAS landing strip but it was no longer in evidence. Only a plaque remained to note where it had been. Winton was the official birthplace of QUANTAS which moved later to Longreach.

There was a Musical Fence and improvised percussion instruments alongside the truck museum and the QUANTAS landing ground. Dell showed her prowess on several of the instruments and on the fence.

Back in town there is an unusual wall known as Arno’s Wall.

Arno’s House

Arno’s Wall