Flinders Highway, Queensland
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Flinders Highway Queensland |
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| Flinders Highway (green on black) | |
| Type | Highway |
| Length | 775 km (482 mi) |
| Route number(s) |
 A6 |
| Former route number |
 National Route 78 |
| West end |
 Barkly Highway (National Highway A2), Cloncurry
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| East end |
 Bruce Highway (National Highway A1), Townsville
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| Major settlements | Julia Creek, Richmond, Hughenden, Charters Towers |
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Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in Queensland |
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The Flinders Highway is a highway that crosses Queensland east to west, from Townsville on the Pacific coast to Cloncurry. The road continues as the Barkly Highway from Cloncurry to the Northern Territory border at Camooweal and beyond. The Flinders Highway passes a number of small outback towns and typical outback landscape predominates towards the inland. It was known as National Route 78 before Queensland began to convert to the alphanumeric system being adopted in Australia and is now designated as A6. The highway is also known as Overlander's Way. Its entire length is part of the National Land Transport Network (formerly Auslink).
Charters Towers, 133 km to the south west from Townsville. A former gold rush town with a population of 30 000 in 1890. At that time it was known as "The World" because it seemed to be the centre of everything. Presently it is a centre for cattle grazing, with gold mining continuing to be an important industry. Much of the elegant gold rush architecture of the nineteenth remains in place and is a tourist attraction.
Located 243 km further on, Hughenden, the administrative centre of Flinders shire is in the heart of sheep and cattle country.
Richmond, a former gold rush town located 112 km further west. Currently a pastoral centre.
Julia Creek, 147 km further west, another pastoral settlement
Cloncurry, former copper-mining town located 139 km west from Julia Creek. The first regular Qantas flights started between here and Charleville in 1922 and Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia service started here in 1928. Nowadays it is an important road and rail junction. Flinders Highway ends here.
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