QFM 25th Anniversary Dinner

[samh004]

Late last year I got wind that this year, would be the 25th anniversary of a meeting that took place in the Longreach Civic Centre Supper Room on the 25th August 1988 to "erect a memorial to the founders of Qantas". Without going into too much detail, the rest is history, as there's a great museum in Longreach that everyone should visit.

I quickly booked my flights and have been waiting ever since.

 

[samh004]

I flew up on QF2532 this morning. Managed to snag 1B on the Q400, which affords a great deal of legroom. Shadow of course. No legroom shot but there's just an endless gap to the FA from this seat.



Also on my flight was Fergus McMaster, well his grandson anyway and wife, and also Qantas' Regional GM for QLD & PNG and probably a few other important people I hadn't yet met.

Before the inevitable question of how I snagged 1B while Fergus didn't. I asked if he had CL and he replied he'd never used it, and didn't use lounges, but found out he could get a discount when renting a car, so presumably it does have a use.

Despite the cold start in BNE, it was a lovely 25° in LRE. So my choice of attire didn't work too well on disembarkation.



I used my Q Bag Tag and my bag was last on the baggage reclaim. That said, within my first minute of entering the terminal in BNE I'd already sent my bag off and was at security. So it does work, I just didn't receive priority, but I rarely have it with paper tags either.



I spent my afternoon taking some new snaps around the museum with my new camera, a Canon EOS-M. Any photos from that may follow next week.

I had a nice "Mile High Club Sandwich" at McGinness' Cafe at the museum, and yes that is the old noritake bone China plates you'd be used to seeing in Qantas First.

 

[samh004]

The dress code was 'formal suit', so I was wearing a tie and looking unlike what anyone who knows me on here has seen before.



Starting at 6:30 in the heritage-listed Qantas Hangar, drinks were consumed to help me socialise and luckily the people attending were friendly, and as we all had name tags, happy to meet new people.

I stuck close to Peter Collyns, who was very kind to introduce me to a few people I would not otherwise have had an opening like to meet. Among them, Tony Edwards working for QFLink, who I had a great talk to about all sorts; John Vincent, recently retired from Qantas as the Head of Safety & Risk, Engineering; Ossie Miller, Qantas fleet captain; and David Crotty, curator of the Qantas heritage collection.

I also met many locals and staff of the museum, and had a great night. Plus, mentioned a possible LRE Do and talked about the site so hopefully there's some new interest about us FF's.

A trip report of course wouldn't be complete on AFF without a menu and some food shots. Food was great!

 

[Princess Fiona]

Pics are great, I'd love to go to LRE one day.
I guess my invite got lost in the mail

 

[Mal]

I saw the FB updates from QFM but didn't realise any AFFers were attending. Thanks for the story and pictures.

 

[samh004]

My head hurts a little this morning, but it's a beautiful day outside and I've got a Bristol BE2E to fly

It truly was a memorable night and I'm definitely going to be bringing a LRE event to AFF when I can.

 

[samh004]

While I remember, before bed, the last instalment.

Having rehydrated, packed my things and checked the buzz on my iPad, I checked-out of my accommodation and headed across the road to the museum for breakfast. They were doing roaring trade, and my eggs benedict was delicious, definitely the right choice even if I'd been thinking about pancakes all weekend. That said, I later discovered I should have waited for the Sunday roast.



I took plenty of photos and had a lazy day looking through things, before being offered a ride to the terminal with Fergus McMaster and his lovely wife. Both great to talk to about all sorts. Slowly familiar faces from the night before turned up, it was to be a full flight back to BNE and I was given 2D, an exit row but unfortunately no shadow. In fact my preferred exit row.

There was a good discussion in the terminal about getting Fergus down to SYD to get his photo taken in front of VH-OQD, so perhaps watch this space.

Oh and of course, J arrivals access on my return for a bite to eat.



All up, it was a great weekend, and I'm very confident about the museums future. I just hope to drag all you lot to the Outback next year to experience it too. LRE Do?