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The Qantas Founders Museum will hold a 1920s-themed evening and a gala dinner to celebrate the airline’s centenary in 2021.
The attraction previously announced its plans for the birthday itself, on 16 November 2020, but has now revealed fuller details of its plans for next year, which will include three curated exhibitions displayed in its gallery.
The Qantas Founders Museum only reopened on 1 July after shutting earlier in the year due to coronavirus restrictions.
Museum CEO Tony Martin said while 2020 has been a “tough year” it was important to make sure the milestone is remembered.
“Qantas was established in outback Queensland and there is no better way to appreciate the history of this airline than to travel through this region and learn about how the airline, with the support of the outback communities, managed to grow into the major airline it is today,” said Martin.
“We have planned for our Qantas Centenary Program to include memorable one-off events to mark an extraordinary moment in Australian history and pay tribute to the many people and events that make the Qantas story.”
Next year’s event includes a “Red & White Gala” on 19 March, which will be the official opening of its new Airpark Roof and Luminescent Longreach show.
There will also be a “Roaring 1920s Evening” on 13 August that will “take their guests back to the 1920s” in a themed evening to be held in the Museum’s 1922 National Heritage Listed Qantas Hangar.
Finally, curator Tom Harwood has curated three exhibitions to be displayed in the Museum’s galleries for 2021. These iconic exhibitions include:
- The Donaldson Collection: 11 January – 21 March 2021
- Icons of Australian Skies by Mark Wilson: 29 March – 29 August 2021
- Our Qantas, Our People: 6 September –31 December 2021
The Qantas Founders Museum previously announced it would hold special activities to mark the airline’s 100-year birthday itself despite cancelling a series of events earlier this year.
On 16 November, the attraction will hold morning tea with a birthday cake, guided tours of the National Heritage-listed Qantas Hangar and a “Curator Talk”.
Australian Aviation previously reported how the museum’s new light show exhibition, celebrating Qantas’ centenary, launched on 1 July, after a series of delays.
The ‘Luminescent Longreach’ display projects a 3D animation across 635 square metres of a Boeing 747. The project’s design was the result of an 11,000-hour creative process.
The show tells the history of Qantas using 3D animation, projection mapping and 360-degree immersive sound.
The night time ‘light and sound experience’ was brought to life by design studio Buchan and took more than 2,000 hours to install.
“There is nothing like this anywhere else in the world, it is an entirely immersive experience that won’t disappoint,” Martin said earlier.
