(Images: 1&2-Gerald Pennycuick; 3&ticket-CAHS/Mike O'Grady collection; 4-Roger McDonald; 5&6-Phil Vabre; diagrams-CAHS collection)
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Barcaldine Passenger Terminal - 1956-2001
The photo above shows the very basic passenger terminal at Barcaldine (ABAR) in outback Queensland, in 1956 (behind the tree at right). The aircraft is an unknown Douglas DC-3 and appears to have been met by a sizeable crowd for this small town.
The photo below, also taken in 1956, shows TAA DC-3 VH-TAM 'Lansborough' parked under the trees at Barcaldine. This was one of the many stops on the TAA 'milk run' through outback Queensland, bringing air transport to many isolated communities. The photos above and below were taken by Gerald Pennycuick, a Main Roads Department engineer based in Barcaldine at the time. Regarding the photo below, his son David recalls, "It seems to fit with my father’s story about going out to the aerodrome on Sunday mornings to get the paper direct from the plane instead of waiting for the newsagent to open his shop in town."
The photo below shows the passenger terminal at Barcaldine (now YBAR/BCI) in about 2000. It is hardly more sophisticated than in 1956. The photo was taken from a Flight West Airlines Embraer Brasilia. Flight West operated mainly in regional Queensland from 1987 until going into liquidation in 2001.
The photo below shows another view of the terminal taken slightly earlier, in 1998. Note the Flight West sign on the terminal fascia in both images, above and below.
The terminal has changed twice since these photos were taken. The first alteration was to to build a waiting room on the right of the shed in the photo.The original building became the Qantaslink freight office. More recently there has been a further extension to the right (when facing the terminal) that holds the X-ray unit for baggage checking.
Below, the TAA/Qantas Douglas DC-3 VH-AES Hawdon overflies Barcaldine in formation with two Harvards on 12 July 2001 during the Federation Airshows in the Outback. Although Barcaldine did not host an airshow, about half the fleet of seventy participating aircraft visited for the day. The passenger terminal is to the right of centre, under the large tree.
Below: Final approach to Runway 19 on the late evening of 11 July 2001. The hangars and passenger terminal are at the extreme right of shot.
By June 2009 the south-western end of Runway 14/32 was returned to service, albeit in an unsealed state, while the north-western end was decommissioned.
