TAA DC-3 to Longreach
 

In an artical in the latest Qantas News, Qantas will support and preserve VH-AES, the DC-3 that flew the first passenger service for TAA. It will be moved up to the Qantas Founders Musem in Longreach, where it will be put on display as an exhibition piece.

Im all for preserving these beautys, the 707, the dc3, the 742 etc and understand that qantas started out in longreach, but surely there is a much better place to have this museum, Longreach is just so far from anything and quite costly to go to, i mean what else is there besides the museum at Longreach?

Isn't there somewhere in melbourne where we can preserve the Hawdon?

stick it back on a pole in the carpark at Tullamarine, at least it got admired there and thousands upon thousands of people could see it.

I agree, I just came back from QLD and was considering going to Longreach but the cost of getting there just for the museum didn't work for me.

Aside from the historical significance of Longreach to Qanats, perhaps the drier conditions are preferred for preserving aircraft?

VH-AES should be kept here in Melbourne to do what it was restored to do.It has no history to Qantas at all.The volunteers who restored it did so it could keep flying to airshows.There will be a lot of ****ed off volunteers.

**** poor really, Another serviceable Dak put to rest again. Next it will be ABR's turn.

Nick and Jamie,
I may be biased, by living in North West QLD, however saying that Longreach is the wrong place for the Qantas Museum, is quite ignorant.

Longreach is a reasonably sized town, and quite a nice one to visit. There are several things to do in the town, the Qantas Museum (which needs basically an entire day just to do that!), the Outback Hall of Fame, plus many other tourist activities available.

It's probably not the type of place that you fly into, have a look at the museum, and fly out. It's much better visited by car, so that you can enjoy the Central QLD area. I think if you asked the museum if their location has caused them to have low numbers, you'd get a funny look and the high number of visitors would cause you to think otherwise.

And as Nigel said, it's an ideal place for storing aircraft for preservation.

Mick

Longreach is in Central QLD, not easily accessible to the average family or an aviation enthusiast, and requires a significant drive from the major QLD centres such as Brisbane etc it is not a matter of ignorance, it's a matter of the museum being easily accessed by the folks who want to see it.

For me I would have no other interest in being in Longreach other than to see the museum, I am not particularly taken with the other "attractions", so therefore my decision to not go there was based solely on the effort required to get there which just didn't seem worth it.

If the museum was based in Brisbane (or nearby) or the Sunshine Coast (such as the fantastic museum at Caloundra) I'd be driving up straight away. I don't mean to offend you because of where you live or anything I am just speaking from the perspective of the average family man with kids who had to decide if the drive from Bundaberg to Longreach would be suitable for the family, and to be honest as much as I'd really love to see it, just couldn't justify it.

One day I am sure I'll make it there, but it means I have to plan a whole trip from Sydney to a place in the middle of nowhere (albeit a large town maybe) just to see one museum. Most people who want to see the museum would have a similar dilemma.

The reason the museum is there, is because it's one of the birthplaces of Qantas (Winton being THE birthplace). Sydney or Brisbane or Melbourne, were not the birthplaces of Qantas.

Second to that, where are you going to park a 747 and a 707 around there?

Maybe get out and explore Australia a bit Nick. Then you'll have a reason to visit Longreach.

Mick

I agree with Ray, it should stay in Melbourne.

TAA has no real connection with Longreach, the only advantage of Queensland is the mild dry climate.