Portal:Queensland

Qantas was founded in Winton, Queensland on 16 November 1920 as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited by Paul McGuiness, Hudson Fysh, Fergus McMaster and Arthur Baird. Initially the airline operated air mail services subsidised by the Australian government, linking railheads in western Queensland. Between 1926 and 1928 Qantas built several aircraft in Longreach and made the inaugural flight of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, departing from Cloncurry. Qantas Empire Airways Limited (QEA) was formed by Qantas and Britain's Imperial Airways in 1934. They flew internationally from May 1935, when the service from Darwin was extended to Singapore. As operations expanded with flying boat service World War disrupted air travel until 1943. In 1947, QEA was nationalised, with the Australian Labor government buying the shares. In the same year the airline took delivery of Lockheed 749 Constellations and these took over the trunk route to London. In 1958, Qantas became the second round-the-world airline, flying Super Constellations westward from Australia to London through Asia and the Middle East.

In 1956, Qantas ordered the Boeing 707-138 jet airliner and the first was delivered in June 1959. The first jet service operated by Qantas was on 29 July 1959 from Sydney to San Francisco via Nadi and Honolulu. On 5 September 1959 Qantas became the third airline to fly jets across the North Atlantic. In 1966, the airline diversified its business by opening the 450 room Wentworth Hotel in Sydney. In 1967, the airline placed orders for the Boeing 747 and Qantas Empire Airways changed its name to Qantas Airways. When Cyclone Tracy devastated the town of Darwin at Christmas 1974, Qantas established a world record for the most people ever embarked on a single aircraft when it evacuated 673 people on a single Boeing 747 flight. In March 1979, Qantas operated its final Boeing 707 flight from Auckland to Sydney, and became the only airline in the world to have a fleet that consisted of Boeing 747s only.

La Boite Theatre Company is a major Australian theatre company based in Brisbane, Queensland. La Boite is the second largest theatre company in Queensland. Established in 1925, it occupies an important place in Queensland’s cultural history. It is known for its bold, contemporary approach towards theatrical texts, and its development of new Australian work. Its declared mission is to "produce and present exhilarating theatre that is alive to the present, extends and inspires artists, and invigorates the hearts and minds of audiences".

La Boite's mainstage production series is augmented by presentations of independent theatre work. In 2010, there were eleven productions, as well as various creative development and education programs.

La Boite is based at Brisbane’s Roundhouse Theatre, Australia’s only purpose-built theatre-in-the-round. Located in the Creative Industries Precinct of the Queensland University of Technology in Kelvin Grove. It seats 400, or 340 in thrust staging. The company moved into this new venue in February 2004, leaving its smaller theatre-in-the-round building in Hale Street, Milton, where it had been since 1972. (Full article...)

• ... that George Poynter Heath, the first portmaster of Queensland, Australia, was responsible for establishing 33 lighthouses, Booby Island Light being the last one?
• ... that despite being described in 1840, the chestnut-backed buttonquail was only confirmed in Queensland in 2020?
• ... that the founder of the Australian Flying Arts School took flying lessons so that he could travel throughout the Queensland Outback providing art lessons to its inhabitants?

• ...that although the first specimen of the smallmouth scad (pictured), a tropical fish endemic to northern Australia, was already taken in 1984 and deposited in the Queensland Museum, it was not officially named until 1987?
• ...that the father of cricketer Peter Burge had to resign from Queensland's selection committee when his son was being discussed for selection?
• ...that former Queensland Health Minister Leisha Harvey served five months in prison for misappropriation of public funds during her tenure?
• ...that the Queensland town of Thangool produces over 60% of the Australian market for squab?

Main: Queensland

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