Winton

Winton

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Winton, town, central Queensland, Australia, on Western Mills Creek, an intermittent tributary of the Diamantina River. Settled in 1873 and originally called Pelican Waterholes, it became a village in 1875 and a town in 1879. It was later renamed after Winton, England, the birthplace of its postmaster. It is at the junction of the Landsborough Highway and the Kennedy Developmental Road, with rail links northwest and east to the coastal towns of Rockhampton and Townsville and air service to Brisbane (700 miles [1,200 km] southeast). Winton is the trucking centre for the pastoral Channel Country, handling cattle and high-quality Merino sheep. There are meat-handling works in the town. The words to the popular song “Waltzing Matilda” were supposedly composed by A.B. (“Banjo”) Paterson at nearby Dagworth Station about 1898. The airline Qantas was formed as a company in Winton in 1920. Pop. (2006) local government area, 1,380; (2011) local government area, 1,336.