Winton

Winton claims two national stories. Banjo Paterson's Waltzing Matilda was first performed publicly at the North Gregory Hotel here in April 1895, and the Waltzing Matilda Centre in town, rebuilt after a fire, covers the song, its disputed origins and the shearers' strike that shaped it. Second, the plains around Winton hold one of the world's richest concentrations of dinosaur fossils; at Lark Quarry, about a hundred and ten kilometres southwest, a slab of rock preserves thousands of footprints made by small dinosaurs around ninety-five million years ago, protected under a building and shown on guided tours. Winton is also boulder opal country, and the Bladensburg National Park lies just south.

History

The Koa people are the traditional owners of the Winton area, and on 6 October 2021 the Federal Court recognised their native title over 31,400 square kilometres; Skull Hole, on Bladensburg Station about 15 kilometres from town, was the site of a massacre of Aboriginal people in 1877. William Landsborough explored the Western and Diamantina rivers in the 1860s, the first European settlers came in 1866, and about 1875 the former police sergeant Robert Allen moved to the Pelican Waterholes, west of the present town, setting up a shop and a public house the next year; as postmaster he named the town in 1876 after his birthplace, Winton in Dorset (Wikipedia, Winton, Queensland).

Highlights

• The Waltzing Matilda Centre - the song's history and the shearers' strike.
• Lark Quarry - thousands of preserved dinosaur footprints under cover.
• The opal fields - boulder opal country around the town.
• The outback plains - jump-ups and grassland in Bladensburg National Park.

When to go

April to September; summer regularly passes forty degrees and outdoor sites are punishing. The Vision Splendid outback film festival falls in June or July. Lark Quarry tours run to a set daily schedule and the access road is partly unsealed.

What to expect

Lark Quarry is a two-hour round trip on a road that is rough in places, and the footprints are subtle rather than dramatic. Winton is remote with limited accommodation. Summer heat is extreme and many businesses reduce hours.

Nearby

The Australian Age of Dinosaurs museum is on a mesa nearby; Longreach lies southeast.

Key facts