IN 1895 THE SYDNEY SOLICITOR Andrew Barton Paterson visited Winton in central Queensland on a holiday with his long-time fiancé. Her family ran one of the huge outback sheep stations in the area.
While on his bush vacation, the young lawyer everyone called ‘Banjo’ after a country racehorse, heard a story about a police chase for a shearer that ended in tragedy at a waterhole in the Winton area, and he wrote a poem about the incident.
He called it ‘Waltzing Matilda’.
The poem was set to music and became Australia’s unofficial national anthem, sung everywhere from international sporting contests to the battlefields of two world wars and conflicts to this day.
The Matilda Motel in Winton, the town where ‘Waltzing Matilda’ was first performed for a crowd, has also made its mark over the years.
Andrew Morgan, from Queensland Tourism & Hospitality Brokers (QTHB) has the freehold property listed at $1,295,000 which represents a phenomenal 28.5 per cent return on investment.
The 21-unit motel is positioned in the centre of town, right across the road from the recently rebuilt state of the art Waltzing Matilda Centre, the first museum in the world dedicated to a song.
Winton is an historic town of 1130 residents in Outback Queensland, right in the middle of the state, about 1500km north-west of Brisbane, and 180km northwest of Longreach.
The Matilda Motel is a beautifully presented property with a relaxed atmosphere and Mr Morgan said it had been held by the same family for almost 30 years.
“It’s a very busy business with a great rate of return,” Mr Morgan said. “The motel has a mix of tourist trade and people visiting Winton for work.
“It’s a low cost operation with a high profit margin that is very easy to operate – there is no food preparation all, but it is very close to all the facilities guests need.
“There is a three-bedroom residence on-site, with an additional two-bedroom unit which is used as a residence but which could be rented out by the next owner.
“Winton has very good visitor numbers with the Waltzing Matilda Centre and the Australian Age of Dinosaurs centre.”
Winton is the dinosaur capital of Australia and one of the great sites in the world for dinosaur fossils.
The Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History is located 24km south-east of Winton and oversees the year-round operation of Australia's most productive dinosaur fossil preparation laboratory.
Winton’s first official dinosaur discovery was a fossilised footprint found on Cork Station in 1962. Further exploration uncovered evidence of a dinosaur stampede with over 3300 footprints, which can be seen at Lark Quarry, 110km from Winton on the Winton-Jundah Road.
Fossils from Titanosaurs, the largest dinosaurs to walk the earth, were discovered in the Winton area. These discoveries also include ‘Banjo’, Australia’s largest known carnivorous dinosaur.
Since 2005, the museum has accumulated the largest collection of Australian dinosaur fossils in the world.
On the subject of ancient wonders, nearby Opalton is the home of Queensland’s spectacular boulder opal and is famous for the enormous quantity and quality of its coloured stones.
Winton was also the birthplace of Australia’s national airline, Qantas – the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services – which opened its first office in the town in 1920 after buying two tiny biplanes before making more permanent headquarters in Longreach.
Related Content
