It was a night that will never be forgotten in the Outback Queensland town of Winton. Back in June, 2015, a massive blaze tore through the iconic Waltzing Matilda Centre, all but destroying the community’s major tourism drawcard.
The main complex and cafe were completely gutted, but the rear section and precious antiques were saved. As well as 16 jobs directly associated with the centre being lost, it was a major blow for an entire community which, like so many other small rural communities, had been doing it tough. The town had come to increasingly rely on the income generated from the influx of grey nomads and other visitors that the centre helped to generate.
Legend had it that the song Waltzing Matilda was first performed in public here and Banjo Paterson, the man who wrote the famous lyrics in 1895, would no doubt have been proud of the way in which the community responded to the setback.
Local residents banded together. Strangers came to Winton to help restore parts of the centre. Hard as it was to find comfort in such a disaster, Mayor Butch Lenton said that co-operation and resilience shown was the “great thing about it”.
From the ashes of disaster, a restoration and re-build plan was hatched. And, in April this year, during its annual four-day Winton’s Way Out West Festival, the hard work will have paid off and a new $22million Waltzing Matilda Centre will officially open.
The mayor desperately hopes the new re-built centre will help attract more grey nomads and other tourists back to the town to explore local history and to enjoy local hospitality.
A host of stars, including Jessica Mauboy, the Living End, John Williamson, Sheppard, and Busby Marou will take to the stage at the festival to hep mark a new beginning for a tough and strong Outback community.
A member of the nearby Rockhampton Regional Council, Neil Fisher, probably summed it up best.
“For the town to go through the tragedy of losing one of their key economic drivers could have gone one of two ways,” he said. “They could have just thrown their hands in the air and said ‘this is all too hard’. Instead everybody from the mayor down buckled in and they worked towards making the new Waltzing Matilda centre bigger and better … and I take my hat off to them.”
Heading there for the film festival in June/July this year, cant wait as I’m told it is a great week of films
We will certainly go back and support them, a fantastic town and community.Always friendly and welcoming.Have had a great time each time we visited and yes we also take our hats off to them. Stevo.
Went and saw the old center, loved it. Sooo look forward to seeing the new one.
Fell in love with the outback when we were up there loved Winton hope to get back there soon
Missed out on the old centre as we were there in July, looking forward to seeing the new one. Congratulations on achieving this so soon.
We were fortunate enough to visit the centre before it officially opened years ago. Sad that we are currently in the wrong end of the country to visit for its re-opening. Congrats Winton. Job Well Done.
We will be passing through Winton again this year on our annual journey to Darwin. We most certainly will be staying at Winton this year to support the town and will be visiting the new centre. Great job guys