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Founded in the outback
In 1919 Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness surveyed the ground route for the Great Air Race from Britain to Australia and saw what aviation could do for the outback. With backing from Fergus McMaster, Qantas was incorporated at Winton in 1920.


Longreach and the hangar
Operations moved to Longreach in 1921, where Arthur Baird joined as the company’s first paid employee and engineer. Qantas built its hangar there in 1922 and flew from Longreach until 1930.
A museum of the founders
Communities across western Queensland formed Qantas Foundation Memorial in 1988. The Governor-General opened the first stage of the museum, in the hangar, in June 1996, and a climate-controlled museum building followed in March 2002.
