A four year adventure of tears, triumph and hard slog that has resulted in a new tourist attraction for western Queensland was celebrated in Longreach on Friday night.
Some 160 guests, many of them lifelong fans of the international airline born in western Queensland, were on hand to watch as the coveted Lockheed Super Constellation was christened Southern Spray and welcomed as the newest aircraft in the Qantas Founders Museum stable.
It was hailed as symbolic of the pioneering spirit that started Qantas.
As museum CEO, Tony Martin, reminded people, it was Queensland pioneer and Qantas’ first ticketholder, Alexander Kennedy who said: “Be damned to the doubters; we did it”.
Doing it took passion, faith and a lot of blood, sweat and tears, according to QFM chairman, John Vincent, who outlined the many roads travelled once the aircraft identified as vital to the Qantas story was purchased.
“The board felt there’d be no other opportunity for us to obtain such an aircraft; we had to put in a bid,” he said. “Once it was successful, we were faced with a real challenge.”
Along the way they never gave up faith but there were times when they knew they had to consider abandoning the project.
The process of salvaging it from the mud around Manila Airport, dismantling it and returning it by boat to Australia and then road train to Longreach, and restoring it for Friday’s launch, took 3.5 volunteer man years of work.
A $300,000 joint federal/state grant supported it at a critical phase and state assistant Tourism Minister, Meaghan Scanlon, said she was in awe of how much the organisation had grown the museum and its attractions, much as the government wanted to grow tourism around the state.
The Member for Gregory, Lachlan Millar, said western Queensland had always punched above its weight, whether in aviation or agriculture, but the drought had meant they hadn’t been able to concentrate as well on what they did well.
“But tourism is what we’ve needed badly over the last seven years of drought,” he said. “Longreach is lucky to have a council that’s so behind tourism – they’ve realised it isn’t just an add-on.”
The Super Constellation, or “Connie” as she’s affectionately become known, was the first plane that enabled Qantas to establish a long-range overseas air service in its own right, and was the first Qantas aircraft to feature flight hostesses.
“It was not only the coolest plane ever made but it captured the imagination of a generation,” Daniel Gschwind, the CEO of the Queensland Tourism Industry Council, said.
“It made it possible for people to travel long distances and in such a romantic aircraft.
“Where better to remember that than here at the Qantas Founders Museum.
“The tourism industry is expanding but it’s very competitive – people want the genuine article.”
The museum in Longreach employs 35 staff and tourism is worth $11m a year to the Longreach economy.
Tony Martin said the importance of having a new major attraction was paramount.
“We need to keep reinventing ourselves,” he said.
The group is still seeking donations to fit out the new plane’s interior with a number of plans for innovative displays it wants to come to fruition.
The story of Connie’s long journey to Longreach and her beautification can be read here:
Sally Gall
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
