Winton (Queensland)

Winton
Winton Main Street
State :  Australia State : Queensland
Coordinates : 22 ° 23 ′  S , 143 ° 2 ′  E Coordinates: 22 ° 23 ′  S , 143 ° 2 ′  E Area : 4.1  km²
Residents : 875 (2016) Population density : 213 inhabitants per km²
Time zone : AEST (UTC + 10) Postal code : 4735 LGA : Winton Shire Council
Winton

Winton is a small town in central southwest Queensland , Australia , with a population of about 900. The city on the Western River is located in a rural region with numerous cattle and sheep farms and is an important agricultural center there. Winton is the seat of the local administrative area of the same name (LGA) Winton Shire Council in which a total of about 1100 people live.

Geographical location

Winton is located approximately 1,150 kilometers northwest of the Queensland capital Brisbane .

traffic

Via the Landsborough Highway , Winton is connected to Longreach, about 170 kilometers southeast, and Cloncurry , about 340 kilometers to the northeast . Hughenden, 200 kilometers to the north, can be reached via Kennedy Developmental Road . Winton is also the starting point of the Outback Highway , which leads to Western Australia .

Winton has a railway connection via Longreach to Rockhampton on the east coast of Queensland. Another line runs in the north via Hughenden to Townsville .

history

The area around Winton was first crossed in 1848 by the explorer Ludwig Leichhardt . Other explorers of the Australian hinterland followed before the first European settlers permanently settled in the area in 1866. In 1876 the city got its name from the head of the local post office after his birthplace, the eponymous district of the city of Bournemouth in England .

The Australian airline QANTAS was founded in Winton in 1920 .

Waltzing Matilda

Winton became best known as the birthplace of the song Waltzing Matilda , the unofficial national anthem of Australia. Banjo Paterson wrote the song while vacationing on a nearby farm in 1895. It was performed for the first time at the North Gregory Hotel in town. In 1998 the Waltzing Matilda Center opened in Winton , the first museum dedicated to this song.

dinosaur

In the Winton area, the most important finds of dinosaur bones and other fossils in Australia have been made. The Lark Quarry site , about 115 kilometers southwest of Winton, where traces of a dinosaur stampede were found, has been one of Australia's natural monuments since 2004 and is therefore under special protection. The traces of this stampede are considered unique evidence and also served Steven Spielberg as a model for a scene in his film Jurassic Park .

Personalities

• Jason Clarke (actor) (born 1969), actor

Web links

Commons : Winton, Queensland  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Australian Bureau of Statistics : Winton (L) ( English ) In: 2016 Census QuickStats . June 27, 2017. Retrieved on 2020-04-151.
2. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics : Winton (S) ( English ) In: 2016 Census QuickStats . June 27, 2017. Retrieved April 15, 2020.