What is Winton in Queensland known for?
Winton is an outback town in central western Queensland known for dinosaur fossils, as the birthplace of Qantas and as the place where Banjo Paterson wrote Waltzing Matilda in 1895.
Paterson wrote the words to Waltzing Matilda while staying at Dagworth Station near Winton. The song was first performed publicly in Winton's North Gregory Hotel in 1895. The Waltzing Matilda Centre in town celebrates the song's history.
Qantas was registered in Winton in 1920 before moving its operations to Longreach.
Dinosaur country
Winton is home to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs museum, which displays fossils found in the region, including Australovenator, a meat-eating dinosaur, and large sauropods. Visitors can watch technicians prepare fossils.
About 110 kilometres southwest of Winton, Lark Quarry Dinosaur Trackways preserves thousands of footprints left by small dinosaurs around 95 million years ago.
The town hosts the Vision Splendid Outback Film Festival each winter, and its dramatic landscapes have been used for many films. Winton is linked to Longreach by the Matilda Way, a popular outback road trip route.