Qantas Founders Museum facts for kids
Entrance to the main museum building
|
|
| Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 420: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). | |
| Location | Longreach, Queensland |
|---|---|
| Type | Aviation museum |
The Qantas Founders Museum is a cool place in Longreach, Queensland, Australia. It's a museum all about the history of Qantas, Australia's national airline.
The museum first opened its doors on 9 June 1996. It's built inside the old Qantas Hangar, which Qantas built way back in 1922. The museum is about 177 kilometers from Winton, Queensland, which is where Qantas first started.
This museum shows you how Qantas grew from its early days in the Outback in the 1920s to the big airline it is today. Qantas officially started on 16 November 1920. Its first meeting was in Winton in 1921, where they decided to move to Longreach. The museum has lots of fun, interactive displays. They tell many stories from the airline's 100-year history.
Contents
Explore Amazing Aircraft
The Qantas Founders Museum is home to many awesome airplanes. You can see them up close and even take guided tours. Some of the planes you can explore include:
- A huge Qantas Boeing 747-200
- A Boeing 707-138B
- A Consolidated PBY-6A Catalina
- A replica Avro 504K
- A replica de Havilland DH.50
- A replica de Havilland DH.61
- A former Qantas Douglas DC-3, called VH-EAP
The First Qantas Jet: Boeing 707
One special plane is the Boeing 707-138B. This was Qantas's very first jet aircraft! It was made just for Qantas. This plane is known as VH-EBA and was named "City of Canberra."
This Boeing 707 was fixed up in England in 2006. It then flew all the way back to Australia in December 2006. Its journey was over 31,500 kilometers long! It took eight days to fly from Southend Airport to Sydney, stopping in many countries. Then, it was moved to Longreach in June 2007. Fixing up this plane took 15,000 hours of hard work!
The Super Constellation Plane
In 2014, the museum bought an old Lockheed C-121 Constellation plane. It had been stuck at Manila International Airport for over 25 years. Volunteers and workers spent five years fixing up this plane. They made it look like the Qantas Super Constellation 'Southern Spray" VH-EAM. This plane was ready for visitors in 2020.
New Airpark Roof and Light Show
In 2019, work started on a big new project. This included building a huge roof over the outdoor aircraft display area, called the Airpark. This roof protects the museum's Boeing 747, 707, DC-3, and Super Constellation from the sun.
They also added a cool Light and Sound Show. This show uses amazing lights and sounds to tell the story of Qantas. It projects images onto the sides of the Boeing 747, Super Constellation, and Boeing 707. This exciting show opened to the public in 2020.
Captain Cook Lounges Exhibit
In April 2021, the museum opened a new exhibit. It's a special replica of the Captain Cook Lounges. These were fancy lounges found on the first Boeing 747-200 planes Qantas used in the 1970s. They were a cool feature until Qantas introduced Business Class in 1979.
See also
- Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame
- List of transport museums
- Qantas
