Operating since 1972, the Qantilda Museum is now part of the Waltzing Matilda Centre complex. Entry is through the Waltzing Matilda Centre.  

A visit to the Qantilda Museum is an essential Winton experience.

Visitors can explore:

• The treasure trove of history with Christina Macpherson Cottage
• Tools for working the land in the Machinery Shed and Vehicle Shed
• How Winton rode 'the sheep's back' in the Shearing Shed
• A BB 18 1/4 Class Steam Locomotive resting at the original Chorregon Siding

Qantilda Museum Displays

Bottle Room

What can we say about this collection? Have a look and you will find a bottle for every occasion, drink bottles, perfume bottles, water filtering and ornamental bottles to fit on your shelf. A group of dedicated people spent a lot of time travelling all around the district, rummaging in dump sites on properties to collect them.

Chorregon Railway Display – be an engine driver for a day

The feature of this display is the BB 18 ¼ Class Steam Locomotive, donated by Queensland Rail. The carriage with first and second class compartments, and an open freight wagon, stand beside the Chorregon Railway Siding, relocated from the Longreach/Winton line in 1994.

Wool in Winton

As the shearers bend their backs to take off the wool, you can almost hear the sheep bleating in the yards, the dogs barking, and the steady hum of the engine in the background.

View photographs of local shearing sheds on Vindex, Oondooroo and Ayrshire Downs, and the variety of tools used in earlier times.  Check out the dipping crook – do you know what it was used for?

Up the Stairs to Life and Leisure in Winton

There’s something for everyone in this display - the panorama of the roughriders in the 1958 World Championship Rodeo held in Winton, an iron lung for polio sufferers, even a straitjacket for uncooperative patients. Playing in the Winton Town Band and hand carved emu eggs were among the recreations enjoyed by residents. A lace-making loom with handmade wooden bobbins and household items made from kerosene tins are among the treasures of yesteryear.

Christina Macpherson Cottage

The railway cottage, donated by Queensland Rail, was moved to the museum in 1988.

The old kitchen holds a wide range of mincers, separators, butter churns and other domestic items dating from the 1900's. Indigenous weapons and artefacts adjoin a rare display of Winton Masonic Lodge furniture and regalia, bequeathed on the lodge closure. The WW2 room features the men and women of Winton’s war effort, alongside a fascinating collection of rifles and handguns.  

Tools, tools and more tools

An unusual tool in the Vehicle Shed is the tyre upsetter used by blacksmiths to repair steel tyres on wooden wagon wheels. Close by is a small forge with hand-driven blower. These tools could have been used to repair the horse drawn drays and wagons on display.

A World War 2 anti-aircraft gun, and an anti-tank trophy gun from the Bougainville campaign, are on display in the Machinery Shed. The anti-aircraft gun was sited at the Winton railway station during the war but never fired a shot.