Kinnon & Co are a Longreach family who have taken advantage of the tourism industry in the area. After suffering through drought on their property they decided to add to their income by setting up some innovative attractions in town.
They run a river cruise on the Thompson River with an old paddle steamer at sunset, followed by a light show reflected on the river & a film about Harry Readford alias Captain Starlight . The film is cleverly done with several scenes in a book of paintings. The characters step from the book & become lifelike in genuine scenery as they tell the story of Starlights big cattle heist & drive to Sth Australia.
A meal of beef stew and apple pie follows while the irrepressible barefoot poet, Scotty, entertains with his Aussie bush poems. Scotty was injured in a fall from a horse as a young man. He spent 7 months in a coma which resulted in him having a balance problem. He found by being barefoot he had a better grip on the earth and so he never wears shoes. This resulted in him losing his government job as rules became stricter with HPWS. Scotty then set up a lawn mowing run & once again buearocracy caught up with him after a few years and looked like stealing his job because of his bare feet. With a little initiative & adaptation he has some specially constructed steel cap boots that allow him to continue his business. It was a pleasure to meet this bloke, he is a dinkum Aussie and I think if he was your friend it would be a faithful life long friendship.
The station store in town is Kinnon & Co's other entertainment venue. A shop well stocked with clothing, gifts & tasteful souvenirs fill the front rooms. A cafe & cinema room are in the back. The back yard is the scene for a skit based around the Captain Starlight story. The skit involves plenty of Aussie slapstick humour and the Kinnon boys along with their dad are the actors. When we visited, the old play had been adapted this year because one of the boys had grown & could no longer be the scrawny kid he was last year. It was still a bit raw which only made it funnier as they add libbed through parts. The animals involved were horses, chooks & a couple of dogs behaving badly doing what dogs shouldn't have been doing in front of an audience. We enjoyed the show & had a good laugh. Don't expect a slick production, & it is all the better for it, just good old fashioned entertainment .
A Cobb & Co coach ride on the 30,000 acre town common followed the show. A bit of a gallop with some history about the Cobb & Co company was an insight into a time gone by. Travel was not that comfortable with dust,flies & plenty of bumps on narrow straight backed seats. Cobb & Co runs were franchised out. They took the concept to Sth Africa where it failed because of hold ups. Not only were the passengers robbed but the horses were stolen as well. With the advent of the motor industry they turned to a trucking business in Australia which ended up sending the company into bankruptcy.
Scones & tea followed in the outdoor cafe served by daughter Annabel dressed in period costume. We then watched the old movie Smiley Gets A Gun. While intending to watch it for 10 minutes it got us in & we watched the lot. Once again it was just good old fashioned simple entertainment for all the family.
Longreach is a nice town with modern amenities while retaining its outback country flavour. The saddlery down the road from The Store is worth a visit as is the drapery shop near the Kinnon & Co office. While selling 2013 merchandise its fit out was complete with its original layout, fixtures & fittings
We enjoyed our stay in Longreach & the Kinnon family were a pleasure to meet,
Nice country folk through & through.
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