Crocodile Dundee was one of the most popular Australian movies of all time and made Paul Hogan a mega rich man after this flick somehow became immensely popular all around the world. And consequently, increased the globe’s understanding of the rather unique Australian ‘language’.
Unfortunately, the movie also made people think that all Australians live in the outback, carry around large knives and wrestle crocodiles for a living. Nothing could be further from the truth, as most of Australia’s population (around 80%) live in urban areas and have probably never been ‘outback’. That is, only places where only kangaroos jump around the streets, not crocodiles that try to eat you as soon as you walk out of your front door….
Anyway, one popular aspect of world travel these days is ‘movie tourism’ – visiting the places and locations where certain movies or scenes were shot, especially popular movies from the recent past and beyond. Many countries try to pimp these as a good excuse to score some more international tourism dollars to bring much needed cash into the country (for example, New Zealand does a great job showing off the areas involved in The Lord of The Rings Trilogy), and I’ve come across the island in Fiji where Castaway was filmed.
Anyway, back to Crocodile Dundee. One of the main sets for this movie was the ‘Walkabout Creek Hotel‘, which was supposedly located somewhere in the Northern Territory as mentioned in the movie. However, the actual location is in Queensland (the state east of the Northern Territory), near the town of Mount Isa (well, just over 200 kilometres away which is ‘just down the road’) and in the same region as the Quamby Pub – which is the town that is the pub!
The Walkabout Creek Hotel – Crocodile Dundee Icon!
Unfortunately, it wasn’t open when I was there so I’ve only got this pretty bland photo to prove that I graced the pub’s presence. I really wanted to have a beer here and mention something about it in my Beer Index!
Anyway, the Walkabout Creek Hotel was originally known as the Federal Hotel and was built in 1900 in the town of McKinlay, in north west Queensland.
Not many people live in McKinlay – just a tick over four hundred souls, and I’m pretty sure that way more tourists pass through here every year than actual residents!
McKinlay is a metropolis compared to Quamby – there’s a couple of stores there, a few houses and the pub. But it will forever be enshrined in film history!
However, I don’t think you’ll see Paul Hogan or Linda Kozlowski hanging around there anytime. And that’s not just because they’re divorced!
By the way that reminds me of a divorce joke.
Q. Why is divorce so expensive? A: Because it’s worth it!