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Cloncurry Airfield and QANTAS hangar
Cloncurry Airport
At the request of the Department of Civil Aviation, surveys were conducted by the Main Roads Commission early in 1941 with a view to extending the Cloncurry aerodrome to meet RAAF requirements. Contracts for the strengthening and extending of existing gravel runways and taxiways to accommodate heavy bomber and freight aircraft, and for hospitals, workshops and camps, were let to private contractors by the Allied Works Council on instructions from the Department of Interior. On 5 May 1941 a truck convoy of machinery and plant belonging to the north Queensland road construction firm, T & K Constructions, arrived in Cloncurry from Cairns by way of Townsville to commence work on the airfield. All the heavy machinery was railed to Cloncurry.
Place information
Location
Place type
Airfield
History
In 1919 Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness recognised the potential for an aerial mail service that would link the Queensland and Northern Territory railhead towns of Charleville, Longreach, Winton, Cloncurry and Birdum, and established Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited (QANTAS) to meet this need. After securing the first outback airmail contract, in February 1922 Qantas contracted the Sydney engineers Stewart and Lloyd, to supply and erect steel-framed hangars at Cloncurry, Longreach and Charleville. The Cloncurry hangar became a symbol of the town’s importance as an early copper mining centre, although mineral fortunes were declining by the time it...
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