Longreach, Queensland facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Longreach Queensland
Longreach Shire Hall and Water Tower
Longreach Location in Queensland
Population	3,124 (2021 census)
• Density	0.132980/km2 (0.34442/sq mi)
Established	1888
Postcode(s)	4730
Elevation	191.0 m (627 ft)
Area	23,492.3 km2 (9,070.4 sq mi)
Time zone	AEST (UTC+10:00)
Location	647 km (402 mi) SE of Mount Isa 687 km (427 mi) W of Rockhampton 1,178 km (732 mi) NW of Brisbane
LGA(s)	Longreach Region
County	Portland County
State electorate(s)	Gregory
Federal Division(s)	Maranoa
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall 31.4 °C 89 °F 15.8 °C 60 °F 441.4 mm 17.4 in
Localities around Longreach: Corfield Bangall Tablederry Muttaburra Cornish Creek Opalton Longreach Sardine Stonehenge Isisford Ilfracombe

Longreach is a town in Queensland, Australia. It is the main town in the Longreach Region. Longreach is a popular place for tourists because of its important history with airplanes. In 2021, about 3,124 people lived in Longreach.

Exploring Longreach's Location

Near the Civic Centre in Longreach during the summer solstice. The shadow shows it's close to the Tropic of Capricorn.

Longreach is in Central West Queensland. It is about 700 kilometres (430 miles) from the coast, west of Rockhampton. The town is located on the Tropic of Capricorn. This is an imaginary line around the Earth.

The town gets its name from a "long reach" of the Thomson River. A "reach" is a long, straight part of a river.

The main jobs in the area are raising cattle and sheep. Tourism is also becoming very important.

Getting Around Longreach

The Landsborough Highway runs through Longreach. The Central Western railway line also goes through the town. You can catch a train at the Longreach railway station.

In Longreach, the streets have interesting names. Streets that run east-west are named after water birds. Streets that run north-south are named after land birds. The main shopping street is called Eagle Street.

Longreach's Past: A Look at History

Longreach is on the traditional lands of the Iningai people. The Iningai language was spoken here. Another language, Kuungkari, was also spoken in this area.

Early European Exploration

The first Europeans came to the area in 1862. They were part of an expedition led by William Landsborough. An Aboriginal trooper named Jemmy helped them talk to the Iningai people. An Iningai man named Wittin even guided them.

In 1862, a very large cattle farm called Bowen Downs was started. Later, a part of this farm along the Thomson River was called Mount Cornish. An outstation of Mount Cornish was named Longreach. This was because it was on a long, straight part of the Thomson River. This spot later grew into the town we know today.

Town Growth and Development

The town of Longreach officially became a town in 1887. Its post office opened in 1891. When the railway line arrived in 1892, more people moved to Longreach.

Longreach State School opened in 1893 with 102 students. The Presentation Sisters started a primary school in 1900. This school later became Our Ladies' College. In 1920, the famous airline Qantas was started here. St Joseph's Primary School opened in 1925.

In 1935, Our Ladies' College began offering high school classes. This made it the first high school in Central Western Queensland. Longreach State High School opened in 1966.

Royal Visit and Modern Changes

In 1970, Queen Elizabeth II visited Longreach. She came to celebrate 50 years of Qantas, which started in Queensland. She saw an exhibition of old Qantas items. This included a copy of their first airplane, the AVRO 504K.

In 2010, Longreach had a big problem with locusts. Locals said it was the worst in 30 years.

In 2019, several smaller areas around Longreach became part of the Longreach locality. This made the Longreach Region have only three main areas: Longreach, Ilfracombe, and Isisford.

Recently, in 2024, some land was bought to create a national park. The government said that small-scale opal mining would still be allowed. Opal is Australia's national gemstone.

What Longreach Offers

Longreach has a visitor information centre where you can learn about the town. It also has a swimming pool, a Powerhouse Museum, and parks. You can find grocery stores like IGA and FoodWorks.

The Longreach Regional Council runs the Longreach Library on Eagle Street.

For many years, Longreach had a local cinema called Star Cinema. It closed in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of online streaming.

Education in Longreach

Longreach has several schools for students of all ages:

• Longreach State School: A primary school for students from Early Childhood to Year 6.
• Longreach State High School: A high school for students from Year 7 to Year 12.
• Longreach School of Distance Education: This school helps students who live far away. They learn using phone lines and other technology. It used to be called Longreach School of the Air.
• Our Lady's Catholic Primary School: A Catholic primary school for students from Preparatory to Year 6.

Media in Longreach

The local newspaper is called the Longreach Leader. It comes out every week. You can also listen to several radio stations in the Longreach area. These include ABC Western Queensland, 4LG, and West FM.

Fun Things to See and Do

The Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame in Longreach

Longreach is home to the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame. This museum opened in 1988 and was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II. It shows the history and culture of life in rural Australia. Over a million people have visited it!

The Qantas Founders Outback Museum has real Qantas planes.

Longreach is also famous for being one of the starting places for Qantas. Qantas is Australia's main airline and the third oldest airline in the world! It was founded in 1920. One of the original Qantas hangars is still used at the Longreach Airport.

The town has the Qantas Founders Outback Museum. Here, you can see real planes like a Boeing 747-200 and a Boeing 707. To show how important Longreach is to Qantas, all of their Boeing 747-400 planes had "Longreach" written on them.

Longreach also used to have the Australian Agricultural College's Longreach Campus. This college taught students about farming and working with animals. It closed in 2019.

Famous People from Longreach

Some well-known people have connections to Longreach:

• Carl Barron: A stand-up comedian who was born in Longreach.
• Lobby Loyde: A guitarist who was born in Longreach.
• Matthew Scott: A professional rugby league player who was born in Longreach.
• Edgar Towner: A brave soldier who won the Victoria Cross. He died in Longreach and is buried there.

Longreach's Climate

Longreach has a hot, dry climate. Summers are very hot, and winters are mild with cool nights. The temperature changes a lot between seasons. For example, the average high temperature in July is about 23.7°C (74.7°F), but in December, it's about 37.6°C (99.7°F).

It doesn't rain much in Longreach. The average rainfall is about 430.5 millimetres (17 inches) per year. Most of the rain falls in the summer. The town is very sunny, with many clear days each year.

Heritage-Listed Places

Longreach has several places that are important to its history. These are called heritage-listed sites. They include:

• Longreach railway station, on the Capricorn Highway
• Longreach Ambulance Centre, on Ibis Street
• Qantas Hangar, on the Landsborough Highway
• Darr River Downs, on the Landsborough Highway
• Former Longreach Powerhouse, on Swan Street