Visiting the Stockman's Hall of Fame

When we thought about this particular trip and I started thinking about where I wanted to go, for some reason Longreach was the first place that popped into my head.

And visiting the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame was the first place I put on my list of sightseeing!

The museum is located on the edge of town on the main highway opposite the Longreach airport and the Qantas Founders Museum - which is hard to miss as it has a huge Boeing 747 out the front.

The Stockman’s Hall of Fame is a museum highlighting the work of the pioneers of outback Australia, with particular attention paid to the stockmen (and women) including the role of Aboriginal stockmen and women on the many enormous stations that peppered the harsh Australian Outback.

There is no doubt that without the back breaking work performed by stockmen driving cattle and sheep along the remote stock routes (such as the Canning Stock Route, the Tanami Track and the Murranji Track) and brave pioneer families of the past willing to work vast tracts of land in order to open up the country and make it more hospitable, that Australia would be a very different place.

I spent a few hours walking through the various exhibitions very happy to be inside in air conditioned comfort given today reached 35 degrees! Eventually, after a pit stop in town to check out the shops and a quick stop at the supermarket, it was time to drive to our camping spot on the Thompson River, where Gadi and Cadbury have spent the afternoon trying to stay cool and chatting to our neighbours.

Gadi chatted to a trio of solo female travellers who only just met each through a solo women’s camping group other before their current trip and a couple living full time on the road.

As he was chatting an emu came through the camp close to our caravan and Cadbury decided to bark and run at the emu.

I got back to camp around 6pm and, after chatting to our neighbours, got the shopping put away and we ate an easy dinner of hot barbecued chicken.

Let’s hope the night air is cool enough so that we sleep better than we did in last night’s heat!

Night night from LongreachRead more