LEARN about one of the largest ‘classrooms’ in the world with a tour of the Longreach School of Distance Education, also known as the School of the Air.

The school is the heartbeat of education for about 200 isolated students throughout western Queensland. The school motto is ‘Effort Conquers Distance’ and there is no doubt that the staff at the school are proud of the fact that they have overcome the tyranny of distance to nurture bright, young and industrious rural Australians.

Guided tours of the Longreach School of the Air are conducted each weekday. Visitors watch an audio-visual presentation of the school’s operation in air-conditioned comfort, observe an on-air lesson through a glass-walled studio, and then tour the school. Visitors have the opportunity to view students’ work and purchase distinctive souvenirs.

The purpose of the attraction is to give visitors to western Queensland the inclusive and unique experience of a distinctive Australian institution, and to promote distance education to the wider public as an effective and interesting form of schooling vital to outback families.